Areas We Cover
Categories
Los Angeles
-
Theater Review: A PLAY IS A POEM (World Premiere by Ethan Coen at the Mark Taper in Los Angeles)
SHOWTIME AT THE VANITIES Ethan Coen’s A Play Is a Poem at the Mark Taper Forum strikes me as neither a poem, nor, strictly speaking, theater. I don’t know what it is. For the most part the five short playlets come across as sketches — and not in a good way. Coen attempts to project…
-
Opera Review: LA BOHÈME (LA Opera)
A LOW RENT BOHÈME It’s hard to go wrong (in general) with Giacomo Puccini’s 1896 opera—a relatively light tragedy buoyed with easy-to-love characters, provocative music, and a lot of humor. The latest production that opened LA Opera’s 2019/2020 season manages somehow to offer a production that left me dry-eyed at the end, which never happened…
-
Theater Review: KISS MY AZTEC (La Jolla Playhouse)
SHOULD EVERYONE KISS MY AZTEC? IT DEPENDS: For fans of John Leguizamo, the notion of a full-length musical written by him is a thrilling draw. Whether a fan from his numerous edgy one-man Broadway shows like Ghetto Klown and Latin History for Morons, or his dramatic roles in Carlito’s Way and ER, or his comedic…
-
Theater Preview: GRUMPY OLD MEN — THE MUSICAL (La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts)
FASTEN YOUR SEAT BELT; IT’S GOING TO BE A GRUMPY RIDE John and Max are elderly neighbors in a cold Minnesota town. They both live alone in their homes since their wives have died, and exchange stories about how their friends are now dying when they are not busy insulting each other. They have a…
-
Theater Review: SKINTIGHT (Geffen Playhouse)
THE NEW NORMAL A weird dynamic takes over the house at Skintight, Joshua Harmon’s comedy, now at the Geffen Playhouse. In broad terms, it feels like a battle of the sexes — with men in the audience, straight and gay alike, cheering for Elliot (Harry Groener), a seventy-year-old billionaire clothier who defines love as something…
-
Theater Interview: BEKAH BRUNSTETTER, Playwright of MISS LILLY GETS BONED (West Coast Premiere by Rogue Machine at Electric Lodge in Venice)
BONE CALL When a young Bekah Brunstetter set out to explore where she stood on issues like animal rights, faith, and even relationships, it was before she had ever learned to question what she wrote. No filters, just passion. Sex, faith, and violence are all part of the intricate package of connections in Miss Lilly…
-
Los Angeles Theater Review: THE SOLID LIFE OF SUGAR WATER (Deaf West Theatre at Inner-City Arts)
A PRODUCTION WITH SOLID LIFE Phil and Alice are in love, the kind of messy, well-known, commonplace love that many couples are familiar with. They meet cute in a post office when a package full of sex toys meant for his brother bursts apart. But don’t think you are in for a romantic comedy. This…
-
Theater Review: THE CHINESE LADY (Greenway Court Theatre in Los Angeles)
DECORATIVE CHINA I saw this beautifully sad, poignant, dark play last Saturday evening and I’m still thinking about it. Thanks to the wonderful writing, acting and directing this two-person outing based on a true story is that memorable. In 1834 a 14-year-old Chinese girl, Afong Moy (the excellent Amy Shu), arrived in New York from…
-
Concert Review: BARRY MANILOW (Hollywood Bowl)
BARRY ME BACK TO THE SEVENTIES You know when glowsticks have been placed on each seat of the Hollywood Bowl prior to Barry Manilow’s extremely well-sold concert that there would be heart-wrenching numbers ahead. And there obviously were. Easy-listening, high-charting, orchestral pop tunes “Even Now,” “Weekend in New England,” and “Mandy” among them, backed up…
-
Theater Review: LATIN HISTORY FOR MORONS (Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles)
MORON THAT NOW One-man stage phenom John Leguizamo, who has popularized the stories of his Columbian/Puerto Rican/Bronx Ghetto peeps and their culture in semi-autobiographical shows Mambo Mouth, Freak, Spic-O-Rama, and Ghetto Klown, returns with lefty, sobering, highly entertaining monologue that brings home the tragic 3000-year history of Latino Americans. While the show is titled Latin History for…
-
Theater Preview: SKINTIGHT (Geffen Playhouse)
GET SKINNED Joshua Harmon’s new play Skintight assays the nature of love, the power of attraction, and the ways in which a superficial culture persists in teaching its children that all that matters is what’s on the inside. This dramedy completed its successful run at Roundabout in NY, and opens at The Geffen Playhouse this…
-
Dance Preview: FORMULAE AND FAIRY TALES (Invertigo Dance Theatre World Premiere at The Broad Stages in Santa Monica)
ONES AND ZEROS, APPLES AND POISONS, QUEENS AND WITCHES, FORMULAE AND FAIRY TALES A new dance work by Invertigo Dance Theatre is making its world premiere at The Broad Stages in Santa Monica next weekend on Friday and Saturday, September 13 & 14, at 7:30. Formulae and Fairy Tales is based on the life and…
-
Theater Review: WITCH (Geffen Playhouse)
A PITCH FOR THIS RICH WITCH Written by Jen Silverman and directed by Marti Lyons, Witch is inspired by William Rowley’s Jacobian 1621 play Witch of Edmonton. The classic story follows Elizabeth Sawyer, a woman forced to the outskirts of society who finds revenge on her bullying neighbors by selling her soul to the devil. Well,…
-
Theater Review: FEFU AND HER FRIENDS (Odyssey Theatre Ensemble in West L.A.)
FRIENDLY FEMINIST FIRE Fefu and Her Friends is one of the most famous plays by the recently deceased feminist avant-garde playwright María Irene Fornés, a Cuban American who has won nine Obie Awards including the award for sustained achievement. After seeing this production directed by Denise Blasor, I understand why. Fornés brilliantly captures the time…
-
Los Angeles Theater Review: FRANKENSTEIN (A Noise Within in Pasadena)
ENDURING THE MONSTER Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (1797-1851) wrote her famous “ghost story,” Frankenstein, in 1818, while on a vacation on Lake Geneva with her husband, the poet Percy Shelley, the explorer Lord Byron, and Dr. John Polidon. It was a gloomy summer and these Romantic poets each wrote a Gothic story of some kind to…
-
Theater Review: EARLY BIRDS (Moving Arts)
EARLY BIRDS GETS THE BIRD The phrase “early bird” generally denotes someone who is an early-morning riser or who shows up anywhere early, words usually attributed to the elderly. In Dana Schwartz’s light comedy, two senior women — one rich, one middle-class poor — find themselves on the first day of an ocean voyage beating…
-
Theater Review: 33 1/3 – HOUSE OF DREAMS (San Diego Repertory Theatre)
TRIBUTE TO THE HITS FROM GOLD STAR Gold Star Recording Studio might not be a household name, but the musicians they recorded for certainly are: Tina Turner, Sonny and Cher, and the Beach Boys are just hint at the long list. Gold Star turned out over 120 Top-40 songs in their thirty year history. With…
-
Theater Review: SHREK (3-D Theatricals in Cerritos)
SHREK IS A SHRUG OF A MUSICAL; BUT THIS PRODUCTION IS SURE AND SHARP Shrek The Musical is a mystifying experience. The whole thing is rather inane, versus the sophisticated silliness of Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. The first time I saw the show was the final performance of the National…
-
Review: ALL SHOOK UP (San Diego Musical Theatre)
A HUNK-A HUNK-A BURNING FUN On the heels of Cygnet’s Rock of Ages, in which every tune is an 80s hit, comes San Diego Musical Theatre’s staging of All Shook Up, in which every musical moment is an Elvis Presley song. (It played Broadway in 2005 with 213 performances.) It’s an interesting trend, fitting in…
-
Interview: VINCE MELOCCHI (writer of world premiere ANDY WARHOL’S TOMATO at Pacific Resident Theatre)
PEELING A TOMATO If you’ve ever wondered what Andy Warhol was like as a kid, perhaps writer Vince Melocchi’s new play will give you a better understanding of the iconic artist, far beyond his eccentric persona. This curiosity became the biggest challenge for the playwright, finding the voice of a teenage Andy Warhola who was…
Search Articles
Please help keep
Stage and Cinema going!
