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Nick McCall
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Opera Review: DIE KLUGE (THE WISE WOMAN) (Independent Opera Company, Los Angeles)
A GEM FINDS ITS VOICE A charming, rarely staged Orff opera gets a smart, scrappy revival Did you know that composer Carl Orff wrote more than Carmina Burana? It’s true. While most audiences know “O Fortuna” and its bombastic spectacle, Orff also composed lighter fare such as Die Kluge, a fairy-tale opera that Independent Opera…
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Opera Review: GILGAMESH: THE OPERA (Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts)
EPIC SOURCE, EPIC SCORE, EPIC PRODUCTION An ambitious new opera that struggles to connect its spectacle to a coherent narrative Want to know the quickest way to make me hesitate seeing a new musical? Append “: The Musical” to the title. So, here we have Gilgamesh: The Opera (which seems oblivious to at least seven…
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Theater Review: THE COLOR PURPLE (Zephyr Theatre, Chromolume Theatre Company)
CAN ANYONE SAVE THIS MUSICAL? A committed cast and strong vocals can’t overcome a rushed, softened adaptation that drains the story’s power In their mission statement, Chromolume Theatre is “dedicated to presenting Broadway’s forgotten musical theatre gems.” So, for their current production, they’re doing The Color Purple at The Zephyr Theatre. With two major Broadway…
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Dance Review: BALANCHINE: TWIN MASTERPIECES (American Contemporary Ballet)
BAD MOOD? BALANCHINE WILL FIX THAT American Contemporary Ballet’s twin masterpieces turn live strings into a reset button for the soul Two string duos. Two ballets. Both pairs similar in structure and running time, but containing glimpses of unlimited invention within fixed limitations. For their spring program, American Contemporary Ballet performs two works from George…
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Theater Review: FOURSOME (IAMA & Celebration at Atwater Village Theatre)
FOR SOME, MAYBE — FOR OTHERS, A CHORE An exhausting exercise in enforced fun and emotional emptiness (Seated) Felix (Jimin Moon), Noah (Matthew Scott Montgomery, (on floor) Kobe (Calvin Seabrooks, and Tahj (Adrián Javier) are two couples You know that one friend who exhausts everyone in the room? That annoying one in your wider friend…
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Theater Review: INCITATION TO THE DANCE (Theatre West)
A STRANGER IN THE HOUSE A smart, suggestive script meets a production that can’t quite generate the heat it promises. No, it’s not a typo. With a title guaranteed to make you double-take, Michael Van Duzer’s unabashedly gay new play, Incitation to the Dance, opened last Friday at Theatre West. David Mingrino, Casey Alcoser, Michael…
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Music Review: WILD UP: THE GREAT LEARNING (The Broad)
EXPERIMENTAL SOUND MEETS MUSEUM SPACE — WITH MIXED RESULTS A well-intentioned immersion in Cardew’s radical score undone by acoustics, logistics, and audience reality On Saturday February 7, Wild Up performed The Great Learning, Paragraphs 2 and 7 by radical English composer Cornelius Cardew inside The Broad, in conjunction with the exhibition Robert Therrien: This is…
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Theater Review: PUNISH ME: A PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER (Hudson Backstage Theatre)
A SELF-INFLICTED WOUND POSING AS THEATER. SAFE WORD: CURTAIN An erotic psychological thriller script without the erotic, psychology, thrill, or script Dear Gay Theater-makers, I am writing today to encourage you to see the terrible new play Punish Me, by triple-threat writer-producer-actor Michael Dukakis, currently renting space at the Hudson Backstage Theatre. Do I recommend…
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Theater Review: SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET (La Mirada Theatre)
SWEENEY TODD SLICES DEEP — EVEN WITH A FEW MISSTEPS Jason Alexander’s ambitious concept does not blunt the impact of a blisteringly performed revival McCoy Rigby Entertainment has been doing solid work for decades, but they have outdone themselves with their new production of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, now playing in…
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Opera Review: ALICE RYLEY & BIG DEATHS (Source/Filter Music Collective at Heritage Square)
OPERA AMONG THE GHOSTS From playful parlor deaths to a chilling one-act about crime, punishment, and memory, Source/Filter Music Collective made Heritage Square sing. On November 8, Source/Filter Music Collective returned to Heritage Square Museum with the west coast premiere of Michael Ching’s 2015 true-crime opera Alice Ryley, about the first woman executed in Georgia….
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Opera Review: HILDEGARD (World Premiere, LA Opera and Beth Morrison Projects at The Wallis)
BEST BE ON YOUR HILDEGARD WATCHING THIS THING When approaching a work based on history, it’s expected that there will be some degree of fictionalization. Even though it won’t be completely true, the broad strokes will be, and you’ll leave having learned a tiny bit of something new. However, Hildegard, the dull new opera by…
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Dance Review: DEATH AND THE MAIDEN WITH BURLESQUE: VARIATION IX (American Contemporary Ballet)
CORPS MEETS CORPSE: ACB DANCES LIFE TO DEATH (AND BACK AGAIN) Loss and longing pervade the revival of American Contemporary Ballet‘s surprisingly optimistic Death and the Maiden, now running at Bank of America Plaza through November 1, paired with a brand-new installment in the company’s Burlesque series, all accompanied by live music. Death and the…
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Concert Review: THOMAS KOTCHOFF: BETWEEN SYSTEMS (Piano Spheres at 2220 Arts + Archives)
SONIC AND CHER Have you ever wondered what a Cher and György Ligeti mashup would sound like? Me, neither, but that’s how last week’s Piano Spheres concert at 2220 Arts + Archives began, which also doubled as the release party for Thomas Kotcheff’s new album, Between Systems, an exploration of interpreting existing works without relying…
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Theater Review: ONE MAN, TWO GUVNORS (A Noise Within)
ONE MAN, TWO HOURS TOO LONG Ask yourself how much you liked The Play That Goes Wrong series. That’s a pretty good indicator as to your enjoyment of Richard Bean’s 2011 play, One Man, Two Guvnors, now running at A Noise Within. If you liked it, stop reading and go. You’ll have a great time….
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Theater Review: BRILLIANT TRACES (Hudson Theatre)
TRACES OF POSSIBILITY Premiering Off-Broadway in 1989, Cindy Lou Johnson’s Brilliant Traces is one of those plays that can be either mesmerizing or exasperating and tiresome. Lacking a firm idea of what it wants to be, Soul Gym Productions’ new mounting at the Hudson for a brief three-day run, fell firmly in the latter. In the middle of…
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Theater Review: AM I ROXIE? (Geffen Playhouse)
Am I Roxie? Am I a Play? Am I at the Wrong Theater? Geffen’s Latest Solo Act Feels More Fringe Than Mainstage Within five minutes of “this fiercely funny one-woman tour-de-force” (so says the publicity), actress Roxana Ortega is already fighting back tears about losing her mother due to Alzheimer’s. Thus begins her sappy and…
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Theater Review: JUST ANOTHER DAY (Dan Lauria and Patty McCormack at Odyssey Theatre Ensemble)
IT MAY BE JUST ANOTHER DAY, BUT THIS ISN’T JUST ANOTHER PLAY If I were to start by telling you what author Dan Lauria’s sly new play is about, a great number of you might stop reading in disgust, thinking, “I’ve lived through that; I don’t need to see a play about it.” However, Just…
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Theater Review: THE OPPOSITE OF LOVE (Hudson Backstage)
SEXLESS IN THE CITY Have you ever been with a guy who won’t shut up and just enjoy the blow job? That’s what it’s like to sit through Ashley Griffin’s new two-person play, The Opposite of Love, which premiered last year off-Broadway, and is now having its first West Coast performances at the Hudson Backstage…
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Opera Review: H.M.S. PINAFORE (Pacific Opera Project at Heritage Square)
THE PICNIC COMES BEFORE PINAFORE, LITERALLY AND FIGURATIVELY. WELL, SHIP HAPPENS. It’s best to approach Pacific Opera Project’s new production of W. S. Gilbert (libretto) and Arthur Sullivan’s (music) 1878 opera, H.M.S. Pinafore: the same way that many people approach going to the Hollywood Bowl — as a reason to eat, socialize, and take selfies….
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Dance Review: THE EUTERPIDES & SERENADE (American Contemporary Ballet at Television City)
BEAUTY IN STEP: GRACE, MELODIES, AND ACB’S ELEGANT NEW WORKS Few phrases in the world of classical music fill me with as much excitement and dread as “world premiere.” This applies even with companies I like. However, I am happy to say that American Contemporary Ballet’s new work, The Euterpides, with music by Alma Deutscher,…
Music Review: NELLIE McKAY (City Vineyard)
by Rob Lester | April 29, 2026
in Cabaret, New YorkOff-Broadway Review: BROKEN SNOW (Theatre 71)
by Gregory Fletcher | April 28, 2026
in New York, TheaterTheater Review: THE SECRET SHARER (DNAWorks at Emerson Paramount Center)
by Lynne Weiss | April 27, 2026
in Boston, TheaterBroadway Review: JOE TURNER’S COME AND GONE (Barrymore Theatre)
by Paola Bellu | April 25, 2026
in New York, Theater
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