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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…  

LA EGOISTA at Skylight Theatre

Lys Perez and Chanel Castañeda. Photo by Jenny Graham.
March 17, 2023Patrick Chavis – LA Theatre Bites West Coast Premiere: La Egoista @ Skylight Theatre – 8.2 out of 10 – Good Show! LA Theatre Bites Recommended! More…  

HAROLD AND MAUDE at Group Repertory Theatre

Clara Rodriguez and Landon Beatty. Photo by Doug Engalla.
March 17, 2023Rob Stevens – Haines His Way. GRT’s production uses projections on the back wall and on smaller screens that come and go from the wings in an attempt to open up the action. Unfortunately, they don’t add much to the show and Larry Eisenberg’s lackadaisical direction lets the production drag on. Most scenes just meander
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SNOWHITE at Santa Monica Playhouse

Photo courtesy of Santa Monica Playhouse
March 15, 2023Lara J. Altunian – Stage Raw When it comes to classic fairy tales, there’s always room for updated adaptations — particularly when it comes to introducing one with antiquated values to a new generation of audiences. Santa Monica Playhouse’s rendition of the Brothers Grimm’s Snow White spins the narrative of a helpless young girl into
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MEAN GIRLS at Segerstrom Center for the Arts

Photo by Jenny Anderson
March 13, 2023Dana Martin – Stage Raw …Mean Girls is updated from the movie in order to reflect an era of smartphones and selfies but still manages to feel dated. Even the most feared book in school, the almighty Burn Book, loses a bit of its sting. Yet — Mean Girls doesn’t talk down to its audience
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LOVE AND INFORMATION at Antaeus Theatre Company

Photo by Jenny Graham
March 9, 2023Katie Buenneke – Theatre Digest Through some unlucky combination of script, direction, cast, set design, and video design, this felt more like sitting through a scene study class than a professional play. Somehow, I hadn’t seen a play by Caryl Churchill before, but I’m in no rush to see another. Read more… Patrick Chavis –
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HAPPY BIRTHDAY MCKENNA at the Hudson Backstage Theatre

Photo by Steven Silverman
March 7, 2023Martίn Hernández – Stage Raw Playwright-director Steven Silverman’s dark yet amiable comedy offers up a multi-ethnic family whose members, despite living or being raised in racially turbulent Chicago, have no apparent animus over each other’s skin colors. No, these folks are dealing with more explosive issues common to many a kith and kin, regardless of
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Archive for Celebration Theatre at the Lex

THE VIEW UPSTAIRS at the Celebration Theatre at the Lex

By LADCC critics · Comments (0)
Thursday, September 28th, 2017
(Photo by Matthew Brian Denman)

(Photo by Matthew Brian Denman)

Neal Weaver  – Stage Raw

The Upstairs Lounge was a lively and popular New Orleans gay bar till 1973, when an arsonist doused the stairs leading to the club with lighter fluid, set it aflame, and then rang the doorbell. In the ensuing blaze, 32 people were killed — mocked and ridiculed even in death, and refused burial by local churches because of their sexuality.
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Rob Stevens – Haines His Way

In an America divided more bitterly every day along racial, gender and sexual orientation lines, in an America where the President says that Nazis and White Supremacists are “fine people,” hate crimes and senseless acts of violence keep escalating.
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Now running through October 29

 

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SO LONG BOULDER CITY at Celebration Theatre at the Lex

By LADCC critics · Comments (0)
Sunday, July 30th, 2017

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Neal Weaver  – Stage Raw

This show is advertised as a one-woman show, but in this case the woman is a guy: Jimmy Fowlie (Go-Go Boy Interrupted), who modestly lists himself in the program as “Co-writer/Star.” The piece purports to be the one-woman show performed by Mia Dolan, the heroine of the movie Lala Land. (I haven’t seen the movie so some of the finer points of this piece may have been lost on me.)
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Now running through August 19

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DIE MOMMIE DIE at the Celebration Theatre at the Lex

By LADCC critics · Comments (0)
Thursday, March 2nd, 2017
Photo by Matthew Brian Denman

Photo by Matthew Brian Denman

Neal Weaver  – Stage Raw

Cross-dressing actor-comedian Charles Busch wrote this glossy movie parody as a vehicle for himself in the central role of has-been movie star, Angela Arden. He performed in the play in Los Angeles several years ago, and his Angela was subtle and elegant. But now actor Drew Droege is giving him a run for his money….Read more…

Now running through March 26

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CHARM at Celebration Theatre at The Lex

By LADCC critics · Comments (0)
Tuesday, September 13th, 2016
Photo by Matthew Brian Denman

Photo by Matthew Brian Denman

Deborah Klugman – LA Weekly

Anyone who’s been a teacher or who’s been otherwise charged with supervising troubled adolescents will understand straight off the problems facing Mama Darlin (Lana Houston), the beguiling nub of Philip Dawkins’ compelling Charm. Read more…

Neal Weaver  – Stage Raw

A charm school for transvestites? It sounds like an odd premise for a serious piece of theatre, conjuring up images of endless camp and in-jokes. But Chicago playwright Philip Dawkins is angling for bigger fish, and his efforts pay off in this provocative piece, based on real events that happened in the Windy City. Read more…

Now running through October 23

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THE BOY FROM OZ – Celebration Theatre at the Lex

By LADCC critics · Comments (0)
Tuesday, May 3rd, 2016

THE BOY FROM OZ - 1(1)

Paul Birchall – Stage and Cinema

What makes this boisterous jukebox musical about the life of late music and stage legend Peter Allen (whose songs make up the show’s core) so winning, is the combination of larger-than-life excess and the piquant whiff of melancholy – all of which are frankly irresistible to a wide swath of showtune-loving patrons. Read more…

Neal Weaver  – Stage Raw

We expect lots of glitz and glamor In The Boy From Oz, a musical based on the life and works of Australian songwriter and performer extraordinaire, Peter Allen. After all, it was a big splashy Broadway show, with a book by Martin Sherman (based on an original script by Nick Enright) and a huge cornucopia of songs by Allen himself. And we get plenty of both…….Read more…

David C. Nichols – LA Times

Celebration Theatre has landed a coup with the West Coast premiere of  “The Boy From Oz,” and what a festive party it’s throwing. Read more…

Now running through June 19

 

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DREAM BOY at the Celebration Theatre at the Lex

By LADCC critics · Comments (0)
Wednesday, February 3rd, 2016
Photo by Matthew Brian Denman

Photo by Matthew Brian Denman

Neal Weaver  – Stage Raw

Teenage romance meets Southern Gothic in Eric Rosen’s intriguing and quirky play, based on the novel by Jim Grimsley and directed by Michael Matthews. Read more…

Les Spindle –  Frontiers L.A.

Based on a 1995 novel by Jim Grimsley, which was subsequently adapted into a 2008 film, Eric Rosen’s evocative 1996 play makes its L.A. debut. Set in a repressive North Carolina town in the 1970s, it’s a lyrical gay love story that blends gothic romance, wry humor, poignancy and suspense. Read more…

Now running through March 20

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