Los Angeles

THE GOOD ANDREW BYRON CREATES A LONG AND WINDING RUSSIAN Andrew Byron frames his one man show The Good Russian within the historical context of 2018, when Sergei Skripal, a Russian expatriate who had worked as a double agent for MI6, the British Intelligence Agency, was found poisoned along with his daughter in his home in…

SHAKESPEARE GOES BRAT PACK The trouble with tribute plays is that not all audiences are necessarily as knowledgeable about the subject of the homage as the creators are.  In the case of Phil S. Gould’s faux Shakespearian The Club of Broken Fasts, the object of his retooling is the 1985 coming-of-age teen comedy-drama The Breakfast…

PULP FRICTION Reservoir Dolls is a witty, sharp satire of several sociological concerns currently occupying center stage in the cultural consciousness of both “tinsel town” and the nation: the exploitation of women in films and their limited access to roles in an image-driven industry; the institutional gender inequality and barriers facing women in the studio…

THE BIG SLEEP MEETS BIG QUESTIONS IN MR. BIG “Mr. Big” is the final entry in Woody Allen’s Getting Even (1971), his first published collection of 17 tales and essays, most of which originally appeared in The New Yorker. The main character in “Mr. Big” reflects a recurring motif for Allen: Sam Spade. Kaiser Lupowitz,…

NOT ENOUGH HEAT The Second Coming of Joan of Arc is the best-known work of American playwright, author, and lesbian feminist Carolyn Gage. Loosely based, scholars will tell you, “very loosely,” on the history of the teenage “Maid of Orléans,” who led the French armies to a series of victories over those of the English…

SEA WORTHY Wilds of Sea is an undersea adventure that will leave little ones wide-eyed and utterly captivated. But make no mistake—this all-ages puppet spectacle is as enchanting for the grown-ups as it is for the kids. Directed by Shannon Reagan, who also built the stunning life-sized puppets, Wilds of Sea follows a mischievous seal…

THIS SHOW NEEDS A LOTTA LENYA I always look forward to the shows of Shelley Cooper at the Hollywood Fringe. They are musical biographies of women who made history not only with their presence but with their voices as well; La Divina: The Last Interview of Maria Callas and Jenny Lind Presents P.T. Barnum were…

SQUEEZABLE THEATER Those dark days all seem so long ago. The face masks, drive-thru testing, fear of crowded indoor spaces, and some idiot assuring us, “It’s going to disappear. One day — it’s like a miracle — it will disappear.” Yes, I’m talking COVID-19, which in 2020 spread worldwide, causing global shortages in ventilators, vaccines,…

Unlike his previous shows at The Hollywood Fringe — Spank the Monkey and Shagadelic: The Origins of Slang Words for Doing It — Michael Blaha has shed his stage persona of Professor Richard Fondler and presents himself in the aptly named Mike Blaha: International Joke. In taking this step, Blaha has proven what was already obvious:…

Have you ever wanted to run away from your own life? In Becky’s New Car, now playing at Theatre 40, playwright Steven Dietz takes that midlife fantasy and drives it straight into a quirky, comedic romp filled with detours, breakdowns, and a few surprisingly sharp turns. Becky Foster (a charming and wonderfully grounded performance by…

FEMINIST CLOWNS COLLIDE WITH CAPITOLISM Clownish perfection poses a unique problem for reviewers in that the blend of Da-Da slapstick and rib-tickling existentialism tends to defy easy description, in that they tell stories that go beyond language. I’ve always suspected the reason for this is that in our evolution, “clowning†preceded language. Holy, Holy: The…

TITANIC SINKS AGAIN Mallie McCown‘s madcap reimagining of Titanic, James Cameron’s $220 million epic, is ambitious beyond words, which is the source for most of the problems that plague this production. Issues aside, however, Oh, Fuck! An Iceberg remains staggeringly clever and more fun than a barrel of monkeys in a lifeboat. I am in…

SMALL LIVES, BIG TRUTHS  What’s a nice girl to do? Upstairs at The Matrix, Rogue Machine Theatre is putting on another winner of a show, Nice Girl by Melissa Ross. It’s a small drama, just four actors, but a deep study of people whose lives don’t go the way they thought they would. And it’s done beautifully….

Synthwave Romance: The Wedding Singer Grooves on Camp, Chemistry, and Crimped Hair If you still belt out “Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?” in your car or secretly miss the days when big hair was in fashion, The Wedding Singer—which opened last night at The Colony Theatre—has your number. This show doesn’t flirt with…