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Los Angeles Theater Review: PARADE (3-D Theatricals)
DON’T LET THIS PARADE PASS YOU BY With no intentions of reviewing, I attended 3-D Theatricals’ astounding rendition of Parade, bookwriter Alfred Uhry and composer/lyricist Jason Robert Brown’s emotionally pile-driving musical that reprises an ugly tragedy. I have been begging folks to see this Broadway-caliber outing — it closes Sunday Jun 24 — but heard this…
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Music Review: DIANA ROSS SINGS MEMORIES WITH THE HOLLYWOOD BOWL ORCHESTRA
MISS ROSS REVIVED MEMORIES, BUT DIDN’T BOWL US OVER Last Saturday was an unusually grey and chilly night for June. Unfortunately, the program for the opening night of the Hollywood Bowl’s 2018 season was as mild as the weather. I suppose it’s enough that the event raised more than $1.75 million for the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s educational…
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Theater Review: LONG DAY’S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT (The Wallis in Beverly Hills)
ONCE MORE UNTO THE BREACH Eugene O’Neill twice turned his troubled youth into all-absorbing drama. His family first appeared as a happy tangle of eccentric loved ones in Ah, Wilderness!, a halcyon 1933 comedy that revealed no greater family rifts than a generation gap and a father’s worry about his son’s preference for “decadent” poets….
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Theater Review: CULT OF LOVE (IAMA Theatre Company in Atwater Village)
ON CONFORMING AND CHRIST Ah, what better fodder for drama is there than the dysfunctional American family? You know the ingredients: accusations hurled back and forth by the walking wounded; recriminations for offenses committed years before; and — for good measure — a reunion with plenty of alcohol and mental illness. With her Cult of Love,…
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Theater Review: A COMPLETE WASTE OF TIME (Hollywood Fringe Festival)
HALLUCINOGENS, MAN-WHORES & CHINA PEOPLE I’m not sure why Steve Chang chose to call his world premiere one-man show at the 2018 Hollywood Fringe Festival A Complete Waste of Time. It isn’t. He isn’t. And his aim doesn’t seem to be anything as trivial as what the title suggests. Chang tells a number of stories…
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Music Review: CONSIDERING MATTHEW SHEPARD (Ford Amphitheatre)
BREAKING DOWN FENCES An American requiem, an oratorio, and a choral masterpiece elegantly and movingly performed, Considering Matthew Shepard, which closes tonight at the Ford Amphitheatre, is not to be missed. The full-length work — containing hymns, Western music, spirituals, and other Copeland-esque evocations of American compositions — certainly mourns and honors Shepard, the twenty-year-old…
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Los Angeles Theater Review: SKELETON CREW (Geffen Playhouse in Westwood)
MOTHER COURAGE IN MOTOR CITY The marvel of scenic designer Rachel Meyers’ work greets you when you enter the theater at the Geffen Playhouse, and draws the audience into Skeleton Crew, the third and final installment in playwright Dominique Morisseau’s award-winning three-play cycle, The Detroit Project. Then Meyers’ set does an extraordinary thing: During onstage…
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Theater Review: ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST (After Hours Theatre Company in Burbank)
FLY TO THIS NEST Boy oh boy, if you like immersive theater, than check yourself into the madhouse over in Burbank. When the rebellious, charismatic and playful Randle McMurphy gets reassigned from penal labor on a prison farm to assessment as an asylum inmate, he gathers that the mental institution will be a more lenient…
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Theater Review: AS WE BABBLE ON (East West Players)
SORRY TO BURST YOUR BABBLE In this unfortunate world premiere, the winsome cast begins with angry pessimistic post-millennial Benji (Will Choi), an Asian-American comic book artist whose boss — not seeing a need for the twentysomething’s Asian Superhero — has given a well-deserved promotion to a white dude instead. Benji wants to self-publish his character…
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Los Angeles Theater Review: 100 APRILS (Rogue Machine Theatre)
ONE ARMENIAN, ONE TURK, ONE ROOM – WHAT ARE THE ODDS? “Your blondness has not served you the way we had hoped,” says a woman to her daughter, as a husband and father is dying of heart failure in a hospital bed. The line perfectly captures the old world and the new in a loaded…
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Dance Preview: LULA WASHINGTON DANCE THEATRE (Ford Amphitheatre)
LULA’S BACK IN TOWN The Ford Theatres presents Lula Washington Dance Theatre (LWDT) on Friday, June 8 at 8:30pm, as part of its IGNITE @ the FORD! series. For this joyous evening of dance, three renowned choreographers — Kyle Abraham (“Hallowed”), Rennie Harris (“Reign”) and David Roussève (“Enough”) — will have their work performed by…
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Dance Preview: SPECTACULAR BALANCHINE! (American Contemporary Ballet in Los Angeles)
HAVING A BALL WITH BALANCHINE By the time of his death on April 30, 1983, George Balanchine had created over 400 works and was recognized as a 20th-century master alongside Picasso and Stravinsky. American Contemporary Ballet’s Artistic Director Lincoln Jones has already shown a profound ken for all things Balanchine with his original works that…
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Los Angeles Theater Review: CABARET (Celebration Theatre in Hollywood)
COME TO THIS CABARET Aside from the fact that it will sell out quickly, there are a number of reasons to rush out and get tickets for Celebration Theatre’s revival of Cabaret. First of all, this is 2018, and a better time to see Cabaret could not be imagined. That may be 1929 Berlin at the dawn of…
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San Diego Theater Review: THE LONELIEST GIRL IN THE WORLD (Diversionary Theatre)
FROM ORANGE JUICE TO A PIE IN THE FACE “What these people really want, hidden behind obscure legal phrases, is the legal right to propose to our children that theirs is an acceptable alternate way of life. I will lead such a crusade to stop it as this country has not seen before.” − Anita…
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Los Angeles Theater Review: BORDERTOWN NOW (Pasadena Playhouse)
A WALL WILL NEVER STOP A BUTTERFLY When I was a kid, the word “wetback” had negative connotations, but I don’t remember it being considered particularly hateful. My mother even used it to describe herself. I think its relative mildness was directly connected to the widespread, pragmatic acceptance of a necessary system of employment. People…
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Opera Review: RIGOLETTO (LA Opera)
CARO RIGOLETTO In Rigoletto, Verdi’s score is as delightful and charming as ever, with such memorable songs as “La donna è mobile” and “Caro nome.” Moreover, it is perfectly balanced between large ensemble scenes and more intimate duets. Rigoletto doesn’t drag either, nor is it overly long, but lasts a reasonably full two and a half hours, including…
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Music Preview: 2018 PLAYBOY JAZZ FESTIVAL (The Hollywood Bowl)
THIS FESTIVAL IS ALL ABOUT PLAY, BOY OK, you’ve heard about it for years. But now you’re ready to take the plunge (and you should be) to attend the world famous Playboy Jazz Festival at the Hollywood Bowl. These two marathon days, June 9 & 10, 2018, can seem a bit intimidating, so let me…
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Theater Review: THE COLOR PURPLE (National Tour)
WHILE HARDLY REVELATIONAL, A REVVED-UP REVIVAL BECOMES RELATABLE It’s a miracle. After seeing the original 2005 musical adaption, it seemed that nothing could fix this show. But then The Color Purple met director John Doyle, who made a name for himself by reinventing musicals by eliminating choruses and having actors often playing instruments in lieu of an orchestra,…
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Dance Preview: BODYTRAFFIC (The Wallis)
FIVE NOT-SO-EASY PIECES BODYTRAFFIC, the contemporary dance outfit headquartered right here in Los Angeles, has smartly scheduled three performances of this weekend’s upcoming showcase of exciting works — including a Company Premiere and a World Premiere — at The Wallis in Beverly Hills. The last four times I saw this exciting company (three at the Broad,…
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Music Preview: Sol Gabetta, Gustavo Dudamel, LA Phil (SCHUMANN CELLO CONCERTO; SYMPHONY 3 & 4)
SCHUMANN TO WIN YOU OVER Although his life was difficult, to say the least, ending prematurely in madness, Robert Schumann nonetheless composed music that elevates us through its pure spirit and unique personal character. Last week, Gustavo Dudamel began a three-week exploration of this (I think) underappreciated composer. Of course, Schumann isn’t always necessarily easy, pleasant or…
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