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3:30pm | <\/strong>Editor’s Note: This is an expansion on our print coverage of the Best of Long Beach. Given our limited print space, we wanted to further share our experience at these amazing businesses via the many photos we took. We feel it not only allows the reader to better understand why each place was chosen, but provides the chance to spotlight local businesses visually. We will do one business every day until all 30 winners have been covered. Enjoy.<\/em><\/p>\n Best Family Outing: The All-American Melodrama<\/span> Dawn Stahlak and Ken Parks \u2013 whom Dawn kept insisting was the brainchild of the undertaking \u2013 have somehow managed to achieve this endeavor. And all through theatre. Melodrama theatre to be specific \u2013 well, appropriated melodrama, where they take contemporary narratives from film and television and turn them into melodramatic, laugh-inducing mockeries. <\/p>\n This is, in other words, not the kind of place where you sit quietly in your seat and watch quietly. No, no. The cabaret-style seating should tell you otherwise.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re proud that we have a grandmother coming in,\u201d explains Dawn, \u201cher 8-year-old AND teenager tagging along, and they\u2019re all happy. We\u2019re proud that a 16-year-old wants to his have his birthday party here. We\u2019re proud a middle-aged couple can have a night out. We\u2019re proud we\u2019re in the family category because that\u2019s what we aim for: something for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n So you know what? You boo the villain. You cheer the heroine. This is all-American and by-God-we-will-WIN entertainment, the kind that makes the teenager actually laugh with its facetiousness, the toddler laugh at its slap, and parents relish in its off-brand mockery of family melodrama. And, come hell or highwater, it\u2019s something that Long Beach should \u2013 MUST — be immensely proud to partake in!<\/p>\n All American Melodrama Theatre | 429 Shoreline Village Drive | (562) 495-5900 Family-style American fun is not the easiest of endeavors. You have the cranky youngins, the withdrawn teenager, and the parents attempting to mediate not only the tension between themselves following a heated debate about Obama versus Romney but between their children as well following a row about who gets to sit where. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":211,"featured_media":69750,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-4675","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hi-lo","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4675","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/211"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4675"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4675\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69750"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4675"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=4675"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=4675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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Family-style American fun is not the easiest of endeavors. You have the cranky youngins, the withdrawn teenager, and the parents attempting to mediate not only the tension between themselves following a heated debate about Obama versus Romney but between their children as well following a row about who gets to sit where. <\/p>\n
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