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CD Review: BULLDOZER: THE BALLAD OF ROBERT MOSES (Original Off-Broadway Cast Recording)
BULLDOZED It breaks my heart that another poorly made production with no soul or message gets recorded as an Original Cast Recording. Those who may think that Bulldozer is a musical about construction equipment should read the subtitle: The Ballad of Robert Moses, which is indeed about the renowned and controversial “master builder” of mid-20th century…
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Theater Review: LIGHTS OUT: NAT “KING” COLE (Geffen Playhouse in Westwood)
UNFORGETTABLE AND FORGETTABLE AT THE SAME TIME Well, here’s a show that, while it doesn’t defy description, is nonetheless perplexing. As with Matthew Borne’s Cinderella, now playing across town, only you can decide whether or not the convoluted goings on play second fiddle to the astounding talent and dancing on stage. Co-written with Coleman Domingo…
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Dance Review: ASTAIRE DANCES 2: FRED & GINGER (American Contemporary Ballet)
LET’S FACE IT: THIS IS MUSIC AND DANCE The classiest dance company in town offered its longest and most romantic program yet — a combination of Balanchine and Astaire, two of the 20th century’s greatest and most influential choreographers. The great ballet choreographer George Balanchine compared Fred Astaire to Bach, and Baryshnikov claimed Astaire gave him…
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Los Angeles Theater Review: THE JOY WHEEL (Ruskin)
JOY TO THE WHEEL After 40 years of marriage, the times they are a-changin’ for Frank and Stella Conlin, who now want very different things. On the day of Frank ‘s retirement party, he parades around the living room in his rented tuxedo, attempting to nail his retirement speech. He even took a Toastmaster’s course which not only…
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Chicago Theater Review: TWILIGHT BOWL (Goodman)
SHE STRIKES! SHE SCORES! WELL, BOWL ME OVER It’s only women who perform, design, direct, write, and otherwise shape this Goodman Theatre world premiere. Rebecca Gilman’s Twilight Bowl represents a healthy change of insiders. Making up for lost chances and time, this coming-of-age, slice-of-life depicts six small-town, twentysomething friends across several seasons. Their getaway time is spent…
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Theater Review: THE MOUNTAINTOP (Garry Marshall Theatre in Burbank)
BECAUSE IT’S THERE What if Dr. Martin Luther King was a down-to-earth, simple, vulnerable human being like the rest of us? What if human existence could be viewed from another dimension, one that allowed the viewer to weigh the pluses and minuses of the greater good versus personal choice, or the math of one human…
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Theater Review: FAMILIAR (San Diego’s The Old Globe)
FAMILIAR TERRITORY If familiarity does indeed breed contempt, then Danai Gurira’s family tragicomedy about whose legacy will control the future is aptly named Familiar. The title alludes to family; when loved ones squabble with disdain, disrespect, and disapproval over who they are and where they come from, the play asks, just what is familiar? A…
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Theater Review: TINY BEAUTIFUL THINGS (San Diego’s the Old Globe)
LETTERS FROM THE LOVELORN LEAP OFF THE PAGE Dear Sugar, I have a problem. My editor assigned me to review a play that does not follow conventional theater techniques, has only one known character, and doesn’t actually have a plot. What should I do? Confused Critic in San Diego Dear Confused Critic, You don’t have…
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Review: THE SCARLET IBIS (Chicago Opera Theater)
A SMALL STORY SOARS IN THIS NEW OPERA Right now the Studebaker Theater houses a wonder. A chamber opera with a heart of gold, The Scarlet Ibis, with a supple score by Stefan Weisman and lyrical libretto by David Cote, is based on a 1960 short story by the late James Hurst. In only 95 minutes…
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Theater Review: CRAZY FOR YOU (San Diego Musical Theatre in San Diego)
A SWEET EMBRACEABLE SHOW In 1930, a musical called Girl Crazy, with a score by George and Ira Gershwin, opened on Broadway to moderate success, running 272 performances. The rarely-revived show didn’t have the chops to endure the decades, but the music from it certainly did. Girl Crazy gave us memorable tunes, like “Bidin’ My…
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Los Angeles Theater Review: OLIVER! (Musical Theatre West in Long Beach)
YOU WILL BUY During a two hour car trip with my future husband, he — being from New York and loving Broadway musicals as much as I — decided to sing every song from Oliver!, his favorite show at that time. After about an hour, he began to sing “Where Is Love?,” which is one…
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Dance Review: ANNA KARENINA (World Premiere by Joffrey Ballet at the Auditorium Theatre)
LEO TOLSTOY TURNED TO LEAPS AND TWIRLS IN THIS WORLD PREMIERE BALLET MILESTONE So many superlatives to savor. Newly created by 35-year-old wunderkind composer Ilya Demutsky, who replenishes the rhapsodic romanticism of Shostakovich and Prokofiev, and genius choreographer Yuri Possokhov, who finds new depths in dance, Anna Karenina, Joffrey Ballet’s first commissioned score, redeemed its promissory notes perfectly…
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Theater Review: MINNIE’S BOYS (Musical Theatre Guild at the Alex Theatre)
BOY OH BOYS With a fun and intermittently funny score by Hal Hackady (lyrics) and Larry Grossman (music), perky, adorable, enterprising direction by J. Scott Lapp, and some shining performances, Musical Theatre Guild’s concert-staged production of the more-than-rarely produced flop Minnie’s Boys turned out to be a pleasant and occasionally hilarious outing. This had some…
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Chicago Theater Review: A DOLL’S HOUSE, PART 2 (Steppenwolf)
A SEQUEL WITHOUT A SOUL Some nerve. It takes chutzpah on top of arrogance to dare to continue, let alone complete, another playwright’s stand-alone masterpiece. Lucas Hnath has the temerity to imagine a sequel to A Doll’s House, Henrik Ibsen’s proto-feminist classic from 1879. It remains the still-controversial tale of a Norwegian wife who, refusing to…
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Film Feature: FINDING NEVERLAND: A MILESTONE IN HISTORICAL FANTASY
FINDING NEVERLAND: A MILESTONE IN HISTORICAL FANTASY Following up his critically acclaimed Monster’s Ball, director Marc Forster took on this biography of playwright James Matthew Barrie, the scribe who penned the children’s classic Peter Pan. Johnny Depp stars as the turn-of-the-century writer as the film follows Barrie as he struggles to write and have his…
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Theater Review: HOW I LEARNED TO DRIVE (Raven Theatre in Chicago)
HOW I LEARNED TO LOVE THEATER Some plays take time to come into their own but they’re well worth a wait. Over two decades after its Off-Broadway debut, Paula Vogel’s How I Learned to Drive is only now reaching full impact. That’s thanks to the consciousness-raising of #MeToo, among other seismic changes in the body politic. With…
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Dance Review: MATTHEW BOURNE’S CINDERELLA (International Tour at The Ahmanson in Los Angeles)
IF THE BLITZ FITS… The audacious, eccentric and flashily theatrical choreographer, Matthew Bourne, is a man full of interesting ideas, most of which, under close scrutiny, are fairly half-baked, but prove catnip to dance enthusiasts while driving serious balletomanes to distraction. There’s the famous all-male Swan Lake and a theatricalization of The Red Shoes, the…
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Off-Broadway Review: MIES JULIE (Classic Stage Company)
DON’T MIES IT In Mies Julie, Yaël Farber’s contemporary adaptation of August Strindberg’s 1889 play Miss Julie, Farber swaps out Strindberg’s Swedish estate for a prosperous farm in the barren South African desert. Playing through March 10 at Classic Stage Company, Strindberg’s examination of class structure takes a backseat to themes of racial stratification and…
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Off-Broadway Review: THE DANCE OF DEATH (Classic Stage Company)
DANCING AROUND DEATH “I thought we might show more decorum by keeping our long miserable mistake to ourselves,” Alice tells Edgar after he expresses his intention to celebrate their silver wedding anniversary. “Oh come, Alice!” responds the aging artillery captain. “We’ve had fun. Now and then. And soon it will all be over. We’ll be…
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Chicago Theater Review: PIPELINE (Victory Gardens)
A PIPELINE TO GREAT THEATER The title of Pipeline refers to the much-reviled “school-to-prison” conduit that keeps minority kids from any outcome but incarceration, soft or hard. It’s driven by a fatal fusion of low and self-fulfilling expectations of failure, endless and pointless discipline, and inadequate encouragement or alternatives to crime. Disadvantage can take many forms. It’s…
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