Areas We Cover
Categories
Theater
-
Theater Review: THE DOUBLE V (International City Theatre in Long Beach)
THE DOUBLE V GETS A DOUBLE D It’s a shame that Carole Eglash–Kosoff’s period drama The Double V is such a lackluster, overwritten, repetitive piece of didacticism. The story is one which should be told. It concerns the The Pittsburgh Courier, which served the large Black population based there. In 1942, they receive a letter from…
-
Theater Review: ROMEO AND JULIET (American Repertory Theater at Harvard University in Cambridge)
ATMOSPHERIC, MOODY, DARK AND MODERN, ROMEO AND JULIET AT A.R.T. BELONGS TO THE AGES As summer turns to autumn, American Repertory Theater brings a dark and moody interpretation of Romeo and Juliet, one of Shakespeare’s most famous plays, to the Loeb Drama Center in Cambridge. This production from director Diane Paulus, collaborating with Sidi Larbi…
-
Theater Review: NEWSIES (Wildsong Productions in Ocean Beach, San Diego)
EXTRA! EXTRA! SING ALL ABOUT IT! Wildsong Productions is back with a rousing production of Newsies, doing the best they can with a so-so-script. In Harvey Fierstein’s stage book adaptation of the same-titled 1992 Disney musical film, we meet a group of impoverished young men, most of whom are orphans. Inspired by a true story…
-
Theater Review: THE REVOLUTIONISTS (Lamplighters Community Theatre in San Diego)
HEADS. WILL. ROLL. The Revolutionists is feminist history laced with an argument for the value of art in revolution. Playwright Lauren Gunderson (The Book of Will, Silent Sky, Exit, Pursued by a Bear) describes it as a “comedic quartet about four women at the height of the Reign of Terror. Liberté, égalité… sororité.” In Lamplighters Community…
-
Theater Review: RACHMANINOFF AND THE TSAR: A NEW MUSICAL PLAY (Hershey Felder Presents on Tour)
CAUGHT BETWEEN A RACH AND TSAR-ED PLACE For those not familiar with composer and classical pianist Hershey Felder, he’s something of a living homage to great composers of the last 200 years. In 1999, he debuted his one-man show George Gershwin Alone after interviewing many of the composer’s family members. Its success prompted him to…
-
Theater Review: HAPPY FALL: A QUEER STUNT SPECTACULAR (Renberg Theatre Lily Tomlin/Jane Wagner Cultural Arts Center)
Now playing at the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s Renberg Theatre is the world premiere of Happy Fall: A Queer Stunt Spectacular. Performed by an enthusiastic and energetic ensemble, and written by Lisa Sanaye Dring with Rogue Artists Ensemble, director Sean Cawelti interviewed over a dozen stunt performers (several closeted) who shared intimate stories about the challenges they…
-
Theater Review: THE BROTHERS SIZE (Geffen Playhouse)
THIS SIZE FITS ALL Opening the 2024/25 season of Geffen Playhouse is The Brothers Size, written by the Geffen’s Artistic Director Tarell Alvin McCraney, performed in the smaller of the Playhouse’s two stages, the Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater. Sheaun McKinney, Alani iLongwe This infinitely adaptable black box space is transformed here in the simplest way….
-
Theater Review: STABBED IN THE HEART (Factory Theater)
TOO MUCH HEART; NOT ENOUGH BLOOD Directed by Braxton Crewell, the Factory Theater’s production of Cody Lindley and Nate Hall‘s new rock musical Stabbed in the Heart has some hilarious moments and memorable music, but doesn’t quite hit the mark as a slasher-movie parody, if indeed that is the mark. Trish (Madeline Ackerlund) drags her…
-
Theater Review: VELOUR: A DRAG SPECTACULAR! (World Premiere at La Jolla Playhouse)
DRAGTACULAR Velour at the La Jolla Playhouse subtitles itself “A Drag Extravaganza” and for 105 uninterrupted minutes it validates the label with a smorgasbord of song, dance, film, projections, animation, circus stunts, and narration. It’s primarily a one-person show but if any entertainer can shoulder such a load, it’s the inimitable Sasha Velour, who has…
-
Theater Review: SOFT POWER (Signature Theater, Arlington, VA)
A FABULOUS FEVER DREAM Soft Power at Signature Theatre is a meta-theatrical production that begins with a semi-autobiographical portrayal of David Henry Hwang, who, following a near-fatal incident, envisions a future where China has risen to become the world’s dominant superpower. The narrative then transitions into a futuristic “Chinese musical,” offering a perspective on how…
-
Theater Review: FUNNY GIRL (National Tour at Hobby Center)
NOT QUITE THE GREATEST STAR The opening moments of this retelling of the Fanny Brice story has the main character sitting backstage as “ghosts” of former performers circle about her. The real crux here is that there is only one formidable missing “ghost’ that truly matters. That ghost being the legendary Barbra Streisand, who has…
-
Theater Review: EXIT, PURSUED BY A BEAR (Coronado Playhouse, San Diego)
The Coronado Playhouse is currently presenting Exit, Pursued by a Bear, a one-act 80-minute play by American dramatist Lauren Gundersen. who is one of the most successful writers on the American theater scene, with more than 25 staged productions since the early 2010s. Yet after the first half hour, I was ready to give up…
-
Theater Review: A TWISTED BARGAIN (Compulsion Dance & Theater at Diversionary Black Box Theater)
IF LOOKS COULD KILL : The strength of a person’s spirit would then be measured by how much ‘truth’ he could tolerate, or more precisely, to what extent he needs to have it diluted, disguised, sweetened, muted, falsified. Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) Best friends (and sometimes lovers) Nathan and Richard decide, because of their extreme intelligence…
-
Theater Review: MJ (National Tour at The National Theatre, D.C.)
A TRIP THROUGH MICHAEL JACKSON’S TRIPPY LIFE For those who never had the chance to see Michael Jackson perform live, MJ — the current smash-hit Broadway jukebox musical now on tour at The National Theater — thrillingly brings his spirit and talent back to life. Jamaal Fields-Green as ‘MJ’ and the cast of the MJ First…
-
Theater Review: RACHEL BLOOM: DEATH, LET ME DO MY SHOW (Steppenwolf in Chicago)
RACHEL BLOOMS IN DEATH Rachel Bloom, the co-creator and star of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, gives a hilarious and vulnerable performance in her raunchy and irreverent one-woman musical comedy Death, Let Me Do My Show directed by Seth Barrish. This show comes to Steppenwolf after a multi-city tour and a sold-out Off-Broadway run in September of 2023….
-
Theater Review: MAMMA MIA! (25th Anniversary Tour at The Kennedy Center Opera House)
THE CAMPY ABBA FEST IS BACK Still an over-the-top, campy, family-friendly entertainment, the 25th Anniversary North American tour of Mamma Mia!, currently at The Kennedy Center Opera House, is the feel-good, powerhouse musical romantic comedy that will thrill ABBA fans. Jalynn Steele (Tanya), Christine Sherrill (Donna), Carly Sakolove (Rosie) For those unfamiliar with the plot,…
-
Theater Review: DIDO OF IDAHO (Echo Theatre Company)
Dido of Idaho, now playing at Atwater Village, is yet more proof that Echo Theater Company really knows how to pick bold original scripts. And usually they have a heart of darkness coated with offbeat humor. Abby Rosebrock‘s latest one-act is no exception The essence concerns Nora (the always fascinating Alana Dietze), a young woman…
-
Theater Review: BACK TO THE FUTURE: THE MUSICAL (National Tour)
BACK TO THE FUTURE NEEDS TO GO BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD The Broadway tour of Back to the Future, a musical adaptation of the beloved film, has landed at Chicago’s Cadillac Palace as part of a national tour. Directed by John Rando, it is visually marvelous and otherwise totally unmemorable. This is a theatre…
-
Theater Review: THE GROWN-UPS (Baby Teeth Productions)
ALL SCRIPTS SHOULD BE THIS GROWN UP One of the most riveting and original pieces of theater I have ever seen, The Grown-Ups is now playing outdoors around a campfire near you. Funny, spooky, and sometimes purposefully enigmatic, I simply can’t stop thinking about it, along with all of those psychological Easter Eggs in Skylar…
-
Theater Review: IN HIS HANDS (First Floor Theater)
A SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE AT THE THEATER First Floor Theater’s Chicago premiere of In His Hands by Benjamin Benn, which opened last night, is breathtaking from start to finish. Benn’s writing is a poem of the mundane turned miraculous, and the deeply intimate, visually striking production does Benn’s words justice. Alex Benito Rodriguez and Matt Klingler This…
Search Articles
Please help keep
Stage and Cinema going!
