Los Angeles

GMCLA OFFERS NOT ENTIRELY WICKED, FEATURING STEPHEN SCHWARTZ AND LIZ CALLAWAY In what is surely one of the busiest weekends for the arts in Los Angeles, let me help you make a decision. It’s one of those once-in-a-lifetime concert events that will not be replicated, nor will it have a long run. In fact, you…

NOT JUST A GAY BAR ANY MORE It is the unfortunate nature of some gay dramas to hammer home or leadenly evangelize a theme with a heavy hand.   You know the sort of thing I am talking about:   The drama about a homophobic thug who beats a gay person, with the beater portrayed as a…

A FEINSTEIN FIRST The untimely passing of Marvin Hamlisch was a blow to the entertainment industry, but no more keenly felt than at the Pasadena Pops where he was the principal conductor. Who could possibly replace Hamlisch, the musician extraordinaire and jovial raconteur who had vast knowledge of the American Songbook and an array of…

PHALLUS IN BLUNDERLAND Who has been accused of being a Sexual Reprobate? Satirist? Socialist? Philosopher? The precursor to Freudian psychology and existentialism? Woman-hating pornographer? An ideal of freedom? If you mentioned the American Senate circa 1915, you’re only partially right. No, the answer is the Marquis de Sade (1740 –1814), a French aristocrat, philosopher, and…

A SHOW OF GREAT IMPORTANCE An anomaly of the Hollywood Fringe Festival has arrived. A gem which alone justifies the Fringe’s existence. A nascent troupe named Good People Theater Company is using the Festival’s built-in promotional tie-in and relative inexpensiveness to its advantage. They spent a bit more requesting a specific schedule to accommodate 15…

FALLING FOR DONIZETTI’S VALLEY GIRL Opera in Los Angeles seems to be thriving these days. In addition to established companies like LA Opera and Long Beach Opera, there are smaller companies cropping up all over the place, such as Pacific Opera Project, the Independent Opera Company and Center Stage Opera (CSO). While the first two…

DON’T COME TO THE CABARET It’s the first time I have ever seen someone on stage in flop sweat. Poor Anastasia Barnes had a rough go in her opening of The Ruby Besler Cabaret. One would suppose a lack of air conditioning was the culprit, but the other five women on stage were dry as…

A DIFFERENT KIND OF GAME Rufus Wainwright received a smattering of awards for his self-titled 1998 debut, loud fanfare for his follow-up album Poses, and his cover of Leonard Cohen’s classic “Hallelujah” for the Shrek Soundtrack in 2001, but has not found the same level of praise or success for his subsequent efforts. Mentions of…

A HEAD SPINNINGLY GOOD EXORCIST ROMP THAT DOESN’T SUCK C#CKS IN HELL A year or two back, wily producers crafted a stage version of the chilling 1970s horror flick, The Exorcist, and gave it a lavish staging at the Geffen Playhouse.   It was a thudding flop, in spite of a cast whose members included Brooke…

YES, EVERYONE Yes, Minister and Yes, Prime Minister were BBC television shows that ran on American PBS stations when I was a kid; I resented them for not being Monty Python, and dismissed them, and never thought twice about them until I heard Ron Bottitta was going to be in some kind of stage resurrection…

GIRL, PLEASE! Prior to curtain at Musical Theatre Guild’s concert staging of Girl Crazy, we were warned that the Gershwin brothers’ 1930 musical was written before “the code” (read: censorship), so “expect to be offended.” Well, thank God. I am rather tired of inoffensive theater. Besides, the one memorable thing about Guy Bolton and Jack…

BOBBING FOR APPLES Perusing a Peanuts anthology recently, I found my mind beginning to wander after about 15 panels. Regardless of Schultz’ insightful social commentary and universal truths – as seen through the eyes of elementary school children – his comic strips were meant to be seen one at a time. No matter how clever…

THE FRUSTRATING LABORS OF A FASCINATING COMPANY It is said that Roman Philosopher and Playwright Seneca’s Hercules Furens (c. 54 CE) was never produced but only read in Seneca’s lifetime. Scholars hold that it most likely may have been written to be read and studied rather than performed on a stage. The physical theatre ensemble…

ME NO LIKE Brandon Baruch’s new play answers the question, What if a tedious dipshit got cloned? Failed actor and drunken doofus Tuck (Benjamin Durham) sponges off his girlfriend Gemma (Lizzie Adelman) until the result of a forgotten sperm donation, also named Tuck (Sto Strauss), knocks at their door. Afterward, the doofus mooches off both…

CHICK ‘N’ SCHTICK THEATER It’s no small feat when a play inspires me to do something with my life. While watching Stephen Sachs’ Heart Song at the Fountain, I felt compelled to join a Flamenco class inmediatamente. The problem was I wanted to bolt from the theater during this play to do so. But here’s…

OVER THE (ABSURD) MOON The show begins in darkness with a musical overture blazing through the air. Slowly the glow of a yellow moon appears in the background, a man’s face superimposed on it. We have a brief moment to meditate on it before a straggly-haired man, the writer, bound in a straight jacket, makes…