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Los Angeles Theater Review: BLAME IT ON BECKETT (The Colony Theatre in Burbank)
THE PLAY’S THE THING IN BLAME IT ON BECKETT The Oxford Dictionary defines a dramaturge as “a literary editor on the staff of a theatre who liaises with authors and edits texts”; it is the trials and tribulations of a dramaturge that takes center stage in John Morogiello’s Blame it on Beckett, the second production…
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Film Review: CELESTE AND JESSE FOREVER (directed by Lee Toland Krieger)
CELESTE IS A HOLLYWOOD STUDIO FILM IN DISGUISE Is Celeste and Jesse Forever really an indie movie? Or is it a Hollywood rom-com with impoverished financial backing, all dressed in crusty jammies and without its makeup in the morning? If you even ask that question, then you know the movie leaves its evidence like a…
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Off-Off-Broadway Theater Review: THE PARTICULARS (The Studio at Cherry Lane)
THE LONG AND SHORT OF IT Unless the overview of a story is grossly inadequate, people seldom ask for both the summary and details. Presented as two monologues on a sparsely furnished stage, Mathew MacKenzie’s The Particulars provides both in sequence, beginning with the broad strokes of a harrowing situation, followed by a more deliberate…
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Tour Review: DRAGONS (Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus)
THE CIRCUS OF YOUR DREAMS In order to fully enjoy the opening of the 142nd edition of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus, I had to take a step back into yesteryear. It’s a pretty big step’”but as soon as I allowed myself to tap into that childlike wonder that I had long…
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Chicago Theater Review: THE GLASS MENAGERIE (Redtwist Theatre)
SOME FRAGILE PERFORMANCES CAN’T BREAK MENAGERIE’S SPELL The Glass Menagerie is getting lots of airtime this summer. Having just been produced in the Steppenwolf Garage, Redtwist Theatre now takes a shot at Tennessee Williams’ semi-autobiographical memory play. Given the current economic climate, it’s not surprising that theatres are tempted to revisit it. The play gives a hard,…
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Chicago Theater Review: NICKEL HISTORY: THE NATION OF HEAT (Steppenwolf Garage)
SOMEWHERE BETWEEN PERFORMANCE ART AND DRAMA Without ever denigrating the work of Chicago artist Tony Fitzpatrick, I have to say I never quite got part three of his trilogy of play/art-show/performance pieces, Nickel History: The Nation of Heat. The work is largely autobiographical, with Fitzpatrick and Stan Klein, Fitzpatrick’s fellow artist and longtime friend, contemplating…
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Los Angeles Concert Feature: MUSE/IQUE: RICKIE ROCKS (with Rickie Lee Jones at Caltech in Pasadena)
A PERFECTLY ORCHESTRATED EVENING I sincerely hope that you don’t have plans yet for Saturday, August 18. Conductor Rachael Worby will lead a celebration of the American Songbook in an alfresco concert on the Caltech grounds in Pasadena. To call this evening “unique” is an understatement, as it features Rickie Lee Jones accompanied by full…
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Chicago Theater Review: MAN OF LA MANCHA (Light Opera Works in Evanston)
IT’S A PLEASURE TO BE IN HARMS’ WAY It’s been quite a year for veteran Chicagoland actor James Harms; after receiving critical acclaim nationally for his performance in The Iceman Cometh at the Goodman, he now gives a dominating performance leading the Light Opera Works revival of Man of La Mancha, in which Harms plays…
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Chicago Theater Review: THE GREAT AMERICAN TRAILER PARK MUSICAL (Theater Wit)
TRASHY FUN Audience expectations need to be adjusted for a show like The Great American Trailer Park Musical. The title lets patrons know what they are in for: The topic will be trailer trash’”meaning the musical will feast on stereotypes, low comedy, and political incorrectness’”and the music will not display Stephen Sondheim-ish urban sophistication’”meaning that…
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Los Angeles Theater Review: THE MANOR (Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills)
MIND YOUR MANOR Site-specific theater productions’”that is, theatre which is performed in unconventional spaces compatible to the script’”remain mystifyingly uncommon. For example, why do outdoor versions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream have us sitting on a lawn or in some bleachers, when it could be thrilling to follow actors around in a forested location? Is…
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Film Review: RUBY SPARKS (directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris)
ALTHOUGH NO MORE THAN A DATE MOVIE, THERE ARE SPARKS IN RUBY We’ve been struck by an invasion of Zoes: Owl-eyed ingénues with perky, quirky, life-embracing formulas for living, whose purpose is to brighten the lives of pasty young men needing sunshine in both body and soul. The Zoe in question in Ruby Sparks is…
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Theater Review: MARY POPPINS (National Tour at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles)
PRACTICAL PERFECTION There is a good-natured pragmatism at work in the stage musical version of the film classic Mary Poppins, now back in Los Angeles at the Ahmanson through September 2. It knows what we want it to be, and in almost every case, it gives it to us happily; with meticulous care and affection’”and…
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Chicago Theater Review: THE MONUMENT (The Side Project Theatre)
A MONUMENTAL FAILURE The Monument opens with a young man strapped into an electric chair, recounting the actions that led him to the moment of his execution. If playwright Colleen Wagner had ended her work with the switch being pulled, she would have produced a solid solo short play. Instead the show turns into a…
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New York Theater Review: BULLET FOR ADOLF (New World Stages in New York City)
FUN, FRIVOLOUS, FLAMBOYANT, AND FULLY FORGETTABLE The remarkable thing about Bullet for Adolf, the new play written by Woody Harrelson and Frankie Hyman, is how entertaining it is despite its many shortcomings. Numerous jokes, believable dialogue, likeable characters, fun physical humor, and a soundtrack and popular video images from the 1980’s all make for an amusing…
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Regional Theater Attraction: TEN CHIMNEYS ESTATE (Genesee Depot, Wisconsin)
THE THEATER WAS HOME TO THE LUNTS, BUT THIS WAS THEIR HOME FROM THE THEATER From the 1920’s through the 1950’s, the husband and wife team of Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne were the First Couple of the American theater. The Lunts, as they were universally known, dominated the American stage with their successes extending…
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Regional Theater Review: THE ROYAL FAMILY (American Players Theatre in Spring Green, WI)
THE SKY PARTS FOR THE ROYALS There are few regional theater pleasures more delectable than attending the outdoor American Players Theatre on a balmy afternoon or evening. The theater, about three hours from Chicago, is in a natural amphitheater with both lush, bucolic foliage and a soothing background soundtrack of chirping insects. The downside of…
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Los Angeles Theater Review: THE COMEDY OF ERRORS (Griffith Park in Los Angeles)
A CASE OF MISTAKEN IDENTITY Productions of William Shakespeare’s plays grace the Los Angeles stage year round, but in the summer they multiply prolifically and fill public spaces. Among these, the productions of the Independent Shakespeare Co. (ISC) at Griffith Park are perhaps the most accessible due to the park’s central location, easy freeway access…
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San Francisco Theater Review: HUMOR ABUSE (A.C.T.)
A THREE-RING ONE-MAN SHOW Start with a true story about a family circus that shot to prominence even though it eschewed big-business-conglomerate backing, ran in a single ring without exotic animals, and interacted with and embraced the communities where it performed. Spice it up with superbly executed acrobatics. Top it off by having it performed…
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Los Angeles Theater Review: ASSASSINS (Coeurage Theatre Company at Actors Circle Theatre)
THE TRUE AMERICAN DREAM: KILL A PRESIDENT The cast is terrific in the Coeurage Theatre Company’s revival of Assassins at the Actors Circle Theatre’”and it is their commitment to the material that highlights both the strengths and weaknesses in this rarely performed Stephen Sondheim/John Weidman musical. The strengths include sharp characters and fabulous songs; the…
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Chicago Theater Review: THE AMERICAN PLAN (The Artistic Home)
THE ARTISTIC HOME PROVIDES GOOD DRAMA, BUT CAN’T FIX A TROUBLED PLAY Apparently in The American Plan, the name of the game is deception, but no one seems to think they’re playing. In Richard Greenberg’s drama (which, as the title suggests, unsubtly comments on the falseness of the American Dream), all of the characters are…
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