FALLING FOR DONIZETTI’S VALLEY GIRL Opera in Los Angeles seems to be thriving these days. In addition to established companies like LA Opera and Long Beach Opera, there are smaller companies cropping up all over the place, such as Pacific Opera Project, the Independent Opera Company and Center Stage Opera (CSO). While the first two…

DON’T COME TO THE CABARET It’s the first time I have ever seen someone on stage in flop sweat. Poor Anastasia Barnes had a rough go in her opening of The Ruby Besler Cabaret. One would suppose a lack of air conditioning was the culprit, but the other five women on stage were dry as…

A DIFFERENT KIND OF GAME Rufus Wainwright received a smattering of awards for his self-titled 1998 debut, loud fanfare for his follow-up album Poses, and his cover of Leonard Cohen’s classic “Hallelujah” for the Shrek Soundtrack in 2001, but has not found the same level of praise or success for his subsequent efforts. Mentions of…

A HEAD SPINNINGLY GOOD EXORCIST ROMP THAT DOESN’T SUCK C#CKS IN HELL A year or two back, wily producers crafted a stage version of the chilling 1970s horror flick, The Exorcist, and gave it a lavish staging at the Geffen Playhouse.   It was a thudding flop, in spite of a cast whose members included Brooke…

YES, EVERYONE Yes, Minister and Yes, Prime Minister were BBC television shows that ran on American PBS stations when I was a kid; I resented them for not being Monty Python, and dismissed them, and never thought twice about them until I heard Ron Bottitta was going to be in some kind of stage resurrection…

GIRL, PLEASE! Prior to curtain at Musical Theatre Guild’s concert staging of Girl Crazy, we were warned that the Gershwin brothers’ 1930 musical was written before “the code” (read: censorship), so “expect to be offended.” Well, thank God. I am rather tired of inoffensive theater. Besides, the one memorable thing about Guy Bolton and Jack…

BOBBING FOR APPLES Perusing a Peanuts anthology recently, I found my mind beginning to wander after about 15 panels. Regardless of Schultz’ insightful social commentary and universal truths – as seen through the eyes of elementary school children – his comic strips were meant to be seen one at a time. No matter how clever…

THE FRUSTRATING LABORS OF A FASCINATING COMPANY It is said that Roman Philosopher and Playwright Seneca’s Hercules Furens (c. 54 CE) was never produced but only read in Seneca’s lifetime. Scholars hold that it most likely may have been written to be read and studied rather than performed on a stage. The physical theatre ensemble…

ME NO LIKE Brandon Baruch’s new play answers the question, What if a tedious dipshit got cloned? Failed actor and drunken doofus Tuck (Benjamin Durham) sponges off his girlfriend Gemma (Lizzie Adelman) until the result of a forgotten sperm donation, also named Tuck (Sto Strauss), knocks at their door. Afterward, the doofus mooches off both…