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Los Angeles
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San Diego Theater Review: BAD JEWS (Cygnet Theatre)
BAD JEWS MAKES FOR GOOD THEATRE, BUT OY SUCH AGITA There’s an old joke: “What do you get if you put three Jews in the same room? Four opinions.” In Joshua Harmon’s Bad Jews, the joke is elevated to a new level when the three strikingly different people are two brothers, Liam and Jonah, and…
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Los Angeles Music Preview: DUDAMEL & BATIASHVILI (Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto & Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet with the LA Phil)
REAWAKENING A FAMILIAR CONCERTO It’s astounding to have heard countless performances of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto–both live and in recordings–and still be amazed that a newer interpretation can be so exciting, inventive, and breathtaking. Georgian violinist Lisa Batiashvili recently took me aback with her release on Deutsche Grammophon with the Staatskapelle Berlin (Berlin State Opera Orchestra) led by Daniel…
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Cabaret Review: JERRY HERMAN: THE BROADWAY LEGACY CONCERT (Samueli Theater at SCFTA)
JERRY HERMAN’S LEGACY ISN’T IN JEOPARDY, BUT  TRIBUTE CONCERTS ARE With  an evening of Jerry Herman tunes sung by Broadway powerhouses Ron Raines, Karen Morrow, Debbie Gravitte, Jason Graae and Scott Coulter (pictured left), what could go wrong? Not much. But not much was spectacular either. A pleasant outing for those strolling down memory lane, this tribute…
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Los Angeles Music Preview: STORM LARGE SINGS THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS (Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra)
TWO STORMS HIT L.A. THIS WEEKEND You think the winter storms slamming So Cal are something? Well, singer, songwriter, raconteur, author, actor, playwright, and powerhouse performer Storm Large is joining Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra for a rare performance of The Seven Deadly Sins–and they’re coming to the L.A. area for two shows this weekend only,…
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Tour Review: TORUK – THE FIRST FLIGHT (Cirque du Soleil, North American Tour)
JAMES CAMERON MEETS CIRQUE DU SOLEIL Cirque du Soleil writes a new chapter in make-believe with Toruk – The First Flight, a not so typical two-hour fantasy inspired by (but not based on) James Cameron’s sci-fi epic Avatar. For one thing, there are no clowns (a happy relief for those who find them becoming more acrobatic…
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Los Angeles Cabaret Review: A NIGHT AT THE STORK CLUB (Three Clubs Lounge in Hollywood)
A SALUTE TO GREAT SONGS AND A GREAT CLUB Any excuse to expose selections from the Great American Songbook to a modern audience works for me. And a cabaret revue entitled A Night at the Stork Club does just that. Playing at Hollywood’s Three Clubs for one weekend only, this accessible entertainment gives a nod to…
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Los Angeles Theater Review: THE LION (Geffen Playhouse in Westwood)
THE MANE EVENT Watching the Los Angeles premiere of writer/performer Benjamin Scheuer’s one-man show The Lion, directed by Sean Daniels, the element I am most taken with is Mr. Scheuer’s radiant charisma. His earnestness, his sincerity, his spiritual and emotional investment, are penetrating as he tells his story, mostly through songs, accompanying himself on different guitars’”six…
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Theater Review: AMÉLIE, A NEW MUSICAL (Pre-Broadway Run at the Ahmanson Theatre)
WHIMSY WASHOUT Adapting a film or play into a musical is a dicey proposition. There’s no perfect formula, but theater’s great librettists—Oscar Hammerstein, Alan Jay Lerner, et al.—knew that however well the source material worked, scenes had to be shuffled, characters dropped, and songs written to establish character and advance plot. The creators of Amélie,…
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Theater Review: THE KING AND I (National Tour)
NOT ALWAYS THE ROYAL TREATMENT, BUT STILL A PRINCELY KING It’s no puzzlement why The King and I is oft-revived. Rodgers and Hammerstein’s semi-historical domestic drama’”the unlikely alliance between a Siamese monarch in the 1860s and a British governess/tutor’”shows how history is all about people at pivotal points. Change comes from unexpected places in improbable…
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Los Angeles Theater Feature: RUBY LAPEYRE (now in “Thoroughly Modern Millie” at Morgan-Wixson)
THOROUGHLY THESPIAN Youth theater is mostly musicals, and many musicals are essentially infantilizing entertainments, most appropriate to teaching children how to perform. The kids themselves make up for a lot that I find unforgivable in book and music. In many kids’ shows half the cast can be expected not to have the choreography down pat,…
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Los Angeles Theater/Music Preview: NOTES OF A NATIVE SONG (Stew & The Negro Problem at REDCAT)
TAKING NOTES TO THE NEXT LEVEL Los Angeles native Stew, born Mark Stewart, is one of today’s most fascinating songwriters. He has released both solo albums and with his band, The Negro Problem. He became well known to the theater world in 2008, when he made the transition from the pop-rock scene to Broadway. The…
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Los Angeles Music Preview: COOL YULE (Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles)
MAKE THE YULETIDE GAY Attending GMCLA’s Holiday Spectaculars is more like a pilgrimage for me, and is a no-brainer when choosing my wintertime concerts. This year’s musical extravaganza, Holiday Spectacular: Cool Yule, plays at Glendale’s gorgeous Alex Theatre for four performances beginning this Thursday, Dec. 15, 2016, and running through Sunday. And while there is no…
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Los Angeles Theater Feature: IMPRO THEATRE’S HOLIDAY OFFERINGS, 2016
IMPRO FOR THE HOLIDAYS -dad- Family sucks. Spending time with the people you moved away from is so un-American, so anti-Manifest Destiny, such an embarrassing parochial guilt-trip, that it’s been relegated to the worst weather of the year. What we call the holidays are a “let’s get it over with” season of grown siblings reduced…
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National Tour Theater Review: IRVING BERLIN’S WHITE CHRISTMAS
I’M DREAMING OF A WHITE CHRISTMAS WITH A BETTER SCRIPT I suppose it’s possible that Irving Berlin’s White Christmas might succeed with audiences. Possible, that is, if they are willing to tolerate a lame, cliché-ridden plot in exchange for large samplings of the Irving Berlin songbook accompanied by tap dancing and snow (and even tap dancing in…
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Los Angeles Theater Preview: WONDERFUL TOWN (Los Angeles Opera)
WONDERFUL WONDERFUL Never heard of the 1953 musical, Wonderful Town? Well, certainly you’ve heard of composer Leonard Bernstein and lyricists Betty Comden and Adolph Green. Even though the songs are terrific, none of them have entered the hit parade. Bernstein offers catchy melodies in tunes that range from conga to an Irish jig, and the lyrics…
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Los Angeles Theater Review: ICEBERGS (Geffen)
METHANE DEPOSIT A new play opened at the Geffen this week. It is called Icebergs, and it was written by Alena Smith. It was directed by Playhouse artistic director Randall Arney. It is a show illustrative of several tendencies in modern regional theater: It is written by a Yale-educated TV writer. Smith’s best work is…
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Los Angeles Theater Preview: SHE LOVES ME (Musical Theatre West in Long Beach)
EVERYBODY LOVES SHE LOVES ME I’ll be the first to admit that it may be impossible to create a bad production of the 1963 jewel-box musical She Loves Me. This perfect show, based on the 1937 play Parfumerie by Miklós László, is so resplendent, so charming, and so well-constructed that a 2011 gathering of literati…
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Los Angeles Theater Review: THE BEAUTY QUEEN OF LEENANE (Druid Theatre at Mark Taper Forum)
BLACK COMEDY AND KITCHEN SINK DRAMA: A BEAUTY-FULL IRISH STEW While the horror and suspense aren’t as palpable as previous efforts of The Beauty Queen of Leenane’”Martin McDonagh’s 1996 black comedy’”the dark humor, bleakness, and romance positively boil over, making Galway’s Druid Theatre Company’s revival a recommended trip. For 20 years, 40 year-old spinster Maureen…
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Los Angeles Music Preview: HADELICH and URBAŠƒSKI (Los Angeles Philharmonic at Disney Hall)
BEYOND COMPARE In the past five years, I have encountered only a handful of fresh-to-the-scene classical soloists who completely enraptured’”those who combine the old-school magnetic quality of superlative technique with energetic experimentation, soul, and discovery. Among the electrifying performers that have made me literally lean forward in my seat are cellist Alisa Weilerstein and pianists…
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Los Angeles Theater Review: 1984 (Greenway Arts Alliance at the Greenway Court Theatre)
LOVE STORY Watching 1984 live, in a roomful of high school students, my biggest surprise was how long two minutes lasts. I’m a hateful person now, and as a teenager even more so, but during Fairfax High School’s second period this morning, none of us could keep shouting epithets at Emmanuel Goldstein for even a…
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