The Return to Morality by Jamie Pachino. Dany Margolies – ArtsinLA Playwright Jamie Pachinotwists our knickers for us while we watch a college professor–turned–bestselling author foist and get foisted. Said author’s new book, intended as satire in its propagandizing of militant far-right ideas, becomes the flashpoint that incites the people it satirizes to commit destruction and murder. Too … Read more
The Gronholm Method by Jordi Galcerán Ferrer. Translation by Anne Garcia-Romero andMark St. Germain. Sharon Perlmutter – TalkinBroadway.com I was surprised to learn that The Grönholm Method was originally written in 2003; I would have guessed it came out of the “Greed is Good” late 1980s. Indeed, whenever this tale of a job interview from hell mentions Occupy Wall Street or any other … Read more
Red by John Logan. Pauline Adamek – ArtsBeatLA It’s refreshing to experience a play about ideas, and not simply character or story. John Logan’s incendiary play Red is a two-character bio-drama about abstract expressionist fine artist Mark Rothko in conversation with his young assistant. Read more… Dany Margolies – ArtsinLA No question, Alfred Molina is otherworldly brilliant here, playing mid-century American painter Mark Rothko … Read more
Mary Poppins — Music and lyrics by Richard M. Sherman andRobert B. Sherman, book by Julian Fellowes. Pauline Adamek – ArtsBeatLA The beloved tale of the efficient Victorian nanny Mary Poppins is back at the Ahmanson Theatre for a four-week run. With its magnificent staging, gorgeous costumes and sets and complicated song and dance numbers, the Tony-award nominated musical is pure … Read more
Heartbreak House by George Bernard Shaw. David C. Nichols — Back Stage After opening with a revisionist ’60s Measure for Measure that entertainingly served the Bard, the forces at Theatricum Botanicum take on Heartbreak House and serve George Bernard Shaw even better. Shaw’s deathless 1917 allegory about British socioeconomic factions heedless of the impending world war enjoys a wonderful revival, Chekhovian in tone, Shavian in attack. Read more…
Hearts Like Fists by Adam Szymkowicz. Pauline Adamek – ArtsBeatLA A chop-socky cartoon on stage, Hearts Like Fists, written by Adam Szymkowicz, is an action-packed adventure romance set in the surreal world of female crime-fighting superheroes. Nurses by day, skilled warriors by night, a band of ferocious and feisty femmesbattle the dastardly and elusive Dr. X and his deadly war against romance. Read … Read more
Pauline Adamek – LA Weekly Oft staged, Arthur Miller’s 1947 tragedy is a modern American classic for good reason; its powerful message endures. On the surface All My Sons is a slice of post WWII small town family life. Beneath that homespun layer lurk cold-hearted monsters. Read more…
Memphis by David Bryan(music and lyrics) and Joe DiPietro (lyrics and book). Pauline Adamek – ArtsBeatLA Kicking off with a frenetic pace that never lets up, Memphis is a high energy, original musical about the explosion of black musical artists into the mainstream during the late 1950s. Read more… Bob Verini – Variety The sleek, stylish Memphis exemplifies the Broadway show tour done very … Read more
Mutually Assured Destruction by Peter Lefcourt. Pauline Adamek – ArtsBeatLA It’s difficult to pinpoint exactly what is wrong with this play and production. The acting is good. The staging is fluid. The storyline is amusing. The French farce underpinnings give the show some energy. The central conceit is clever and well developed… So why doesn’t this play … Read more
The Government Inspector by Nikolai Gogol. Dany Margolies – ArtsInLA It’s petty to complain that the clever lines are so plentiful that we don’t have a moment to reflect on them, that the sight gags are too numerous to take in fully, and that the actors are so adept and in sync with [Stefan] Novinski’svision that we sometimes … Read more