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YELLOW FACE at the Beverly Hills Playhouse

yellowface
August 18, 2018Frances Baum Nicholson – The Daily Breeze When Rachel Dolezal was forced to step down from the presidency of the local branch of the NAACP in Spokane, Wash., in 2015 because she was not (as she had claimed) African-American, it spurred a debate on the nature of race and cultural appropriation which was long past
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SIDE BY SIDE BY SONDHEIM at the Odyssey Theatre

Enci Box
August 18, 2018Dany Margolies – The Daily Breeze Apparently the songs of composer-lyricist Stephen Sondheim are not failsafe. He’s the genius behind some of the last century’s and some of this one’s best musicals. Some of his early songs are showcased in the revue titled “Side by Side by Sondheim,” currently at the Odyssey in West Los
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SHINING CITY at the Hudson Guild Theatre

Burt Grinstead
August 12, 2018Deborah Klugman – Stage Raw Irish playwright Colin McPherson explores the dark hollows of the human psyche in this penetrating drama. A sad, intensely human story, the play speaks knowingly to the guilt, regret and unfulfilled desires that dwell within many of us. Read more… Now running through August 26

TITUS ANDRONICUS in Griffith Park

Grettel Cortes
August 8, 2018Ellen Dostal – Broadway World TITUS ANDRONICUS is one of Shakespeare’s bloodiest tragedies. Characters are stabbed, beheaded, mutilated, raped, baked in a pie, and one is even buried up to his neck and left to die. At first glance it may not sound like an obvious choice for families……. Read more... Now running through September
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WAITRESS at the Pantages Theatre

Joan Marcus
August 5, 2018Erin Conley – On Stage and Screen You cannot walk five feet in the Pantages Theatre without encountering a bunch of mini pies for sale, perfectly setting the scene for Waitress, the hit Broadway musical that opened in Los Angeles for the first time last night. Read more… Rob Stevens – Haines His Way In 2007 writer/director/actress
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BEETHOVEN at the Wallis Annenberg Center

©Christopher Ash - AshChristopher@mac.com
August 5, 2018Neal Weaver  – Stage Raw Actor/writer/musician/producer/designer/musicologist Hershey Felder is about as close as they come to a modern Renaissance man. He has racked up an impressive array of musical biographies — one-man shows in which he plays noted composers. Read more… Now running through August 12  

THE MOTHER-F**KER WITH THE HAT at the Gloria Gifford Conservancy

Mathew Caine
August 5, 2018Lovell Estell III — Stage Raw Plays about broken people dealing with issues of addiction, violence, and toxic sexuality are legion, but they don’t always translate into provocative and humorous theater. Both qualities are found in this dour comedy by Pulitzer Prize winning playwright . Read more… Now running through August 26

Author Archive for LADCC critics – Page 2

CRY IT OUT at Atwater Village Theatre

By LADCC critics · Comments (0)
Friday, July 20th, 2018

 

Darrett Sanders

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…

Frances Baum Nicholson –The Stage Struck Review

There is nothing quite so visceral, quite so individualistic in response, or quite so romanticized as becoming a new mother. Read more…

Erin Conley – On Stage & Screen

What exactly does it mean to be the “perfect mother?” This is a question many non-mothers think they know the answer to that also haunts new mothers, terrified of making the wrong decision in terms of what is best for their child.
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Now running through August 19

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ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE at the Fountain Theatre

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Wednesday, July 18th, 2018

 

Photo by Ed Krieger

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…

Ellen Dostal – Broadway World

For Laura, in Noel Coward’s beautiful pre-World War II black & white film, Brief Encounter, it is an unexpected meeting at a train station that leads to a secret romance with a friendly stranger named Alec. In ARRIVAL & DEPARTURE, the stage play inspired by Coward’s film, written and directed by Stephen Sachs, it is a moment in a modern day New York subway station that thrusts Emily (Deanne Bray) into a similar romantic conundrum with another stranger, Sam (Troy Kotsur).   Read more…

Now running through September 30

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THREE DAYS IN THE COUNTRY at the Kiki & David Gindler Performing Arts Center

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Tuesday, July 17th, 2018
Geoffrey Wade Photography

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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Deborah Klugman – Stage Raw

Ivan Turgenev published A Month in the Country in 1855 under the title Two Women, a reference to two of his main characters — a disgruntled married woman and her teenage ward, who both fall passionately in love with a young student living in their home.  Read more…

Rob Stevens – Haines His Way

According to the Director’s Note in the program for the current Antaeus Theatre Company’s production of Patrick Marber’s Three Days in the Country, his version of Turgenev’s A Month in the Country, Turgenev’s play inspired Anton Chekov to write for the theatre.
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Now running through August 26

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ON YOUR FEET at the Pantages Theatre

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Saturday, July 14th, 2018
Matthew Murphy

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…

Rob Stevens – Haines His Way

George M in 1968 may have been the first biographical jukebox musical to play Broadway and another bio/jukebox combo Yankee Doodle Dandy, using many of the same songs to basically tell the same story of the life of George M. Cohan recently played in Long Beach.
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Now running through July 29

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THE FOREIGNER at the Little Fish Theatre

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Wednesday, July 11th, 2018
Mickey Elliot

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

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THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN – Kingsmen Shakespeare Company on the campus of California Lutheran University

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Saturday, July 7th, 2018
Brian Stethem

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

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RUMORS at The Lonny Chapman Theatre

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Wednesday, July 4th, 2018
Doug Engalla

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

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OUR VERY OWN CARLIN MCCULLOUGH at the Geffen Playhouse

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Tuesday, July 3rd, 2018
Chris Whitaker

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

 

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THE 39 STEPS at International City Theatre

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Thursday, June 28th, 2018
Tracey Roman

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

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SLAUGHTER CITY at The Historic Lankershim Arts Center

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Wednesday, June 27th, 2018
John Klopping

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

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SWEET CHARITY at the Freud Playhouse

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Monday, June 25th, 2018
Michael Lamont

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

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THE HUMANS at the Ahmanson Theatre

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Monday, June 25th, 2018
Lawrence K. Ho

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

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