Los Angeles

THE STURDIEST DILAPIDATED HOUSE IN TOWN When she enters her house, so badly in need of repair that it might as well be razed as restored, she walks with a strange somnambulistic slowness, one foot seeming to go forward and the other simultaneously taking a step backward. She doesn’t seem to mind being drenched, as…

CUT THE PRE-CURTAIN SPEECH! If any evidence is needed to prove that Los Angeles is – as a theater town – still somewhat provincial, I present, for your delectation, the pre-curtain speech. At the Odyssey production of Adding Machine: A Musical, Ron Sossi encouraged the audience to tell their friends about it’¦whether they liked it…

TOSS IT IN THE WOOD PILE One wonders if Deaf West Theatre’s production of The Adventures of Pinocchio could have ever taken off. This remarkably plodding production already has a strike against it by choosing the choppy adaptation by Billy Elliot’s Lee Hall: it’s a hodgepodge of children’s theatre, adult humor, and a series of…

WE LOVES IT I’ll be the first to admit that it may be impossible to create a bad production of the 1963 musical She Loves Me; this perfect show, based on the 1937 play Parfumerie by Miklos Laszlo, is so resplendent, so charming, and so well-constructed that a recent gathering of literati for New York…

SCAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF Casey Smith is an unedited, unexpurgated, nasty and playful little boy who delights in farting, defecating, vomiting and bouncing around the stage with so much hyperactive energy that you may be tempted to toss him some Ritalin and Handy-Wipes. Casey Smith is not a character in a play; this…

WHO SAYS I DON’T LIKE FLUFF? Some readers have taken umbrage with me when I criticize shows that are meant to be nothing more than entertaining light comedies, such as Rock Of Ages and The Catholic Girl’s Guide To Losing Your Virginity, insinuating that only intellectual stimulation will suffice for a satisfying theatrical experience. Well,…

WELL, NOT EVERYTHING’S COMING UP ROSES Prior to the opening of Ethel Merman’s Broadway at the El Portal, Mitzi Gaynor, close friend to Merman, comes walking out to introduce the show (don’t expect Mitzi at subsequent performances). As Mitzi recalls what a larger-than-life character Ethel could be, an audience member said, “We can’t hear you. 

MASTERPIECE IN THE MAKING When an art curator X-rays a famous painting, they occasionally unmask the artist’s original painting underneath the masterpiece; often, it proves to be no less striking, but it illuminates why the artist altered hues, shifted brush strokes, or placed the arm of a sitter in a different position. Nick Salamone’s new…

PROMISING BOOMERS YIELD TOO MANY BUMMERS Six highly energetic triple-threat performers hit the ground running at the El Portal Theatre during the opening number of Boomermania. With a lacquered glee that one can only find in a cruise ship showroom (containing all the subtlety of a tidal wave), it serves as a warning of the…

BRUSH UP YOUR LOPE DE VEGA How easy life would be for reviewers if every time they went to the theater, they could see something as absolutely delightful and as thoroughly skillful as The Capulets And The Montagues happens to be. The coup here is the discovery that Lope de Vega, a Spanish contemporary of…

MAKE NOISE: ARTISTS AT WORK There is nothing more liberating than going to the theater in complete ignorance of what one is going to see. If context is everything, then it is no accident that this is exactly what this reviewer experienced just last weekend on two consecutive nights. The results couldn’t be more joyous….

VARIATION ON 33 VARIATIONS Since I feel pretty much the same as I did when I first saw 33 Variations, and since it is virtually the same production with virtually the same cast, I have decided to reprint my original review, along with an addendum that follows afterward. — THE CURIOUS CASE OF LUDWIG VAN…