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BEST OF BEST OF THIS WEEK THIS WEEK, Open Fist Theatre Company at Atwater Village Theatre

Photo by Chris Phipps
March 22, 2023Martίn Hernández – Stage Raw Following in the satirical footsteps of Saturday Night Live and The Daily Show, this Open Fist Company production takes the past year’s cream of the crop of its Thursday night comedy sketch show, This Week This Week, and skewers our calamitous society with mostly hilarious results. Creator and director Ron
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TWELFTH NIGHT At The Broadwater Studio Theater

Photo courtesy of Foolish Production Co.
March 22, 2023Tracey Paleo – BroadwayWorld Notwithstanding that they fell into many textbook Shakespeare traps, and that there was zero chemistry between any single one of the characters, the Foolish Production Company cast actually knew what they were doing. And mostly their 1-hour rendition of TWELFTH NIGHT (playing in rep with MEASURE FOR MEASURE at The Broadwater)
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CARDENIO at City Garage Theatre

Photo by Paul Rubenstein
March 22, 2023Rob Stevens – Haines His Way City Garage, the resident theatre company at Santa Monica’s Bergamot Station Arts Center, built their thirty-plus year reputation for doing heavy lifting with productions of Greek tragedies and the works of Brecht and Beckett among other dramatists. With their latest offering, Cardenio, they prove they can let down their
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THE THIN PLACE, Echo Theater Company at Atwater Village Theatre

March 22, 2023Harker Jones – BroadwayWorld Tony-nominated playwright Lucas Hnath’s THE THIN PLACE is an eerie meditation on grief, regret and the need for closure, though it is undermined by the lack of a satisfying conclusion… Obie Award- and Outer Critics Circle Award-winning Hnath (“Red Speedo”; “A Doll’s House, Part 2″) carefully delineates each character with precise
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ONCE at Laguna Playhouse

Photo by Jason Niedle
March 22, 2023Socks Whitmore – Stage Raw In Dublin, a struggling Irish musician bumps into a young Czech woman and his life changes forever. This is the premise of the 2007 musical film Once, and likewise the stage musical of the same name, both featuring songs by Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová (including the infamous “Falling Slowly”),
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TWILIGHT: LOS ANGELES, 1992 at the Mark Taper Forum

Sabina Zúñiga Varela. Photo by Craig Schwartz Photography.
March 22, 2023Dana Martin – Stage Raw Center Theatre Group meets the moment with Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992, conceived, written and revised by Anna Deavere Smith. The original production premiered on Broadway in April, 1994. Smith wrote it as a solo piece, which she developed from hundreds of interviews following the 1992 L.A. uprising. This updated version
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THE LONELY FEW at Geffen Playhouse

Lauren Patten. Photo by Jeff Lorch.
March 18, 2023Patrick Chavis – LA Theatre Bites World Premiere: The Lonely Few @ Geffen Playhouse – 8 out of 10 – Good Show! LA Theatre Bites Recommended! More… Jonas Schwartz-Owen – Theatermania The Lonely Few, a world premiere rock musical at the Geffen Playhouse, does away with conventional narrative. It immerses its audience in rock clubs
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Archive for July 2013 – Page 2

SISTER ACT at the Pantages Theatre

By LADCC critics · Comments (0)
Tuesday, July 16th, 2013
Sister Act Tour

Photo by Joan-Marcus

Pauline Adamek  – ArtsBeatLA

From the moment the curtain goes up and our diva is belting out a song (in a nightclub setting) while flanked by two smooth back up singers, you know you are in good hands and are heading for a fun time. Sister Act stars Ta’Rea Campbell, whose voice is a powerhouse—and she’s not the only great voice in the show, not by a long shot.
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Mayank Keshaviak – LA Weekly

Sister Act’s story of a murder witness hiding out in a convent is similar to a summer blockbuster in that it viscerally excites despite a flimsy premise and plot points advanced through coincidences of convenience.
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Now running through July 28.

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LOVE SONGS – A MUSICAL at the Attic Theatre

By LADCC critics · Comments (0)
Saturday, July 13th, 2013

LSimage1Mayank Keshaviak – LA Weekly

This world premiere of Steven Cagan’s amorous musical hardly feels like a full-fledged production. First off, James Esposito’s set is little more than some black cubes and stools on a bare stage. Add to that the fact that A. Lynn Downey’s lights are wincingly and monotonously bright throughout…
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Now running through July 28.

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TROUBLE IN CHIOZZA at Kings Road Park

By LADCC critics · Comments (0)
Friday, July 12th, 2013
Photo by Garth Pillsbury

Photo by Garth Pillsbury

Neal Weaver – LA Weekly

Kings Road Park is a small, bucolic gem, plunked down amid our urban sprawl, and a perfect venue for the city of West Hollywood’s Free Theatre in the Parks program. This play, produced by the Classical Theatre Lab, is by Carlo Goldoni and was first performed in 1762. But the approach is anything but purist:
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JUST IMAGINE at the Hayworth Theatre

By LADCC critics · Comments (0)
Friday, July 12th, 2013

JustImagineDeborah Klugman – LA Weekly

Although the wow factor is missing, aficionados of John Lennon probably will appreciate this tribute to the iconic musician, which juxtaposes renditions of his most famous songs with a narrative of his life. Read more…

 

Melinda Schupman – ArtsInLA

Tribute band concerts have become more and more common, particularly when the band in question has aged or broken up. The performers generally have an ear for the melodies and mannerisms of their idols, but you are, by and large, aware that they are not the originals. In the case of Tim Piper playing John Lennon, that doubt vanishes immediately, as he projects the look, the mannerisms, the accent, and the talent.
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Now running through August 25.

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THE FANTASTICKS at the Sierra Madre Playhouse

By LADCC critics · Comments (0)
Thursday, July 11th, 2013

FANTKelseyHainlenDanielBellusciCreditWardCalaway

Photo by Ward Calaway

Pauline Adamek  – LA Weekly

The original off-Broadway production of The Fantasticks ran for 42 years, making it the world’s longest-running musical. The show’s songs are quaint and pretty and its simple, allegorical story is complemented by its bare-bones staging. Read more

Now running through July 13.

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THE ROYAL FAMILY at Will Geer’s Theatricum Botanicum

By LADCC critics · Comments (0)
Wednesday, July 10th, 2013

royalfamBob Verini – ArtsInLA

A nation should know and experience its classic dramatic texts. Yet the major virtues of many of ours remain virtually unknown, even to many serious theatergoers, solely because the casts are too large for almost any contemporary producer to afford.
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Now running in repertory through September 28.

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MODROCK at El Portal

By LADCC critics · Comments (0)
Wednesday, July 10th, 2013

Bob Verini – ArtsInLA

ModRock is a train wreck, the waste of a perfectly good idea for a jukebox to rifle, namely the array of 1950s and ’60s British hits that transformed the pop music scene worldwide and eventually made its way to our shores as the “British invasion.” As British invasions go, ModRock is Dunkirk.   modrockRead more…

Now running through July 14.

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SUBURBAN SHOWGIRL at the Noho Arts Center

By LADCC critics · Comments (0)
Tuesday, July 9th, 2013

Suburban-Showgirl1Deborah Klugman – ArtsBeatLA

In her smart and funny show, solo performer Palmer Davis portrays alter ego Wendy Walker, a talented dancer who struggles to juggle a passion for her art with motherhood and the bread-and-butter jobs she needs to pay her bills. Read more…

Pauline Adamek  – LA Weekly

In this solo show conceived and performed by perky pro dancer-actress Palmer Davis, the travails of invented character Wendy Walker apparently hew closely to her own life experiences. Read more…

Now running through August 4.

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THE BOOMERANG EFFECT at the Zephyr Theatre

By LADCC critics · Comments (0)
Tuesday, July 9th, 2013

Photo by Ed Krieger

Photo by Ed Krieger

Les Spindle – Frontiers

Veteran playwright-screenwriter-director Del Shores (Sordid Lives, Yellow) dons a producer’s hat for an encore production of Matthew Leavitt’s raucous sex comedy, The Boomerang Effect. This episodic play, charting the subtly interrelated lives of five couples in five separate bedrooms, premiered at the Odyssey Theatre in April 2012.  Read more

Now running through July 27.

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A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE at Pacific Residents Theatre Ensemble

By LADCC critics · Comments (0)
Sunday, July 7th, 2013

Terry Morgan – LAist

When one thinks of Arthur Miller’s body of work, one doesn’t immediately think “chronicler of Italian-American experience,” but with A View From The Bridge, he revealed a further breadth of his talent. The lead characters of most of Miller’s plays are imperfect men, from Willy Loman and John Proctor, and Eddie Carbone from View fits right in.
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Dany Margolies – Arts In LA

“I want my respect!” insists Eddie Carbone continually—and ambiguously. Sadly for him, but thrillingly for audiences since 1955, when Arthur Miller’s magnificently crafted play premiered, Miller’s protagonist Eddie has no idea what respect means nor how to earn it.
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Now running through August 25.

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THE RAVEN at Zombie Joe’s Underground Theater Group

By LADCC critics · Comments (0)
Thursday, July 4th, 2013

TheRavenNeal Weaver – LA Weekly

This production, directed by Zombie Joe, consists of four adaptations of short works by Edgar Allan Poe: the short story “The Oval Portrait,” two short poems — “Song” and “Alone” — and the longer narrative poem “The Raven,” with its haunting refrain of “Nevermore!” All four pieces are narrated rather than dramatic, and reflect the 19th century’s fondness for horror stories and Romantic despair. Read more…

Pauline Adamek – ArtsBeatLA

Currently playing on Friday nights at Zombie Joe’s Underground Theatre in NoHo is a presentation of four adaptations of short works from the early-to-mid 1800s by Edgar Allan Poe: the short story The Oval Portrait, two short poems—”Song” and “Alone”—and the longer narrative poem “The Raven.” Read more…

Photo by Zombie Joe

Photo by Zombie Joe

Now running through July 26.

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BRONZEVILLE at the LOS ANGELES THEATRE CENTER

By LADCC critics · Comments (0)
Thursday, July 4th, 2013

bronzevilleDeborah Klugman – LA Weekly

Intolerance comes in many colors. In Tim Toyama & Aaron Woolfolk’s somewhat contrived period melodrama, an African-American family moves into a home presumably left vacant when its Japanese owners are interned during World War II. But Henry (Jeff Manabat), a young Japanese man who’s rebelled against internment, is hiding out there.
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Now running through July 21.

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