ONE SLIGHT HITCH at the Torrance Theatre Company

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Dany Margolies – The Daily Breeze Lewis Black is the standup comedian who delivers prodding rants punctuated by his crooked and wriggling index fingers. He’s rather genius, assuming one agrees with his views.He has written handfuls of plays, too, and his One Slight Hitch is in production at Torrance Theatre Company through Oct. 11. “If my name … Read more

THE OBJECT LESSON at the Kirk Douglas Theatre

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Myron Meisel – Stage Raw  Object Lesson, created and enacted by Geoff Sobelle, is a determinedly odd amalgam of performance art and clowning, an extended existential joke deploying self-aware empty gestures, obsessive materialism and well-established gags consciously stranded in the context of a litter-strewn vacuum. And yes, a desire to be loved. It’s as if … Read more

ONE MAN, TWO GUVNORS – South Coast Repertory at Segerstrom Stage

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Melinda Schupmann – Arts In LA  Influenced by the popular commedia dell’arte of the 16th century, Carlo Goldoni’s 18th century archetypal The Servant of Two Masters makes a perfect model for Richard Bean’s British update of a wily servant’s service to two bosses in 1963 Brighton. Populated by some of the stock characters of the form, it is two … Read more

PAUL BIRCHALL’S GOT IT COVERED – SEPTEMBER 22, 2015

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From an Aborted NYC Mikado to Bloomberg Foundation Largesse to the 20 Most Produced Playwrights of 2015-16. Paul Birchall  – Stage Raw Also making news is the news that Brian Kite, producing artistic director of La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts, is stepping down to take over the Department Chair at the UCLA School … Read more

A FLEA IN HER EAR at A Noise Within

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Myron Meisel – Stage Raw … on to Georges Feydeau, a ubiquitous influence as the prime shaper of boulevard farce to the percussive opening and closing of doors, less often seen in actual performance stateside. Read more… David C. Nichols – LA Times Farce is a tricky thing to sustain, especially sex farce. Too much lewdness … Read more

FIRST DATE at La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts

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Jonas Schwartz –  Arts In LA Experiencing theater—or any form of entertainment—is similar to the sensation of a blind date. Apprehension, as past disasters or boring evenings flood the mind, mix with exhilaration of a history of joyous surprises. In the opening moments, one can sense confidence in the conversation or a desperation to be … Read more

TARTUFFE BY MOLIERE: A REALITY SHOW at City Garage

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Myron Meisel – Stage Raw City Garage’s creative duo of Frédérique Michel and Charles A. Duncombe are long-established dab hands with Molière, so abundantly so that despite their reliable pedigree, I feared that Tartuffe by Moliere: A Reality Show would perhaps be too much yet again of the same thing. Yes, but no. Read more… Now running … Read more

THESE PAPER BULLETS! at the Geffen Playhouse

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Bob Verini –   Arts In LA About the best way to communicate my absolute, unalloyed pleasure in These Paper Bullets!, Rolin Jones’s Much Ado About Nothing adaptation at the Geffen, is to report that the smile that came over my face in the first five minutes stayed with me through the intermission, which I couldn’t wait to have … Read more