Katie Buenneke – Stage Raw Though it was written in 1893, George Bernard Shaw’s play Mrs. Warren’s Profession, now playing at A Noise Within in Pasadena, feels surprisingly contemporary. While Shaw scripted these conversations 124 years ago, the basic arguments the characters engage in have changed little in the intervening years. Read more… Frances Baum Nicholson … Read more
Terry Morgan – Stage Raw After the recent Equity nonsense, wherein said organization did whatever it could to destroy our beloved 99-seat theatres, there was a general sense that L.A.’s theatrical scene was going to stagger backwards and falter.Read more… Now running through November 18
Dany Margolies – The Daily Breeze There’s not much difference between creating a monster and creating a monster hit. Take for example “Young Frankenstein,” the musical currently in the hands of 3-D Theatricals.Read more… Hoyt Hilsman – Huffington Post 3D Theatricals offers another solid Broadway revival with Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein…Read more… Now running through October … Read more
Deborah Klugman – Capital & Main This powerful drama by Alessandro Camon delves into the minds of two extraordinarily isolated people: a convict serving a life sentence for a murder he committed as a juvenile, and the mother of a police officer whose only son was shot and killed in the line of duty.Read more… … Read more
Dany Margolies – The Daily Breeze Nostalgia for the future and a droll chiding of the past drive the storytelling in Eric Overmyer’s “On the Verge or The Geography of Yearning,” at Little Fish Theatre through Oct. 19. It’s a smart play. Sorry if that damns it for you, but if you’re thinking of seeing … Read more
Erin Conley – On Stage & Screen Some people go through life with their heart on their sleeve, while others are much more guarded, desperate to protect their hearts from being broken. In With Love and a Major Organ, a whimsical, poignant play by Julia Lederer currently in its west coast premiere at Boston Court Performing … Read more
Margaret Gray – LA Times After Rachel Bonds’ “Five Mile Lake” had its world premiere in 2014 at South Coast Repertory, news that SCR would be producing Bonds’ new “Curve of Departure” this fall was thrilling. Read more… Now running through October 15
Deborah Klugman – Stage Raw The shooting of unarmed teen Michael Brown in 2014 sparked a groundswell of angry protest in Ferguson, Missouri where the tragedy occurred. Captured on camera for the world to see, his killing spotlighted the endemic racism in that community and others like it across the United States.Read more… Now running … Read more
Neal Weaver – Stage Raw This play by Deborah Lawlor, co-founder of the Fountain Theatre, is perhaps a fictionalized personal memoir. It’s about Freddy Herko, a gifted young dancer and pianist, whose talent blazed in New York City’s avant-garde scene in the 1960s, only to be snuffed out by drug addiction. Herko died when he … Read more
Jonas Schwartz – TheaterMania In Thornton Wilder’s Our Town, the Stage Manager guides audiences through the fictional New Hampshire town of Grover’s Corners. She confides in the audience, shares secrets, and points out revelations. Which is why the casting of Jane Kaczmarek in Pasadena Playhouse‘s production makes sense. Read more… Frances Baum Nicholson –The Stage Struck Review When … Read more