Darrett Sanders
Terry Morgan - Stage Raw
Caring for an infant is an important part of life, yet its difficulties are rarely depicted in the arts. While there is no lack of stories about pregnancy and birth, once the child is born, the drama seems to be considered less interesting. Playwright Molly Smith Metzler begs to differ…….Read more…
Now running through August 19
Photo by Ed Krieger
Erin Conley – On Stage & Screen
Sometimes it’s the most seemingly random interactions that go on to have the greatest impact on our lives. This is the topic explored in Arrival & Departure, a play written and directed by Stephen Sachs and inspired by the 1945 film Brief Encounter. Read more…
Now running through September 30
Geoffrey Wade Photography
Erin Conley – On Stage & Screen
Love has a tendency to make fools out of people, and that is certainly the case in Three Days in the Country, Patrick Marber’s condensed adaptation of Ivan Turgenev’s A Month in the Country, now in its west coast premiere at Antaeus Theatre Company in Los Angeles.
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Jonas Schwartz - Arts In LA
Three Days in the Country, Patrick Marber’s adaptation of Turgenev’s A Month in the Country, makes its West Coast premiere at Antaeus Theatre Company in Glendale. A comedy of sexual compulsion, the play should explode. The gunpowder has been poured, but due to miscasting of a vital character, the director forgot to light the fuse.
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Now running through August 26
Matthew Murphy
Erin Conley – On Stage & Screen
On Your Feet, the jukebox musical based on the lives and tunes of Gloria and Emilio Estefan, opened at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre last night in colorful, vibrant fashion—but it was not one of Ms. Estefan’s hit songs that drew the loudest applause of the evening.
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Ellen Dostal – Musicals in LA
Those of us who lived in Miami in the 1980s know firsthand the phenomenal rise of Gloria Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine. They were already hometown favorites prior to the release of “Conga” but, when that song hit, it changed everything. Read more…
Now running through July 29
Mickey Elliot
Dany Margolies – The Daily News
Currently playing at San Pedro’s Little Fish Theatre, Larry Shue’s 1983 comedy “The Foreigner” bobs gently along, a tale about how the shyest and most self-effacing among us can still bring out the best in others.
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Now running through July 15
Brian Stethem
Ellen Dostal – Broadway World
It contains possibly the last words William Shakespeare ever wrote and chances are you’ve never seen a production of it. THE TWO NOBLE KINSMAN was written around 1613 but not published until 1634, and is attributed to both Shakespeare and John Fletcher, the man who would succeed him as…..Read more…
Now running through July 15
Doug Engalla
Neal Weaver – Stage Raw
Prolific playwright Neil Simon made his name with a long and successful series of character- driven comedies, including The Odd Couple, The Prisoner of Second Avenue, and Plaza Suite — but with this play he felt the need for a change of pace, and set out to produce a zany, plot- driven farce, concerned only with generating laughs.
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Now running through July 29
Chris Whitaker
Deborah Klugman – LA Weekly
Our Very Own Carlin McCullough is about a mother and a daughter and the tennis coach who comes into their lives and transforms them.
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Jonas Schwartz - TheaterMania
Parenting is a daunting task, one that comes with no rule book. Even when a parent, particularly a single one, desires the absolute best for a child, it’s possible to steer a kid off course. Cyn (Mamie Gummer), the harried mom raising a tennis prodigy daughter, finds herself at a crossroads in Amanda Peet’s provocative play…..
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Dany Margolies – The Daily News
“Keep your heart open,” says Carlin McCullough’s tennis coach. “Be yourself.” That’s big advice for any coach to any student. But somehow this child internalizes those concepts, let alone plays like an adult.
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Now running through July 29
Tracey Roman
Melinda Schupmann – Arts In LA
When it comes to suspense, Alfred Hitchcock is the acknowledged master. In 1935 he directed The 39 Steps, an adaptation of John Buchan’s popular British spy novel. The hero of the book is Richard Hannay, an ordinary man on the run from the authorities because he is a suspect in a murder.
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Now running through July 8
John Klopping
Terry Morgan - Stage Raw
The plight of the blue-collar worker and the struggle of union versus management is undeniably a worthy subject for drama. This is especially so now, when unions seem to be disappearing and blue-collar workers have watched their jobs become mechanized or shipped overseas. So a play about these topics should be most welcome.
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Now running through July 14
Michael Lamont
Erin Conley – On Stage & Screen
At one point in the musical Sweet Charity, the main female characters sing “there’s gotta be something better than this.” While they are singing about their disappointing lives, this line also speaks directly to the extremely problematic messages this dated show perpetuates regarding sexual and gender politics. Read more…
Ellen Dostal – Musicals in L.A.
When Reprise! Broadway’s Best closed its doors in 2012, musical theatre lovers heaved a collective sigh. The resident company at UCLA’s Freud Playhouse had gained a reputation for producing outstanding performances of classic musicals featuring stars from the worlds of live theatre and television, similar to those done by Encores! in New York. Everyone felt the loss. …Read more…
Katie Buenneke – Stage Raw
If you didn’t know any better, it would be easy to forget that Sweet Charity, now playing at UCLA, is a musical from the 1960s.
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Now running through July 1
Lawrence K. Ho
Erin Conley – On Stage & Screen
Despite an impressive pedigree, there is little that’s flashy about The Humans, the 2016 Tony Award winner for Best Play that opened this week at Center Theatre Group’s Ahmanson Theatre. Written by Stephen Karam with the entire original Broadway cast reprising their roles, the one-act play unfolds over the course of Thanksgiving dinner with a multigenerational family……Read more…
Rob Stevens – Haines His Way
The Ahmanson Theatre in the Los Angeles Music Center is a big house, usually home to touring musicals like the upcoming Dear Evan Hansen and Come From Away.
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Frances Baum Nicholson –The Stage Struck Review
The neatest trick to accomplish, when writing an intimate play, is to find that spark which ties the issues and personalties of a few people to something inherently a part of everyone. That very concept centers Stephen Karam’s “The Humans,”……
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Jonas Schwartz - TheaterMania
Something so small can feel so vast. A simple family dinner can stir up old haunts. Even if one listens closely to the mundane conversations, it’s what’s not said aloud or what’s unseen in the shadows that can sting the most. Read more…
Now running through July 29