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Tony Frankel
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Theater Review: TROUBLE THE WATER (Theatricum Botanicum)
SMALLS MAKES A HUGE STORY In January 2017, President Barack Obama issued an executive order establishing Reconstruction Era National Monument in Beaufort County, noting the significance of Robert Smalls to our national story. In 2019, the park was renamed Reconstruction Era National Historical Park with a visitor center located just a few blocks away from…
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Theater Review: OKLAHOMA! (National Tour)
OKLAHOMA! AS WOKELAHOMA NOT SO OK ON TOUR This ain’t your mama’s Oklahoma! While Daniel Fish’s completely rethought and stripped-down production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s 1943 watershed musical comedy Oklahoma!, now at the 2000+-seat Ahmanson as part of a national tour, has moments which will provoke post-theater discussions, I can’t help but believe that something…
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Album Review and Recommendation: ARIAS (Jonathan Tetelman)
A TENOR FOR THE AGES When I played the debut album Arias by Chilean-American tenor Jonathan Tetelman, my partner said during the first track, “Is that Pavarotti?” Comparisons can fairly be made when you hear this powerful, colorful, emotional artist taking on an incredible range of styles from the French and Italian repertoire. Having signed an…
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Theater Review: MACBETH (Independent Shakespeare Co. at Griffith Park in Los Angeles)
THE HEAVEN’S BREATH SMELLS WOOINGLY HERE It seems odd to say that I was enchanted and beguiled with Independent Shakespeare Co.’s (ISC’s) production of Macbeth, which opened this past weekend at the Dell in Griffith Park (site of L.A.’s old zoo). You would think perhaps horrified. After all, this is a tale of treachery, malice,…
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Album Recommendation: CARIBBEAN NOCTURNES (Joachim Horsley)
It’s a thrilling album that hooked me at the first listen. Breaking new ground yet again, pianist Joachim Horsley takes classical favorites as a base, and infuses them with infectious Afro-Caribbean beats, such as Rumba and Zouk. His newest album, out September 2, 2022, is Caribbean Nocturnes, and I had the luck to attend his…
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Concert Recommendation & Interview: A SALUTE TO SONDHEIM (GMCLA, Music Director & Conductor Ernest H. Harrison)
A SALUTE TO STORYTELLERS Stage and Cinema is grateful to GMCLA Music Director & Conductor Ernest H. Harrison for taking time out of rehearsing to chat a bit about A Salute to Sondheim, an awesome new concert from the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles. The season finale concert — which plays this Saturday and Sunday,…
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Theater Review: THE PROM (North American Tour)
PROM-COM Dust off the Mylar balloons and wrist corsages and head over to The Ahmanson Theatre, where The Prom just landed as part of its national tour. Forget smelly gymnasiums or dated themes, as this prom is full of high-energy dance numbers, colorful characters, theatrical in-jokes and a litany of Broadway-style tunes that divert even as…
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Theater Review: HADESTOWN (North American Tour)
GO TO TOWN I am convinced that me colleague Marc Wheeler nailed the many reasons in his review of Hadestown why you must see this national tour. One of the most original musicals to come out in years, Hadestown still sells out on Broadway even as a National Tour is on the road. Indeed, some…
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Theater Review: AMERICAN IDIOT (Chance Theater, Anaheim)
IDIOT IS AS IDIOT DOES Inspired by a 2004 rock album by the American pop-punk rock band Green Day, American Idiot has received its share of positive reviews since its premiere in Berkeley, California in 2009 and subsequent runs on Broadway, on tour, at colleges, and regional and community theaters. When I saw the tour…
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Theater Review: KING LIZ (Geffen Playhouse)
A PLAY OFF A rich, black, ball-busting pro-sports super-agent who has worked her way up from poverty to making partner at a major firm. The white male head of that agency who wants his protégé of 22 years to take over the company as he nears retirement. The agent’s put-upon ambitious Latina assistant of five…
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Broadway Opening: KIMBERLY AKIMBO (Booth Theatre)
YES, IT’S THAT GREAT One of my favorite musicals of the year is moving its Off-Broadway production to Broadway, which is right where it belongs. Beginning previews on October 12 and officially opening on November 10, 2022, KIMBERLY AKIMBO is one of the most refreshing and original musicals since I don’t know when. Kim is…
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New York Theater Event: RODGERS & HAMMERSTEIN: A BROADWAY CELEBRATION (Transport Group at Merkin Hall)
A GRAND NIGHT FOR SINGING Transport Group has announced that Rodgers & Hammerstein: A Broadway Celebration will be the next installment in its Anne L. Bernstein Concert Series on Monday, June 27, 2022, at 8pm in Merkin Hall at Kaufman Music Center. Proceeds from the evening support The Joanna and Steven Sanders New Works Program, Transport Group’s…
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Theater Event: ROE (by Lisa Loomer; a “hyper-staging” at The Fountain Theatre in Hollywood)
The Fountain Theatre jumps into action with a “hyper-staged” reading of Roe, a powerful, poignant and often humorous play by Lisa Loomer that cuts through the headlines to reveal the real-life women — Norma McCorvey, known as “Jane Roe” and Sarah Weddington, the lawyer who argued the case — behind Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 Supreme Court…
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Dance Review: MOZART DANCES (Mark Morris Dance Group at The Broad Stage in Santa Monica)
MO’ MOZART DANCES, PLEASE What a tough day I had last Thursday. No details necessary, but I was so spent it was with worry when I attended Mark Morris’s Mozart Dances at The Broad Stage in Santa Monica that I thought sleep and ennui would be my only partners. Set to three exquisite Mozart piano…
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Theater Review: INTERSTATE (East West Players)
INTERPLAY In the age of A Strange Loop, the hit Broadway musical about a “Big Black Queer” it seems the time is ripe for more musicals about the gay experience, but one with transgender characters as leads? Lesbian singer-songwriter Melissa Li and transgender spoken-word artist Kit Yan formed a band named Good Asian Drivers, which…
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Theater Review: KING JAMES (Mark Taper Forum)
BASKETBALL BROMANCE Center Theatre Group’s winning new dramady King James — a co-production with Chicago’s Steppenwolf Company — is a must see for more than just rabid sports fans. Nobody writes a tale of two straight boys in a bromance better than Rajiv Joseph (Guards at the Taj). And his two-hander, which opened last night…
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Theater Review: STOMP (National Tour)
STILL BANGING FOR THE BUCKS The incredibly basic concept behind Stomp, a phenom now in its third decade, remains: “Make a rhythm out of anything we can get our hands on that makes a sound.” (Luke Cresswell, co-founder/director). The result: four global productions, including permanent venues in New York and London’”and the rousing tour now playing…
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Recommended Theater: NEXT TO NORMAL (World Premiere Interactive Experience at Festival Grec de Barcelona)
ALICE RIPLEYTO REPRISE HER TONY-WINNING ROLELIVE IN PERSON JULY 1-31, 2022 Tickets are now on sale for the new, live, 60-minute immersive adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winning musical Next To Normal, starring Alice Ripley, who will reprise her Tony Award winning performance as Diana, who will be joined live by Andy Seí±or Jr.,…
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London Theatre: THE SOUTHBURY CHILD (Chichester Festival Theatre and The Bridge Theatre)
A new play by Stephen Beresford Directed by Nicholas Hytner A co-production with The Bridge Theatre Chichester Festival Theatre, 13 – 25 June, 2022 Bridge Theatre: 1 July – 27 August, 2022 Sharp-witted, willful and frequently drunk, David Highland has kept a grip on his parish through a combination of disordered charm and high-handed determination….
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Attraction Reviews: SUMMIT ONE VANDERBILT | ONE WORLD OBSERVATORY (New York City)
A TALE OF TWO TOWERS The area around the erstwhile World Trade Center towers may have transformed slowly, and still under construction, but the transformation is astounding around the new high-rise replacement tower, One World Trade Center, also known as the Freedom Tower, and which is now the focal point of the Lower Manhattan skyline….
Theater Review: MEN OF SOUL (Black Ensemble Theater / Chicago)
by Mitchell Oldham | July 1, 2026
in Chicago, TheaterWHY A BOX OFFICE HIT CAN STILL LOSE MONEY
by Leslie Rosenberg | July 1, 2026
in Extras, FilmTheater Preview: PROOF (El Portal Theatre / North Hollywood)
by pwsadmin | June 30, 2026
in Los Angeles, Theater
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