Deborah Klugman – LA Weekly Developed through workshops under Tim Robbins’ direction, this inspired production of Shakespeare’s fantasia snaps and crackles with the comedic shenanigans of a dynamic ensemble. Visual spectacle, so often integral when this piece is produced, here takes a back seat; instead, the performers merrily cavort across a setless stage, relying on … Read more
Pauline Adamek – LA Weekly A nicely acted, crisply directed and neatly written piece of 1950s sci-fi comedy, featuring nearly naked, green-painted, go-go-dancing space aliens — what’s not to love?! Playwright Matthew Sklar stars as Captain Dan Dixon in his creature-feature retro romp through space.Read more…Now running through September 14.
Dany Margolies – Arts In LA Sometimes theater is about humankind’s greatest achievers. Sometimes it’s about supremely tragic figures. And sometimes, as with this show, it’s about the rest of us.Read more…
Bob Verini – ArtsInLA Merlin’s adventures, “untold?” Gosh, hasn’t the saga of the windbag wizard been told a bazillion times, in books (picture and grownup), films, TV movies, and even a couple of Broadway musicals? And the thing is, he’s really such a lousy character when you come right down to it. All-knowing, all-powerful figures … Read more
David C. Nichols – LA Times Armageddon arrives amid unrepentant lunacy in “Revelation” at the Lillian Theatre. Samuel Brett Williams’ pitch-black apocalyptic comedy isn’t quite cohesive structurally, but it’s a breakneck, often uproarious trek through hell on Earth.Read more… Now running through August 25.
Dany Margolies – Arts In LA Torrance Theatre Company reportedly twisted itself into a chocolate pretzel to put on this production of Roald Dahl’s Willy Wonka. The results are worth it.Read more… Now running through August 17.
Dany Margolies – Arts In LA “When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?” asks Albie at the top of this show. “And what were you afraid of?” These questions cleverly plunge the audience into a childlike mindset, priming each viewer to enjoy the wonders of magic—prestidigitational and … Read more
Dany Margolies – Arts In LA Why is this Night different from all other Nights? To start with, it’s smart, it’s imaginative, it’s beautiful, it makes sense of the peculiar world Shakespeare created. It takes the titular dream to heart, as characters shape-shift and locales subtly morph. Still, the text is clear. Under the direction … Read more
Deborah Klugman – LA Weekly Easily the most poignant moments in this dramatized telling of the Anne Frank story come in its epilogue, when Holocaust survivor Otto Frank (Jack Kandel) returns to his family’s hidden dwelling to discover his youngest daughter’s diary and inform us of the demise of his family and friends at the … Read more
Neal Weaver – LA Weekly Writer-director Odalys Nanin’s fictionalized bio-play zeroes in on Mercedes De Acosta, who in the 1930s was celebrated as a poet, playwright and novelist, though nowadays she’s remembered mostly for her lesbian affairs with famous actresses including Eva LeGallienne, Alla Nazimova and Tallulah Bankhead.In Nanin’s play, De Acosta (played by the … Read more