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Theater Review: THE PIANO LESSON (A Noise Within)
A WELL-PLAYED PIANO Though the surface plot of August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson is fairly simple ’” an estranged brother and sister argue over whether to sell or keep a beautiful piano that has been in the family for generations – that simplicity is very deceptive. For the piano is not only a valuable instrument…
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Theater Review: PRU PAYNE (SpeakEasy Stage Company at Calderwood Pavilion in Boston)
MEMORY AS AN ACT OF LOVE The East Coast premiere of playwright Steven Drukman’s snappy and cleverly written Pru Payne is movingly brought to the stage under SpeakEasy Stage founder Paul Daigneault’s direction. A top-notch cast gives voice to Drukman’s script, led by the especially impressive Karen MacDonald in the demanding role of Pru, a…
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Theater Review: THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST (Antaeus Theatre Company in Glendale)
WICKEDLY WITTY WILDE Sometimes you just need to take refuge from the contemporary world with a classic play. And when it’s delivered as delightfully and professionally as Antaeus Theatre Company’s season opener, Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest, rejoice and feel the load lifting off your shoulders, if only for two-plus hours. While the…
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Theater Review: THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW (Oasis and Ray of Light Theatre at Oasis Nightclub)
HOT PATOOTIE, BLESS MY SOUL, I REALLY LOVE THIS ROCKY SHOW If you’re a veteran fan of the film The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Ray of Light‘s production at the ever-fabulous Oasis Nightclub takes it not so much to another level as another dimension. If you’re a virgin (at least if only a virgin to…
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Theater Review: I’LL BE WITH YOU SHORTLY (NEO Ensemble Theatre at The Loft Ensemble Theatre)
A BUMPY RIDE INTO THE AFTERLIFE Like many small, non-profit theatre groups, NEO Ensemble Theatre is nomadic by nature, moving from theater to theater to present modern, socially relevant plays or offering online programming on a pay-what-you-want basis. Their latest, staged in-person production is the world premiere of Michael Merton’s dark comedy I’ll Be With…
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Theater Review: THE CIVIL TWILIGHT (Broadwater Studio Theatre in Hollywood)
CIVIL UNREST When I walked into the very small and incredibly intimate Broadwater Studio Theatre, I immediately thought about Sam Shepard’s Fool for Love, about a couple of loners looking to connect, given the small, Western-style motel room designed by Joel Daavid. But the world premiere of Shem Bitterman‘s The Civil Twilight, directed with emotional…
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Theater Review: RENT (Jaxx Theatre)
It’s amazing that this earnest, energetic, enthusiastic ensemble doesn’t spontaneously combust navigating the tiny playing area between viewers on both sides in an alley theater configuration. It’s truly a remarkable feat while executing the large crowd scenes and tight choreography. Rent has a romantic history: Jonathan Larson, its author and composer, died suddenly of an…
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Theater Review: GLORIA (Chance Theater)
GLORIA, HALLELUJAH! Unless you can see Gloria at The Chance Theater tonight or tomorrow, this may be a review of record, as it ran only two weeks after opening night, but I tell you this is what theater should be: unique, sharp, funny, adventurous. The author, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, continues to be one of contemporary theater’s…
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Theater Review: I DO! I DO! (Revolution in Palm Springs)
IT DOES AND IT DOESN’T A moving exploration of one couple’s life together, I Do! I Do! is an intimate two-character Broadway musical that spans half a century as it focuses on the ups and downs of spouses Agnes and Michael — home life, childbearing, emotional quarrels, and empty-nesting. I wonder that many people have…
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Theater Review: PRIMARY TRUST (Goodman Theatre)
YOUR PRIMARY CHOICE FOR GREAT THEATER. TRUST ME. The Goodman’s Chicago-premiere production of Primary Trust by Eboni Booth is everything I’ve been craving in theatre lately. Directed by Malkia Stampley, this Pulitzer Prize-winning play about loss and loneliness is intimate, dripping in empathy, but most importantly full of hope. I’ll even dare to say it’s…
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Theater Review: KIMBERLY AKIMBO (National Tour, Pantages)
YOUR GREAT ADVENTURE AWAITS If you rearrange the letters of “progeria,” you can get “opera rig,” or “rigor ape,” or “prior age.” That last one is befitting. Progeria is an incredibly rare syndrome that causes people to age faster than normal. Though the turmoil of high school, a troubled home, and growing up in New…
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Theater Review: ROBBIN, FROM THE HOOD (Road Theatre)
A rich man is nothing but a poor man with money. — W. C. Fields I highly recommend the World Premiere of Robbin, From the Hood, which opened last Friday at Road Theatre. It is playwright Marlow Wyatt’s creative protest to American capitalism. It’s entertaining and timely with surprising plot twists. In Wyatt’s re-imagined tale, corporate…
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Theater Review: HAPPY DAYS ARE HERE (AGAIN) (Steep Theatre at Steppenwolf’s 1700 Theater in Chicago)
AN EXTREMELY HEAVY PORTRAYAL OF ABUSE IN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH It’s no secret that the Catholic Church has a sordid history of covering up sexual abuse, and many have made art on this topic to keep it in the spotlight (pun intended, as the 2015 film Spotlight is an excellent example). This is the first…
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Theater Review: THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE (Broadway Center Stage / Kennedy Center / DC)
S-T-U-P-E-N-D-O-U-S AND S-I-D-E-S-P-L-I-T-T-I-N-G The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee is a delightful and unconventional musical comedy that debuted in 2005. With music and lyrics by William Finn and a book by Rachel Sheinkin, the show is set at a fictional spelling bee in Putnam Valley Middle School. It follows an eclectic group of middle…
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Theater Review: LOOPED (The Roustabouts Theatre Company at Scripps Ranch Theatre in San Diego)
TALLULAH’S BACK IN TOWN, DAHLING! “Don’t touch my purse! Touching a woman’s purse is like touching her vagina! Except, I can only put so much in my purse.” Not quite a lady-like quote for 1965, huh? Welcome to the world of screen star Tallulah Bankhead, a stage actress best known for her role in the…
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Theater Review: TAKES ALL KINDS (Dan Hoyle at The Marsh SF)
IT TAKES DAN HOYLE TO CREATE GREAT JOURNALISTIC THEATER San Franciscans pride themselves on their open mindedness towards all walks of life and outlooks. But do we really listen objectively to other people’s opinions that may vastly differ from our own? We love living in our Blue bubble particularly now in our very divided political…
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Theater Review: THE WISDOM OF EVE (Whitefire Theatre)
BACKSTAGE BROADWAY BACKSTABBING: ALL ABOUT THE WISDOM OF EVE Any fan of film noir most assuredly has seen the 1950 major motion picture All About Eve, which shares the story of a young Broadway hopeful who schemes her way into the backstage life of an established star just to replace her in the ingenue role…
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Theater Review: FUCKING MEN (The Bent in Palm Springs)
THE BOYS IN THE BEDROOM Now in its third season, The Bent is presenting Fucking Men by Joe DiPietro at the Palm Springs Cultural Center. Based on 19th-century Austrian playwright Arthur Schnitzler’s much-imitated 1897 Der Reigen (in French, La Ronde), the play is a roundelay of ten couples, in which the one encountered in the first scene…
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Theater Review: GREEN DAY’S AMERICAN IDIOT (Deaf West and Center Theatre Group at Mark Taper Forum)
IDIOT IS AS IDIOT DOES Unlike the jukebox musicals Mamma Mia and Escape to Margaritaville, which invented stories around the songs of ABBA and Jimmy Buffett, American Idiot ’” inspired by the eponymous 2004 rock concept album by the American punk rock band Green Day ’” has a book by lyricist Billie Joe Armstrong and original director Michael Meyer with about…
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Theater Review: BABBITT (Shakespeare Theatre Company, D.C.)
BEMUSING, DISAPPOINTING, SUPERFICIAL, AND FULL OF CONTRADICTIONS After all the hype about Matthew Broderick starring in the title role of Babbitt, presented by Shakespeare Theatre Company at Harman Hall, the production — which had its world premiere at La Jolla Playhouse last November — is a disappointment. Yet, the fault doesn’t lie solely with Broderick’s acting….
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