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Theater Review: THE ELABORATE ENTRANCE OF CHAD DEITY (Chance Theater)
BOOM BOOM BOOM It’s no wonder that Kristoffer Diaz‘s The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in drama. The veneer is a hip-hop comic entertainment about the dynamics and crazy characters in the world of pro-wrestling (ya know, the kind where the outcome is known to the muscled performers, i.e.,…
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Theater Review: NINA SIMONE: FOUR WOMEN (South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa)
FOUR-GET ABOUT IT While her career may be skyrocketing as a TV writer, Christina Ham has not mastered the art of playwriting. I felt terrible thinking that after seeing the opening of her world premiere Nina Simone: Four Women at South Coast Rep last weekend (right when the Orange County Museum of Art, OCMA, had…
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Recommended Dance: THE LOOK OF LOVE (Mark Morris Dance Group World Premiere at The Broad Stage in Santa Monica)
A NEW DANCE TO THE MUSIC OF BURT BACHARACH The Look of Love reunites Choreographer Mark Morris and jazz composer Ethan Iverson to create a new work showcasing the music of Burt Bacharach. Co-commissioned by BroadStage, the world premiere of Mark Morris Dance Group’s The Look of Love, an evening of dance to the music…
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Theater Review: HAMILTON (North American Tour)
OUR FUNKY FOUNDING FATHERS A hip-hop Alexander Hamilton? A beat-box Father of His Country? A jumping James Madison and a jiveass Jefferson who disses bigtime in a poetry slam? The ten-dollar bill will never be the same (or the dollar note for that matter). A sassy-spunky 2015 blast from the past set to irresistible rhythms, Hamilton is…
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Jazz Concert Recommendation: SAMARA JOY (Samueli Hall at Segerstrom Center in Costa Mesa)
A JOY TO BEHOLD COMES TO SEGERSTROM ONE NGHT ONLY, SATURDAY OCTOBER 1 AT 7 & 9 The jazz world has been abuzz about the 22-year-old New Yorker Samara Joy since she won the Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition in 2019, and rightfully so. Having just released her eponymous debut album, the word is…
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San Diego Theater Review: ASSASSINS (Wildsong Productions in Ocean Beach)
A MUSICAL ABOUT PRESIDENTIAL ASSASSINS & ASSASSINATION ATTEMPTS? WELL, SHOOT! At the very least, you have to give credit for anyone coming up with this bizarre idea: A musical about the nine people – from John Wilkes Booth in 1865 to John Hinckley in 1981 − who have successfully assassinated — or tried to assassinate…
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Theater Review: ANNABELLA IN JULY (North Coast Repertory in San Diego)
SKI RESORT SKETCH SKILLFULLY SKIPS ALONG AND SKYROCKETS INTO OUR HEARTS Saturday Night Live has been notorious over the years for coming up with some bits that are funny enough to fill an entire seven-minute sketch while other skits have the joke run thin two minutes in with five minutes remaining. One can almost imaging…
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Theater Review: CABARET (Cygnet Theatre Company in San Diego)
COME SEE THIS CABARET, MY FRIEND One of the wonderful things about period pieces, including musicals, is that they rarely feel dated because the book writer (Joe Masteroff, in this case) starts with the premise that the show isn’t happening now. What’s marvelous, and sometimes chilling, about this fifty-six year old book is that it’s…
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Theater Review: HADESTOWN (North American Tour)
GO TO TOWN I am convinced that me colleague Marc Wheeler nailed the many reasons in his review of Hadestown why you must see this national tour. One of the most original musicals to come out in years, Hadestown still sells out on Broadway even as a National Tour is on the road. Indeed, some…
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Theater Review: AMERICAN IDIOT (Chance Theater, Anaheim)
IDIOT IS AS IDIOT DOES Inspired by a 2004 rock album by the American pop-punk rock band Green Day, American Idiot has received its share of positive reviews since its premiere in Berkeley, California in 2009 and subsequent runs on Broadway, on tour, at colleges, and regional and community theaters. When I saw the tour…
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Film Screening: THE COWBOYS (50th Anniversary at John Wayne: An American Experience in Fort Worth, TX)
When The Cowboys premiered in 1972, it was one of the biggest hits of the year. It is best remembered for launching the careers of several young actors, as well as being one of only a small handful of movies in which John Wayne’s character dies. The 50th anniversary celebration of The Cowboys will feature three days of events, including…
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Theater Review: OUR TOWN (South Coast Rep)
OUR CELEBRATION This year marks the 125th anniversary of Thornton Wilder’s birth. As part of the Wilder125 celebration, about 150 productions of the esteemed writer’s plays are being staged worldwide, including a revival of The Skin of Our Teeth on Broadway. This week, I had the privilege of seeing what’s arguably Wilder’s most famous work – Our Town – at South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa, California. It was…
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Theater Review: TIGER STYLE! (South Coast Rep)
THIS TIGER IS KING Tiger Style! at South Coast Rep is refreshing for many reasons. First, it’s really funny. Playwright Mike Lew crafts his script like a super-smart teenager, mixing insights about the Asian community with cutting humor, f-bombs, “dude,” “bro” and some other words one would only find on Urban Dictionary. It’s a style…
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Theater Review: TOOTSIE (North American Tour)
SURRENDER (TO) DOROTHY Forty years ago, Dustin Hoffman lit up the silver screen as struggling actor Michael Dorsey in the gender-swapping, smash-hit comedy, Tootsie. Really, who can forget the VHS box art featuring Hoffman’s Michael Dorsey-turned “Dorothy Michaels” donning that iconic red sequin dress in front of an American flag? Obviously, a lot has changed…
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Theater Review: THE SOUND OF MUSIC (La Mirada Theatre)
YOUR HEART WILL BE BLESSED Maria, an Austrian novice nun in the late 1930s, has difficulty in dealing with the rigid lifestyle of her monastery in Salzburg. Her loving Mother Abbess sends her off to be a nanny to seven children of widower and celebrated navy captain Georg von Trapp, a tough military man. Through…
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Theater Review: MOULIN ROUGE! THE MUSICAL (North American Tour)
SPECTACULAR! SPECTACULAR! If a high-kicking, visually spellbinding, toe-tapping night out is what you love in entertainment, have I got just the show for you. Even though the original opening night was delayed a bit by a partial cast-wide Covid-19 outbreak, everyone is now back, healthy and bringing their A+ game eight shows a week at…
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Theater Review: THE GIN GAME (Starring JoBeth Williams and Joe Spano at the Rubicon Theatre in Ventura)
DEADWOOD OR GIN? Fine actors of stage, television, and film, JoBeth Williams and Joe Spano unite their decades of work and talent to kick off a national tour of The Gin Game at the Rubicon Theatre Company in Ventura. Yet even with such names filling the stage in this intimate two-hander, D. L. Coburn’s tragicomedy…
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Theater Opening: TRADING PLACES (World Premiere Musical)
Inspired by the beloved film, Trading Places is a hilarious world-premiere musical pitting nature against nurture in a modern-day prince and the pauper story. The show will enjoy its world premiere on the Coca-Cola Stage at Alliance Theatre May 25 – June 26, 2022. When the lives of a poor street hustler and a privileged stockbroker…
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Theater Tour Announcement: YEMANDJA (Angelique Kidjo)
YEMANDJA, ANGÉLIQUE KIDJO’S FIRST FORAY INTO THEATER After the world premiere at MASS MoCA this week, the co-commissioned Los Angeles premiere of Yemandja will take place at The Broad Stage in Santa Monica April 14, 15, and 16 at 7:30pm before the new work continues on tour to Cal Performances at UC Berkeley on April 23. Inspired…
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Broadway Bound Musical: A BEAUTIFUL NOISE: THE NEIL DIAMOND MUSICAL (Emerson Colonial Theatre, Boston, and the Broadhurst Theatre, Broadway)
“GOOD TIMES NEVER SEEMED SO GOOD” Producers Ken Davenport and Bob Gaudio (The Jersey Boys), have announced that A BEAUTIFUL NOISE: THE NEIL DIAMOND MUSICAL, a new Broadway-bound musical that will tell the incredible life story of legendary singer-songwriter Neil Diamond, will have its world premiere at Boston’s Emerson Colonial Theatre June 21 through July 31, 2022. This is a strictly limited six-week…
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