Los Angeles

KISS OFF A backstage comedy with  more personalities than Sybil, Sarah Ruhl’s preposterous — and in some ways pretentious — 2011 play was apparently given a boffo treatment at Playwrights Horizon, San Francisco Playhouse, The Guthrie, and more. But not at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre, where Stage Kiss  had its World Premiere, and certainly not at the Geffen,…

MURRAY PERAHIA IN RECITAL AT DISNEY HALL Murray Perahia is the rare concert pianist so popular and profound that his performances cannot be confined to a standard recital hall. That’s to be expected of a pianist who has consistently engaged with music that’s greater than any one performer, and who combines a joyous, lucid virtuosity…

DO NOT MISS  BEHZOD ABDURAIMOV AT DISNEY HALL THIS WEEKEND I am happy to say my instincts were correct: When pianist Behzod Abduraimov appeared in his Disney Hall debut as a last-minute replacement in 2014, I knew he  was the real thing. They don’t appear often, these  fresh-to-the-scene soloists who completely enrapture ’” those who combine the old-school…

INDEED I DUBIN He wrote the lyrics to the songs that kept the world singing through some of the darkest times in human history: The Great Depression and WWII. But as with most songwriters who aren’t named Gershwin, Porter, Berlin or Rodgers & Hammerstein, this man, who passed at the age of 53,  has been forgotten…

NOISE WILL BE NOISE Two vastly different programs offered by LA Phil this week confirm that “contemporary” music doesn’t sound modern — that is, “new.” For me, both Brad Lubman’s Tangents and John Adams’s Scheherezade.2 fall squarely into “noise,” and I’ve heard it all before. As a reviewer, I have tried  to create a critical and…

FAR MORE EDENIC THAN I  EXPECTED You would think that if Stephen Schwartz (composer/lyricist of Pippin and Wicked)  wrote a musical with John Caird (adapter of Les Misérables  and Candide), we would have seen a production of it — or at least heard of it. But shows that haven’t played Broadway rarely make it into the public consciousness….

NUNBEARABLE Deloris, a   pushy, smart-alecky, malopropism-spouting black woman, is disguised as a nun as she awaits a court date to squeal against her gangster boyfriend. Her background as a nightclub entertainer makes her perfect to convert a convent of silly oddball sisters into a kick-ass choir — one which turns a cash-strapped church into a…

FENCES THIS AIN’T We are taught that tolerance is a virtue, that common ground is not only findable but a state of mind. We are taught that our obligation is to our neighbor as much as to ourselves. We learn in school, or in church, that home is the foundation of community. We know it….

FOLLOW THE EVIDENCE WHEREVER IT LEADS Evidence, A Dance Company  is recognized nationally and internationally for its fusion of African dance with contemporary choreography and storytelling that combines Cuban, Caribbean, West African and modern American dance movement. A selection of signature works from its repertory will be performed to tell the story and mark the extraordinary…

YOU WANT  THE SLEUTH..? The kind of intimate theater I saw Sunday is targeted for elimination by Actors’ Equity Association: Low-tech projects, produced of donated resources without hope of profit. One of Equity’s arguments, repeated recently by its president, is that a proliferation of tiny nonprofits puts the development of commercial theater at a disadvantage. The…

THERE WILL BE BUZZ ABOUT THIS PLAY, BUT IT’S ALL STING AND NO HONEY As honey bees gather pollen and nectar for their survival, they pollinate crops such as cranberries, melons and broccoli. “A World Without Bees,” Time’s cover story in August of 2013, brought to light a frightening occurrence: In recent years, there have…

A FUNHOUSE NOT MEANT TO PRODUCE You must run to the Fountain Theatre to see the delightfully quirky oddity, Tennessee William’s last play A House Not Meant to Stand. Fasten your seatbelts, slam down a mint julep, and keep all arms, legs and gaping mouths inside the McCorkle’s Southern Gothic living room at all times….