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Chicago Theater Review: ROAD SHOW (Chicago Shakespeare Theater)
SONDHEIM’S SWAN SONG? In one edifice’”Chicago Shakespeare Theater on Navy Pier’”you find the beginning and possibly the end of Stephen Sondheim’s stellar career. The Courtyard Stage is hosting Gary Griffin’s well-received revival of Gypsy, the 1959 musical with lyrics by Sondheim, who would become a solo songsmith after delivering words to the music of Leonard…
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Off-Broadway Theater Review: DAY OF THE DOG (St. Louis Actors’ Studio at 59E59 Theaters)
THE HUMAN WHISPERER Most theatrical performances feel a little awkward at the beginning; even in good shows it usually takes the actors a few minutes to settle into their characters and to find the correct modulation for their voices. Which is why Milton Zoth’s staging of Daniel Damiano’s hilarious drama Day of the Dog is…
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Chicago Theater Review: GHOST BIKE (Buzz22 Chicago)
AS YOU BIKE IT Growing up and accepting change and loss are very personal processes. Buzz22, whose mission is to stage “stories to explore the coming of age,” has been following the grand tradition of Star Wars and Harry Potter by using epic tales to frame the struggle to forge your own identity and come…
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Chicago Theater Review: VENUS IN FUR (Goodman)
FUR A GOOD TIME, CALL MASOCHISM ON PARADE David Ives’ two-person fetish comedy, Venus in Fur, is a sexy crowd pleaser and an actors’ tour de force exercise. The play casts a spell of “delicious cruelty,” but beyond the sado-masochism that it both celebrates and exploits, it’s even more manipulative than it pretends to be. The joke, such as…
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Los Angeles Theater Review: DERBY DAY (Elephant Theatre in Hollywood)
DEMOLITION DERBY Sometimes at the end of a play such as The Lieutenant of Inishmore or Killer Joe, I gaze upon the total destruction of the set and think, “I’m glad I don’t have to clean that mess up.” Such was the case with Derby Day, now physically and emotionally wrecking the stage at the…
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Chicago Theater Review: GOOD BOYS AND TRUE (Raven Theatre Company)
(SOCIAL) MEDIA MADNESS Gay playwright Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (contributor to Glee and Big Love) may have stumbled with his over-the-top dark comedy Say You Love Satan–produced in Chicago by About Face Theatre–but this Raven Theatre revival of the burning drama that Steppenwolf debuted seven years ago proves a rare skill: Aguirre-Sacasa can create solid stagecraft with…
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Los Angeles Music Preview: ACADEMY OF ST MARTIN IN THE FIELDS WITH JOSHUA BELL, VIOLIN (Valley Performing Arts Center)
I’LL BE THERE WITH BELL ON Many know that Academy of St Martin in the Fields is a touring and recording chamber orchestra founded by Sir Neville Marriner in 1958. But did you know that since 2011 the world-renowned virtuoso violinist Joshua Bell has been their Music Director? Next to Marriner, who turns 90 next…
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Los Angeles Theater Review: HARMONY (Ahmanson)
IT’S SAFE TO PUT YOURSELF IN HARMONY‘S WAY Barry Manilow and Bruce Sussman’s high-energy, surprisingly melancholy new musical, Harmony, depicts the real-life story of the all-male singing ensemble, the Comedian Harmonists. Through buttery, close harmonies, an excellent cast, and fluid staging, this unusually dichotomous musical follows the Interwar boy band through their formation in the…
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San Diego Theater Review: SPRING AWAKENING (Cygnet Theatre in Old Town)
A LOT OF YOUTHFUL SPRING BUT LITTLE CHARACTER AWAKENING Given harsh themes including child abuse, rape, homosexuality, and suicide, one can easily see why Frank Wedekind’s original German play Spring Awakening was initially banned when released; these subjects may be par for the course on the nightly news, but it was pretty hot stuff for Germany…
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Tour / Chicago Theater Review: ARGUENDO (Elevator Repair Service)
NUDITY IS AS NUDITY DOES For the sake of argument (“arguendo”), let us consider g-strings as tools of oppression, and pasties as violations of our First Amendment rights. This was the perspective presented by some exotic dancers from South Bend, Indiana, in the 1991 United States Supreme Court case Barnes v. Glen Theatre. Elevator Repair…
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Chicago Theater Review: AMERICAN MYTH (American Blues Theater at Greenhouse Theater Center)
LIES ARE HARD TO LIMIT Are some lies lighter than others and thus lesser? Charles Van Doren will always be tainted for knowing the answers in advance in the 1959 Geritol quiz show scandal. Serial liar Stephen Glass manufactured article after article from whole cloth in the National Review. Whatever truth he might have told,…
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Chicago Dance Review: FOUR WORKS BY JIŘí KYLIíN (Hubbard Street Dance Chicago Spring Series)
DANCING WINTER AWAY Erupting only through Sunday, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago has devoted its spring series to four eclectic-to-dynamic works from 1989 to 2001 by Czech choreographer Jiří Kylián. Two are company premieres. (It’s the Street’s first mixed repertory devoted to a single dance designer in the spring series.) The Harris Theater is the viable venue…
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Los Angeles Music Preview: TRIBUTE TO LAURIDSEN (Los Angeles Master Chorale)
LAURELS FOR LAURIDSEN With dozens of worthy events to choose from this Sunday, March 16, the choice to see Los Angeles Master Chorale’s all-Lauridsen program at Disney Hall was a no-brainer. Yet a fascinating thing happened recently; a few friends and family members asked, “Who is Lauridsen?” I tell them he is one of the…
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Los Angeles Theater Review: SLOWGIRL (Geffen)
SLOWGIRL SIMMERS In cooking it is often necessary to heat a mixture slowly bringing it to a simmer and keeping it just below the boiling point, allowing all its savory sweetness to surface. Such is the case with the Geffen Playhouse’s production of Greg Pierce’s Slowgirl. Performed “alley” style (an oblong stage flanked by seating…
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San Diego Theater Review: EDGAR & ANNABEL and FAR AWAY (ion theatre company)
THE FUTURE LOOKS BLIGHT While there are a few missteps in both playwriting and direction, ion theatre’s presentation of two one-acts definitely held my attention. The only similarities between the plays is that they are penned by female British dramatists and that they take place somewhere in an uncertain and dystopian future. But there is…
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Los Angeles Theater Preview: CIRCA (Broad Stage in Santa Monica)
COME JOIN THE CIRCA Brisbane-based Circa creates circus that moves the heart, mind and soul. The company discovers, cultivates and presents works and experiences from the living heart of circus, which makes it vital, challenging and delightful. The ceaselessly inventive outfit, guided by safe danger and fuelled by love and respect, will make its Broad…
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San Diego Theater Review: DETROIT (San Diego REP)
THE ACTUAL CITY OF DETROIT HAS FEWER PROBLEMS THAN THIS PRODUCTION After watching San Diego REP’s production of Lisa D’Amour’s Detroit, most audience members will be dumbstruck that this black comedy was a 2013 Obie winner, let alone a Pulitzer Prize finalist. But rest assured, it is indeed a very good if somewhat problematic play….
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Los Angeles Music Review: LE SALON DE MUSIQUES: USA PREMIERES (Season Four, Concert Six)
CLASS ON THE FIFTH FLOOR The line on Los Angeles is that we’ve built the entertainment capital we deserve. I needn’t go into detail here about our fabled shallowness and bad taste. We know what we know about us. But if you’d like to disprove the axiom that the only culture in L.A. departed for…
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Long Beach / Los Angeles Opera Preview: THE DEATH OF KLINGHOFFER (Long Beach Opera)
LBO MAKES A KLINGHOFFER YOU CAN’T REFUSE The big story this weekend isn’t the appearance of John Adams’ The Death of Klinghoffer. Since its arrival in 1991, the opera has been encircled by controversy. Based on the true-life hijacking of the cruise ship Achille Lauro in 1985 by Palestine Liberation Front terrorists, the title refers…
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Los Angeles Opera Preview: LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR (Los Angeles Opera at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion)
I LOVE LUCIA Lucia di Lammermoor, Gaetano Donizetti’s darkly romantic tale of honor, betrayal, loss and madness, opens this Saturday at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion and plays through April 6. Directed by Elkhanah Pulitzer with scenic and projection design by the amazing Wendall K. Harrington (Tony-winner for The Who’s Tommy), this all-new production by Los…
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