LADCC Critics

POWER OF SAIL at Geffen Playhouse

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Terry Morgan  –  Artsbeat LA One of the core American principles is the right to free speech. However, this glorious principle runs into trouble when truly evil groups such as the Ku Klux Klan or Nazis wish to spread their poisonous propaganda. Read more… Deborah Klugman – Stage Raw In a society that celebrates diversity and … Read more

MARRY ME A LITTLE at International City Theatre

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Rob Stevens – Haines His Way In 1980, while appearing in the company of Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd on Broadway, performer, and later playwright, Craig Lucas used his friendship with the composer to get him to open up his trunk of cut songs from his earlier musicals.Read more… Now running through February 27

HOW WE GOT ON at Sacred Fools Theater Company

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Terry Morgan  –  Artsbeat LA It’s 1998 in midwestern U.S.A, and three rap-loving teens live in a suburb of The City called The Hill. Hank (E.E. Williams) wants to be a rapper but maybe doesn’t have the performance chops, and so he studies the production side.  Read more… Now running through February 20

EVERYBODY’S TALKING ABOUT JAMIE at the Ahmanson Theatre

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Tracey Paleo – Broadway World It was just what we needed!” The audience response was joyous. Indeed, that was the very vocal sentiment of so many in the crowd after a triumphant opening night at the Ahmanson Theatre downtown Los Angeles….Read more… Jonas Schwartz –  TheaterMania Of course, Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, since its star, Layton … Read more

THIS WONDERFUL LIFE at the Matrix Theatre

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Terry Morgan  –  Artsbeat LA It’s a Wonderful Life is now an undisputed holiday classic, but its road to perennial status was as long and difficult as its hero’s journey to happiness. Read more… Tracey Paleo – Gia on the Move “It is a terrifying, asphyxiating story about growing up and relinquishing your dreams, of seeing your … Read more

ON SONDHEIM AND ‘A CHRISTMAS CAROL’

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Don Shirley – Angeles Stage Sondheim was dead, to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. Old Sondheim was as dead as a doornail. Yes, those words were inspired by the opening lines of “A Christmas Carol,” but no, I’m not suggesting that Stephen Sondheim was like Scrooge’s ex-partner Jacob Marley — other than the fact that … Read more

A CHRISTMAS CAROL at the Ahmanson Theatre

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Jonas Schwartz-Owen – Theatermania The holiday season has come to the Ahmanson Theatre, where London’s Old Vic Theatre has installed its annual A Christmas Carol, with Bradley Whitford playing Scrooge. While Jack Thorne’s new adaptation does attempt to add dimension to the Scrooge character, painting childhood abuse and a misguided desperation for money as a motivation … Read more

THE BAND’S VISIT at the Dolby Theatre

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Jonas Schwartz-Owen – Theatermania The enchanting musical The Band’s Visit, now at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, perfectly embodies the simplicity with which music draws even the most disparate group of people into a gentle harmony… David Yazbek absorbs the unique sounds of the Middle East, using instruments like the oud and the darbuka, to create … Read more

THE CHILDREN at the Fountain Theatre

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Terry Morgan  –  Artsbeat LA Lucy Kirkwood’s The Children was written before the pandemic, and it’s about the aftermath of a nuclear accident and not a virus, but its vibe of looming doom and concern over what can actually be done to fix things seems very appropriate to our present-day circumstances.Read more… Now running through January 23, … Read more