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Spencer Porter
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Theater Review: THE SEAGULL (Odyssey Theatre)
Seagulls, as you know, never falter, never stall. To stall in the air is for them disgrace and it is dishonor. — Richard Bach, Jonathan Livingston Seagull Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull, the first of his major plays, has achieved a stature akin to Hamlet in the pantheon. Watching tonight’s visiting production at…
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Film Review: GRAND THEFT HAMLET (Written and Directed by Pinny Gryllis and Sam Crane)
VIRTUAL VIRTUOSITY: HAMLET FOR THE GAMERS Jokes thrive on bringing together the incongruous, and perhaps that’s why Grand Theft Hamlet is, at its best, fucking hilarious. The premise is simple yet audacious: what if the bizarre, glitchy bodies and hyper-violent, sensory-releasing spectacle of a video game like Grand Theft Auto (GTA) were used to stage…
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Film Review: EVERY LITTLE THING (directed by Sally Aitken)
AN EVERY LITTLE THING OF BEAUTY The most amazing thing about the recurring slow-motion sequences of hovering hummingbirds in Every Little Thing is the stillness of their tiny heads, even as their wings flap and their little bodies shift in air. As Terry Masear tells us, among other remarkable things, the wings of a hummingbird…
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Music Interview: CODY FRY (Appearing in Concert with The Hollywood Bowl Orchestra at Disney Hall)
CAUGHT YOU AT A GOOD TIME [Editor’s Note, Jan 8, 2025: Due to the Los Angeles fires, the January 10 concert referenced in this interview has been postponed. It has been rescheduled for Saturday, April 19, 2025. Tickets for the January 10 concert will be valid for the new date.] When Cody Fry is asked…
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Theater Review: PRICE: A REPRESSED REPERTOIRE (SEQUENCES) (New Theater Hollywood)
ACTS, REPETITIONS AND REPRESSIONS There’s a new theater in town, Los Angeles, aptly named New Theater Hollywood, run by artists Calla Henkel and Max Pitegoff. I discovered it quite by accident in an article in the LA Review of Books, which described it as “sceney.” I simply had to go. I checked out the first…
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Film / VOD Review: LADY LIKE (directed by Luke Willis)
LADY CAMDEN’S RACE TO DRAG QUEENDOM One night when Lady Camden was taken to the ballet as a child, she looked down from the nosebleeds and saw the dancers and the set, the magical otherworldliness of it all, and wondered how anything bad could ever happen to anyone who made it in the theater. It…
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Theater Review: HENRY IV, PARTS 1 and 2 (The Porters of Hellsgate in North Hollywood)
THE PORTERS SHARE WITH US IN GLORY HENRY IV There is a danger of critical indulgence when considering a company like the Porters of Hellsgate; their ambition to produce all of Shakespeare’s canon (which they’ve nearly accomplished – four plays remain) is laudable and exceptional, such that there is a temptation to simply approve each…
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Theater Review: HEXEN: AN ANCESTRAL WITCH PLAY (Tour at El Portal Theatre in North Hollywood)
CONFRONTING THE CURSE It is a signal accomplishment to produce 70 minutes of solo theater which are all the things Hexen manages to be: solemn, playful, enchanting, insightful, and finally, deeply moving. I first encountered Dreya Weber, the sole performer of Hexen (“witches” in German) at the bar before the show. When an exceedingly quirky…
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Theater Review: ARMS AROUND AMERICA (Dan Froot & Company; World Premiere at The Nimoy Prior to Tour)
VOICES INSTEAD OF BULLETS Although Arms Around America, which opened last night at The Nimoy in Westwood, is about guns and their people (or “ammo-sexuality,” to steal a wonderful phrase from the show), it is also a feast of sounds, a display of musical bravura and an all-around fabulous evening of unconventional live theatre. Serving…
Theater Review: I DO! I DO! (Palm Canyon Theatre)
by Stan Jenson | January 18, 2026
in Palm Springs
(Coachella Valley), TheaterTheater Review: EUREKA DAY (Dezart Performs)
by Jason Mannino | January 16, 2026
in Palm Springs
(Coachella Valley), TheaterOff-Broadway Review: THE DISAPPEAR (Minetta Lane Theatre)
by Rob Lester | January 15, 2026
in New York, TheaterTheater Review: YOUNG PLAYWRIGHTS FESTIVAL 2026 (Pegasus Theatre Chicago)
by Mitchell Oldham | January 14, 2026
in Chicago, TheaterTheater Review: LIBRARY LION (Adam Theater)
by Lynne Weiss | January 13, 2026
in Boston, TheaterTHE ROLE OF FAITH-INSPIRED LITERATURE IN CHILDREN’S STORYTELLING
by Susan Hall | January 13, 2026
in Books, ExtrasBroadway Review: BUG (Manhattan Theatre Club)
by Carol Rocamora | January 12, 2026
in New York, TheaterAudition Announcement: BEACHES, A NEW MUSICAL (Are You a Little Cee-Cee?)
by Connor McCormick | January 12, 2026
in New York, Theater
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