Bob Verini – Arts In LA On the heels of Spike Jonze’s award-winning film Her comes another whimsical, futuristic, seriocomic speculation about artificial intelligence’s commercial and emotional potential. This one is Jordan Harrison’s world premiere play at the Taper, titled Marjorie Prime, and concededly it lacks the heft of Jonze’s celebrated Oscar winner, not to mention its unforgettable … Read more
Jonas Schwartz – Arts In LA The Actors Co-op modest production of the Tony-winning The Mystery of Edwin Drood strips away the large orchestrations, the amplified mikes, and the harmonizing chorus and focuses on Rupert Holmes’s ribald script. Led by the superbly dry Peter Allen Vogt, Drood makes for an uproarious evening. Read more… Terry Morgan – Stage Raw You cannot … Read more
Les Spindle – Edge on the Net Picture the myriad sequels and copycat films that were spawned by “Scary Movie,” which itself seemed inspired by “Airplane!” the granddaddy of all off-the-wall genre sendups. Add in a goofy rock score that is equal parts “Rocky Horror Show” and “Rock of Ages,” with a touch of Monty … Read more
Pauline Adamek – Stage Raw LA Opera has launched its new season by bringing back their 2006 staging of La Traviata. Director and designer Marta Domingo’s chic concept reimagines and transposes Giuseppe Verdi’s timeless romance to the decadent Roaring 20s. The spare, almost minimal, sets are buoyed by dazzling flapper-style gowns, wreaths of diamonds and stylish … Read more
Steven Leigh Morris – LA Weekly Playwrights under 40 write mainly about love and politics, or so the adage goes; playwrights over 40 write mainly about death. By the time Samuel Beckett’s Happy Days premiered in 1961, the great Irish bard was 55, which should make its subject fairly easy to guess. Originally a poet and novelist, … Read more
Deborah Klugman – Stage Raw Jeong, a Korean concept not easily translatable to English, is an integral theme in playwright Julia Cho’s potentially absorbing family drama. As explained by Sah-Jin (Sharon Omi), a widowed immigrant from Korea, to her desperately troubled daughter Eunice (Julia Cho, not the playwright), it’s an intimacy that transcends love or … Read more
Les Spindle – Edge on the Net Also known as “Cockfight Play,” a perhaps less threatening title preferred in some media outlets, Mike Bartlett’s Olivier Award winning British play, “Cock,” makes its L.A. debut in a taut and terrific staging. Read more… Margaret Gray – LA Times “We’re just going around in circles,” a character accurately observes in … Read more
Bob Verini – Arts In LA It’s been 43 years since Helen Reddy rocked the charts with her announcement “I am woman, hear me roar,” the foremost pop anthem echoing the feminist revolution of the 1970s. Divas have continued to warble messages of female empowerment—in numbers too big to ignore—well into this century, and many … Read more
David C. Nichols – LA Times The delicate art of origami provides both metaphor and motor for “Animals Out of Paper” at the David Henry Hwang Theater, and it enfolds the viewer with deceptive simplicity and considerable craft. Read more… Pauline Adamek – ArtsBeatLA The paths of three loner characters intersect in Rajiv Joseph’s Animals Out of … Read more
Steven Leigh Morris – LA Weekly David Mamet’s play Race, about a rich, white guy seeking a law firm to defend him from accusations of raping a black woman, ought to feel ripped from the headlines — even though it premiered on Broadway nearly five years ago. Read more… Melinda Schupmann – Showmag A David Mamet play … Read more