Pauline Adamek – Stage Raw A couple meet, fall in love and marry. But do Whitney and Jake live happily together forever and ever thereafter? Not in Dean Farell Bruggeman’s heart-wrenching drama they don’t. Read more… Now running through March 12.
Neal Weaver – Stage Raw This play, by writer-director Paul S. Flores, sets out to examine the life of Salvadoran immigrants in the U.S., but it’s also part of an attempt to stop gang violence. It examines, among other things, the role of placas in gang life. (“Placas” is barrio slang for body tattoos that … Read more
Dany Margolies – The Daily Breeze The curtain rises to reveal a New York stoop, as the overture blossoms into an iconic score and eight young men in jeans and tennies burst into a dance of seething frustration and endless energy. Unmistakably, this is “West Side Story.” Read more… Now running through February 28.
Neal Weaver – Stage Raw Franz Altman (Michael Laskin), the protagonist of playwright Charles Dennis’s deft solo drama, is an elderly Viennese Jew born just before the turn of the 20th century. Now nearly 100 years old, he owns a second-hand store called King Solomon’s Treasures, located in mid-town Manhattan, circa 1990. Read more… Margaret Gray – … Read more
Pauline Adamek – Stage Raw Robert Lawrence Nelson’s melodrama about two lonely people finding a connection disappoints on almost all fronts. While the performances from the two leads — Julie Dolan as Samantha and Chad Addison as Toby — are solid, with both actors plumbing some complicated emotional depths, the production as a whole fails … Read more
Dany Margolies – The Daily Breeze The musical revue “Closer Than Ever” makes a lovely evening for folks who don’t want to be asked to dig into the meaning of songs, who prefer messages told simply. The music, too, though it has more than a few tinges of dissonance, doesn’t tax the listener. Read more… … Read more
Les Spindle – Frontiers L.A. In its West Coast debut, Steven Simoncic’s 2013 portrait of urban gentrification, set in contemporary Chicago, offers intriguing ruminations on the human ramifications of the phenomenon. Read more… Now running through April 3.
Deborah Klugman – Stage Raw The clash of values in playwright Bess Wohl’s disputatious two-hander takes place between Irene (Betty Gilpin), a chattering blonde tourist from Denver, and Manuel (Carlos Leal), a handsome Spaniard who’s ferried her back to his loft in Barcelona for wild, mutually satisfying sex. Read more… Dany Margolies – The Daily News … Read more
Bob Verini – Stage Raw In the vast scheme of Tennessee Williams’ long career, the 1978 Vieux Carré stands as one of his lesser plays, derivative and ill-shaped. Among the works of his final two decades, however, it’s one which can still credibly command a stage if given a vigorous and mature production. Read more… David C. … Read more
Jonas Schwartz – TheaterMania God has returned to earth and borrowed Sean Hayes’ body to impart wisdom to the audience at the Ahmanson Theatre and deliver an updated 10 Commandments for the new millennium. Playwright David Javerbaum hilariously skewers humanity’s assumptions about God’s purpose using the popular TV comedian Hayes as a perfect vessel. Read more… Deborah Klugman … Read more