Shari Barrett

As a female journalist myself, I was curious to learn about the life of Anne Royall, a former maid who married her employer, a landed gentleman in the early 1800s when such marriages were rarely allowed, and then rose to become America’s first female journalist at a time when women were “supposed” to stay home…

A MASTER OF MUSICAL THEATER; TWENTY-SEVEN SONGS; THREE GREAT PERFORMERS; ONE TERRIFIC REVUE 3 Faces of Steve: Sondheim in Concert at Odyssey Theatre Ensemble is a revue that spans the breadth of Stephen Sondheim’s work. Director Angelina Réaux, the soprano who personally knew and worked with the great composer, joins world-class singers Michael Sokol, baritone,…

Now playing at the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s Renberg Theatre is the world premiere  of Happy Fall: A Queer Stunt Spectacular. Performed by an enthusiastic and energetic ensemble, and written by Lisa Sanaye Dring  with Rogue Artists Ensemble, director Sean Cawelti interviewed over a dozen stunt performers (several closeted) who shared intimate stories about the challenges they…

A TIME-TRAVELING UNBROKEN BLOSSOMS REVEALS BIGOTRY AND MISOGYNY Before seeing the world premiere of Unbroken Blossoms by Philip W. Chung at East West Players, I had never heard of the 1919 American silent film Broken Blossoms, directed by D. W. Griffith  starring Lillian Gish and Richard Barthelmess, in which a frail waif is abused by her…

CAMPING ON THE BEACH Psycho Beach Party, a totally campy creation written by Charles Busch, is not your typical 50s and 60s beach blanket movie with Frankie and Annette innocently dancing and singing in the sand. With several cross-dressing cast members, mischief, madness, and the passionate pursuit of the perfect wave — or man —…

GOOD LESSONS COME IN SMALL PACKAGES Sometimes life throws you for a loop when fun times take a turn in unexpected ways, changing your whole life in an instant. Such is the story at the center of the 90-minute two-hander tiny father, written by Mike Lew (Tiger Style!), and directed by Moritz von Stuelpnagel at…

NICE ASP! Troubadour Theater Company is a free-wheeling, no holds barred, commedia dell’arte-flavored, slapstick-driven Los Angeles based ensemble of actors, musicians, and comedians that has been performing for audiences throughout Southern California and beyond since 1995. Their fast-paced, laugh-filled, loose adaptations (some of the original lines are still there) of classic plays, literature, and film,…

FRANTIC ANTICS FUEL THE HUMOR Terrence McNally updated his 1986 Off-Broadway comedy It’s Only a Play for  Broadway in 2014 featuring an all-star cast including F. Murray Abraham, Matthew Broderick, Stockard Channing, Nathan Lane, and Megan Mullally. It’s a farcical, devilishly witty look behind the scenes at the opening night party of a play whose cast,…

YOU’RE THE TOPSY TURVY During the forced shutdown of theaters due to the COVID pandemic, The Actors’ Gang in Culver City kept its employees on salary and health insurance, adapted their outreach programs in schools and prisons to a virtual format, and continued workshops with its actors online. The group’s Artistic Director Tim Robbins shared,…

A PLAY NOT WORTH EXPLORING Doggedly determined to fight yesterday’s battles,  Nell Benjamin’s farce  The Explorers Club  manically mocks the heyday of male British explorers. Fuddy-duddy adventure seekers with aboriginal blood on their hands, these intrepid trekkers did a lot more than find the source of the Nile; they blazed a trail for imperialism, colonialism, racism and misogyny….

UNSAVORY IS SAVORY INDEED Those of us who grew up on the Westside of Los Angeles certainly remember hanging out on the Venice and Santa Monica beaches when we were kids. Times then were as innocent as we were, and our parents had no fear that predators were lurking about trying to do us harm….

A DICTATOR DICTATES MUSIC IN STALIN’S MASTER CLASS In a time when politics collide with state and federal budgets for the arts, Stalin’s Master Class  — a wildly comic, music-filled ride by British playwright David Pownall — is all too relevant for today’s audiences. Odyssey Theatre Ensemble founding artistic director Ron Sossi helms with his unique…