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Frank Arthur
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Interview: VINCE MELOCCHI (writer of world premiere ANDY WARHOL’S TOMATO at Pacific Resident Theatre)
PEELING A TOMATO If you’ve ever wondered what Andy Warhol was like as a kid, perhaps writer Vince Melocchi’s new play will give you a better understanding of the iconic artist, far beyond his eccentric persona. This curiosity became the biggest challenge for the playwright, finding the voice of a teenage Andy Warhola who was…
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Theater Preview: HEDDA GABLER (Los Angeles Theatre Works at UCLA)
A JEALOUS WIFE WITH BAD GUN CONTROL You can’t keep a bad/mad woman down. Not to be confused with A Doll’s House, where Henrik Ibsen offers an almost feminist defense of a vastly underestimated wife, his poisonous 1891 domestic drama Hedda Gabler depicts a very different “helpmate.” Here a bored and bitter housewife transforms her contempt for her…
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Theater Feature: THE PRODUCERS (Celebration Theatre in Los Angeles)
KEEP IT GAY It’s always springtime for Mel Brooks, who really does write musicals the way they used to. Even before Young Frankenstein, his 2001 triumph The Producers (based on the sidesplitting 1968 film with Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder) reverts to the anything-for-a-laugh, neo-vaudevillian, politically incorrect musicals of its 1959 setting. Giving a new meaning…
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Feature: HOW TO WRITE A REVIEW OF A THEATRE PERFORMANCE
HOW TO WRITE A REVIEW OF A THEATRE PERFORMANCE Going to the theatre can be a magical experience, but writing a critical review of a theatre performance can be a challenge even for the most insightful and attentive theatre-goers. If you are interested in writing a critical review of a theatre performance, there are a…
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Theater Feature: GREAT THINGS ABOUT THE LOS ANGELES THEATRE
Los Angeles, dubbed as the City of Angels, is truly a magnificent destination that holds some of the most beautiful architectural buildings in the world. One of the biggest attractions in LA is most assuredly The Los Angeles Theatre and its rich history. This luxurious spot hosts some of the biggest Broadway shows, and based…
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Theater Preview: ZORBA (Musical Theatre Guild)
GREEK ACTIVE It only seemed natural that Michael Cacoyannis’s 1964 film, Zorba the Greek, about a happy-go-lucky fisherman on the isle of Crete, should one day become a musical. It took John Kander and Fred Ebb (Cabaret, Chicago, Kiss Of The Spider Woman and many more) to make this a reality, with Joseph Stein (Fiddler on the Roof,…
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Theater Preview: THE SEAFARER (Laguna Playhouse)
THE DEVIL’S AT THE DOOR “He knows not Who lives most easily on land, how I Have spent my winter on the ice-cold sea Wretched and anxious, in the paths of exile Lacking dear friends, hung round by icicles While hail flew past in showers:” From the medieval poem The Seafarer translated by Richard Hamer…
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Theater Preview: 42ND STREET (3-D Theatricals)
YOU’VE GOT SOME FEET TO MEET Call us saps or suckers but we can’t, it seems, get enough of “The Understudy Who Becomes A Star.” Not when the sweet and satisfying story is stuffed with thrills like “Shuffle Off to Buffalo” and “Young and Healthy.” Some clichés justify themselves, if only because nothing less than…
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Theater Feature: OPPENHEIMER (Rogue Machine Theatre at its new home, Electric Lodge in Venice)
A READY ROGUE MACHINE OPENS OPPENHEIMER J. Robert Oppenheimer was a brilliant, enigmatic and complex man. Ambitious and charismatic, Oppenheimer found himself uniquely placed to spearhead the largest scientific undertaking in all of human history, the Manhattan Project and the creation of the Atomic bomb — he’s the man in charge of the team whose…
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Theater Preview: WHO’S HYSTERICAL NOW? (Bootleg Theater in Los Angeles)
GENDER-SWITCHED REENACTMENT OF THE KAVANAUGH/FORD TESTIMONIES ONE NIGHT ONLY, TUESDAY OCTOBER 2 If you think the Senate hearings last week were high drama, imagine seeing them live in the theater, but with a twist. Writer/producer Tina Poppy and Bootleg Theater’s Jessica Hanna offer you the timeliest commiseration on record. Tomorrow night, Tuesday October 2 at…
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Los Angeles Music Preview: CAMERATA PACIFICA (Season 29)
CAMERATA PACIFICA’S SEASON 29 BASED IN BEETHOVEN Camerata Pacifica is a chamber music ensemble based in Santa Barbara that performs a monthly series of concerts in Santa Barbara, Ventura, San Marino (at the Huntington), and DTLA’s Zipper Hall (at Colburn School). Founded by Adrian Spence in 1990, the group is composed of the finest performers…
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Theater Preview: 2018 PLAY LA FESTIVAL (Casa 0101)
PLAY ON Opening Night of the 2018 PLAY LA Festival of New Plays takes place Friday, September 7, at CASA 0101. Doors open at 7:00 pm at the Casa 0101 Gallery space for Hotel Mariachi, photos from acclaimed photographer, Miguel Gandert, followed by live Mariachi music (More about Gandert’s work here). At 8:00, HUMANITAS and PLAY LA will announce next year’s PLAY…
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Theater Review: TAR (Playwrights’ Arena at Atwater Village Theatre)
TARANTINO IN THE STICKY SWAMPS OF SADNESS Tom Jacobson’s Tar is from his The Ballad of Bimini Baths, a triad of works playing concurrently in Los Angeles. For half a century (1902-1951), the hot springs resort actually existed here in L.A., and Jacobson means to examine how far society has, or hasn’t, come by setting…
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CD Review: A LEAP IN THE DARK — LIVE AT FEINSTEIN’S/54 BELOW (Arielle Jacobs)
AN ACT IN THE DARK For her debut at 54 Below in NYC – a nearly solo cabaret which was recorded for release on Broadway Records – the triple-threat Arielle Jacobs opened by letting us know that this will be the story of how she got “to here” (to Feinstein’s/54 Below, I guess). Some of…
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Theater/Dance Preview: THE COLLECTIVE MEMORY PROJECT (The Big Show Co. at the Ford Amphitheatre)
“The worst part of holding the memories is not the pain. It’s the loneliness of it. Memories need to be shared.” Author Lois Lowry On June 28 & 29, Ford Theatres, in association with choreographer/director Arianne MacBean and The Big Show Co., will present the world premiere of The Collective Memory Project — an original dance-theatre piece inspired by…
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CD Review: SING HAPPY (Audra McDonald and the New York Philharmonic)
GET HAPPY I had the privilege of seeing Audra McDonald’s Tony-winning performances in Carousel, Master Class, and Ragtime, but it was her turn as Clara in Passion at Chicago’s Ravinia Festival that proved McDonald is, as Stephen Sondheim maintains, “one of the glories of the American theater.” Not only is she a refined singer with a golden soprano voice of purity and…
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Theater and TV Feature: GAME OF THRONES (From the Small Screen to the Big Curtain)
GAME OF THRONES — FROM THE SMALL SCREEN TO THE BIG CURTAIN Since HBO’s Game of Thrones hit our screens back in 2011, the show has gone on to become one of the most popular and best-loved series in television history. With the next and final season not scheduled to reach these shores until 2019, fans…
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Music Preview: Sol Gabetta, Gustavo Dudamel, LA Phil (SCHUMANN CELLO CONCERTO; SYMPHONY 3 & 4)
SCHUMANN TO WIN YOU OVER Although his life was difficult, to say the least, ending prematurely in madness, Robert Schumann nonetheless composed music that elevates us through its pure spirit and unique personal character. Last week, Gustavo Dudamel began a three-week exploration of this (I think) underappreciated composer. Of course, Schumann isn’t always necessarily easy, pleasant or…
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Theater Preview: DO RE MI (Musical Theatre West Reiner Reading Series in Long Beach)
GIMME THAT DO-RE-MI, BOYS The 1960 musical Do Re Mi is about a would-be big shot named Hubie Cram, a wheeler dealer who just can’t make the big time. As his wife Kay says, they have 400 hula hoops in their garage and the phase has already passed. This time Hubie has acquired 300 jukeboxes;…
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London Theater Preview: KILLER JOE and KING LEAR (Trafalgar Studios and Duke of York’s Theatre)
MAKE A NIGHT OF IT THIS SUMMER WITH TWO BIG SHOWS The West End, one of the great epicentres of the Theatrical world, is undergoing something of a renaissance these days. It has always popular with tourists and locals alike, but London’s own Broadway is increasingly putting on the most acclaimed and innovative shows on…
Off-Broadway Review: MILK AND HONEY (J2 Spotlight Theatre Company at AMT, NYC)
by Rob Lester | April 17, 2026
in New York, TheaterFilm Review: BRUTE 1976 (Directed by Marcel Walz)
by Allen Tellis | April 16, 2026
in FilmCabaret Review: MARILYN MAYE (54 Below, NY)
by Rob Lester | April 16, 2026
in Cabaret, New YorkComedy Club Review: GREENPOINT COMEDY CLUB (Brooklyn)
by Alex Simmons | April 15, 2026
in Cabaret, New York, TheaterTheater Review: REVENGE OF THE SOY BOY (FRIGID New York City Fringe Festival)
by Alex Simmons | April 14, 2026
in New York, TheaterTheater Review: WHAT THE CONSTITUTION MEANS TO ME (Greater Boston Stage Company)
by Lynne Weiss | April 14, 2026
in Boston, TheaterBroadway Review: BECKY SHAW (Helen Hayes)
by Carol Rocamora | April 14, 2026
in New York, Theater
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