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Theater Review: THE ANGEL NEXT DOOR (North Coast Repertory Theatre in Solana Beach)
SOMEONE MUST HAVE CLIPPED THE WINGS, BECAUSE THIS ANGEL DOESN’T FLY There are times when a reviewer is tempted to recuse himself (or herself) from publicly commenting on a comedy because he/she is unenthusiastic about a work that the audience apparently finds hilarious. Thus is my dilemma assessing North Coast Rep‘s The Angel Next Door,…
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Theater Review: OUR DEAR DEAD DRUG LORD (Kirk Douglas Theatre)
OUR DEAR DEAD PLAYWRIGHTING In Our Dear Dead Drug Lord, which opened last Sunday at the Kirk Douglas Theatre, feral feminism from sociopathic fledglings starts out fantastic but goes off the rails in a burst of magical realism. What could have been a complex, smart exploration of loss, idol worship, and teen angst is in…
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Theater Review: THE BLUEST EYE (A Noise Within)
THE TRUEST EYE It’s been 12 years since A Noise Within’s architectural repurposing of the 1958 Stuart Pharmaceutical Neo-Formalist building in Pasadena into a theater complex. For those who haven’t seen it yet, its sleek mid-century interior, smartly decorated with seating and tables, has a lobby functioning as a lounge with attractive displays of past production portraits…
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Theater Review: THE RIGHT IS OURS! (Sierra Madre Playhouse)
TECHNICAL ISSUES ASIDE, THIS NEW MUSICAL IS FULL OF HEART The Right is Ours!, a world premiere new musical which opened yesterday at the Sierra Madre Playhouse, tells the story of the friendship between women’s rights pioneers Elizabeth Cady Stanton (Emily Abeles) and Susan B. Anthony (Anna Mintzer), starting with their meeting in 1851, and…
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Theater Review: THE SOUND INSIDE (The Pasadena Playhouse in Pasadena)
A HAUNTING SYMPHONY OF SOLITUDE AND CONNECTION Set in the dimly lit confines of a college creative writing class and the private world of its reclusive protagonist, The Sound Inside, which opened last night at Pasadena Playhouse, is a riveting exploration of the human condition, loneliness, and the pursuit of meaningful connection. TV and stage…
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Theater Review: CABARET (Old Globe in San Diego)
PERFECTLY MARVELOUS Cabaret is a masterpiece of American musical theater that has been presented in a vast variety of musical and physical shapes and sizes since its premiere on Broadway in 1966. The score has been cut, added to, and shifted around, and the mood and look have been countlessly revised. So audiences attending the…
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Theater Review: HIPPEST TRIP–THE SOUL TRAIN MUSICAL (Pre-Broadway World Premiere: A.C.T.in San Francisco)
A LOTTA SOUL IN THIS EXPRESS TRAIN TO JOY Officially starting A.C.T.’s 23/24 Season is the Broadway-bound world premiere musical based on the iconic TV Show Soul Train, which opened last Wednesday at the Toni Rembe Theater. Several years in the making, the jukebox musical Hippest Trip — The Soul Train Musical traces the story…
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Theater Review: THE SAVOYARD MURDERS (The Roustabouts Theatre Company at Scripps Ranch Theatre in San Diego)
GIVE THREE CHEERS AND ONE CHEER MORE FOR SILLY GOOD FUN In the US, the term “Savoyard” generally means a person intensely interested in, and perhaps highly knowledgeable about, the works of Gilbert and Sullivan. In the U.K., the term refers more directly to some of the original players at the Savoy theatre but, for…
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Theater Review: THE GOSPEL AT COLONUS (Getty Villa Outdoor Theatre in Malibu)
THE GOSPEL AT GETTY Created by Lee Breuer and Bob Telson, The Gospel at Colonus — a Greek tragedy turned Pentecostal revival — had its original 1983 production at the fBrooklyn Academy of Music in New York with Morgan Freeman as the preacher and the great Blind Boys of Alabama as Oedipus. If, you’ve never…
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Theater Review: A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE (Ruskin Group Theatre in Santa Monica)
AN UNSTOPPABLE TRAJECTORY Ruskin Group Theatre‘s season-opener, a landmark drama from 1955, exploded into relevance last Friday night. A rarity worth a return, Arthur Miller’s drama of an inevitable domestic tragedy focuses on the family and the neighborhood in which they live. The strengths are compassion for the characters; a plot that’s both relentless and…
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Theater Review: VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE (Lamplighters Community Theatre in La Mesa)
MAKE THIS FUN SHOW ONE TO CHEKHOV YOUR LIST Any time you take one sibling out of a group of three, the remaining two are bound to talk about the missing one. Take that situation further, with two of them living together and the third being a egomaniac who just pops in occasionally — it’s…
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Theater Review: THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY (Signature Theatre in D.C.)
SIGNATURE’S BRIDGES FREES VIEWERS TO BE HOPELESS ROMANTICS Given its syrupy and soaring sentimentalism, Robert James Waller’s very short 1992 novel The Bridges of Madison County was amazingly effective. The tale of “love-that-could-have-been” had a universality which resonated with readers big time: It’s one of the best-selling books of the 20th century: over 50 million…
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Theater Review: CRY IT OUT (Moxie Theatre, San Diego)
DON’T KNOW WHETHER TO LAUGH OR CRY You know that close friend or relative you have who can talk about the most trivial stuff in their world and you’ll still ask leading questions for more details? Like, “So what did you do when the can opener wouldn’t go all the way around?” But if someone else…
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Theater Review: HEROES OF THE FOURTH TURNING (Rogue Machine’s L.A. premiere at The Matrix Theatre)
A HEROIC PRODUCTION Heroes of the Fourth Turning is a riveting and thought-provoking play that delves into the complexities of ideology, faith, and the generational divide in contemporary America. Written by Will Arbery and premiered in 2019, this Pulitzer Prize-nominated play offers a profound exploration of the ideological tensions that define the modern political landscape,…
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Theater Review: RECIPROCATING PUMPS (The Marsh San Francisco)
HEATED PUMPS Now playing at The Marsh Theater, San Francisco’s independent theater for new performances, writer and director Dirk Alphin’s original production, Reciprocating Pumps, is a riveting, emotionally intense drama. On an intimate set of a living room and bedroom, this family (both chosen and genetic) drama takes place over the course of a single…
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Theater Review: A PERFECT GANESH (Theatricum Botanicum)
A PERFECT PERFECT GANESH In the realm of contemporary theater, where scripts often tend to shy away from tackling profound and uncomfortable subjects, A Perfect Ganesh is a remarkable outlier. This captivating play penned by Terrence McNally transcends the boundaries of conventional storytelling, delving unflinchingly into themes of loss, self-discovery, and spirituality. With its poignant…
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Theater Review: PETER PAN GOES WRONG (Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles)
A PERFECTLY CRAFTED TRAINWRECK Having brought the house down with The Play that Goes Wrong, Mischief Theatre Company has followed up with a delicious offering: Peter Pan Goes Wrong. Written by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer and Henry Shields, the play introduces the fictional Cornley Youth Theater to theatergoers and their catastrophic attempt to stage a production of the 1904…
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Theater Review: THE RED SUITCASE (Broadwater Theatre Main Stage in Hollywood)
HOPE FOR THE FUTURE The Red Suitcase, written by Jiggs Burgess and directed by Del Shores, with assistant direction and additional staging by Blake McIver Ewing, is a remarkable play that delves into the complexities of the father-son relationship and the moments that shape our lives. The play, seeing its world premiere at the Broadwater…
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Theater Review: LES MISÉRABLES (National Tour)
DON’T MIZ IT Unlike most of the characters in the blockbuster sung-through musical Les Misérables, the show itself will never die. Consistently presented either on Broadway, national tours, and globally since the English-language version opened on the West End in 1985, audiences can’t get enough of Victor Hugo’s story about ex-con and do-gooder Jean Valjean and…
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Theater Review: EVITA (Cygnet Theatre in San Diego)
EVITA IS SURPRISINGLY GOOD FOR YOU The Cygnet Theatre revival of the musical Evita has already been extended to October 1, 2023, due to positive ticket buyer interest. Cygnet visitors should find much to admire in the production, though it does have issues. But decent presentations of Evita don’t come around very often, so area…
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