Frances Baum Nicholson –The Stage Struck Review In the wake of mass shootings, one cannot help but wonder what particular disconnect made someone feel such an act was a good idea. Now running through May 4
Margaret Gray – LA Times Will Von Vogt, who plays the endearingly neurotic gay protagonist of Joshua Harmon’s play “Significant Other” at the Geffen Playhouse, brings so much to the role — not least his big, blue eyes, quicksilver comic timing and eloquent dance moves — that L.A. audiences can’t help wondering where he’s been … Read more
Jonas Schwartz – TheaterMania The overture fades in with the woodwinds as the strings wistfully play the motif of “Bali Ha’i,” the lush music that transports audiences to the magical islands of South Pacific. Just beyond the breeze and the luster of the sand, the entire world has clashed violently, and fascism has drawn most of mankind … Read more
Terry Morgan – Talkin’ Broadway Labeling a work of art as being one particular thing can often be problematic, creating expectations that the piece doesn’t fulfill. Amy Herzog’s play Belleville is being promoted as a Hitchcockian thriller, which it is not. It’s only a thriller in the sense that Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is a thriller, in that … Read more
Deborah Klugman – LA Weekly I wish one could say that Nambi E. Kelley’s incisive adaptation of novelist Richard Wright’s Native Son, brilliantly staged at Antaeus Theatre Ensemble under Andi Chapman’s direction, was testament to a 20th-century mindset we’ve long transcended. But as many of us are painfully aware, the stereotyping of minorities — and in … Read more
Ellen Dostal – BroadwayWorld The air between the words is so thick you could cut it with a knife in Daniel Talbott‘s shadowy play about three siblings attempting to survive their dysfunctional family. Each is broken in his or her own way and, as the hairball unravels, the audience must piece together their fragmented story over … Read more
Jonas Schwartz – TheaterMania Joshua Harmon’s Significant Other, now playing at the Geffen Playhouse, explores friendship as a buffer, a support system, and a crutch when navigating the precarious world of love. Often funny, the comedy will remind audiences of their own singlehood, past or present. Unfortunately….Read more… Dany Margolies – The Daily Breeze What … Read more
Ellen Dostal – Musicals in LA Romance based on obsession is a challenging tale in today’s world. Andrew Lloyd Webber’s 1986 hit musical The Phantom of the Opera might have had a more difficult debut if it had taken place today amid the #MeToo movement. But it didn’t, and the British composer’s masterpiece went on … Read more
Ellen Dostal – BroadwayWorldThis adaptation of Shakespeare’s classic tragedy has been reconceptualized to connect with the modern day #MeToo movement by offering an alternative explanation for one of its leading character’s actions. It is built on the notion that all of the women are victims of sexual abuse – most specifically, Lady Macbeth – who, … Read more
Frances Baum Nicholson – The Daily Breeze Agatha Christie’s play “The Mousetrap” has been running, interrupted, in London’s West End since 1952, making it the longest-running play in the English language anywhere in the world. With that kind of longevity (66 years and counting), traditions and tales are inevitable. A favorite story, perhaps apocryphal, says … Read more