David C. Nichols – LA Times Weimar cabaret meets Pacifica in “Kurt Weill at the Cuttlefish Hotel,” carving a weirdly effective niche for itself on the Santa Monica Pier. This dark-tinged program of deathless songs from the beloved composer takes environmental theater to a highly specialized place.Read more… Now running through December 21.
Neal Weaver – LA Weekly This farce by Paul Storiale kicks off with the Logans, Joanne (Elyse Ashton) and Dean (Rob Schaumann), planning to sell their house, ship Grandpa Logan off to a nursing home and move to Florida. They’ve invited their three misfit children home for one last family Christmas. Just when the kids … Read more
Deborah Klugman – LA Weekly What made Ebenezer Scrooge such a miserable old coot? Adapter-director Christina Harris elaborates on this aspect of Dickens’ cautionary tale in Sierra Madre Playhouse’s amiable musical production of A Christmas Carol, embellished with songs and upbeat ensemble dancing. Scott Harris portrays the tight-fisted miser as less an icy capitalist than … Read more
Steven Leigh Morris – LA Weekly The opening stanza of Lewis Carroll‘s poem “Jabberwocky” goes like this: ‘Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe: All mimsy were the borogoves; And the mome raths outgrabe. Perhaps such nonsense verse and satirically inverted logic, also found in Carroll’s books such as Alice’s Adventures … Read more
David C. Nichols – LA Times “In the Heights” is currently irradiating Casa 0101, where it fits as felicitously as cinnamon in café con leche. This galvanic chamber edition of the 2008 Tony winner about the denizens of a Washington Heights barrio has enough heartfelt energy to alleviate a citywide power outage.Read more… Now running … Read more
Les Spindle – Frontiers L.A. “Come look at the freaks!” sings a grotesque carnival barker, introducing a bizarre contingent of sideshow performers—hardly a typical opening scene for a Broadway musical. The adventurous Side Show, which bowed in New York in 1997 to critical acclaim and four Tony nominations, closed following a three-month run. It was … Read more