Tony Frankel

LAST SUMMER THIS SUMMER Written in 1976 by the late Jane Chambers, Last Summer at Bluefish Cove — which opened in 1980, NYC — is a milestone in lesbian theatre history. Chambers’ name is legend as a daring playwright who put lesbian writing on stage before it was widely accepted to have out lesbians in…

BETTER MAKE THAT LATER Christopher Shinn clearly understands the American consciousness. In Now or Later, a 2008 one-act which opened at the Royal Court Theatre with a fresh-faced Eddie Redmayne, he offers an engaging discussion in lieu of a play. There’s no dramatic action — characters stand around and present their point-of-view. Shinn’s play is…

A PLAY OUT OF THE BOX NO, INSIDE THE BOX NO, OUTSIDE… One of the finest offerings at this year’s Hollywood Fringe Festival is writer/director Patrick Hamilton‘s The Box which runs through June 18 at The Zephyr Theater. The title has a triple-meaning: It refers to a piece of furniture that may or may not…

A NEOPHYTE BROWNSHIRT UNDER A BLUE WALL OF DEFENCE Written  by June Carryl and directed by Michael Matthews, Blue is a 60-minute nailbiter which has been extended to July 3. Rogue Machine Theatre Company has inaugurated The Henry Murray Stage upstairs at the Matrix on Melrose. This erstwhile rehearsal room has been transformed in this production…

THE SONERO, THE BETTER Here’s what tipped me off that we were about to see something special: Pianist Carlos Ordiano enters with four band members (“The Razor Blades”) at Los Angeles Theatre Center, and plays a gorgeous — and I mean GORGEOUS — piano solo, molto melodic and introspective. Then the quintet broke into a…

PIFFLING PIRATES OF PENZANCE POPS WITH POP The plot of The Pirates of Penzance, a satire so cutting in Victorian days, will likely come off as inane to today’s spectators. Still, Arthur Sullivan’s music is superb and the lyrics delicious, though it takes a sharp ear to follow W.S. Gilbert’s rapid-fire libretto. The score almost…

CELEBRATION THEATRE GOT IT RIGHT! (BUT THEY DIDN’T) When William Finn‘s autobiographical musical A New Brain opened at Lincoln Center in 1998, I couldn’t understand why the reviews were so higgledy-piggledy. True, I hadn’t actually  seen the production, but the original cast recording had me hooked. I was champing at the bit to see why his…