Areas We Cover
Categories
-
Los Angeles Concert Preview: A MICHAEL FEINSTEIN HOLIDAY CELEBRATION (Valley Performing Arts Center in Northridge)
IT’S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE FEINSTEIN Charismatic, appealing, boyish, excited, and eager to please, Michael Feinstein will bring his off-the-cuff, friendly, intimate style to the gorgeous Valley Performing Arts Center on Friday, December 8, 2017. For this one night only, the man who has single-handedly reinvigorated the American Songbook for the 21st century, will celebrate the…
-
Theater Review: SOMETHING ROTTEN! (National Tour reviewed in Los Angeles)
SOMETHING SILLY; NOT QUITE ROTTEN BUT HARDLY FRESH What is it about William Shakespeare that inspires lesser authors (namely, everyone else) to try to take him down? George Bernard Shaw spent his life seeking to supplant or at least discount that other playwright. In Shakespeare in Love, Tom Stoppard imagines the world’s greatest writer as an opportunist who…
-
Chicago Theater Review: THE MINUTES (Steppenwolf)
BLOOD’”AND WAR PAINT’”WILL OUT Superbly civic, the vast council chamber created by set designer David Zinn reeks of rectitude. With a coffered arched ceiling, it’s festooned with plaques, proclamations, a World War I-era mural of maidens, even a cabinet of curiosities including a skull. This imposing auditorium oozes continuity, respectability and local pride. Pre-show patriotic…
-
DVD Review: AMERICAN MASTERS: EDGAR A. POE BURIED ALIVE (PBS Distribution)
SOME FACTS UNEARTHED WHILE SOME REMAIN BURIED The ultimate reason for the poet/short-story writer Edgar Allen Poe’s demise at age 40 was not clear in 1849, when the press reported his death, nor is it totally clear today, although this documentary by Eric Stange attempts to make it so. Broadcast this year on PBS’s American…
-
Chicago Theater Review: WILD BOAR (Silk Road Rising)
A ‘PERFECT CITY’—AND A MUZZLED PRESS They’re always eager to alert Chicago audiences to dangerous developments here and abroad: Silk Road Rising is a committed company which tells tales not usually seen on conventional stages. Their presentations, usually set in the Middle East and’”significantly’”here, sound a kind of stage siren for suffering, exposing racism, hypocrisy,…
-
DVD Review: THE UNDERTAKER / DER BESTATTER (MHz Releasing)
UNDERTAKER SHOULD BE UNDERTAKEN This ongoing Swiss-German series, The Undertaker (Der Bestatter), is something of a rarity for the adventurous distributor, MHz Releasing: a serio-comic series about a former cop, Luc Conrad (Mike Mí¼eller), who has quit the force to take over his family’s funeral business, after his father has died, alongside his step-mother and…
-
Los Angeles Dance Review: INFERNO (World Premiere Ballet from American Contemporary Ballet)
ACB’S JOURNEY INTO HELL: THE ONE TIME YOU MIGHT WISH THE TRIP WERE LONGER Inferno, American Contemporary Ballet (ACB)’s season opener was a musical blast from the past with a twist. Just in time for Halloween, Artistic Director Lincoln Jones’ latest ballet—set to music from Charles Wuorinen’s seven-part opus The Mission of Virgil—was one for…
-
Tour Music Review: IN MY MIND: MONK AT TOWN HALL 1959 (Jason Moran and The Big Bandwagon)
A CONCERT THAT WILL STAY IN MY MIND There are certain experiences involving the arts that stay with you forever. A seamless meld of spiritual and artistic experience, Jason Moran’s tribute piece to Theolonius Monk’s legendary 1959 concert at Town Hall achieved something I rarely witness in the arts: As with a séance, Moran’s octet—rivaling…
-
Los Angeles Theater Review: WOMEN ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN (Musical Theatre Guild)
A CONCERT ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN Given the Madrid setting, Hispano characters, and Latin-inspired score, it’s possible that the musicalized version of Pedro Almodóvar’s film will one day make the rounds in regional theaters and high schools. But for now, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown—a 2010 Broadway flop that…
-
Theater Review: ESCAPE TO MARGARITAVILLE (pre-Broadway tryout at the Oriental Theatre in Chicago)
A COUNTRY/CARIBBEAN ROMP AT CLUB JIMMY It’s a jukebox musical that marinates in Gilligan’s Island/South Pacific nostalgia. Plus, it’s got a feel-good love story that’s a creditable excuse for over two dozen Jimmy Buffett “beachabilly” hits. En route to a 2018 Broadway opening next February, La Jolla Playhouse’s origination of Escape to Margaritaville is elaborately likable, even…
-
Film Review: GOD’S OWN COUNTRY (directed by Francis Lee)
JOHNNY-COME-LATELY Writer/Director Francis Lee has produced a fine timeless example of love’s rocky path in a contemporary setting. In the Northern part of England, the Laycock area of Keighley in West Yorkshire, we first meet early twentysomething Johnny Saxby (Josh O’Conner) vomiting into a toilet at his farm-home; apparently, one of many such retchings due to his…
-
CD Review: DREAMS AND DAGGERS (Cécile McLorin Salvant on Mack Avenue)
NO DAGGERS FROM ME FOR THIS DREAM Hooray and hallelujah! With her newest CD, a live double-album, jazz vocalist and song interpreter extraordinaire Cécile McLorin Salvant has cemented herself as this generation’s most mesmerizing, fascinating, and supreme songstress. Yes, she has that remarkably distinctive voice, but it’s supported by a personality which is an amalgam…
-
Los Angeles Theater Review: KING CHARLES III (Pasadena Playhouse)
WOMEN BEHAVING BADLY In Mike Bartlett’s play about the imagined aftermath of Queen Elizabeth II’s death, men hold inherited titles, but women, both living and dead, hold the keys to power. Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, the ghost of Lady Diana, Princess of Wales, and a fictional female Tory Leader of the Opposition orchestrate the events…
-
CD Review: RICHARD RODGERS REIMAGINED (Kyle Riabko on Ghostlight Records)
RIABKO ROMANTICALLY RETHINKS RODGERS I had a chance to catch Kyle Riabko on stage at The Wallis in Beverly Hills last weekend, where he returned to offer the Los Angeles debut of his Richard Rodgers Reimagined concert (his successful cabaret of Burt Bacharach songs played last year). Aided by three back-up musicians/vocalists, it was surprising…
-
San Diego Opera Review: AS ONE (San Diego Opera)
CLASSIC SOUND; MODERN THEME Composer Laura Kaminsky and co-librettists Kimberly Reed and Mark Campbell’s 80-minute chamber opera, As One, is a tribute to the fact that art must keep growing with the times. We expect modern themes explored in painting, music, dance, and more, but encountering today’s issues in opera causes a little more head-cocking….
-
DVD Review: BLUE EYES / BLŠ ÖGON (MHz Releasing)
SCANDALOUS SWEDISH SERIES NOW AVAILABLE The Swedish 10-part political drama, Blue Eyes (Blå ögon), concerns an upcoming national election in which the dominant conservative party is beset with internal division, including the murder of one of their press reps, and the onset of a rightwing political group, The Security Party, which threatens their domination. The…
-
Chicago Opera Review: DIE WALKÜRE (Lyric Opera)
A DIE WALKÜRE ON THE WILD SIDE The Lyric’s new production of Die Walkí¼re, the second part of Wagner’s Ring cycle (Der Ring des Nibelungen), is an engaging dramatic affair whose spare setting allows for the world-class singers and the fabulous Lyric orchestra to shine through. Despite some design missteps, the captivating acting of the…
-
Los Angeles Theater Review: TALES FROM THE CRYPT THEATER OF MYSTERY (Captured Aural Phantasy Theater at the Bob Baker Marionette Theater)
ORIGINAL GHOST HOST A COUP FOR CAPT Captured Aural Phantasy Theater (CAPT), the only group authorized to perform EC Comics’ material live, offered a blood-bucket of charm at their recent annual Halloween show, Tales from the Crypt Theater of Mystery. For those who don’t know, Entertaining Comics was an American publisher of comic books specializing…
-
Chicago Opera Review: THE CONSUL (Chicago Opera Theater at the Studebaker Theater)
TO THIS WE’VE COME (AGAIN) Playing Chicago t0o briefly at the Studebaker Theatre, historically important and artistically wondrous, this co-production between Chicago and Long Beach Opera is a timely revival that taps into a constant injustice. Menotti’s inaugural offering from 1950, The Consul remains a stirring “cri de coeur.” Despite a sometimes densely imagistic libretto, it’s music…
-
Los Angeles Theater Review: MR. BURNS, A POST-ELECTRIC PLAY (Sacred Fools Theatre Company)
LET THERE BE DARK A group of campers sits around the warm glow of campfire embers and tries to retell a favorite episode of The Simpsons. One man excitedly recalls and performs “Cape Feare” with entertaining accuracy. Others chime in with a few lines and impersonations, goading on his storytelling when he falters. No doubt some…
Search Articles
Please help keep
Stage and Cinema going!
✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦
✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦
✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦
✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦
✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦
✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦
✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦
✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦
Find beautiful trendy gowns for girls' special events.
Need to order an essay? Hire our top writers to complete the most challenging papers at an affordable rate.
For professional writing support, hire essay writers at Edubirdie for high-quality help.
Discover top-rated Australian online casinos with fair games, fast payouts, and generous bonuses for every type of player.
Explore the best paying pokies Australia games with high RTP and clear bonus terms
