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Theater Review: SISTER ACT (National Tour)
NUNBEARABLE If there’s one thing I hate, it’s to see a classic movie adapted for the stage for no apparent reason. Instead of transferring the heart and sassiness that made the movie Sister Act such a classic film, the makers of the Broadway musical, now on its national tour at the Auditorium Theatre, decided to…
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Los Angeles Theater Review: HAMLET (The Broad Stage in Santa Monica)
LEAN HAMLET ON THE BROAD STAGE Shakespeare’s Globe’s touring production of Shakespeare’ Hamlet is currently on the boards at the elegant Broad Stage in Santa Monica, CA. Written in a time of great upheaval in Britain after Elizabeth’s reign, Hamlet falls neatly into the family of Jacobean revenge tragedies. Shakespeare most probably wrote Hamlet as…
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San Diego/Tour Preview: DRALION (Cirque du Soleil)
HUMANS ARE THE SPECTACLE, NOT ANIMALS Childhood memories of circus fun include ringleaders putting heads in a lion’s mouth, dancing bears, and elephants resting a paw upon a lovely lady’s head. That is, such memories exist if you are a person of a certain age. If you haven’t been to a circus type event since…
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Chicago Dance Review: MOULIN ROUGE – THE BALLET (Royal Winnipeg Ballet)
THE FRAMEWORK IS A BIT ODD, BUT THE MOVEMENT IS GLORIOUS Not to be confused with the frenetic film starring Nicole Kidman or the older Oscar winner with Jose Ferrer as Toulouse Lautrec, this 2009 confection by Jorden Morris celebrates the seedy side of “la belle époque” as exposed by the still-scary underworld of Montmartre….
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San Francisco Cabaret Review: MARY WILSON (Fairmont Venetian Room)
THE STUFF THAT DREAMGIRLS ARE MADE OF Bay Area Cabaret launched its 2012-13 season this week with a headliner sure to pull in baby-boomers by the busload: Mary Wilson, one of the three women (along with Florence Ballard and Diana Ross) who would form the legendary 60s girl group, The Supremes. The setting is the…
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Los Angeles Concert and Tour Review: AN EVENING WITH DAVID BYRNE & ST. VINCENT (SEGERSTROM CONCERT HALL)
BYRNE THE MUSICIAN VS. BYRNE THE ENTERTAINER “Hello, People of Orange,” David Byrne iterates plainly to the Segerstrom Concert Hall audience. The no-frills greeting brings forth a low-thrills evening devised to promote the album Love This Giant, his collaborative effort with St. Vincent (Annie Clark). Swapping their trademark eclectic, electric, guitar-centric rock for horn-heavy, stiff…
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Chicago Theater Review: BLACK WATCH (National Theatre of Scotland)
KILLER’S REMORSE It’s a bit haunting that Black Watch is performed in a National Guard armory where soldiers, like the Scottish laddies depicted in Gregory Burke’s combat pageant, trained before being sent to the trenches of World War I. This internationally acclaimed touring production from the National Theatre of Scotland could hardly find a more…
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New York and Tour Theater Review: HAMLET (Michael Schimmel Center for the Arts)
THERE IS NOTHING LIKE A DANE The Globe Theater of London brings its touring production of Shakespeare’s tale of the Melancholy Great Dane to the Michael Schimmel Center, and one is tempted to joke that something is indeed stinking in this State of Denmark, since just outside the theatre, one can perceive the odors emanating from the…
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LA, NYC, and Tour Theater Review: ANDRÉ & DORINE (Los Angeles Theatre Center)
LIFE AS WE KNOW IT Mask work reduces the craft of acting to the essential elements of pose and gesture. That’s all you get when there are no words or facial expressions. Watching a piece as declarative, accessible, and affecting as Kulunka Teatro’s André & Dorine, one wonders why we allow words to clutter our…
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Tour Review: DRAGONS (Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus)
THE CIRCUS OF YOUR DREAMS In order to fully enjoy the opening of the 142nd edition of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus, I had to take a step back into yesteryear. It’s a pretty big step’”but as soon as I allowed myself to tap into that childlike wonder that I had long…
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Theater Review: MARY POPPINS (National Tour at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles)
PRACTICAL PERFECTION There is a good-natured pragmatism at work in the stage musical version of the film classic Mary Poppins, now back in Los Angeles at the Ahmanson through September 2. It knows what we want it to be, and in almost every case, it gives it to us happily; with meticulous care and affection’”and…
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Regional Theater Attraction: TEN CHIMNEYS ESTATE (Genesee Depot, Wisconsin)
THE THEATER WAS HOME TO THE LUNTS, BUT THIS WAS THEIR HOME FROM THE THEATER From the 1920’s through the 1950’s, the husband and wife team of Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne were the First Couple of the American theater. The Lunts, as they were universally known, dominated the American stage with their successes extending…
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Theater Review: LA SOIRÉE (Riverfront Theater)
CAMPY BUT ARTISTIC Take a handful of world class circus acts, add a bit of cabaret and burlesque, and you have La Soirée, the entirely enjoyable show in town for two weeks at the Riverfront Theatre. The entertainment originated at the 2004 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, drew positive reviews, and took its show on the road…
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Chicago Theater Review: A STEADY RAIN (Chicago Dramatists Theatre)
STEADY AS IT GOES A Steady Rain, Chicago Dramatists’ prodigal son, has finally come home, giving audiences a chance to sit down again with Denny and Joey, the two cops that disturbed the hell out of them back in 2007. Keith Huff’s play has had a whirlwind several years, produced in major theatres across the…
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Los Angeles Theater Review: LA CAGE AUX FOLLES (Pantages Theater in Hollywood)
COME FOR GEORGE HAMILTON, STAY FOR CHRISTOPHER SIEBER The national tour of La Cage aux Folles leaves its audience basking in the warm afterglow of a delightful musical comedy. As an enthused audience member behind me exclaimed at intermission, “I want to live inside this show!” – and no wonder. The Broadway revival of this…
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Los Angeles Theater Review: WAR HORSE (Ahmanson Theatre)
WHO’LL SAVE THE PLOW HORSE? War Horse is almost critic-proof. It has been garnering all sorts of Best Play awards, but, in truth, there are all sorts of new, unrecognized categories for which War Horse can compete and still come out a winner. Let’s mention a few, why don’t we? The Most Imaginative Use of…
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Chicago Theater Review: RAIN: A TRIBUTE TO THE BEATLES (Oriental Theater in Chicago)
YOU REALLY GOT A HOLD ON ME The baby boomers were out in force at the Oriental Theatre Tuesday night, reveling in a Beatles nostalgia fest called Rain: A Tribute to the Beatles. The show is a note-for-note replication of about 30 of Beatles’ greatest, and not so greatest, songs, as performed by four young…
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Theater Review: MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET (National Tour)
ROCK ‘N’ ROLL (HIS)TORY People all over the world never seem to tire of Elvis Presley, even if that means watching mediocre impersonators like the “Thai Elvis” at Palm’s Thai restaurant in Hollywood. For an incredibly convincing impression of Elvis, including a one-of-a-kind ensemble performance, simply walk down Hollywood Boulevard to the Pantages Theatre and…
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Tour Review: DRALION (Cirque du Soleil)
TO SEASONED VIEWERS, THE FACE OF CIRQUE DU SOLEIL COULD USE A LIFT The Cirque du Soleil production of Dralion should be the most fun for audiences unfamiliar with the Cirque’s unique blend of spectacle and variety acts. For veteran observers, the law of diminishing returns may be setting in. During the late 1980’s and…
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Los Angeles Theater and Tour Review: THE ADDAMS FAMILY (Pantages Theatre)
REAPPLYING MAKE-UP ON THE SAME CORPSE Your enjoyment of The Addams Family, now on its National Tour, will depend largely on your expectations. If you are a discerning musical theater aficionado who craves a well-crafted story and amazing songs, this will be a head-scratching affair, one which creates more questions than answers. Those who are…
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