Neal Weaver – Stage Raw When critic Walter Kerr reviewed the musical Zorba, he observed that it was the only musical he’d ever seen where he actively hated the chorus. This show, with book, music and lyrics by Molly Bell, is an intimate musical so it has no chorus, but the characters are, if not hateful, … Read more
David C. Nichols – LA Times An extraordinary merger of cinematic and theatrical art suffuses “Historia de Amor,” which concludes its North American premiere engagement at REDCAT on Sunday. This mordant, uncommonly arresting production from Chile’s acclaimed Teatrocinema troupe doesn’t just borrow film and animation elements — it absorbs them into live performance to create an entirely … Read more
Lovell Estell III – Stage Raw In the pantheon of African-American playwrights, the name Charles Gordone isn’t as well-known as others like Lorraine Hansberry or August Wilson. But he was the first black playwright to receive a Pulitzer Prize, and this 1969 drama was the first off-Broadway play to receive the award. Read more… Now running … Read more
Deborah Klugman – Stage Raw Writer/solo performer Barbara Tarbuck has titled her vibrant one-act Stopping By, a phrase that calls to mind Robert Frost’s iconic poem, Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening, with its meditation (as I interpret it anyway) on human mortality. Read more… Now running through April 13.
Paul Birchall – Stage Raw I think there will always be people who ask “Why on earth do another production of Othello? What more can you say than hasn’t already been said?“ Fortunately, director Melissa Chalsma’s crackling production of Shakespeare’s spite-fest boasts plenty of reasons to captivate and intrigue — though perhaps not the ones that … Read more