Paul Birchall – Stage Raw So, nobody does it better. Makes me feel sad for the rest. Nobody does it better. Baby, baby, you’re the best. We are talking about James Bond, ruthless British secret agent 007, who, along with Doctor Who and the dear old Queen Liz, are some of the best things to … Read more
Pauline Adamek – Stage Raw Ellen Geer directs a large ensemble of actors and, together with the design team and crew, the Theatricum Botanicum company delivers an endearing stage version of one of the most beloved novels in American literature. Read more… Now running through Sept. 27.
Dany Margolies – Press-Telegram A performance of Charles Busch’s campy “Psycho Beach Party” should be great fun — for the audience, that is. The actors should have their fun during rehearsals, getting the giggles out of the way and figuring out the innuendo so they don’t realize it on opening night in front of an … Read more
From Paul Verdier to Dakin Matthews to A. Jeffrey Schoenberg to Stephen Sachs Paul Verdier (contributed by Steven Leigh Morris) Steven Leigh Morris – Stage Raw Yet another passing of another era was marked September 6, when actor-director-playwright-producer Paul Verdier died of complications from Parkinson’s Disease while under hospice care in West Hollywood. Read more… … Read more
Don Shirley – LA Observed Watts Village Theater Company is observing the 50th anniversary of its community’s most famous historical moment with “Riot/Rebellion,” an ensemble-driven documentary-style production.
Melinda Schupmann – Arts In LA When Stars Align is a novel by Carole Eglash-Kosoff, chronicling conflicts between advantaged whites and black slaves in the Civil War–era South. Now adapted into a play (by the author, with co-writer and director John Henry Davis) spanning many years, it blends history with the story of young black Thaddeus … Read more
Deborah Klugman – LA Weekly Traumas from our childhood frequently haunt us for the rest of our lives. In her uneven family melodrama, writer/director Kimberly Demmary writes about three half-sisters, scarred by the cruel and random behavior of their manipulative mother. Read more… Now running through Sept. 19.
Don Shirley – LA Observed Alfresco theater is one of the best features of an LA summer, yet the big LA media usually ignore it. Charles McNulty, the LA Times theater critic for nearly a decade, wrote an essay last week about ensemble acting in three of LA’s tiny indoor stages, but he has never … Read more
Neal Weaver – Stage Raw Rick Segall’s epic solo-drama focuses on the last hours of Jesus’ disciple, Simon Peter, later canonized as St. Peter. Condemned to death for refusing to reject Jesus and accept the Roman emperor as a living god, he spends his last night sharing a cell with Marcus Attilius Regulus, a former … Read more
Deborah Klugman – Stage Raw There are several hearty laughs to be had as the credits roll on Peter Lefcourt’s clichéd comedy, which is set in a West L.A. Starbucks where a homegrown terrorist is holding people hostage. Read more… Margaret Gray – LA Times One unintended consequence of the communications age is the increased difficulty … Read more