LADCC Critics 
Martίn Hernández – Stage Raw. In this stellar production, co-directors Barry Pearl and Michelle Elkin, with Elkin doing double duty as choreographer, have assembled a gifted cast that is as committed to the incongruous storyline as it is to an earnest portrayal of teen angst, inter-generational conflict, young love, and the redemptive power of music … Read more
Deborah Klugman – Stage Raw. As written, Tornado is easy to relate to, with well-drawn characters, believable dialogue and a point to make about how people from different backgrounds misread each other. The play mirrors some of the divisions that beset our nation in a clear illustrative way. It eschews caricature and unneeded exposition while … Read more
Don Shirley – Angeles Stage Plus ‘Private Lives’ and ‘Ava’ Snehal Desai is approaching a high wire. No tightrope in LA theater is higher than the balance beam that challenges the artistic director of Center Theatre Group — the job that Desai will assume in August, after leaving his similar position at the much smaller, … Read more
Patrick Chavis – The Orange County Review. In the arts, there’s always a battle between what sells and what moves us. Sometimes, they are the same thing. One of the things I appreciate about theater is I still see a hunger to experiment and fail on a grand scale. There’s something brave, honest, and necessary … Read more
Deborah Klugman – Stage Raw. In Scintilla, directed by Ann Hearn Tobolowsky, playwright Alessandro Camon wraps a dire message about climate change around the chasmal differences between a mercurial artist and her resentful adult son. Not nearly as gripping as Time Alone, his intense and poignant work about the impact of crime on the lives … Read more
Katie Buenneke – Theater Digest. I would not, normally, choose to be watching the musical 1776. Just thinking about it brings back memories of watching the movie in my US history class, junior year of high school, with Abigail Adams wistfully singing about saltpeter to Mr. Feeny. It did not work for me then, when … Read more
Jonas Schwartz – Theatermania Ava: The Secret Conversations, written by and starring Elizabeth McGovern, looks at the life of golden-age movie star Ava Gardner. But oddly, it focuses more on a periphery character, a sycophantic hack writer. This might come as a disappointment to those who want to spend time with Gardner rather than this … Read more
Patrick Chavis – The Orange Curtain Review. Pho is a delicious Vietnamese noodle dish I have often heard put in competition with Japanese ramen, probably because they’re both noodle dishes in a rich broth. But there’s no reason to put these dishes in competition. They are both so different and have a depth of flavor … Read more
Margaret Gray and Jessica Gelt – Los Angeles Times. John Iacovelli, the Emmy-winning prolific scenic designer for stage and screen, whose ability to balance poetics with pragmatism made him a beloved and invaluable collaborator for Los Angeles theater artists for many decades, died Friday after a long battle with cancer, his family told The Times. … Read more
Rob Stevens – Haines His Way. Pilot gets off to a fun start with a small group of friends gathered at Sally’s (Jacqueline Wright) Santa Monica mountaintop mansion to celebrate her 50th birthday. As the lights go up on Jeff G. Rack’s well-appointed and elaborate (for The Broadwater) scenic design, the friends are playing a … Read more