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Los Angeles
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Dance Preview: THE RED SHOES (National Tour of Matthew Bourne’s Production)
MATTHEW BOURNE’S THE RED SHOES: U.S. TOUR BEGINS IN L.A. SEPTEMBER 15 Inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s beloved fairy tale and Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s legendary 1948 film The Red Shoes, Matthew Bourne and company (New Adventures) adapted the breathtaking story and created a theatrical ballet which took the U.K. by storm last year. After winding up its tour across…
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Los Angeles/Regional Theater Preview: THE TEMPEST (Shakespeare Orange County in Garden Grove)
ENCHANTED FORGIVENESS Shakespeare Orange County (SOC) has used local community members alongside professional actors to reinvent Shakespeare as a way to offer thoughts about inclusiveness and Southern California’s astoundingly diverse population with creative results. This way, the classical English literature combined with cultural aspects actually influences storytelling. And the community pride behind these productions is…
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San Diego Theater Review: ANIMAL CRACKERS (Cygnet Theatre Company)
A SWEET SAMPLING OF ANIMAL CRACKERS, ALBEIT A BIT DAY-OLD One can easily see why Animal Crackers was a Broadway hit from 1928-1929, followed by a successful movie version. Start with the zany Marx Brothers, add a variety of vaudeville style acts, connect it all with a wacky little plot and it has “Roaring Twenties”…
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Los Angeles Theater, Music & Dance Preview: CULTURE CLASH’S OG SUMMER DESMADRE (John Anson Ford Amphitheatre in Hollywood)
CURE YOUR POLITICAL HANGOVER WITH CULTURE CLASH Founded in 1984, L.A.’s very own veteran satirical Latino comedy troupe, “Culture Clash” (Herbert Siguenza, Ric Salinas and Richard Montoya) is headlining a one-night-only variety-extravaganza on Sunday, July 16, 2017 at the Ford Amphitheatre (newly revamped to the tune of $72.2 million), opposite the Hollywood Bowl. Now in their mid-to-late…
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Theater Preview: THE GRAND TOUR (Pageant of the Masters / Laguna Beach)
TAKE A GRAND TOUR WITHOUT LEAVING YOUR SEAT Pageant of the Masters, now in its 83rd year, is a singularly unique entertainment that has perfected the art of tableaux vivants (“living pictures”). With world-class designers and over 600 volunteers (including actors and a research team), this elegant and classy outfit—equal parts museum, play, concert, and…
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Los Angeles Theater Review: MARY POPPINS (Musical Theatre West in Long Beach)
MARY’S POPPIN’ OUT ALL OVER Not just the quintessentially “practically perfect” nanny, Mary Poppins is a kind of cosmic cure. Given the state of our disunion, we probably need to swallow helping and heaping spoonfuls of sugar. Courtesy of Musical Theatre West, Disney’s aggressively buoyant movie musicalization cavorts across the Carpenter Center stage, enchanted by director…
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Los Angeles Theater Review: THE ANDREWS BROTHERS (Glendale Centre Theatre)
BOOGIE WOOGIE BUGLE GIRLS OF THE U.S.O. Deanna Durbin is all but forgotten now, but there was a time when her movie musicals were so popular, they were said to have literally saved Universal from bankruptcy. In 1936, before Durbin became famous, MGM was choosing between two young singers under contract, and decided to drop…
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Los Angeles Theater Review: THE CAKE (The Echo Theater Company in Atwater Village)
TRIPLE-LAYERED CAKE Thirty-something Jen (Shannon Lucio) is torn. She wants her deceased mother’s best friend, Della (Debra Jo Rupp), a talented but struggling baker, to create her wedding cake. So with her betrothed she returns from New York to her hometown in conservative North Carolina, and finds that Della is tickled pink to honor her wish’”until…
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Los Angeles Concert Review: PENTATONIX FOURTH OF JULY WITH FIREWORKS (The Hollywood Bowl)
A TONIX FOR WHAT AILS YOU The fireworks went off both on and above the Hollywood Bowl stage last weekend. After five short selections by American composers performed by the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra and the U.S. Air Force Band of the Golden West, the entrancing and loquacious conductor Thomas Wilkins took a back seat after…
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Theater Review: THE CLIFTON’S CANTEEN (Concert at Clifton’s Republic / Los Angeles)
A BOOGIE-WOOGIE BLAST A one-time good-time event that will surely return next year, this sense-surrounding salute to USO shows of the WWII era was a perfect way to spend a Fourth of July holiday. Taking place on all four floors of the newly refurbished Clifton’s Republic in downtown, Clifton’s Canteen contained contagious crooning, dynamic dancing,…
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Los Angeles Theater Review: JACQUES BREL IS ALIVE AND WELL AND LIVING IN PARIS (Odyssey)
JACQUES IN THE BOX I think if I had been alive and living in New York in 1968, I would have been beguiled by Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris. Eric Blau and Mort Shuman translated some 25 of the Belgian singer/songwriter’s lyric-driven French songs and created a four-person revue. Its…
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Los Angeles Theater Review: LETTERS FROM A NUT BY TED. L NANCY (Geffen Playhouse in Westwood)
LETTER FROM A NUTTY CRITIC Dear Mr. Ted L. Nancy: You are a funny letter writer. In fact, you are the best letter writer who reads his own letters in a show with an actress reading replies to his letters and a mute clown waving a flag to national anthems that I have ever seen….
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Los Angeles Cabaret Review: HELLO AGAIN! THE SONGS OF ALLAN SHERMAN (Linden Waddell at the Stephanie Feury Studio Theatre)
MY DAUGHTER, THE CABARET SINGER This year’s Hollywood Fringe Festival has given me new hope for the art of cabaret: Black and White in Paris offered standards dripping in style; Psychosical deliciously revived oft-heard songs by casting singers as denizens of a loony bin; and now comes Hello Again!, Linden Waddell’s spot-on salute to arguably America’s greatest song…
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San Diego Theater Review: AIDA (Moonlight Stage Productions in Vista)
AIDA GETS THE AID IT NEEDS There are two beautiful reincarnations with Moonlight’s production of Aida, a 2000 Disney outing that never would have seen the light of day were it not for the celebrity and history of both composer Elton John and lyricist Tim Rice. The first is part of the musical’s plot: The…
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Los Angeles Event Review: SING-A-LONG SOUND OF MUSIC (Hollywood Bowl)
THE HOLLYWOOD HILLS ARE ALIVE What do you get when you cross one of the most popular movies of all time with 17,000 Angelenos dressed up as nuns, telegram delivery boys, cuckoo clocks, and brown paper packages tied up with string–all of whom set off party poppers, wave fake edelweiss, and sing along with a…
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Dance Review: TCHAIKOVSKY (Eifman Ballet of St. Petersburg at the Music Center)
UNDERSTANDING TCHAIKOVSKY Eifman Ballet of St. Petersburg’s production of Tchaikovsky. PRO et CONTRA explores duality, loneliness and the price of fame in an emotional and technically brilliant production that takes storytelling to new heights. Artistic director Boris Eifman’s portrayal of the composer’s life through first person perspective and a doppelganger that is at his side at…
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Los Angeles Theater Review: DOG SEES GOD: CONFESSIONS OF A TEENAGE BLOCKHEAD (Worst First Kiss Productions at the McCadden Place Theatre)
A VERY GOOD GRIEF This funny but disturbing update of Charles M. Schultz’s Peanuts comic strip first arrived at the Blank Theatre, after which Worst First Kiss Productions wisely utilized the Hollywood Fringe Festival to create a six-performance extension. I certainly hope there are more performances to come, for Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead contained…
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Tour Preview: DAVID SEDARIS (Royce Hall at UCLA)
FINDING DAVID SEDARIS For those unfamiliar with David Sedaris’ work, he is a prolific writer, mostly of satire and non-fiction. Many of his stories revolve around his personal life and family, though–as with any great writer, and by his own admission–he does tend to embellish. His latest book, however, is a departure from his collections of…
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San Diego Theater Review: WITHERING HEIGHTS (The Roustabouts at Diversionary Theatre)
HOW’S THE WITHER? (JUST IN CASE YOU WERE WUTHERING…) A complicated nineteenth-century story of love and retaliation, featuring 13 characters, could be tough to pull off in ninety minutes in any case. For playwrights and co-performers Phil Johnson and Omri Schein, the challenge is heightened by the pair opting to play all thirteen in their two-man show. It…
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Los Angeles Dance Review: TCHAIKOVSKY IN BALLET (American Contemporary Ballet)
BALLET’S HIDDEN BEGINNINGS “There is only now.” American Contemporary Ballet (ACB)’s Artistic Director, Lincoln Jones, quoted famed choreographer George Balanchine at the premiere of the company’s latest performance high above the Los Angeles skyline on the 32nd floor of downtown’s BLOC building. The quote described the fleeting nature of dance, which has always been difficult…
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