Deborah Klugman – LA Weekly Wit and the magic of a well-designed spectacle combine in the beguiling, interactive adaptation Aladdin and His Winter Wish, embellished with comic characters, polished performances and colorful tech and costumes. Directed by Bonnie Lythgoe, Kris Lythgoe’s engaging script preserves the basic story of a penniless youth (Jordan Fisher) who garners wealth … Read more
Mayank Keshaviah – LA Weekly Like the Ghost of Christmas Past, the Second City’s twist on the Dickensian classic is back to remind you that you’ve been naughty. Very naughty, in fact, judging by the responses from audience members, who are (anonymously) asked to write down “the worst thing you’ve ever done.” Some of those … Read more
Neal Weaver – LA Weekly Apparently writer-actor Jim Martyka decided that what the world needs now is an adaptation of the ever-popular Frank Capra Christmas movie It’s A Wonderful Life as a staged radio play. But he sought to improve this visually boring format by adding a framing device: a corny and stereotypical backstage backstory … Read more
David C. Nichols – LA Times Delicate, bittersweet nostalgia suffuses “A Christmas Memory,” Truman Capote’s enduring 1956 autobiographical story, and the Laguna Playhouse staging of Duane Poole, Carol Hall and Larry Grossman’s 2010 musical adaptation honors that ethos.Read more… Now running through December 29.
Bob Verini – ArtsInLA The 10th-annual holiday show from Troubadour Theater Company, Walkin’ in a Winter One-Hit-Wonderland, proves to be the occasion for walkin’ down Memory Lane with the previous nine. There’s plenty of reminiscing; video footage of past productions; and in-jokey references to company members and past characters that invest the tight (an intermissionless … Read more
Deborah Klugman – LA Weekly The office dork smitten with the comely gal in the next cubicle is a familiar comic setup. In Alex Dremann’s strained satire, the unhappy swain, Colin (Trevor H. Olsen), has much bigger problems than the simple disregard he engenders from the willowy Fran (Jennifer Flack): He is literally disappearing!Read more… … Read more
Les Spindle – Frontiers L.A. The holiday-season narrative in Miklos Laszlo’s 1937 Hungarian dramedy Parfumerie will be familiar to fans of three well-known films and a memorable Broadway musical. Unveiling the gorgeous new Wallis-Annenberg Center for the Arts in Beverly Hills is E.P. Dowdall’s 2009 English-language adaptation of the Laszlo play, working from a 1956 … Read more
Pauline Adamek – LA Weekly Much like the dastardly pirates terrorizing the high seas in his fun Peter and the Starcatcher, playwright Rick Elice has ransacked the best of British kids lit, giving us plucky, pint-sized sleuths fresh from the Boy’s Own adventures and larger-than-life characters straight out of rowdy pantomimes. Based on the 2006 … Read more
Neal Weaver – LA Weekly Bette Midler and Hollywood super-agent Sue Mengers have many things in common: both were self-invented, and both are marked by a large dollop of sass and brass, a mean wit and a knack for uninhibited, earthy language. So Midler was the obvious choice to play Mengers in John Logan’s solo … Read more
Bob Verini – ArtsInLA Having well and truly conquered James Tyrone (Long Day’s Journey Into Night), Hickey (The Iceman Cometh), Krapp (Krapp’s Last Tape), and Willy Loman (Death of a Salesman), Brian Dennehy sets up base camp at the Mark Taper Forum to take on his most daunting personal Everest yet. With its dozen or … Read more