Melinda Schupmann – Arts In LA When it comes to suspense, Alfred Hitchcock is the acknowledged master. In 1935 he directed The 39 Steps, an adaptation of John Buchan’s popular British spy novel. The hero of the book is Richard Hannay, an ordinary man on the run from the authorities because he is a suspect in … Read more
Terry Morgan – Stage Raw The plight of the blue-collar worker and the struggle of union versus management is undeniably a worthy subject for drama. This is especially so now, when unions seem to be disappearing and blue-collar workers have watched their jobs become mechanized or shipped overseas. So a play about these topics should … Read more
Erin Conley – On Stage & Screen At one point in the musical Sweet Charity, the main female characters sing “there’s gotta be something better than this.” While they are singing about their disappointing lives, this line also speaks directly to the extremely problematic messages this dated show perpetuates regarding sexual and gender politics. Read more… Ellen … Read more
Erin Conley – On Stage & Screen Despite an impressive pedigree, there is little that’s flashy about The Humans, the 2016 Tony Award winner for Best Play that opened this week at Center Theatre Group’s Ahmanson Theatre. Written by Stephen Karam with the entire original Broadway cast reprising their roles, the one-act play unfolds over the … Read more
Deborah Klugman – Stage Raw Leslie Ayvazian’s play about a dying man haunted by dreams of the Armenian genocide coalesces around an exemplary performance by John Perrin Flynn as the ebbing invalid. Read more… Now running through July 16
Neal Weaver – Stage Raw It’s Los Angeles in 1939. Count Basie and his band are scheduled to play at the Palomar Ballroom — one of the first African-American groups to perform there. Next door, at Bimini Baths, two employees, African-American Amen (Noel Arthur) and Mexican-American Zenobio (Adrian Gonzalez) have been given the onerous job … Read more
Ellen Dostal – BroadwayWorld As its inaugural production, new classical theatre company The 6th Act, led by co-artistic directors Matthew Leavitt and Liza Seneca, presents two playwrights united by a common theme in AN EVENING OF BETRAYAL. Act One is Harold Pinter’s BETRAYAL, which tells its story of marital infidelity from end to beginning. A … Read more
Jonas Schwartz – TheaterMania The mockery of the American dream lies at the heart of Skeleton Crew, where trade workers invest their lives in a company that easily turns its back on them. Part of Dominique Morisseau’s Detroit Project trilogy, Skeleton Crew reflects a distant past…… Read more… Deborah Klugman – Capital & Main Working-class men and women of color … Read more
Ellen Dostal – BroadwayWorld Halfway through Act I of Eugene O’Neill’s LONG DAY’S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT at the Wallis, I was looking at Rob Howell’s see-through set design when it dawned on me. People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. If only the Tyrones had gotten the memo.Read more… Neal Weaver – Stage … Read more
Ellen Dostal – BroadwayWorld John Farmanesh-Bocca directs the world premiere of a bracing new version of Eduardo Machado‘s LYSISTRATA UNBOUND, starring Brenda Strong (Supergirl, 13 Reasons Why)as Lysistrata, in a collaboration between Odyssey Theatre Ensemble and Not Man Apart – Physical Theatre Ensemble. Set in Ancient Greece to the cadence of a modern text, the 90-minute one-act play uses Farmanesh-Bocca’s … Read more