Layout Image

Archive for April 2017 – Page 2

THE ENCOUNTER at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts

Photo by Rob Latour

Photo by Rob Latour

Terry Morgan  -  Stage Raw

The good thing about experimental theatre is the thrill of something new, the excitement of exploring radical new territory. The downside, of course, is that not every experiment is completely successful, or — even if something valuable is discovered — it may not provide a wholly satisfying piece of theatre. Such is the case with  production of The Encounter at the Wallis, which has fun with binaural sound technology, but within a show that has major problems. Read more…

Now running through April 16

LORD OF THE UNDERWORLD’S HOME FOR UNWED MOTHERS at the Skylight Theatre

Photo by Ed Krieger

Photo by Ed Krieger

Neal Weaver  – Stage Raw

This is not the first play to deal with the Catholic Church’s former barbarous and hypocritical treatment of unwed mothers, but playwright Louisa Hill gives the subject urgent and harrowing reality. Read more…

Now running through May 14

THE COMPLETE HISTORY OF COMEDY (ABRIDGED) at the Falcon Theatre

comedy-press-photo-41

Frances Baum Nicholson –The Daily Breeze

The comic playwriting team of Reed Martin and Austin Tichenor has created several funny send-ups of classics, known as the “Complete (abridged)” plays. The best known is the wildly funny “Complete Works of Shakespeare (abridged)” which even had them falling out of their chairs in London. Thus, a chance to see their more recent concoction, “The Complete History of Comedy (abridged)” here in the Los Angeles area seemed a no-brainer. Read more…

Now running through April 23

SUPPER at Theatre of NOTE

Photo by  Eric Neil Guttierez

Photo by Eric Neil Guttierez

Deborah Klugman – LA Weekly

In the program notes for Supper, Phinneas Kiyomura remarks that his play about four right-wing billionaire brothers is not about the Koch brothers. But you could have fooled me. Read more…

Lovell Estell III — Stage Raw

The clan on display in Phinneas Kiyomura’s bleak comedy brings to mind that familiar adage of Tolstoy’s about unhappy families being unhappy in their own way. Read more…

Now running through May 20

WAITING FOR GODOT at The Other Space

Photo by Julian Buchan

Photo by Julian Buchan

Lovell Estell III — Stage Raw

And the wait continues with this engaging production of Samuel Beckett’s absurdist classic from the Open Circle Theater Company and director Daniel Wilner. Read more…

Now running through April 16

ADAM AND EVIE at City Garage

Photo by Paul Rubenstein

Photo by Paul Rubenstein

Deborah Klugman – LA Weekly

While I’m not familiar with all — or even most — of Charles Mee’s work, it’s a safe bet that Adam and Evie, directed by Frédérique Michel at City Garage, is one of his gentler, sweeter plays. Read more…

Paul Birchall  – Stage Raw

Love is madness, just as it is unique and self-contained. The way you fall in love with your beloved will be different from the way Joe Shmoe across the way falls in love. Playwright Charles L. Mee understands this, and so does his interpreter, director Frederique Michel, evidenced in this sweet, if tepidly involving production which strives to depict the nature and essence of romantic attachment.     Read more…

Now running through April 24

 

 

THE SIEGEL at South Coast Repertory

Photo by Debora Robinson

Photo by Debora Robinson

Melinda Schupmann – Arts In LA

Fresh from the 2016 award winning Cloud 9 at Antaeus Theatre Company, savvy director Casey Stangl takes on a world premiere comedy by Michael Mitnick, designed to examine love and its complications. It has plenty of humor and a bit of food for thought along the way.    Read more…

Now running through April 23

MAN OF LA MANCHA at A Noise Within

Photo by Craig Schwartz

Photo by Craig Schwartz

Frances Baum Nicholson - San Gabriel Valley Tribune

When one first hears that A Noise Within has reset the powerful 1960s musical “Man of La Mancha” in a modern prison in the developing world, it can make one nervous. After all, it is based not only on one of the great works of international literature, but a historical figure who actually did end up imprisoned by the Inquisition for a segment of time. Read more…

Katie Buenneke – Stage Raw

Miguel de Cervantes wrote Don Quixote, a story about a man who famously tilts at windmills, over 400 years ago. Three hundred and fifty odd years later, Dale Wasserman, Joe Darion and Mitch Leigh wrote Man of La Mancha, a musical imagining of Cervantes and his fictional knight. Now, A Noise Within tries to bring the story into the present.Read more…

Jonas Schwartz -  TheaterMania

Now running through May 21

THE SIRENS OF TITAN at Sacred Fools Theater Company

Photo by Jessica Sherman

Terry Morgan  -  Stage Raw

One of the great themes in the writing of Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. is the lack of free will in characters who don’t know they’re being used. Moreover, should these characters find out they’re being manipulated, they certainly don’t know why or how to stop it. In this “post fact” era, when it’s accepted that our president lies to us every day, the new Sacred Fools production of Vonnegut’s The Sirens of Titan seems very timely. Read more…

Now running through May 6

THE INVENTOR AND THE ESCORT at the Lounge Theatre

Photo by Keenan Henson

Photo by Keenan Henson

Neal Weaver  – Stage Raw

Jeffrey (Jaret Sacrey) is an eccentric but moderately successful inventor of exotic and improbable sex-toys who, though he operates on the fringe of the sex industry, freely admits he’s got no game. Read more…

Now running through April 23

TRANSITION at the Lounge Theatre

Photo by Ed Krieger

 

(Photo by Ed Krieger)

Dany Margolies – The Daily News

On Nov. 10, 2016, President Barack Obama and President-elect Donald Trump met for nearly 90 minutes at the White House. To borrow from a previous administration, this much is known. Read more…

Now running through April 16

PUNK ROCK at the Odyssey Theatre

Photo Credit: Enci Box

Photo Credit: Enci Box

Erin Conley – On Stage & Screen

The set-up is a tale as old as time—seven gifted prep school seniors with the weight of the world on their shoulders spend a lot of time hanging out, stressing out, and making out in the library, their haunt of choice. Read more…

Now running through May 14