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Theater Review: DOG SEES GOD (The Bent)
A DARKER LOOK AT THE GANG WE GREW UP WITH Dog Sees God, Bert V. Royal’s 2004 reimagining of the Peanuts universe, wonders what might happen if those familiar childhood figures stumbled into late high school. The answer is a swirl of drugs, profanity, identity crises, and more than a little homophobia. Though the script…
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Theater Review: DIE HEART: THE DIRECTOR’S CUT (Troubadour Theater Company at The Colony)
TAKE THAT, NAKATOMI The Troubies blow up Die Hard, Heart-style — and it’s pure holiday mayhem The Troubadour Theater Company — the Troubies — has been wreaking musical-comedy havoc around Los Angeles since 1995, and their latest spoof, Die Heart: The Director’s Cut, might be the most gloriously unhinged holiday offering they’ve detonated yet. Their…
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Theater Review: A DOUBLEWIDE, TEXAS CHRISTMAS ⭐️ (Desert TheatreWorks in Indio)
A TEXAS-SIZED CHRISTMAS MELTDOWN This is pure, sugar-spun, deep-fried, glitter-smothered Texas Trashmas — and honey, sometimes that’s exactly what the doctor ordered. If your idea of Christmas cheer involves snowflakes, Victorian carolers, or anything resembling culture, turn back now, sugar. Desert TheatreWorks has hauled a flaming holiday fruitcake onto the stage, delivering a holiday spectacle…
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Theater Review: A CHRISTMAS CAROL (Goodman)
THE OG CHRISTMAS GHOST STORY The Goodman puts the chills back in the chestnuts ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ In some ways, it is remarkable that Goodman Theatre’s annual production of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol has persisted as a theatrical tradition during the holidays. Theatre is expensive as a…
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Opera Review: CAVALLERIA RUSTICANA and PAGLIACCI (Lyric Chicago)
THE GODFATHER AND FELLINI MEET VERISMO Opera’s most famous double bill is back… again Hundreds of one-act operas have been produced, but few have attained the popularity of Pietro Mascagni’s Cavalleria rusticana and Ruggero Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci. Premiering in 1890 and 1892, respectively, they have been commonly performed as a double bill since 1893. Interestingly, this…
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Theater Review: AN IRISH CAROL (Greater Boston Stage Company in Stoneham, MA)
DICKENS IN AN IRISH PUB ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ The New England premiere of An Irish Carol by playwright Matthew Keenan offers a fresh take on Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, a familiar and much-performed holiday classic that holds out, again and again, a secular interpretation of the renewal…
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Theater Review: THE BEATRIX POTTER HOLIDAY PARTY (Chicago Children’s Theatre)
NO GROWN-UPS ALLOWED — SORT OF CCT’s Beatrix Potter party charms kids, critics, and everyone in between ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ “Channel your inner three-year-old, not your adult,” was the advice given to me as I settled into my seat at Chicago Children’s Theatre. To which my immediate unspoken…
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Off-Broadway Review: THE SLIDE IS THE NEGATIVE (The Chain Theatre)
ALL TELL AND NO SHOW MAKES FOR A DULL OUTING Jake Shore’s thriller talks itself into submission ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ It’s the middle of the night when Joe (Ryan Tramont) hears pounding at his door. It’s his friend Barry (Brad Fryman), summoned in a panic because Joe claims…
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Opera Review: LA BOHÈME (Los Angeles Opera)
HERBERT ROSS’S BOHÈME RETURNS Beauty polished, questions still lingering Puccini’s tale may be endlessly familiar, yet the recent Los Angeles staging shows how even the most well-trodden path can still feel unsettled and full of open questions. For those new to the work, the opera traces two parallel romances among struggling artists in 1830s Paris….
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Theater Review: A YEAR WITH FROG AND TOAD (Young People’s Theatre of Chicago)
TOAD-ALLY DELIGHTFUL Ribbiting from start to finish, this Year goes by in a flash. ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ Arnold Lobel’s Frog and Toad series has delighted generations of young readers for decades, beginning in 1970. In 2000, his daughter Andrea Lobel (a well-regarded theatrical scenic designer in her own…
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Theater Review: ANNIE (Wheelock Family Theatre)
TRIED AND TRUE ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ Annie is an excellent choice for Boston University Wheelock Family Theatre’s holiday offering this year. True to the mission of Wheelock Family Theatre (to create professional theatre and educational experiences for artists and audiences of all ages), the audience last night included…
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Theater Review: A CHRISTMAS STORY: THE MUSICAL (San Diego Musical Theatre)
NOSTALGIA LOADED — AND EYE SAFETY ENSURED The 1983 film A Christmas Story may not have been universally crowned a “classic” when it premiered, its near-universal popularity and nostalgic look back at Christmas in 1940 have long since earned it that status. San Diego Musical Theatre brings back the musical version in which we meet…
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Theater Review: DEAR EVAN HANSEN (CV Rep)
BREAKING THE LIES THAT BIND Broadway’s biggest feelings land in the desert ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ Dear Evan Hansen, the six-time Tony Award–winning musical with music and lyrics by Benj Pasek & Justin Paul and book by Steven Levenson, made its regional premiere at CV Rep last night with…
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Opera Review: FALSTAFF, OSSIA LE TRE BURLE (Chicago Opera Theater)
A COMIC REVIVAL OF FALSTAFFIAN PROPORTION ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ Chicago Opera Theater (COT) has given Antonio Salieri’s unjustly neglected Falstaff, ossia Le tre burle its outstanding Chicago premiere. Similarly, Lyric Opera just gave Cherubini’s Medea its Chicago premiere. These operas were first staged in 1799 and 1797, respectively….
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Off-Broadway Review: QUEENS (Manhattan Theatre Club at New York City Center)
AN EXCEPTIONAL ENSEMBLE IN A CROWDED PLAY Immigrant stories echo through a Queens basement — and across decades ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ Queens is a New York borough unlike any other, celebrated as the most linguistically diverse place on Earth. Between 160 and 500 languages are spoken across its…
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Theater Review: THE TAMING OF THE SHREW (Court Theatre)
THERE IS NO TAMING THIS PRICKLY AND INVIGORATING SHREW ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ I won’t deny it: I squealed in excitement when I received the invitation to review Court Theatre’s new production of The Taming of the Shrew. Not because it’s one of Shakespeare’s best (it isn’t), or even…
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Theater Review: JACOB MARLEY’S CHRISTMAS CAROL (Lifeline Theatre)
THE OTHER CHRISTMAS CAROL A clever, moving tale of a ghost searching for grace ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ Boy does it suck to be Jacob Marley. You die a lonely death, are doomed to perdition, and come back as a tortured ghost laden with chains to warn your former…
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Broadway Review: CHESS (Imperial Theatre)
WHEN SUPERPOWERS SING Broadway’s new revival of Chess thrills more than it confounds ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ “Welcome to our Cold War Musical!” That greeting — from the narrator (aka Arbiter) of Chess, the famed rock opera now being revived on Broadway with a starry cast and new book…
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Off-Broadway Review: A CHRISTMAS CAROL (Perelman Performing Arts Center)
A BELOVED CLASSIC REBORN WITH BELL CHOIRS, SNOWFALL & HEART ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ Are you fond of bell choirs, Christmas carols, indoor snow, and classic holiday tales? Then you’ll want to make your way to the PAC, where the Old Vic’s production of A Christmas Carol opened last…
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Event Review: LA VIRGEN DE GUADALUPE, DIOS INANTZIN (Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels)
MIRACLE ON TEMPLE STREET Faith, fiesta, feathers, and unexpectedly fabulous ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ With candor, color, and ceremony, La Virgen de Guadalupe, Dios Inantzin has become a Los Angeles holiday ritual — and after more than twenty years under the stewardship of Latino Theater Company, it’s a miracle…
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