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Off-Broadway Review: JULIA MASLI: HA HA HA HA HA HA HA (Public Theater)
HA-LLELUJAH! HELP IS JUST A “HA” AWAY Julia Masli makes a slow, focused entrance onto the stage of the Anspacher Theater at The Public. Despite the surrounding moody blues, her face is lit by a pin spot attached to her arm. She pronounces “ha” in several different ways: drawn out, deliberate, hushed, questioned. She approaches…
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Theater Review: OH, FUCK! AN ICEBERG! ONE WOMAN TITANIC (Part of the Hollywood Fringe Festival atActors Space
TITANIC SINKS AGAIN Mallie McCown‘s madcap reimagining of Titanic, James Cameron’s $220 million epic, is ambitious beyond words, which is the source for most of the problems that plague this production. Issues aside, however, Oh, Fuck! An Iceberg remains staggeringly clever and more fun than a barrel of monkeys in a lifeboat. I am in…
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Theater Review: BIRTHDAY CANDLES (North Coast Rep)
NINETY YEARS IN NINETY MINUTES Playwright Noah Haidel compresses 90 years of story into his 90-minute one-act comedy-drama Birthday Candles at North Coast Rep. However, that’s sufficient time to portray Ernestine Ashworth’s five-generation journey through her life in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Matthew Grondin, Emelie O’Hara, Margot White Specifically, we observe Ernestine spending much of her…
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Theater Review: NICE GIRL (Rogue Machine at The Matrix)
SMALL LIVES, BIG TRUTHS What’s a nice girl to do? Upstairs at The Matrix, Rogue Machine Theatre is putting on another winner of a show, Nice Girl by Melissa Ross. It’s a small drama, just four actors, but a deep study of people whose lives don’t go the way they thought they would. And it’s done beautifully….
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Theater Review: THE WEDDING SINGER (Colony Theatre in Burbank)
Synthwave Romance: The Wedding Singer Grooves on Camp, Chemistry, and Crimped Hair If you still belt out “Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?” in your car or secretly miss the days when big hair was in fashion, The Wedding Singer—which opened last night at The Colony Theatre—has your number. This show doesn’t flirt with nostalgia—it goes…
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Theater Review: NEXT TO NORMAL (Ray of Light Theatre at San Francisco’s Victoria Theater)
A PRESCRIPTION FOR GREAT THEATER Ray of Light Theatre has once again delivered a production that hits hard and sings even harder. With 25 years of tackling socially relevant musicals—whether a classic, a pop culture hit, or something in the current zeitgeist— the 2008 Pulitzer Prize-winning Next to Normal is a perfect fit for the…
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Theater Review: LIFE OF PI (National Tour at Segerstrom Hall)
TIGERS, TRAUMA, AND THEATRICAL MAGIC: LIFE OF PI ROARS TO THE STAGE Piscine Molitor “Pi” Patel’s story has found enormous commercial success — first in Yann Martel’s Booker Prize–winning novel, and then in Ang Lee’s visually stunning film adaptation. Now, in its national tour, Life of Pi makes an ambitious leap to the stage at…
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Theater Review: THE REAL HOUSEWIVES OF NAPA VALLEY (Lucky Penny Productions in Napa)
MUSICAL SATIRE SUPREME Napa’s Lucky Penny Productions closes out its 2024-25 season with a screamingly funny spoof of an inexplicably popular TV franchise, in which five rich boozy women can’t stop bickering when their reality show is threatened with cancellation. A reboot – and rewrite – of a show that debuted last year, The Real…
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Theater Review: UNNECESSARY FARCE (Scripps Ranch Theatre)
UNNECESSARY, PERHAPS, BUT DELICIOUS! Wikipedia defines farce as “a comedy that seeks to entertain an audience through situations that are highly exaggerated, extravagant, ridiculous, absurd, and improbable.” Director Robert May and his cast at Scripps Ranch Theatre make sure that is exactly what we’re getting from playwright Paul Slade Smith’s enchanting Unnecessary Farce. Danny Lovelle…
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Theater Review: PARADISE BLUE (Studio Theatre in D.C.)
A NIGHT OF MUSIC, MEMORY, AND MADNESS: PARADISE FOUND The Studio Theatre’s Victor Shargai stage has been strikingly transformed into a 1949 jazz club for Paradise Blue, Dominique Morisseau’s haunting and lyrical drama. Director Raymond O. Caldwell’s bold concept places the audience right inside the Paradise Jazz Club of Black Bottom, Detroit — immersing us…
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Theater Review: RUMORS (Sonoma Arts Live)
THE RUMOR THAT RUMORS IS A SCREAM IS NO RUMOR The late playwright/screenwriter Neil Simon remains one of America’s most beloved creators of comedy. His plays often hinge on ludicrous setups, as in his classic Rumors, directed by Larry Williams at Sonoma Arts Live. Covering up evidence of poor judgment is a foolproof gambit that…
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Theater Review: KING JAMES (Round House Theatre in Bethesda, Maryland)
KING JAMES SCORES BIG AT ROUND HOUSE THEATRE Rajiv Joseph’s King James—which opened last night at Round House Theatre—isn’t a revival of the 1611 Bible translation, but a contemporary comedy named for a different kind of king: LeBron James. Structuring the play like a basketball game in four quarters, Joseph uses the rise and fall…
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Theater Review: TWELFTH NIGHT (Folger Shakespeare Library)
A WORLDPRIDE CELEBRATION OF QUEER IDENTITY, DISCO, AND SHAKESPEAREAN DELIGHT Folger Theatre’s 2025 production of Twelfth Night, directed by Mei Ann Teo, is a visually sumptuous, sonically electric, and emotionally resonant reimagining of Shakespeare’s beloved comedy. Framed through the lens of WorldPride and running through June 22, this staging boldly transforms the shipwrecked romances and mistaken…
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Theater Review: THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE (6th Street Playhouse in Santa Rosa)
A PEG OF PIRATES, A NUTTY NURSE, AND A BRIG OF BOBBIES ALL IN A PITCH-PERFECT PARODY This beloved operetta by the legendary British duo W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan first launched in 1879 at the Fifth Avenue Theatre in New York City (the only collaboration of the pair to premiere on Broadway, and not…
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Theater Review: PACIFIC OVERTURES (Kunoichi Productions)
STYLIZED, STIRRING, AND SELDOM SEEN Pacific Overtures isn’t your typical Sondheim musical, nor is it often staged—which is precisely why this rare revival by Kunoichi Productions at Brava Theater feels like such a significant event. First premiering on Broadway in 1976, this haunting, intellectually ambitious piece–with a book by John Weidman–examines the Western “opening” of…
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Theater Review: FRANKENSTEIN (Shakespeare Theatre Company in D.C.)
NOT THE MONSTER YOU EXPECT: VICTOR FRANKENSTEIN IS THE VILLAIN Based on Mary Shelley’s iconic novel, a bold retelling of Frankenstein opened last night at STC’s Klein Theater in Washington D.C. It’s not the story you might expect — and in this case, that’s a good thing. This ambitious adaptation by Emily Burns refreshes the…
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Theater Review: ECHO (Cirque du Soleil)
ECHO: A CUBE WITH BIG DREAMS IN A SHOW STILL FINDING ITS SHAPE It opens with a cube. Glowing, two stories tall, and unmistakably the star of the show, this bold architectural gesture doesn’t just set the tone; it declares intent. ECHO arrives with a whiff of manifesto, promising reinvention, disruption, a new kind of…
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Theater Review: DEAL WITH THE DRAGON (Palm Springs Cultural Center)
WHEN THE DEVIL’S IN THE DETAILS (AND IN THE ART WORLD) For a limited engagement, Kevin Rolston brings his darkly whimsical Deal with the Dragon to the Palm Springs Cultural Center, and it’s a thrilling, compelling reminder of how a single performer can conjure an entire world onstage. Written by and starring Rolston, Deal…
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Theater Review: TWO STRANGERS (CARRY A CAKE ACROSS NEW YORK) (American Repertory Theater
A CAKEWALK THROUGH NEW YORK The delightfully poignant and gorgeously hilarious West End hit Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York) by Jim Barne and Kit Buchan made its North American premiere tonight at American Repertory Theater—and it’s not to be missed. Directed and choreographed by Tim Jackson from the original London production, this full-length two-hander…
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Theater Review: LEAR REDUX: A QUANTUM FANTASIA (Odyssey Theatre Ensemble)
GRINNING FROM LEAR TO LEAR Redux, adjective From the Latin, returning, from reducere to lead back To be brought back or returned, especially in a new way. When it comes to repackaging Shakespeare, nothing’s off-limits. Indian director Vishal Bhardwaj’s noir-flavored trilogy (Maqbool, Omkara, Haidar [or Macbeth, Othello, and Hamlet]) turned the plays into modern crime sagas. for…
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