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Theater Review: ROCK OF AGES (National Tour reviewed at the Hollywood Pantages)
ROCK & ROLL CAMP The cast of Rock of Ages is riotously hell bent on making you have a good time. They beat you into submission with energy, wide smiles, and hair’”lots and lots of great big 80s hair. It’s a jukebox musical, with a slender thread of a boy-meets-girl story piecing together some of…
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Theater Review: JULIUS CAESAR (African-American Shakespeare Company in San Francisco)
JULIUS CAESAR IN AFRICA Modern theater companies traditionally place Shakespeare into all kinds of settings, eras and cultures in search of new or updated relevance. While the choices for many endeavors feel largely arbitrary, the African-American Shakespeare Company sets Julius Caesar amongst the surreal violence of Africa. This inspired pairing brilliantly elucidates political maneuvering, brutal…
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Theater Review: NEW JERUSALEM, THE INTERROGATION OF BARUCH DE SPINOZA AT TALMUD TORAH CONGREGATION: AMSTERDAM, JULY 27, 1656 (West Coast Jewish Theatre, L.A.)
A LACK OF PHILOSOPHY Elina de Santos’ production of David Ives’ 2008 New Jerusalem, The Interrogation of Baruch De Spinoza at Talmud Torah Congregation: Amsterdam, July 27, 1656 is the play’s west coast premiere, although L.A. Theatre Works presented the show last year.* This incarnation, however, is almost certainly the first to contain no moments…
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Theater Review: THE FEAST: AN INTIMATE TEMPEST (Chicago Shakespeare)
A FEAST FOR THE SENSES (LEAVE YOUR MIND BEHIND) Chicago’s Redmoon Company is famous for its work in puppet theater. The Chicago Shakespeare Theater is the preeminent classical theater in the region. So when the two companies combine on an adaptation of Shakespeare’s late romance The Tempest, the prospects are enticing for a special evening…
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Theater Review: INVISIBLE MAN (The Court Theatre)
INVISIBLE MAN IS DIFFICULT TO SEE Invisible Man is a complex, panoramic, symbolic novel that’s an unlikely candidate for adaptation to the stage. It’s a sprawling work crowded with characters and incidents and drenched in the author’s densely textured prose and his elusive view of the plight of black people in American society. That makes…
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Theater Review: MR. RICKEY CALLS A MEETING (Lookingglass Theatre in Chicago)
DECIDING THE FATE OF BLACK MEN IN BASEBALL In 1947, Jackie Robinson broke the color line in major league baseball, the first black man in modern baseball history to play in the majors. That’s a matter of record. In 1989, playwright Ed Schmidt used that seminal event in American sports and social history to write…
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Theater Review: FELA! (National Tour kick-off at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles)
SING A SONG OF AFRICA Fela! is a scorcher. On these chilly nights in December and January, everyone (with a vested interest in the continuing power of musical theater) should retreat to the Ahmanson Theatre, where the heat is on. Warning: Do not try to put the fire out. Let the blaze burn bright. There…
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Theater Review: ELIZABETH REX (Chicago Shakespeare Theater)
MEET THE QUEEN Timothy Findley’s Elizabeth Rex confines Queen Elizabeth I and William Shakespeare inside a royal barn one wintry night in February 1601. The placement of the two most luminous personalities of England’s Golden Age should set off glorious dramatic and theatrical fireworks at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater. The performers do their best to…
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Theater Review: MEMPHIS (National Tour)
MEMPHIS PROVIDES RHYTHM BUT ULTIMATELY GIVES YOU THE BLUES Kicking off its national tour, Memphis blew into Chicago trying to sell itself as a romping, stomping celebration of rhythm and blues and rock ‘n’ roll during its turbulent early years in the 1950s. There is plenty of energy on the stage at the Cadillac Palace…
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Theater Review: I LOVE LUCY®: LIVE ON STAGE (Greenway Court Theatre in Los Angeles)
BLACK-AND-WHITE MEMORIES IN LIVING COLOR Whether you had viewed the original airings of I Love Lucy or discovered the show during the thousands of reruns, it is undeniable that the breakthrough comedy has a multi-generational appeal. Not only is it fun to watch Lucy, Ricky, Ethel, and Fred in that familiar apartment every week, but…
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Off-Broadway Review: STANDING ON CEREMONY: THE GAY WEDDING PLAYS (Minetta Lane Theatre)
THE FEEL GAY HIT OF THE SEASON If you’re pro gay marriage, come see this show. If you’re ambivalent on the topic, come see this show. And if you’re against gay marriage, come see this show and gain insight from an evening full of laughs and lessons for all. Collectively, this compilation of original one-act…
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Theater Review: GYPSY (ion theater company in San Diego)
MOSTLY EVERYTHING’S COMING UP ROSES For most theater lovers, Gypsy equals Ethel Merman as Mama Rose, even if you never saw her do it. After a single time hearing Merman’s larger-than-life rendition of “Everything’s Coming Up Roses,” it’s hard to imagine anyone else belting out that role. So when one hears that ion theater company…
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Theater Review: RICHARD O’BRIEN’S THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW (The Old Globe in San Diego)
BEING A VIRGIN CAN BE ROCKY Best known for raucous audience participation at midnight screenings, Richard O’Brien’s cult movie classic, The Rocky Horror Picture Show began life on the London stage in 1973. It enjoyed instant success by effectively melding the campy goodness of late night monster movies with ostentatious in-your-face glam rock. British audiences and critics…
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Theater Review: THE CHANTEUSE AND THE DEVIL’S MUSE (Bootleg Theater)
DANSE MACABRE At Bootleg Theater, David J‘s The Chanteuse and the Devil’s Muse is not so much a play as it is an art installation. But, as an art installation, it has a terrible beauty and some moments of bizarre theatrical innovations that linger in the memory. While it purports to be an investigation of…
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Theater Review: GHOST LIGHT (New Theatre at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival)
GHOST LIGHT LEAVES US IN THE DARK Assassin Dan White ensured Harvey Milk’s legacy when he shot the openly gay San Francisco politician. The gay community continues to hold Milk as a martyr to their cause, and the artistic world has kept Milk’s spirit alive in book (The Mayor of Castro Street), documentary (The Times…
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Theater Review: TO CARRY THE CHILD (Collaborative Artists Ensemble at the Raven Playhouse)
TOUCHING MOMENTS DO NOT SUSTAIN FAMILY DRAMA In Collaborative Artists Ensemble’s production of Jon Courie’s new play, To Carry the Child, the oldest daughter, Ashley (Meg Wallace), her life in shreds, is facing a serious disease and finds her lover, Diane (Justine Woodford) running from the crisis. She returns to her family home in Caraprice…
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Theater Review: STRANGER THINGS (The Ghost Road Company in Los Angeles)
A PUZZLE TO RELISH SOLVING As both theatergoer and theater writer, this reviewer is decidedly unenthusiastic about absurdist, avant-garde, or post-modern theatre. It’s not so much the concept or ideas behind these movements as it is the execution. Playwrights and theatre companies get so caught up in approaching the presentation of their story – vignettes,…
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Theater Review: VIVIEN (Rogue Machine in Los Angeles)
THE MANY FACES OF VIVIEN LEIGH The one woman play Vivien, presented by Rogue Machine at Theatre Theater, is a stunning showcase of two talents, both of which make this a recommended outing: the superlative acting of Judith Chapman and the extraordinary directorial guidance of Elina de Santos. Unfortunately, Rick Foster’s play is more like…
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Theater Review: BEAU JEST (Glendale Centre Theatre)
THIS BEAU IS JEST FINE Do you ever just want to go home, eat your mother’s comforting chicken soup, put on your oldest fuzzy slippers and find some old-fashioned comedy on AMC? Well, you’ll get no soup or slippers at Beau Jest, but you will be glad you got away from home for this old-fashioned,…
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Theater Review: THE MERCHANT OF VENICE (The Porters of Hellsgate in North Hollywood)
AN OUNCE OF MISSTEPS IS WORTH THIS POUND OF FLESH Before you run off to see The Porters of Hellsgate production of William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice — and I surely hope that you do — let us clear something up once and for all regarding the nature of its topicality. It would be…
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