Los Angeles

MERRY-GO-ROUND PLAYWRITING More of a writing exercise than a fleshed-out drama, Rajiv Joseph’s Gruesome Playground Injuries begins with an intriguing premise, but sputters to a halt when we realize that this much-hyped “Pulitzer-finalist” has written himself into a corner. Flip-flopping throughout a 30-year time span, the play is constructed as a series of meetings between…

DON’T MIZ IT Unlike most of the characters in the blockbuster sung-through musical Les Misérables, the show itself will never die. Consistently presented either on Broadway, national tours, and/or globally since the English-language version opened on the West End in 1985, audiences can’t get enough of Victor Hugo’s story about ex-con and do-gooder Jean Valjean…

MORE LANG FOR YOUR BUCK While Jessica Lang has made a name for herself in the dance world as an independent choreographer, dance patrons in Los Angeles may find this dancemaker difficult to place. Because the majority of troupes that visit here offer programs by the company’s namesake (Paul Taylor, Lar Lubovitch, Bill T. Jones),…

DEARTH OF DRAMA Steven Drukman’s Death of the Author takes its name, premise, and some of the devices in its dialogue from a Roland Barthes essay on postmodernism.   It’s wonderful to see Drukman adapt Gore Vidal’s riposte to William Buckley about crypto-Nazis and fold it into a pun on Marxist literary theory.   But there’s nothing…

A PRODUCTION FOR TUTTE TO COSíŒ UP TO For those who think that the “semi-staging” for Così fan tutte, which opens on Friday at Disney Hall, is simply a world-class orchestra accompanying opera singers holding a libretto in their hands, you are in for a surprise. Fully staged, fully memorized, and beautifully designed, the operas…

IF YOU GUILD IT, THEY WILL COME There is an outstanding music outfit which offers a series of chamber music concerts, introducing world renowned artists to Los Angeles audiences. Having seen some of its recent presentations of repertoire played at its premier level by sparkling chamber musicians, including the Borromeo and Avalon String Quartets (review),…

a poem about a play This critic, this poet this pinch faced sailor Blueblack eyes like wet rocks icy sharp nose like a dagger screams I AM A PLAGIARIST this poem MY poem paraphrased from actual script of different words for the same thing The same thing by Kimber Lee The same thing Playing at…

A BLAZING-HOT PRODUCTION As Los Angeles heats up to sizzling temperatures this week, there is a cool, refreshing theatrical breeze blowing down the pike. It may be wise to avoid the 110-in-the-shade weather outside, but the musical 110 in the Shade at Actors Co-op in Hollywood is not to be missed. With a libretto by…

DAZZLING DOMINGO IN MASSENET’S MASTERPIECE What do world-renowned singers do once they have reached the age of retirement? On the strength of their name, they fill cabarets and concert houses across the land with nostalgia-filled patrons who seek a glimpse of their heroes live. Recent years have seen both opera and Broadway stars in just…

HAS THE BLOOM WORN OFF THE LILY, OR IS IT ME? Dear Lily: I’ve adored you ever since you burst into my consciousness – and the nation’s – way back in 1969 on Laugh-In. Who could forget your Ernestine, the irascible telephone operator? Your Edith Ann, the precocious and deep-voiced 6-year-old? Your weirdly insightful homeless…