LADCC Critics 
Harker Jones – BroadwayWorld Rebooting a classic is always dicey. If it’s an exact blueprint, what’s the point? But deviating from that blueprint can alienate its fans. And how to make it fresh yet still retain the magic that made it work in the first place? The producers of PRETTY WOMAN the musical learned the … Read more
Margaret Gray – Los Angeles Times On Friday, after the U.S. Supreme Court had overturned Roe vs. Wade, the cast and the audience at L.A.’s Fountain Theatre discussed the ruling across the footlights, right in the middle of a live show. Performer Christina Hall reminded the crowd that all three of the justices appointed by … Read more
Rob Stevens – Haines His Way If you are seeing a new musical at the Hollywood Fringe Festival that starts off with a character known as Cockman who wakes up the sleepy town every morning singing about choking his chicken, you would think you were in for a wild and fun time. Unfortunately, those first … Read more
Steven Leigh Morris – Stage Raw The extent to which we’re governed by amoral/immoral power brokers is now evident in surveys by the Pew Research Center and the Partnership for Public Service that Americans’ confidence in government to address our problems has plunged over the past decade across party lines. Only one in 10 Americans … Read more
Steven Leigh Morris – Stage Raw “There are no words . . .” This phrase is among the platitudes that writer-performer Colin Campbell excoriates in his solo performance about people straining to offer comfort in the aftermath of his losing his two teenage children in a car crash, on the other end of a drunk … Read more
Dana Martin – Stage Raw John Norris is a serious actor who doesn’t take anything too seriously and the outcome is very funny. Mr. Chonkers defies definition. It’s a late-night rendezvous with the absurd — a completely ridiculous and thoroughly enjoyable 50 minutes. The evening is full of good old-fashioned silliness. Mr. Chonkers emerges from … Read more
Rob Stevens – Haines His Way Can an Elvis Impersonator reinvent himself as a drag queen? More to the point–can an impoverished married straight man with a child on the way become a successful star drag act? This is the thin premise that playwright Matthew Lopez has used to create his hilariously outrageous ode to … Read more
Rob Stevens – Haines His Way Nineteen century American novelist Henry James did not think much of his novel, Washington Square, about a plain, naïve, sheltered heiress and the strikingly handsome young man who suddenly begins to court her. The work has had a life far beyond what James could ever have imagined. Read more… Now through June … Read more
Rob Stevens – Haines His Way A friend recently returned from his first trip to Paris. Among the many sites he visited was the grave of Oscar Wilde. I need to ask him if the gravesite looked very disturbed. I would think it would be nearly uprooted with all the spinning in his grave Mr. … Read more
Tracey Paleo – Gia On The Move There is plenty of onstage masturbating, politics, ranting, screaming, dissing, spousal browbeating, murder, misogyny, borderline sexual violence, scumbag behavior, and all-around mayhem – not counting the weather. Apparently, Los Angeles is so flooded that half of the Hollywood sign is underwater. (Well, that’s neat…). Oh, and let’s not … Read more