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Theater Commentary: TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD (National Tour)
TO READ A BOOK. TO SEE A PLAY. TO CORROBORATE LESSONS LEARNED. I have been an avid reader my whole life beginning at the age of eight. I can’t remember the exact year that I read Harper Lee’s book, To Kill A Mockingbird, sometime around high school, after which I saw the film. Last night…
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Recommended Dance: THE LOOK OF LOVE (Mark Morris Dance Group World Premiere at The Broad Stage in Santa Monica)
A NEW DANCE TO THE MUSIC OF BURT BACHARACH The Look of Love reunites Choreographer Mark Morris and jazz composer Ethan Iverson to create a new work showcasing the music of Burt Bacharach. Co-commissioned by BroadStage, the world premiere of Mark Morris Dance Group’s The Look of Love, an evening of dance to the music…
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Theater Review: HAMILTON (North American Tour)
OUR FUNKY FOUNDING FATHERS A hip-hop Alexander Hamilton? A beat-box Father of His Country? A jumping James Madison and a jiveass Jefferson who disses bigtime in a poetry slam? The ten-dollar bill will never be the same (or the dollar note for that matter). A sassy-spunky 2015 blast from the past set to irresistible rhythms, Hamilton is…
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National Tour Review: JAGGED LITTLE PILL (Hollywood Pantages)
JAGGED LITTLE SHOW You’re going to need more than a pill to relieve your aches after seeing this dreck. From what I’d heard, the Broadway success of Jagged Little Pill, a hyper-woke jukebox musical built around the songs of Alanis Morissette, was a bit of a revelation given the story is about issue-packed angst-ridden millennials…
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Theater Review: OKLAHOMA! (National Tour)
OKLAHOMA! AS WOKELAHOMA NOT SO OK ON TOUR This ain’t your mama’s Oklahoma! While Daniel Fish’s completely rethought and stripped-down production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s 1943 watershed musical comedy Oklahoma!, now at the 2000+-seat Ahmanson as part of a national tour, has moments which will provoke post-theater discussions, I can’t help but believe that something…
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Theater Review: THE PROM (North American Tour)
PROM-COM Dust off the Mylar balloons and wrist corsages and head over to The Ahmanson Theatre, where The Prom just landed as part of its national tour. Forget smelly gymnasiums or dated themes, as this prom is full of high-energy dance numbers, colorful characters, theatrical in-jokes and a litany of Broadway-style tunes that divert even as…
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Theater Review: THE EMPIRE STRIPS BACK (Great Star Theater)
MAY THE TORSO BE WITH YOU Forget about Broadway or the latest Marvel Comic movie. The fun, hip and cool burlesque Star Wars parody — which isn’t just for fans of the franchise — is the show to see this summer live onstage in San Francisco. No stranger to SF, Burlesque started in the nineteenth…
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Theater Review: MOULIN ROUGE! THE MUSICAL (North American Tour)
MOULIN “ROGUE”! It wasn’t just the powerhouse romance between Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman. With its frenetic theatrics and killer soundtrack (virgin ballads locking lips with re-imagined pop hits), Baz Luhrmann’s epic, high-octane love story, Moulin Rouge! (2001), was always destined for the stage. But Broadway, it appears, is the Duke in disguise here, promising…
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Dance: SW!NG OUT (National Tour’s West Coast Premiere at The Ahmanson in Los Angeles)
Acclaimed choreographer & Dance Magazine cover star Caleb Teicher brings the best of the swing dance world to the concert stage when the The Music Center welcomes the West Coast premiere of The Joyce Theater’s SW!NG OUT, directed by tap phenom Caleb Teicher (June 24-26, 2022).. With live music by Eyal Vilner’s Big Band, Lindy Hop champions bring the joy, fire…
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Dance Review: MOZART DANCES (Mark Morris Dance Group at The Broad Stage in Santa Monica)
MO’ MOZART DANCES, PLEASE What a tough day I had last Thursday. No details necessary, but I was so spent it was with worry when I attended Mark Morris’s Mozart Dances at The Broad Stage in Santa Monica that I thought sleep and ennui would be my only partners. Set to three exquisite Mozart piano…
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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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Attraction Reviews: SUMMIT ONE VANDERBILT | ONE WORLD OBSERVATORY (New York City)
A TALE OF TWO TOWERS The area around the erstwhile World Trade Center towers may have transformed slowly, and still under construction, but the transformation is astounding around the new high-rise replacement tower, One World Trade Center, also known as the Freedom Tower, and which is now the focal point of the Lower Manhattan skyline….
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Review: COME FROM AWAY (North American Tour)
A NEWFOUND(LAND) WAY OF LOOKING AT MUSICAL THEATER This intimate ensemble piece seems to get better and better, yet it’s practically the same show I saw when it first opened at La Jolla Playhouse and then on Broadway (where it remains a hit). The National Tour, which is merely breezing through L.A. for two weeks…
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Dance Review: ROMÉO ET JULIETTE / ROMEO AND JULIET (Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo)
MAILLOT, MAIS OUI Les Ballets de Monte Carlo made a rare appearance in Southern California on April 15-17, 2022, with four performances of Roméo et Juliette, Jean-Christophe Maillot’s innovative 1996 version of Sergei Prokofiev’s iconic ballet, performed at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts. In Maillot’s retelling, William Shakespeare’s tale of star-crossed lovers is presented…
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Theater Review: HADESTOWN (North American Tour)
PRAISE THE GODS! As soon as the plunger-muted trombone began to wail, and ache, and wail again; as trickled sweat watered ivories being tickled on an upright piano; as the hmmm’s of the chorus overlayed the chugga-chug sounds in this gin-soaked speakeasy where the train to hell was roarin’, I knew Hadestown was touched by…
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Theater Review: TOOTSIE (North American Tour)
SURRENDER (TO) DOROTHY Forty years ago, Dustin Hoffman lit up the silver screen as struggling actor Michael Dorsey in the gender-swapping, smash-hit comedy, Tootsie. Really, who can forget the VHS box art featuring Hoffman’s Michael Dorsey-turned “Dorothy Michaels” donning that iconic red sequin dress in front of an American flag? Obviously, a lot has changed…
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Theater Review: MOULIN ROUGE! THE MUSICAL (North American Tour)
SPECTACULAR! SPECTACULAR! If a high-kicking, visually spellbinding, toe-tapping night out is what you love in entertainment, have I got just the show for you. Even though the original opening night was delayed a bit by a partial cast-wide Covid-19 outbreak, everyone is now back, healthy and bringing their A+ game eight shows a week at…
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Theater Review: THE PROM (North American Tour)
TOE-TAPPING TUNES MAKE THE SHOW Dust off the Mylar balloons and wrist corsages Chicago, you only have one week to attend The Prom as part of its national tour. No smelly gymnasium or dated themes required, this prom is full of high energy dance numbers and a litany of toe-tapping tunes that will stay knocking around your head long after leaving the…
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Theater Review: SIX THE MUSICAL (North American Tour Kickoff)
BOW DOWN TO THE QUEENS OF SIX The second hottest fire to burn through Chicago since 1871 was last night, center stage at the CIBC Theatre, and is now playing there for the next four months before heading on tour to other realms. The powerful queens of Six are back, celebrating their collective coronation national tour…
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Dance Review: LAZARUS & REVELATIONS (Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater at The Chandler)
AILEY IS ALWAYS A REVELATION(S) Bringing with them three complete programs of dazzling dance, this 2022 edition showcases Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s (AAADT) vital verve, reminding audiences why they retain a love affair with this American institution. An unprecedented two-week, three-program showcase plays through April 10, 2022. Never, and I mean never, in all the…
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