LADCC Critics 
Steven Leigh Morris – LA Weekly Coincidentally, two unrelated plays about group therapy opened last week in small theaters less than a mile from one another. Neil McGowan’s comedy Lone-Anon, about maladroit loners subjected to court-ordered therapy, is running late nights at Rogue Machine on Pico near La Brea, while Leslie Hardy‘s A Good Grief airs the dirty … Read more
Deborah Klugman – LA Weekly James Goldman’s smart 1968 drama re-imagines a nightmarish home-for-the-holidays reunion for the dysfunctional family of 12th century monarch Henry II and his estranged wife, Eleanor (historically, a brilliant duo whose early political conquests rocked their generation) . Thirty years into the marriage, relations have soured, with Eleanor (Diane Hurley) under … Read more
Mayank Keshaviak – LA Weekly It’s probably not surprising that a show about a vampire that opened on Halloween night features great costumes and is quite the visual spectacle. A fantasia spanning three acts and three vastly different time periods in the life of 300-year-old former slave Porphyrion (creator and performer Paul Outlaw), the piece … Read more
Pauline Adamek – LA Weekly Aaron Francis’ bold scenic design has the audience seated in school desks for Gidion’s Knot, getting you into the right frame of mind for Johnna Adams’ intense one-act showdown between a fifth-grade teacher and a parent. Corryn (Vonessa Martin) shows up for a teacher-parent conference, having been summoned a few days … Read more
Bob Verini – ArtsInLA With two weekends to go until Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde vacates Actors Co-op in Hollywood, those who enjoy horror stories brought to the stage don’t have many chances to take it in. But they should make the effort. An ensemble of six sports fine accents and great versatility in bringing … Read more
Melinda Schupmann – Arts In LA Mel Brooks’s very funny 1974 film became The New Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein in late 2007. Receiving mixed reviews from the critics, it nonetheless played on Broadway for more than 500 performances, and it began a very successful touring show in 2009. Its appeal comes from a lively … Read more
Bob Verini – Arts in LA This world premiere musical, now at Kirk Douglas Theatre, manages to get plenty of new wine into very old, if not downright dusty, bottles. The saga of the making of the eponymous garage band soars despite a paper-thin, clichéd plot; derivative character types; and QED themes of friendship and … Read more
Terry Morgan – LAist Having seen a couple of plays written by Bruce Norris, (Clybourne Park and The Parallelogram) I’m beginning to detect a theme in his writing. He seems to find the purportedly liberal beliefs of certain rich white people worthy of ridicule, specifically convictions of a “politically correct” strain. Nowhere is this clearer … Read more
Deborah Klugman – LA Weekly There are glints of the Oresteia in Marcus Gardley’s poetic, sweeping drama, the road weeps, the well runs dry, which takes place in a 19th-century Oklahoma town settled by fleeing African-American freedmen and their Native American cohabitants. The story’s tragic chain of events erupts around the searing rivalry between the … Read more
Les Spindle – Frontiers L.A. The world premiere of a new musical, When You Wish: The Story of Walt Disney—celebrating the life and career of the legendary animator/mogul Disney (1901-1966)—seems well-timed to the upcoming release of a holiday season film, Saving Mr. Banks. The eagerly awaited movie starring Tom Hanks as Disney is set during the making … Read more