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John Topping
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Film Review and Commentary from Stage and Cinema’s Archives: GRINDHOUSE (directed by Quentin Tarantino/Robert Rodriguez)
GRINDHOUSE 101 [Editor’s Note: An ode to Grindhouse films, the 2007 pic Grindhouse consists of two features, Planet Terror by Richard Rodriquez and Death Proof by Quentin Tarentino. Preceding and separating the features are faux trailers by Rodriguez, Rob Zombie, Eli Roth and Shaun of the Dead’s Edgar Wright. Grindhouse was a box office disaster, making only…
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Las Vegas Theater Review: PUPPETRY OF THE PENIS (Jewel Box at the Erotic Heritage Museum in Las Vegas)
THE WRONGEST SHOW IN TOWN I never knew that I was a prude until I attended Puppetry of the Penis at The Jewel Box inside Las Vegas’s Erotic Heritage Museum. Silly me; since it had played, among other venues, at the Edinburgh Theater Festival as well as Off-Broadway for a respectable run in New York,…
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Theater Review: JULIA SWEENEY: OLDER AND WIDER (Geffen Playhouse)
OUR LOVELY FRIEND RETURNS AT LAST I have never seen Julia Sweeney on film or television. Okay, almost never: there’s Pulp Fiction and Stuart Little. Yet while Sweeney is notable for having been in those films, I can’t quite remember who she played. She’s been working steadily in projects but I guess I haven’t had the desire…
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DVD Review: THE DUST BOWL (PBS Distribution)
A DISASTER WORSE THAN MOST OF US EVER KNEW In elementary school, for me, “Dust Bowl” was little more than two words that had to be memorized for tests in history classes that unfailingly failed to make history interesting. Sure, I heard the term often enough that some kind of image formed…but it was not…
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DVD Review/Commentary: THE FABRIC OF THE COSMOS (PBS NOVA series)
WEIRD SCIENCE If you’re like me, you’re someone who is fascinated by science now, as an adult, but hated it back in school. Why was something so fascinating presented as such drudgery? If a teacher can’t capture a student’s imagination, it’s pointless. So after years of straight Ds (which I think were mercy passings so…
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Los Angeles Theater Review: BUSTING OUT! (The Hayworth Theatre)
THE REALLY BIGGIE TITTY COMMITTEE What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you’re told that you’re going to see a show with two women (Emma Powell and Mandi Lodge) who are going to display their tits on stage in amusing ways that are calculated to make us laugh? You probably don’t even have…
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Film Review: REVENGE OF THE ELECTRIC CAR (documentary directed by Chris Paine)
CAR MANUFACTURERS BEGIN TO GET IT When Dan Neil’”the eloquent car-guy columnist who formerly wrote for Car and Driver, AutoWeek and The Los Angeles Times, and who now writes for The Wall Street Journal’”says that he’ll never buy a gasoline-powered car again, you just have to take notice. “The only way forward is electric cars,”…
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DVD Commentary: TRANSCENDENT MAN: THE LIFE AND IDEAS OF RAY KURZWEIL (Docurama Films)
WHAT IS THIS WORLD COMING TO? In the mid-1970s, an exciting new video game captured the nation and ushered in the video game revolution as we know it today. Â If you were around then, you undoubtedly knew someone who had it hooked up to their TV; or you might have stopped at a bar that…
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53 Years Ago in Stage and Cinema…
Our July 18, 1958 issue, from back before we existed.
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Reviews of currently running shows
New York City – Broadway Memphis reviewed by William Gooch open run Million Dollar Quartet reviewed by Sarah Baram open run — New York City – Off Broadway The Accidental Pervert reviewed by Andrew Turner scheduled to close June 25 The Gazillion Bubble Show: The Next Generation reviewed by Cindy Pierre open run — Los…
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DVD Review: STONEWALL UPRISING (PBS)
THE BEGINNING OF THE END OF THE DARK AGES FOR SAME SEX ORIENTATION I am going to guess – and I’d love to be wrong – that the majority of gay men under the age of 35 know little or nothing about the Stonewall Riots.  This would be analogous to African Americans not knowing about…
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Los Angeles Theater Review: N*GGER WETB*CK CH*NK (A Speak Theater Arts Production at Barnsdall Gallery Theatre in Hollywood)
GETTING OVER RACISM 101 For a show with a title as dangerous as N*gger Wetb*ck Ch*nk—an evening of confronting racism with comedy, playing this month at the Barnsdall Gallery Theater—it would be difficult to imagine a more tame show. Aside from references to stereotypical penis sizes, it is strictly family fare (though you could argue…
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Music Review: A MIGHTY VOICE (Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles at Los Angeles Theatre Center)
SOME MIGHTY IMPRESSIVE VOICES The Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles (GMCLA) are presenting A Mighty Voice, and there is only one performance left to attend. A dazzlingly well-written review should be inserted here, and hopefully will for posterity. But because of time constraints, and since there’s only one performance left, we have to make…
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Los Angeles Theater Preview: CYCLOPS: A ROCK OPERA (Carrie Hamilton Theatre at the Pasadena Playhouse)
I’M A CY-CLOOOOOOPS One of Stage and Cinema‘s favorite Los Angeles Theatre Companies, Psittacus Productions, has announced that Cyclops: A Rock Opera will be moving to the Carrie Hamilton Theatre at Pasadena Playhouse. It opens April 9 (with a preview on April 7), and runs through May 8, 2011. Their previous production, A Tale Told…
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TV/DVD Review: HOW SMART ARE ANIMALS? & CAN WE MAKE IT TO MARS? (NOVA scienceNOW on PBS Home Video)
BEYOND NEAT TRICKS When Neil deGrasse Tyson, the host of the video magazine NOVA scienceNOW, was a guest on The Daily Show recently, Jon Stewart complimented him for finally “making science cool.” And it is cool to have Tyson, an approachable, gentle presence, representing the wonders of science. If only we’d had someone like him…
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The movies of 2010 that I saw (all of them)
Stage and Cinema continues its traditional mid-February publication of our Best(-and-then-some) Lists of the past year’s movies. Here is my list. As always, I prefer to include every film I’ve seen, so if I name something as the worst of the year, you can check the list and say, “Oh, but he didn’t see Burlesque…
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ADVERTISEMENT – The Birthday Present 2050
This is a temporary page for the ad of The Birthday Present 2050 until their website is ready.
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Archives – Our reviews published prior to August 2010
If you’re looking for reviews and articles published before August 2010, this is the right place. Just follow the links below. Film Reviews published prior to August 2010 New York City Theater Reviews published prior to August 2010 Los Angeles Theater Reviews published prior to August 2010 DVD Reviews published prior to August 2010 Interviews…
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* * * * * * * * * * THE LAS VEGAS ISSUE * * * * * * * * * *
Stage and Cinema theater correspondent Tony Frankel checks out the City of…which city is Las Vegas again? I would say it’s the city that REALLY never sleeps. Â I’ve caught New York napping so many times, you wouldn’t believe it. Â Not Vegas. Â Las Vegas, that is. Â Swimming pools. Â Stand-up comedy stars. Â Middle America. Â Until The Recession…
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Los Angeles Theater Reviews prior to August 2010
Los Angeles Theater Reviews of the 2010-2011 season 1776 (Tony Frankel) 40 Is The New 15 (Tony Frankel) All My Sons (Tony Frankel) Amadeus (Tony Frankel) Beyond (Tony Frankel) Brewsie and Willie (Harvey Perr) Chess in Concert (Tony Frankel) The Girl Who Would Be King (Tony Frankel) The Good Woman of Setzuan (Harvey Perr) Jewtopia(Tony Frankel)…
Theater Review: MY LIFE AS A COWBOY (North American Premiere at Open Space Arts)
by Croydon Fernandes | February 9, 2026
in Chicago, TheaterTheater Review: MY SON THE PLAYWRIGHT (Rogue Machine)
by Michael Landman-Karney | February 9, 2026
in Los Angeles, TheaterTheater Review: CAMP MORNING WOOD (Prism Theater in Palm Springs)
by Stan Jenson | February 9, 2026
in Palm Springs
(Coachella Valley), TheaterTheater Review: THE IRISH … AND HOW THEY GOT THAT WAY (Porchlight Music Theatre)
by Croydon Fernandes | February 8, 2026
in Chicago, TheaterCabaret Review: JIMMIE HERROD (54 Below)
by Rob Lester | February 7, 2026
in Cabaret, New YorkConcert Review: AN EVENING WITH LAURA BENANTI (Kaufmann Concert Hall, 92NY)
by Rob Lester | February 5, 2026
in Concerts / Events, New YorkTheater Review: CONFEDERATES (Redtwist Theatre)
by Croydon Fernandes | February 5, 2026
in Chicago, TheaterTheater Review: DESCRIBE THE NIGHT (Austin Playhouse West Campus)
by Leo Weiser | February 4, 2026
in Texas, TheaterChicago Opera Review: COSÌ FAN TUTTE (Lyric Opera)
by Barnaby Hughes | February 4, 2026
in Chicago, Theater
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