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Theater Review: ROCK OF AGES (National Tour reviewed at the Hollywood Pantages)
ROCK & ROLL CAMP The cast of Rock of Ages is riotously hell bent on making you have a good time. They beat you into submission with energy, wide smiles, and hair’”lots and lots of great big 80s hair. It’s a jukebox musical, with a slender thread of a boy-meets-girl story piecing together some of…
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World Tour Theater Review: RIVERDANCE (Oriental Theatre in Chicago)
RIVER OF DREAMS All good things must come to an end, they say, so it was inevitable that Riverdance would finally end its run, at least in the United States. But will it ever be missed. Playing for a paltry week of performances at the Oriental Theatre, the show bids farewell to Chicago, but it’s…
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Regional/National Tour Dance Feature: ALVIN AILEY AMERICAN DANCE THEATER (Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa)
ALVIN AILEY – REMEMBER HIS NAME AIDS wreaked havoc on the theater world in all of its incarnations, and the crushing effects of its devastation remain with us today. So many ingenious creators were robbed from us that imagining the works that may have been instigates an unspeakable grief so vast that, at times, it seems best…
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National Tour/Nightclub Review: MARíA VOLONTÉ (Blue Tango National Tour)
THE DARK STREETS OF PASSION The voluptuous Argentine singer María Volonté glided elegantly onto the stage at The Rrazz Room, caressed her guitar as with a lover, and had me at, “Are you ready to be dragged into the world of passion?” Music historians may debate the origins of tango music, but no one will…
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Chicago Theater Review: AMERICAN IDIOT (Oriental Theatre)
IDIOT IS AS IDIOT DOES Inspired by a 2004 rock album by the American punk rock band Green Day, American Idiot has received its share of positive reviews since its premiere in Berkeley, California in 2009 and subsequent extended run on Broadway. The rock musical has also received its share of shrugs, especially from patrons…
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Tour Review: OVO (Cirque du Soleil)
IF THIS IS THE CIRCUS, WHERE’S MY BREAD? In 1992, Guy Laliberté gentrified the big top with Saltimbanco, offering pure spectacle at Wagnerian prices, and in the process conflating art with acrobatics. Millions of people have subsequently made the same adjustment to their definition of quality entertainment. The change may be more significant than it…
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Las Vegas / National Tour Theater Review: MICHAEL JACKSON THE IMMORTAL WORLD TOUR
OH, WHAT A FOOL THIS IMMORTAL BE [Editor’s Note: The tour reviewed below was a gigantic, arena-style show. A more intimate and intricate encounter with the late singer’s oeuvre took up permanent residence at Las Vegas’s Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino as Michael Jackson: ONE on June 30, 2013.] After a short run in Las Vegas, Cirque…
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Theater Review: FELA! (National Tour kick-off at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles)
SING A SONG OF AFRICA Fela! is a scorcher. On these chilly nights in December and January, everyone (with a vested interest in the continuing power of musical theater) should retreat to the Ahmanson Theatre, where the heat is on. Warning: Do not try to put the fire out. Let the blaze burn bright. There…
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Theater Review: MEMPHIS (National Tour)
MEMPHIS PROVIDES RHYTHM BUT ULTIMATELY GIVES YOU THE BLUES Kicking off its national tour, Memphis blew into Chicago trying to sell itself as a romping, stomping celebration of rhythm and blues and rock ‘n’ roll during its turbulent early years in the 1950s. There is plenty of energy on the stage at the Cadillac Palace…
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LA/National Tour Theater Review: BRING IT ON: THE MUSICAL (Ahmanson Theatre)
PREPPY IS THE NEW SUBVERSIVE When the development of Bring It On: The Musical was announced, I rolled my eyes. The commercial viability of yet another mediocre movie-to-musical had lured Tony Award-winning talent from three refreshingly original musicals: In the Heights, Next to Normal, and Avenue Q. I doubted whether director/choreographer Andy Blankenbuehler, librettist Jeff…
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Cabaret Review: CHITA RIVERA: MY BROADWAY (Samueli Theatre at Segerstrom Center)
QUEEN OF THE GYPSIES It’s a relief that Chita Rivera, one of the last great holdovers from the Golden Age of Broadway still performing today, told the audience in Costa Mesa that she doesn’t read notices. For while Chita the phenomenon is deservedly worthy of appreciation, Chita Rivera: My Broadway is so flat and surprisingly…
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National Tour Theater Review: COME FLY AWAY (Pantages Theater)
OCCASIONALLY, WHEN WE’RE LUCKY, IT FLIES In Come Fly Away, there are at least four dances – “I’ve Got A Crush On You,” “Body and Soul,” “I Like To Lead When I Dance,” and “Teach Me Tonight” – that have the old Twyla Tharp magic, and, since they are all danced by the amazing Cody…
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Los Angeles Theater Review: IRIS (Cirque du Soleil)
CIRQUE DU CINEMA When Quebec-based artistic troupe Cirque du Soleil creates a new resident production, they typically design the building to fit the show. Not so with Cirque du Soleil’s IRIS. Although the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood and Highland has been around for only a decade, Cirque du Soleil still spent $100 million on renovations….
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LA Theater Review: FEAR FACTOR: CANINE EDITION (Hollywood Fringe / Edmonton Fringe Festival)
DOG GONE Having immersed myself in forty Fringe shows this year, I have become highly suspect of those shows that bounce from Fringe to Fringe across the land, cross-promoting like oversexed insects until they garner enough publicity to hype unsuspecting theatergoers into believing that their pablum is actually worth the attention – which, of course,…
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Los Angeles Theater Review and Commentary: FOUR CLOWNS: ROMEO & JULIET (ArtWorks Theatre)
STUPID IS AS STUPID DOES Our planet is overpopulated and sick. Wars are raging. Telecommunication is so rapid that we are losing the art of communication. Leaders and visionaries are being sacrificed for our own self-serving needs. Americans are in a permanent recession, yet we’re fatter than ever. These are scary times. And what do people need…
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Theater Review: LET ME DOWN EASY (Tour)
SHE MAKES IT LOOK EASY With Let Me Down Easy, Anna Deavere Smith’s powerful, engrossing and resonant solo outing, you may feel inspired to have a meaningful conversation with friends and family, as Ms. Smith has crafted a series of portrayals based on her own interviews that is at once scary, funny and life-affirming. On…
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Reviews of currently running shows
New York City – Broadway Memphis reviewed by William Gooch open run Million Dollar Quartet reviewed by Sarah Baram open run — New York City – Off Broadway The Accidental Pervert reviewed by Andrew Turner scheduled to close June 25 The Gazillion Bubble Show: The Next Generation reviewed by Cindy Pierre open run — Los…
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Theater Review: BURN THE FLOOR (L.A. – Hollywood)
FOXY TROT There are three reasons to attend Burn the Floor – the heart-pounding Ballroom Dance Sextravaganza now throbbing and thumping on the boards at the Pantages: one, the sexiest bodies this side of Mount Olympus; two, the astounding choreography of Jason Gilkison; and, three, the sexy bodies. Plus, an added benefit would be the…
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–˜TIL DEATH DO US PART: LATE NIGHT CATECHISM 3 by Maripat Donovan – Carrie Hamilton Theatre at The Pasadena Playhouse – Los Angeles (Pasadena) Theater Review
AND THEN THERE WAS NUN ’˜Til Death Do Us Part: Late Night Catechism 3 is actually the fourth installment of Maripat Donovan’s phenomenally successful series of one-woman shows (a fifth is due later this year); in it, she portrays a nun in full habit, interactively teaching the audience – her Catechism class – on all…
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Tour Review: AVENUE Q (Pantages Theatre)
SHORT RUN, SHORT TOUR, SHORT REVIEW Avenue Q, the delightful musical comedy which affectionately lampoons Sesame Street, blows through town this week at The Pantages as part of a short National Tour. Â Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx (music and lyrics) have conceived a deceptively simple idea: what would happen if you were to incorporate Life…
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