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Theater Review: BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN (Chicago Shakespeare Theater)
LOVE ON THE RANGE, PAIN ON THE HORIZON A beautiful musical framework strengthens a stage adaptation that never quite resolves its competing impulses In 1997, a short story from Pulitzer winner Annie Proulx appeared in the pages of The New Yorker. Beginning in the 1960s in Wyoming, it was a restrained yet heartbreaking tale of…
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Theater Review: ANTIGONE (Promethean Theatre Ensemble / The Den Theatre / Chicago)
THE TRAGEDY’S THE THING A few baffling choices can’t derail the explosive clash at the heart of Anouilh’s classic There are a number of missteps in this production of Anouilh’s Antigone, presented by the Promethean ensemble at The Den Theatre. Fortunately for the show, they’re almost entirely confined to the relatively unimportant parts. Jean Anouilh’s…
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Off-Broadway Review: BLOOMING IN DRY SEASON (Woodie King Jr.’s New Federal Theatre & North Carolina Black Repertory Company / WP Theater)
A CALYPSO OF CLASHING DREAMS A richly acted Caribbean family drama flourishes despite a few overgrown passages There’s much that can happen within the confines of a thirty-year marriage. Struggles, triumphs and everything in between that a man and woman can weather, based on their vows before God and their love for each other. It’s…
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Theater Review: ANDY WARHOL PRESENTS: THE COCAINE PLAY (Jackalope Theatre / Chicago)
FIFTEEN MINUTES FOREVER Terry Guest turns pop-art icons into a meditation on immortality I may have passed on the foil-lined photo booth—too Bug for me—on my way into Jackalope Theatre’s intimate performance space at The Broadway Armory, but its presence is merely the first indication of the imagination and inventiveness awaiting audiences in the world…
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Theater Review: PRIMARY TRUST (Center Theatre Group / Mark Taper Forum)
A COMMUNITY OF ONE Eboni Booth’s Pulitzer-winning drama finds theatrical poetry in loneliness and hope Primary Trust is the sort of play that reminds us why theater matters. I want to state this at the outset, to avoid any risk of it becoming entangled in the words that follow: If you are impassioned by theater—or…
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Theater Review: BECOMING A MAN (Z Space / San Francisco)
THE JOURNEY AFTER THE JOURNEY P. Carl’s autobiographical drama explores what happens after becoming the person you’ve always known yourself to be Z Space continues its tradition of presenting challenging new work with Becoming A Man, playwright P. Carl‘s semi-autobiographical drama about gender transition and its impact on family, friendships, and long-term relationships. Directed by…
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Theater Review: THE PIANO LESSON (Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival / Center Valley, PA)
KEYS TO THE PAST Directed by James Ijames, August Wilson’s masterpiece resonates powerfully in an exceptional PSF production As the fourth installment in August Wilson‘s immense American Century Cycle, The Piano Lesson continues the playwright’s exploration of the Black American experience throughout the twentieth century. Set in Pittsburgh in 1936, Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning drama wrestles…
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Theater Review: CONTINUITY (Shotgun Players / Berkeley)
CLIMATE OF CONFUSION Bess Wohl’s Hollywood satire delivers ideas more successfully than laughs Nowadays everyone is aware of the climate crisis. We know about recycling, composting, and driving electric cars. If you are a successful filmmaker, you can make a movie about the effect on the environment. Directed by Emilie Whelan, Shotgun Players’ latest production…
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Theater Review: THE PHYSICISTS (The Actors’ Gang / Culver City)
MAD SCIENCE, SANELY STAGED Friedrich Dürrenmatt’s Cold War satire still packs a comic sting The Actors’ Gang has been a pillar of L.A. theater since 1988, when they burst onto the scene with their staging of Freaks at the old Tiffany Theatre on Sunset Boulevard, a production heralded by a poster sketch of Shannon Holt…
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Theater Review: ON YOUR FEET! THE STORY OF EMILIO & GLORIA ESTEFAN (North Shore Music Theatre / Beverly, MA)
HIGH ENERGY AND HIGH HOPES Rhythm, resilience, and a lot of heart On Your Feet! The Story of Emilio & Gloria Estefan is far from groundbreaking theater, but it is certainly uplifting. Let’s face it: a jukebox musical about a successful female performer whose male partner is neither abusive, manipulative, nor adulterous is something worthy…
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Theater Preview: TWELVE HOURS WITH TRACY LETTS (Circle in the Square)
A DAY WITH TRACY LETTS Animus Theatre Company presents a marathon reading festival with an all-star cast to support Circle in the Square Theatre School For theater lovers, the chance to experience even one play by Pulitzer Prize winner Tracy Letts is worth clearing an evening. Animus Theatre Company is asking audiences to clear an…
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Theater Review: FRUTOS DE LA MUERTE (Glass Half Full Theatre / Austin)
A TRIP WORTH TAKING A mushroom-fueled journey through family memory finds wisdom in the chaos If there’s ever a time to take mushrooms, it’s when your Tía offers them to you. “I feel like I’m disappearing,” Ixq’anil laments to her aunt, Adela. Worried for her future in America, she watches as I.C.E. and its supporters…
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Theater Review: DAMN YANKEES (Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre / Evanston)
WITH ITS BASES LOADED, THEO UBIQUE HITS ANOTHER GRAND SLAM A clever, heartfelt revival proves this Golden Age favorite still knows how to play ball There’s a bit of a curveball early in Theo Ubique’s sparkling revival of Damn Yankees, the classic 1955 musical from Richard Adler and Jerry Ross, with a book by George…
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Theater Review: THE HOMBRES (The Old Globe / San Diego)
WHAT A PIECE OF WORK IS HOMBRE Tony Meneses explores the hidden costs of masculinity with humor, compassion, and insight For centuries, women and gay men have fought to carve out power in a world largely shaped by straight men, within systems built by and for them. But straight men often wrestle with a different…
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Theater Review: BUYER & CELLAR (Victory Theatre Center / Burbank)
PEOPLE WHO NEED PEOPLE (TO MIND THE STORE) Michael Mullen shines in Jonathan Tolins’ affectionate backstage fantasy Jonathan Tolins built his 2013 solo play Buyer & Cellar around one of the stranger facts in contemporary celebrity lore. Barbra Streisand really does keep a basement mall under her Malibu barn: a doll shop, an antique store,…
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Off-Broadway Review: GIRL, INTERRUPTED (The Public Theater)
LESSONS INTERRUPTED A haunting memory play finds its strongest voice in music, memory, and an exceptional ensemble There is a painting at the Frick—a Vermeer—of a girl at her music lesson, her teacher’s hand resting on the back of her chair. Not quite touching her. Not quite letting her go. It is a small, suffocating…
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Theater Review: THE LUNCHBOX (Berkeley Repertory Theatre)
SPECIAL DELIVERY A charming Bollywood-inspired musical serves up romance, music, and a feast for the eyes From its first moments, Berkeley Rep’s new musical The Lunchbox wins you over. The vibrant, multi-level, expansive, beautifully detailed set by Mimi Lien depicts a bustling working-class neighborhood in Mumbai, while a colorful ensemble emerges mixing and mingling from…
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Theater Review: THE MAGIC FLUTE (LA Opera)
CONLON’S LAST SPELL A beloved production returns as James Conlon brings his remarkable LA Opera tenure to a close James Conlon walked to the podium last Saturday night and the house was on its feet before he lifted a hand. Twenty years built that ovation. He gave the company its first Ring cycle and, with…
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Off-Broadway Review: JEROME (Playwrights Horizons)
GHOSTS OF LOVE John J. Caswell, Jr.’s moving drama finds unexpected grace amid fear, desire, and survival As Pride Month begins, there may be no better theatrical companion than John J. Caswell, Jr.‘s moving, daring, and expansive new play. Set in the isolated Arizona backcountry town of Jerome—a virtual ghost town—it follows Con (Stephen Spinella)…
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Theater Review: GRANGEVILLE (Ruskin Group Theatre / Santa Monica)
LONG-DISTANCE DAMAGE Samuel D. Hunter finds devastating intimacy across thousands of miles Sam Shepard built True West on a kitchen and two brothers who could not stay out of each other’s way. They fought in the same room, over the same toaster, under the same desert moon. The room held the heat. Samuel D. Hunter…
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