Los Angeles

TO STAGE AN IMPOSSIBLE DREAM Now in its 60th season, Musical Theatre West (MTW)  is currently reviving Man of La Mancha with the astronomical performance of Davis Gaines as its driving force. Technically, the estimable company has never been better, producing sights and sounds the likes of which one would only expect from a Broadway show….

ART OR NOT, IT’S A FUN PLAY Yasmina Reza’s oft-produced Art (English translation by Christopher Hampton) may be singularly responsible for the current plethora of new plays today billed as “Ninety Minutes No Intermission.” The story, about three long-time friends who are at odds over a painting one of them has bought, is splendidly simple…

THE CLYBOURNE CONNECTION There are two reasons to revive a play. One: to see if the play has retained its power over the years. And two: to look at the play afresh, with eyes that see now what we may not have seen when the play in question was first produced. The beauty of Phylicia…

HERE COMES MR. JORDAN Have you ever been to a sultry party that has the oppressive feel of a languid, humid day in the Deep South, only to have the energy shift dramatically when a raconteur blows in like a refreshing breeze off the Gulf Coast? Usually, it is someone who can recount their adventures…

CHEATED OF FEATURE The joy of watching Shakespeare in performance largely depends on the ensemble’s ability to make sense of the language.   In this regard, Sacred Fools’ new Richard III succeeds, and before the intermission, it boasts the equally rare Shakespearean virtue of velocity.   But any staging of any play has responsibilities beyond diction and…

THE VALUE IN SIMPLICITY The purposefully simplistic proceedings of David Cromer’s production of Our Town may seem bold and innovative to some, especially to those weaned on Broadway spectacles. Yet, the gloriously unassuming presentation now on at the Broad Stage is actually a spot-on realization of Thornton Wilder’s vision of his famous 1938 play. Indeed,…

WILL THE REAL MOLLY IVINS PLEASE STAND UP? Molly Ivins was a ballsy Texas-based reporter who became a legend in her own time by calling a spade a spade (or, more succinctly, calling George W. Bush a moron – even before he was President – and who added glorious insult to magnificent injury by saying…

OWNING HER INNER KVETCH In Michael Wex’s treatise Born to Kvetch, he asserts that Kvetching (complaining) is not only a pastime for Jews – it’s a way of life. Kvetching can be applied indifferently to contentment or displeasure: it is a way of knowing, a means of apprehension that sees the world through cataract-colored glasses….

NOT YOUR ORDINARY EVENING OF DANCE Liz Casebolt and Joel Smith’s long-term friendship shapes their every move as a duo dance company. Such a partnership between a straight woman and gay man is not unusual in the dance world. Self-conscious acknowledgement of it in a performance is. Yet fessing up to the friendship that sustains…

BLACK COMEDY AND KITCHEN SINK DRAMA: AN IRISH STEW While the horror and suspense merely simmer in The Beauty Queen of Leenane – Martin McDonagh’s 1996 black comedy – the dark humor, bleakness, and romance positively boil over, making The Production Company’s revival a recommended trip. For 20 years, 40 year-old spinster Maureen (Ferrell Marshall)…

WARLIKE FROTTAGE The Porters of Hellsgate’s production of Shakespeare’s Trojan War essay, Troilus and Cressida, begins promisingly.   A shifting tableau establishes characters and relationships during the Prologue’s welcome, telling visually a story that might be hard to follow due to its many characters, plot lines, and changes of theme.   It’s too bad Charles Pasternak then…

TELL US A STORY, AUNTIE CHARLAYNE If I were a child, I would want Auntie Charlayne to tuck me in and tell me a story. Why? Because Auntie Charlayne –   that’s Charlayne Woodard –   just happens to be a great storyteller. She can get right in there, keeping you interested every step of the way,…

TWISTED LITTLE PASSIONS IN THE SUBURBS Now that A Noise Within –   the Southern California repertory theater company dedicated to the classics – has gotten a snazzy new suburban theater in Pasadena, guess what?   They are doing the same fair-to-middling work on their new stage as they did in their old space in Glendale. I…

UNAPPRECIATED MASTERPIECE OR ABJECT FAILURE? Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein began the Golden Era of Broadway with two musicals that reimagined the previous form of musical comedies – a cluster of songs packaged together by a plot – by using songs to heighten and embellish a striking narrative. After creating Oklahoma! (1943) and Carousel (1945),…