Tony Frankel

A LITTLE BLUE More than a few friends recently mentioned that there are many “great” things on the boob tube. Since I don’t watch TV, it came as a surprise because I assumed it was mostly pablum. I was equally disturbed by this information not because I hold TV as mindless and addictive, but because…

WHAT WILL YOU SEE IN RED? John Logan’s 2010 Tony-winning Red is a work of art, and the Mark Taper Forum is presenting the 2009 Donmar Warehouse Production, starring the illustrious Alfred Molina as Abstract Expressionist painter Mark Rothko. Attending the play cannot be recommended enough. The script is in many ways a revelation in…

A PERFECTLY ORCHESTRATED EVENING I sincerely hope that you don’t have plans yet for Saturday, August 18. Conductor Rachael Worby will lead a celebration of the American Songbook in an alfresco concert on the Caltech grounds in Pasadena. To call this evening “unique” is an understatement, as it features Rickie Lee Jones accompanied by full…

MIND YOUR MANOR Site-specific theater productions’”that is, theatre which is performed in unconventional spaces compatible to the script’”remain mystifyingly uncommon. For example, why do outdoor versions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream have us sitting on a lawn or in some bleachers, when it could be thrilling to follow actors around in a forested location? Is…

BEST BE ON YOUR AVANT-GARDE Understanding the origins of REDCAT, the downtown center for innovative visual, performing, and media arts, will assist the uninitiated in preparation for the avant-garde 9th Annual New Original Works Festival, now playing through August 11, 2012. And if you don’t like some of what you see at the festival, knowing…

LEARNING OF A DEATH PENALTY FOR ONE’S EXISTENCE Uganda has an alarming history when it comes to human rights violations, but recent developments against gay people are horrifying. In 2005, Ugandan police arrested a lesbian couple in their home, strip-searched and fondled them, and then released them without filing charges. In 2008, the couple won…

RING IT ON! I hadn’t read J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring since junior high, and the movie, which is the first installment of Peter Jackson’s gorgeous film trilogy The Lord of the Rings, left me bewildered at best. To say then that I was dubious attending  a musical parody of the popular book and…

WHAT WE HAVE HERE IS A FAILURE TO COMMUNICATE Somewhere around half-way through Guy Zimmerman’s The Black Glass, a “Hollywood Fringe Festival premiere,” my mind began to wander. Every opportunity for me to jump on board with this dense, impenetrable, and esoteric mess had been squandered by abstruse writing, obscured plot, elusive character development, and…

A MISSIONARY’S POSITION At rise: A critic is writing when the doorbell rings. The critic opens the door and reveals Savannah, a perky, Southern, cheerleader-type with pamphlets in her hand. Critic: Yes? Savannah: Hey, y’all! I’m here to spread the news about The Savannah Disputation at the Colony Theatre. It’s kind of like a cross…

ATTEND THIS PLAY Go see Language Rooms now. I bought a ticket with no intention of a review, but Yussef El Guindi is far and away one of the most exciting new playwrights I have heard in years. The story takes place in an unnamed interrogation facility at an undisclosed location, and translator and interrogator…

A MUSICAL DIVIDED CAN STILL STAND How I adore Musical Theatre Guild, which is presenting a full-out, highly professional concert staging of the 1975 musical Shenandoah. MTG offers the chance to see rarely-produced musicals with such expertise that the viewer will forget there are even scripts in hand. Accompanied by marvelous musicians, the fully-costumed, lit,…

NO WAY The current production of No Way Around But Through, a world premiere play by Scott Caan, contains many ingredients  that explain why L.A. has little to no reputation as a fountainhead of great theater. It is more of a tutorial about the perpetuation of mediocrity than a reviewable event. Certainly, the play is problematic,…