KILLER HUNK, KILLER SET, AND KILLER STORY MAKE UP FOR BLOODLESS PERFORMANCES As evidenced by his astoundingly beautiful production of Ira Levin’s 1978 comedy-thriller Deathtrap, Jon Imperato is a paradigm of producing and most assuredly knows how to take a tiny, black box theater and transform it into a Broadway-caliber showcase of technical and directorial…

NOT AS MIGHTY AS EXPECTED The Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles (GMCLA) has performed everywhere from the Alex Theatre to Avalon Hollywood and the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, but never has the world-class chorus been in a venue as dramatic and spectacular as the First Congregational Church. Their latest concert, Mighty Pipes, under the spirited…

IT’S JUST IT’S JUST SEX Cole Porter wrote sex comedies; Richard Brinsley Sheridan and William Shakespeare wrote them.   Michael Frayn wrote them.   Georges Feydeau and Arthur Schnitzler wrote them.   There’s nothing wrong with sex comedies.   A sex comedy can be very funny and therapeutic when it’s done right, and even when it’s done wrong, it…

FEEDBACK: THE BIG TEASE Everything that works and doesn’t work about Jane Miller’s new play Feedback turns on one thing: Nudity. In terms of talking the talk, the whole exercise is about getting naked’”literally at first, then emotionally. Yet when it comes time to walk the walk, bra and panties stay firmly in place. And…

BORN-AGAIN PORN STAR? Nudity can have a sacred character to it, depending on one’s motives. There are Christian nudist colonies, for example, whose goal is to return humankind to its prelapsarian state, that is, to be as naked and innocent as Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. In The Dream Team (1989), Christopher…

THE DISNEYFICATION OF LINCOLN’S DEATH In many ways, Hershey Felder is a theater machine. In his four previous self-crafted one-man shows, the earnest and multi-talented actor/pianist/composer brought to life Gershwin, Bernstein, Chopin, and Beethoven. The man has created a fervent and dedicated fan base around the world, engaging audiences with his intensely dazzling musical interpretations:…

MEMORIES OF SEAGULLS PAST If you have never seen  The Seagull –   though I can’t imagine a seasoned theatergoer who hasn’t, can you? –   you just might possibly get an inkling of what Anton Chekhov’s masterpiece should be in the Antaeus Company’s otherwise listless and tone-deaf production, which stubbornly refuses to illuminate the quirkiness of human…

ONE VERY, VERY SMALL STEP FOR DAMON CHUA Tony Gatto gets an A for effort, having mounted a colorful if unnecessarily literal production of a Damon Chua script that defies dramaturgy and good sense even as it embraces bad and even offensive conventions.   1969, billed as “a fantastical odyssey through the American mindscape,” feels more…

PASSION GUARANTEED Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) wrote the St. John Passion for the Good Friday Service in Leipzig, Germany in 1724, just 3 months into his new job as “Cantor” of Leipzig.   The passion, a form which traces its origins to the 4th Century AD, is the story of the trial, torture, crucifixion and death…

“IF I AM DEAD TO LIFE, WHAT AM I ALIVE TO?” In The Woman in the Wall, Overtone Industries reinvents a tradition of medieval mystery plays in a stunning new chamber opera about a 14th  century Anchoress, voluntarily confined for a life of solitary religious study. This entrancing performance takes the audience on a spiritual journey…

CAUGHT IN A TAP Savion Glover is easily one of the best tap dancers this country has ever produced, but to the adoring throng at the beautifully sleek and modern Valley Performing Arts Center, Glover is both an institution and the rock star of the tap world (where else would you see a concert where…