The Para Abnormals by Thomas J. Misuraca. Pauline Adamek – LA Weekly A trio of paranormal investigators has several close encounters with menacing spirits in The Para Abnormals, Thomas J. Misuraca’scomedy thriller now playing at Zombie Joe’s Underground Theatre in NoHo. Just the opening moments of this little low-budget supernatural chiller manages to offer far more effective shivers and scares than … Read more
The Elephant Room created by Trey Lyford, Geoff Sobelle and Steve Cuiffo. Pauline Adamek – ArtsBeatLA A creepy trio of lounge lizard magicians, sporting pedophile moustaches, cheesy outfits, hideous wigs and (in one case) false buck teeth, are the “protagonists” of a spoofy “play” called The Elephant Room, now playing at the Kirk Douglas Theater in Culver City. But it’s not really a … Read more
The Blue Iris by Athol Fugard. David C. Nichols – Backstage In The Blue Iris, prolific South African playwright Athol Fugard treads delicately yet resolutely through the landscape of the heart. In doing so, the venerable 80-year-old dramatist cannot help clutching at ours, as this riveting U.S. premiere demonstrates. Read more… Sharon Perlmutter – TalkinBroadway.com It’s hard to know exactly what to make … Read more
The Return to Morality by Jamie Pachino. Dany Margolies – ArtsinLA Playwright Jamie Pachinotwists our knickers for us while we watch a college professor–turned–bestselling author foist and get foisted. Said author’s new book, intended as satire in its propagandizing of militant far-right ideas, becomes the flashpoint that incites the people it satirizes to commit destruction and murder. Too … Read more
The Gronholm Method by Jordi Galcerán Ferrer. Translation by Anne Garcia-Romero andMark St. Germain. Sharon Perlmutter – TalkinBroadway.com I was surprised to learn that The Grönholm Method was originally written in 2003; I would have guessed it came out of the “Greed is Good” late 1980s. Indeed, whenever this tale of a job interview from hell mentions Occupy Wall Street or any other … Read more
Red by John Logan. Pauline Adamek – ArtsBeatLA It’s refreshing to experience a play about ideas, and not simply character or story. John Logan’s incendiary play Red is a two-character bio-drama about abstract expressionist fine artist Mark Rothko in conversation with his young assistant. Read more… Dany Margolies – ArtsinLA No question, Alfred Molina is otherworldly brilliant here, playing mid-century American painter Mark Rothko … Read more
Mary Poppins — Music and lyrics by Richard M. Sherman andRobert B. Sherman, book by Julian Fellowes. Pauline Adamek – ArtsBeatLA The beloved tale of the efficient Victorian nanny Mary Poppins is back at the Ahmanson Theatre for a four-week run. With its magnificent staging, gorgeous costumes and sets and complicated song and dance numbers, the Tony-award nominated musical is pure … Read more
Heartbreak House by George Bernard Shaw. David C. Nichols — Back Stage After opening with a revisionist ’60s Measure for Measure that entertainingly served the Bard, the forces at Theatricum Botanicum take on Heartbreak House and serve George Bernard Shaw even better. Shaw’s deathless 1917 allegory about British socioeconomic factions heedless of the impending world war enjoys a wonderful revival, Chekhovian in tone, Shavian in attack. Read more…
Hearts Like Fists by Adam Szymkowicz. Pauline Adamek – ArtsBeatLA A chop-socky cartoon on stage, Hearts Like Fists, written by Adam Szymkowicz, is an action-packed adventure romance set in the surreal world of female crime-fighting superheroes. Nurses by day, skilled warriors by night, a band of ferocious and feisty femmesbattle the dastardly and elusive Dr. X and his deadly war against romance. Read … Read more
Pauline Adamek – LA Weekly Oft staged, Arthur Miller’s 1947 tragedy is a modern American classic for good reason; its powerful message endures. On the surface All My Sons is a slice of post WWII small town family life. Beneath that homespun layer lurk cold-hearted monsters. Read more…