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Archive for Terry Morgan

THE THIN PLACE, Echo Theater Company at Atwater Village Theatre

Caitlin Zambito. Photo by OddDog Pictures.

Caitlin Zambito. Photo by OddDog Pictures.

Harker 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 brushstrokes, and director Abigail Deser allows her performers to breathe into the spaces Hnath leaves. The only drawback is that the ending doesn’t land. There’s no sense of closure for any of the characters and while that may be the point – that there aren’t necessarily answers we can find about the other side – it still leaves one with a sense of dissatisfaction. It needn’t be tied up in a bow, but it would be beneficial to have a sense of an actual ending. Read more…

Deborah Klugman – Stage Raw

On the page The Thin Place is a thoughtful drama, offering more than the story of a woman pursuing a ghost. As in The Christians, in which Hnath considers the unwillingness of certain “Christians” to renounce the concept of eternal damnation (even if it dooms a brave and honest boy to hellfire) The Thin Place illustrates how difficult it is for human beings to relinquish deeply embedded ideas…

But the production, directed by Abigail Deser, doesn’t do much for the text. One distraction is the choice to stage the play bleacher style, with the audience positioned on either side of the venue  (scenic design by Deser, Amanda Knehans and Penni Auster). This forces attendees to pivot their heads each time characters address each other from opposite ends of the venue; more importantly, it dissipates the drama of their exchanges. At other times the action takes place in the center of the playing space, but we mostly see everyone in profile, which detracts from the dynamic as well. Read more…

Patrick Chavis – LA Theatre Bites

Echo Theater Company Presents: The Thin Place @ Atwater Village Theatre – 8.1 out of 10 – Good Show! LA Theatre Bites Recommended! More…

Terry Morgan – ArtsBeat LA

Plays concerning the supernatural or people attempting to communicate with the departed have been with us for a while, from Noël Coward’s comical Blithe Spirit to Prince Gomolvilas’ excellent recent The Brothers Paranormal. While not quite enough to constitute a subgenre, these shows persist, speaking to the human need for connection to people they have lost. Lucas Hnath, one of the best playwrights currently working, tries his hand in this genre with The Thin Place, but the results are uneven, satisfying neither as drama nor thriller. The Echo Theater Company’s current production features terrific performances and subtle design, but unfortunately it’s not quite enough to overcome the inherent problems with the writing. Read more…

SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE at Pasadena Playhouse

Photo by Jeff Lorch.

Photo by Jeff Lorch.

Terry Morgan – ArtsBeat LA

As part of its “Sondheim Celebration” this year, the Pasadena Playhouse has a new production of Sunday, but although it is professionally done and largely enjoyable, a couple of issues in direction and performance keep this show from being everything it could be…

Alabado is terrific as Dot, an appealing combination of petulance and passion, and charming as the contented Marie. She sets the standard for singing high with the titular first number, and impresses throughout, especially in her duet with Phillips, “We Do Not Belong Together.” Phillips, unfortunately, while a good vocalist, seems mainly to be trying to copy Mandy Patinkin’s original performance in the role, and as a result doesn’t bring as much to the character as he might. Standouts in the great ensemble include Emily Tyra as Yvonne, the artist’s wife secretly jealous of Dot, and Liz Larsen as the Old Lady, whose tart delivery of her peevish character’s lines are delightful. Read more…

Peter Debruge – Variety

In the first act, Sondheim and Lapine’s musical focuses on the young painter, whose name they’ve anglicized to “George” (which rather unfortunately sounds like a goose honking, especially when repeated at the end of every line: “I know you’re near, George / I caught your eyes, George / I want your ear, George / I’ve a surprise, George”). Seurat died at age 31, never having sold a painting, and the show does several interesting things with a life that went largely unrecorded. Read more…

Rob Stevens – Haines His Way

Although the musical aspects of the production are top notch, there are problems with the staging by Lapine. The show basically still just feels like an upscale concert version of the musical. Ken Billington’s lighting design paints wonderful colors and Clint Ramos’s costumes are appropriate. The main problem is Beowulf Boritt’s scenic design. There is not much to it—mostly a scrim that acts as a screen for Tal Yarden’s projections. The orchestra is on stage and probably takes up at least half of the playing space. Boritt’s platform has a few steps up from stage level and it is disconcerting to watch people who are supposed to be in “a small suburban park on an island in the river” keep stepping up and down to enter or exit. The platform can barely hold the entire company and so it just looks overcrowded at times, especially for the Act One finale. Without a hint of scenery, instead of a breath-taking realization of the painting coming together, we just get a crowd of people on a platform. Read more…

Katie Buenneke – Theatre Digest

I had never seen this Sondheim classic before, but I’m glad I got to see it now. Some Sondheim shows are, I think, like Brussels sprouts; you might not like or appreciate them when you’re younger, and they have to be impeccably prepared to be palatable when you’re older. I don’t know that I’ll ever love this show, but I think this production, which I liked plenty, is as close as I’ll get (I’m more of a Company and Merrily We Roll Along gal). Read more…

NIMROD at Theatre of NOTE

Kirsten Vangsness. Photo courtesy of the artist.

Kirsten Vangsness. Photo courtesy of the artist.

Terry Morgan – Stage Raw

The Trump administration was noted for an almost Shakespearian level of hubris, and the world is still waiting with bated breath for the comeuppance we’ve always been told follows such behavior. Life always models itself after literature, right? For those of us who can’t wait for reality to accord with fiction, playwright Phinneas Kiyomura has crafted Nimrod, a most tragical comedy in which these matters are finally resolved. The world premiere of the play at Theatre of NOTE features a bravura turn by Kirsten Vangsness as the Orange One, and a talented ensemble, but although it’s amusing it doesn’t ultimately seem to have much of import to say. Read more…

THE FIRST DEEP BREATH at Geffen Playhouse

Geffen, The First Deep Breath

Photo by Jeff Lorch

Terry Morgan – ArtsBeat LA

Plays in which family secrets are tragically revealed are nothing new – Oedipus and his mom were shocking audiences back as far as 429 BCE. In the U.S., the 500 lb. gorilla of this genre would be Eugene O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey into Night, and the most influential of recent plays of this type is Tracy Letts’ August: Osage County. Playwright Lee Edward Colston II seems to have taken County as a stylistic inspiration for his play The First Deep Breath, which focuses on the many secrets that come out during a large family gathering. There is a lot to like about the Geffen Playhouse’s production, from a superb ensemble to Colston’s skill for humorous dialogue and dramatic moments, but unfortunately it’s also an overstuffed play and at its current running time of four hours it could perhaps use some judicious trimming. Read more…

Patrick Chavis – LA Theatre Bites

West Coast Premiere: The First Deep Breath @ Geffen Playhouse – Review. More…

Jonas Schwartz-Owen  – TheaterMania

At almost four hours, The First Deep Breath at the Geffen Playhouse is unwieldy — and not because audiences will not sit for an epic play. An earlier work this season, part one and part two of Matthew López’s The Inheritance, ran six and a half hours total and left audiences transfixed. And while Deep author Lee Edward Colston II has a knack for stirring monologues and humorously evocative exchanges, there are too many secrets, too many lies, too many dramas. It is the audience at the Geffen who is too exhausted to take deep breaths anymore. Read more…

 Deborah Klugman – Stage Raw

There are moments in Lee Edward Colston II’s family melodrama where one or another of the characters reflect on human behavior in an eloquent and/or meaningful way. These are moving moments when, watching intently, you think to yourself: I know so well what that person is talking about, and it is so very true. Such interludes, however, are too infrequently found in this sprawling ambitious work, whose text might benefit from pruning and whose current staging at Geffen Playhouse features missteps in casting, design and performance that undercut the play’s strengths. Read more…

THE REALISTIC JONESES at Rubicon Theatre Company

Photo by Veronica Slavin

Photo by Veronica Slavin

Terry Morgan – ArtsBeat LA

The first time I saw a play by Will Eno was about 15 years ago, by Circle X Theatre Company of The Flu Season. It was an excellent production in many ways, but there was one scene in which a character died, and instead of having the character stay prone, the actor got up, walked into the audience and exited the theater. It was a surprising and effective moment – that character was really gone in such an abrupt way that I felt the loss– and it made me take note of the playwright. He’s much more widely known now, and has been nominated for – or won – many awards, so it’s a bit surprising that his 2014 play The Realistic Joneses has taken so long to get a Southern California premiere. Thankfully, now it has in a terrific production currently at the Rubicon Theatre Company in Ventura (it will be staged at the Laguna Playhouse in late April), featuring a quartet of actors so good it’d be hard to imagine a better cast. Read more…

DO YOU FEEL ANGER? by Circle X Theatre Company

Napoleon Tavale, Paula Rebelo, and Rich Liccardo, Photo by Jeff Lorch.

Napoleon Tavale, Paula Rebelo, and Rich Liccardo, Photo by Jeff Lorch.

Patrick Chavis – LA Theatre Bites

Circle X Theatre Company’s West Coast premiere production of Do You Feel Anger? @ Atwater Village Theatre – 10 out of 10 – Masterpiece! LA THEATRE BITES RECOMMENDED. More…

Terry Morgan – Stage Raw

There’s a Cowboy Junkies song from 1993 called “Hunted,” which is about the ever-present threat of male violence in women’s lives, the refrain of which is: “Do you know what it’s like to be hunted?” It’s a terrifying song, and unfortunately is no less resonant today than it was 30 years ago. Mara Nelson-Greenberg’s play, Do You Feel Anger?, explores the dark side of the war between the sexes with great humor and a bit of surrealism but clearly gets across outrage that women still have to deal with this situation. The new production by Circle X at the Atwater Village Theatre is superb, bolstered greatly by vivid performances…Director Halena Kays gets high-energy work from her talented cast and adroitly achieves the tricky balance between humor and disquiet that the play requires. Read more…

Harker Jones – BroadwayWorld

Sexism and misogyny have been rampant for decades – centuries – no matter the context: social, private, or professional…Playwright Mara Nelson-Greenberg smartly and incisively takes on the topic of this disease in DO YOU FEEL ANGER?, now being performed at the Circle X Theatre Company in Atwater Village to explosive and thought-provoking results.

Nelson-Greenberg does a magnificent job of hitting the zeitgeist of the #MeToo movement with a fresh approach. Her script is complex and trenchant and edgy without being self-conscious about it. It has touches of absurdity a la Beckett (the male characters all but wear red noses they’re such clowns) but it is only half a step from reality, making the comedy that much more terrifying. She is masterful at skewering the toxic masculinity that infects even the most mediocre of men. It’s so instilled in so many that they can’t see it or understand it, which is exhibited uniquely through John, Jordan, and Howie, who are so emotionally stunted, they can’t identify an emotion let alone process one. Read more…

Katie Buenneke – Theatre Digest

This is a fairly new play by Mara Nelson-Greenberg that is, ostensibly, about a woman (Paula Rebelo) who comes in and teaches a collections office how to manage their emotions. But it’s really about how people navigate around male emotions, which often come out as anger. The text is too stylized for my taste, and I wondered who was supposed to be the intended audience of the play. Read more…

 

DIE HEART, Troubadour Theater Company at the Colony Theatre

Matt Walker and Rick Batalla. Photo by Douglas Leadwell.

Matt Walker and Rick Batalla. Photo by Douglas Leadwell.

Terry Morgan – Stage Raw

There has been much discussion in recent years on social media concerning whether or not the 1998 film Die Hard qualifies as “a Christmas movie.” On the surface, the Bruce Willis actioner may not seem to be a good candidate for “holiday classic,” what with its brutal murders, hangings and cocaine abuse. Indeed, the “classics” are rather a motley bunch, including mutant reindeer, a near suicide off a bridge, a child’s malnourished Christmas tree and the vanishingly unlikely spectacle of a rich miser suddenly becoming empathetic. Here to answer this controversial question with a definitive yes, the Troubadour Theater Company’s Die Heart (Die Hard featuring the music of the band, Heart) is a hilarious adaptation of its source material that will make the holidays much brighter. Read more…

Through December 18

LITTLE THEATRE at Rogue Machine

Zachary Grant, Jenny O’Hara, Ryan Brophy. Photo by Jeff Lorch.

Zachary Grant, Jenny O’Hara, Ryan Brophy. Photo by Jeff Lorch.

Martίn Hernández – Stage Raw

In the 1990s, playwright Justin Tanner was the wunderkind of small venue L.A. theatre. Tanner churned out hit after hit, like Pot Mom, Zombie Attack, and Teen Girl, for the now defunct Cast Theatre, where he was resident playwright. The Cast was also where artistic director Diana Gibson reigned supreme, raking in the bucks from Tanner’s prolific output while raking him over the coals over, in her esteemed opinion, his paltry writing skills. Read more…

Terry Morgan – ArtsBeat LA

Memory plays are a tricky proposition. Hew strictly to the truth and the story may not be dramatic enough; indulge in creative license and literal-minded people might object. The Glass Menagerie stands as a successful example of the form, whereas the unfinished novel Answered Prayers by Truman Capote so outraged its real-life subjects that it essentially ended his writing career. I’d like to say that Justin Tanner’s new play about his decade of working at the Cast Theatre during the 90s with artistic director Diana Gibson is as successful at capturing the past as Menagerie. Although I enjoyed the show’s humor and performances, it unfortunately feels more like the Capote work and comes off more as a venting of old grievances than a balanced play. Read more…

Patrick Chavis – LA Theatre Bites

Old People say the Darndest Things: World Premiere: Little Theatre @ Rogue Machine Theatre – Review. More…

Rob Stevens – Haines His Way

Playwright Justin Tanner was a mainstay of the Los Angeles 99-seat theatre scene in the 1990s. He was the resident playwright at The Cast theatre where productions of his plays—Bitter Women, Teen Girl, Coyote Woman, Pot Mom-all premiered. His play Zombie Attack, written with Andy Daley, played there for ten years. Thanks to founder Ted Schmitt, The Cast had a reputation for nurturing playwrights and presenting World Premiere productions. After his death, Diana Gibson took over the theatre and the mentoring. Tanner was her prize protégé although an LA Weekly cover story on Tanner labeled him “The Prisoner of El Centro Avenue”. Tanner’s association with Gibson and Gibson’s with The Cast ended in 1999. Read more…

Through January 8

THE BROTHERS PARANORMAL at East West Players

East West Players, Brothers Paranormal

David Huynh and Roy Vongtama, Photo by Jenny Graham.

Terry Morgan – Stage Raw

Everyone knows that a good ghost story needs to be scary, but to be a great ghost story, it needs to move its audience as well. Where would The Sixth Sense be without the Bruce Willis character slowly realizing his fate or The Haunting of Hill House be without poor, doomed Eleanor? There have to be emotional stakes for the viewers to walk out of the theater haunted. Playwright Prince Gomolvilas understands this, and his play The Brothers Paranormal is as affecting as it is spooky. The L.A. premiere of the show at East West Players is superb, and expertly delivers all the scares and surprises that the bigger budgeted and more advertised supernatural production currently at the Ahmanson, 2:22, attempts but can’t quite achieve. Read more…

Through December 11

CLYDE’S at Mark Taper Forum

Photo by Craig Schwartz Photography

Photo by Craig Schwartz Photography

Terry Morgan – ArtsBeat LA

According to a survey conducted by American Theater magazine, Lynn Nottage’s Clyde’s is currently the most produced play in the U.S. It’s not surprising that Nottage’s work is being done; she’s received the Pulitzer Prize twice during her illustrious career. But it’s a little disappointing that this show seems to be her most popular. I think she’s a talented playwright and have enjoyed several of her other creations, but I found this play to be meretricious and phony – I didn’t believe a minute of it. The new production of Clyde’s at the Taper is professionally done and features a capable cast, but the play itself feels more like a safe CBS TV sitcom than anything resembling reality. Read more…

Katie Buenneke – Stage Raw

A word to the wise: eat, preferably a sandwich, before seeing Clyde’s at the Mark Taper Forum. After the show ends, you’ll be hungry, not just for food like Montrellous (Kevin Kenerly), the executive chef of the titular diner, describes, but for an artistic experience that’s more substantial than what you you’ve just seen onstage. Read more…

Margaret Gray – Los Angeles Times

“If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen,” advises a favorite proverb of tough-love advocates. And in a universe with free will and infinite possibilities, it’s probably sound advice. Don’t sit around grousing about your situation; find one you like better.

But what if there’s nowhere else to go? What if that inferno of a kitchen is your whole world? Read more…

Tracey Paleo – BroadwayWorld

“Sometimes a hero is more than just a sandwich.”

Quite possibly, a perfect production. Two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lynn Nottage’s Tony Award-nominated CLYDE’S at the Mark Taper Forum is heartfelt, funny, and seriously delicious.

From writing to performances, direction to delivery, costuming, scenic, sound, and lighting design, opening night saw 100% on the Richter scale of live theater. Read more…

Through December 18

2:22 – A GHOST STORY at the Ahmanson Theatre

Anna Camp, Finn Wittrock, Adam Rothenberg and Constance Wu. Phtoo by Craig Schwartz

Anna Camp, Finn Wittrock, Adam Rothenberg and Constance Wu. Photo by Craig Schwartz

Rob Stevens – Haines His Way

Taking a break from their usual musical fare, Center Theatre Group-Ahmanson is offering 2:22-A Ghost Story by Danny Robins through December 4. The opening night was November 4, missing Halloween by a few days. Little costumed trick or treaters may have provided more scares than what transpired on stage. The reviewers were given a list of plot items to please not mention in their reviews, the better for future audiences to enjoy the supposed thrills. Stripped of those items, Robins’s script is basically two hours of marital discord, no matter how much director Matthew Dunster attempts to jolt the audience. He often succeeds, but it is more due to Lucy Carter’s lighting design and especially Ian Dickinson for Autograph’s sound design. Otherwise, the writing, directing and acting don’t really chill or thrill. Read more…

Harker Jones – BroadwayWorld

Arguments about the meaning of life, where we come from, where we’re headed after death, the afterlife, and the like have been debated for centuries by theologians, scientists, and philosophers alike, and we’re still not any closer to clarity. That said, it can make for gripping conversations deep into the night whether you’re stoned college students, wine-drinking soccer moms, or new parents. Read more…

Dana Martin – Stage Raw

The Ahmanson Theater is hosting poltergeist. 2:22- A Ghost Story, Danny Robins’ newest psychological thriller, is an unsettling romp through a proper haunted house. The show is making its U.S. premiere after a successful West End run last year. Read more…

Terry Morgan – ArtsBeat LA

I’m a horror film fan. I probably see 75-100 horror movies a year, and have done so for a long, long time. So I can state with certain knowledge that the cheapest of all scares is the jump scare. I have nothing against them – when a jump scare is well done, it can be a thing of beauty. But a lazy, unmotivated jump scare, just to get a visceral response  AAAAAAAAA!!!! (please imagine that this is someone suddenly screaming into your ear at top volume) can be irksome. I wanted to like the new Ahmanson production of Danny Robins’ 2:22 – A Ghost Story more than I did, but a surfeit of the same jump scare over and over and a goofy twist kept my enjoyment of the show mild. Read more…

Through December 4

TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre

Photo by Julieta Cervantes.

Photo by Julieta Cervantes.

Terry Morgan – ArtsBeatLA

When Harper Lee wrote her novel To Kill a Mockingbird in 1960, she didn’t think it would be a big success. Sixty-two years later, the book has been taught to millions of students in schools, was the source of a classic 1962 film of the same name, and recently inspired a theatrical version written by Aaron Sorkin that was a Broadway hit. There are many reasons this material still speaks to modern audiences, but perhaps the most vital is that its depiction of racism feels topical again with the rise of far-right zealotry. The current production at the Pantages is effective and enjoyable, with a nice lead performance from Richard Thomas, but a few missteps keep the production from being as strong as it might be. Read more…

Deborah Klugman – Stage Raw

Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird was published in 1960, while the movie — based on Harper’s novel and starring Gregory Peck as a white lawyer defending a black man accused of rape — came out in 1962. Both the book and the film depicted the racist South through the eyes of a child, its scenario predating the March on Washington in 1963 and the televised police assaults on the civil rights marchers that electrified the country that same year. Read more…

Katie Buenneke – Theatre Digest

I haven’t revisited this book since I read it in 7th grade, and I think, just based on watching this show, it’s a text about which I have complicated feelings. It’s an emotionally loaded story about Black trauma, told from the point of view of well-intentioned white people, and I think both Harper Lee’s autobiographical character and Aaron Sorkin, who adapted the novel into a three hour play, have similar instincts about how to tell this story, but it’s worth questioning why framing this story from a white girl’s perspective is the framing that white audiences have deemed a classic. Read more…

Tracey Paleo – Gia On The Move

I’ll be honest…watching the B-roll footage of the new play HARPER LEE’S TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD didn’t excite me too much at first. But sitting in the Hollywood Pantages theater in person for the Los Angeles premiere was a whole different experience. More…

Through November 27