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Theater Review: THE LEGEND OF GEORGIA MCBRIDE (International City Theatre in Long Beach)
A LOVE LETTER TO THE ART OF DRAG June 10th on a lovely cool evening, my husband and I, after the third attempt of looking for the correct parking spaces, found ourselves seated in a beautiful theater space overlooking the convention halls of the Long Beach, The Beverly O’Neill Theater. We were treated to an…
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Theater Review: DANA H. (Berkeley Repertory)
ONE OF THE MOST INVENTIVE NEW PLAYS OF THE DECADE I’ve been singing the praises of Lucas Hnath‘s Dana H. ever since I first saw it three years ago in Los Angeles. Time has not altered my feelings. If anything, as the Berkeley Rep production proves, its power has not diminished in the least, and…
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Theater Review: UNCLE VANYA (Pasadena Playhouse)
SAY “UNCLE!” Far be it from me to criticize Anton Chekhov. The long-deceased Russian playwright and short story writer is regarded as one of “The Greats” in all of literature; who am I to throw a dart at that great sky? It’s because of his prestige that I was actually looking forward to seeing a…
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Theater Review: INTERSTATE (East West Players)
INTERPLAY In the age of A Strange Loop, the hit Broadway musical about a “Big Black Queer” it seems the time is ripe for more musicals about the gay experience, but one with transgender characters as leads? Lesbian singer-songwriter Melissa Li and transgender spoken-word artist Kit Yan formed a band named Good Asian Drivers, which…
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Theater Review: The Outgoing Tide (North Coast Rep in Solana Beach)
A TIDE THAT RISES SLOWLY STILL HAS POWER The description on North Coast Rep’s website for this show is quite vague and, having just come home from the program, it’s clear why. One of the great challenges in reviewing a show is revealing just enough to interest the reader, but not so much as to…
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Theater Review: KING JAMES (Mark Taper Forum)
BASKETBALL BROMANCE Center Theatre Group’s winning new dramady King James — a co-production with Chicago’s Steppenwolf Company — is a must see for more than just rabid sports fans. Nobody writes a tale of two straight boys in a bromance better than Rajiv Joseph (Guards at the Taj). And his two-hander, which opened last night…
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Theater Review: STOMP (National Tour)
STILL BANGING FOR THE BUCKS The incredibly basic concept behind Stomp, a phenom now in its third decade, remains: “Make a rhythm out of anything we can get our hands on that makes a sound.” (Luke Cresswell, co-founder/director). The result: four global productions, including permanent venues in New York and London’”and the rousing tour now playing…
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Theater Review: GUESS WHO’S COMING TO DINNER (Ruskin Group Theatre in Santa Monica)
GUESS WHAT PLAY WORKS Based on the screenplay of the same name, writer Todd Kreidler has updated for the stage Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, Stanley Kramer’s smash-hit 1967 movie by William Rose, writer of the classic Ealing black comedy The Ladykillers (1955) and It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1966). A most satisfactory…
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Theater Review: BELOVED (Road Theatre in NoHo)
BELOVED THEATER At first, we think that Beloved is about the tragic state of the internet, that a high school boy at the prestigious St. Albans in Montreal, Canada, would never be in the mess he’s in had he not been able to find child porn online, let alone steal the password on the school’s…
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Theater Review: MAN OF GOD (Geffen Playhouse)
GODDAMNED MEN Four Korean teen missionaries from Los Angeles — Kyung-Hwa (Ji-Young Yoo), Samantha (Shirley Chen), Jen (Emma Galbraith), and Mimi (Erin Rae Li) — have arrived in Bangkok with their pastor to save the souls of red light district tourists … you know, the Germans who come to piddle with little boys dressed as…
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Theater Review: HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING (Musical Theatre Guild)
MUSICAL THEATRE GUILD KNOWS HOW TO SUCCEED Reams can and have been written about the glories of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. With music and lyrics by Frank Loesser, and book by Abe Burrows, Jack Weinstock & Willie Gilbert, the 1961 musical satire that landed virtually unanimous raves would go on to run…
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Theater Review: OUR TOWN (South Coast Rep)
OUR CELEBRATION This year marks the 125th anniversary of Thornton Wilder’s birth. As part of the Wilder125 celebration, about 150 productions of the esteemed writer’s plays are being staged worldwide, including a revival of The Skin of Our Teeth on Broadway. This week, I had the privilege of seeing what’s arguably Wilder’s most famous work – Our Town – at South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa, California. It was…
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Theater Review: TIGER STYLE! (South Coast Rep)
THIS TIGER IS KING Tiger Style! at South Coast Rep is refreshing for many reasons. First, it’s really funny. Playwright Mike Lew crafts his script like a super-smart teenager, mixing insights about the Asian community with cutting humor, f-bombs, “dude,” “bro” and some other words one would only find on Urban Dictionary. It’s a style…
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Theater Review: KING LEAR (The Wallis in Beverly Hills)
DID EVERYONE AT THE WALLIS NOT REALIZE THAT THE PLAY’S THE THING? One of the greatest travesties in L.A. theater history arrived at The Wallis last weekend, and I still have the emotional scars to prove it. A showcase for Joe Morton, who starred as Dick Gregory in The Wallis’s production of Turn Me Loose,…
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Theater Review: METAMORPHOSES (A Noise Within)
I NEVER MET A METAMORPHOSES I DIDN’T LIKE, BUT THIS ONE IS GREAT Critics often speak of “universal themes” — these are topics to which people in any place and at any time can relate. One of the main reasons that Greek literature, Aesop’s Fables, Shakespeare, and Grimm’s Fairy Tales, to name a few, retain…
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Theater Review: LOOKINGGLASS ALICE (Lookingglass Theatre)
CURIOUSER AND CURIOUSER JUST GETS BETTERER AND BETTERER After two Covid-19 delays, Lookingglass Alice is once again high-flying and adored at the Lookingglass Theatre, whose glorious and highly imaginative production has quickly become the hallmark of its artistic brand. Stunning, entertaining, empowering and compelling, this gem of a show is a feast for the eyes and…
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Theater Review: AFTERGLOW (Hudson Theatre in Hollywood)
SKIN DEEP As I made my way through a gaggle of gay-listers to see “Los Angeles’s steamiest show” at the Hudson Theatre in Los Angeles, that’s when I saw it – yet missed it completely – right there on the play’s poster. The advert for Afterglow features three beautiful, bare-chested men holding each other in…
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Theater Review: ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL (Chicago Shakes)
HARRIED HAPPENINGS AT NAVY PIER A rarely produced dark comedy from the annals of William Shakespeare’s folio is ushering in springtime at Navy Pier. All’s Well That Ends Well might not have the popularity or recognizability of titles like Romeo and Juliet or Othello, but the dark comedy is certainly high energy silliness. Director Shana Cooper keeps the pace…
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Theater Review: WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? (Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles)
A BIG BAD-ASS WOOLF When Covid hit, I curled up one night, script in hand, poring over Edward Albee’s 60-year-old play Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Perhaps the daily death toll had me in need of comfort, and I knew good ol’ George and Martha could hold me in a doting embrace. If you’re familiar with…
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Theater Review: MOTHER OF THE MAID (Moxie Theatre)
YOU THINK YOUR DAUGHTER WAS A HANDFUL? Joan of Arc is remembered as a hero and a martyr for her active role in France’s defense from British invasion in the 15th century. How much the average theatergoer knows of her will vary, but likely, across the board, few of us have ever given thought to…
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