Los Angeles

HERE COMES MR. JORDAN Get ready, cats. The best musical revue since Ain’t Misbehavin’ is coming to Los Angeles, and I’m warning you well in advance: I promise you–yep, promise–that you will kick yourself if you miss Five Guys Named Moe, which plays Ebony Rep Â May 18 – June 11, 2017. The joint’s gonna jump in…

LET ME MAKE THIS PERFECTLY CLEAR Prior to yesterday’s matinee, the last of a two-performance run of Nixon in China  presented by LA Phil, I wondered who would make up the audience for a revival of John Adams’ first opera: Opera fans who would see anything labeled “opera”?; those who enjoy that  80s’ minimalist style, perfected by…

COME ON, BABY I wanted so badly to say “Glory, Hallelujah!” after seeing Musical Theatre Guild’s staged concert version of the 1968 Tony-winning musical. While it’s easy to forgive a lead actress who was not her usual self vocally, the spread-out staging, line screw-ups (and they’re on script!), and minuscule orchestra (five pieces!), I am…

YOU’LL FALL IN LOVE WITH AMOUR “I wanted to write an opera-bouffe, an intimate evening with light, lyrical singing and delicate charm,” wrote composer Michel Legrand. “Marcel Aymé’s delightful story of an ordinary little man who suddenly finds himself gifted with extraordinary powers seemed to be the perfect material for such an amusement.” Perhaps too…

A PERFECT TENN The Pasadena Playhouse is currently presenting God Looked Away,  an ode to Tennessee Williams at the end of his career. As an adjunct to this world premiere development production –which stars Al Pacino and Judith Light — the Playhouse is offering readings of four of Williams’ best plays on four consecutive  Monday nights, Feb….

  A BIRDIE THAT TAKES WING Having no intention of reviewing, I bought a couple tickets to a  non-union production of Bye Bye Birdie, but the entire affair had me so damn giddy that I can’t be quiet about it — and you have until April 1 to catch it.  It’s as welcome as flowers that bloom in…

MORE THAN JUST VARIATIONS ON A THEME “Why did the great German composer Ludwig van Beethoven write 33 variations on a trivial little waltz by a mediocre amateur composer?” On the surface, the question itself may seem trivial, but playwright Moisés Kaufman expands the mystery of the 33 variations into a drama that makes us…

ELIXIRICIOUS At first it seemed as though a tragic circumstance had befallen Pacific Opera Project’s production of  The Elixir of Love last night. One hour before the show,  at the height of a heavy storm, a transformer blew in front of the Highland Park Ebell Club; there  would definitely be no electricity for the show. A stroke of…

SHE’S BA-A-A-CK AND SHE’S FA-A-A-ABULOUS Charles Busch’s Die, Mommie, Die! is equal parts comic melodrama, Greek tragedy and Hollywood kitsch’”and all campy noir classic in the vein of 1960s gothic horror films like Hush…Hush, Sweet Charlotte. I saw the first production at the Coast Playhouse back in 1999 starring the playwright, the great Wendy Worthington,…

A GUY WALKS INTO A CUCKOO’S NEST… Jazz pianist, TV personality, actor, author, film composer and arranger Oscar Levant (1906-1972) was quite possibly one of the quickest wits on record. His sophisticated and often vicious put-downs (a style made famous by members of the Algonquin Club), whether self-deprecating or shot bow-and-arrow style at others, were  a…