Bob Verini – Arts In LA Members of the opening night audience at Pasadena Playhouse’s A Night With Janis Joplinwere clearly primed for an intimate tête-à-tête with the titular musical legend, and judging by the two hours’ worth of spontaneous outbursts, they got what they came for. I counted five full or partial standing ovations, interspersed … Read more
Paul Birchall – Stage Raw Talk about site specific theater: Here’s a production of playwright John Patrick Shanley’s romantic standard that is immersive — literally. Read more… Now running through August 1.
Deborah Klugman – Stage Raw In director Tony Tanner’s amusing if somewhat decorous adaptation of The Misanthrope – performed out of doors for the public free of charge – lead performer Christopher Salazar comes off as a disgruntled guy, less a people-hater than a frank person with little taste for dissembling. Read more… Now running through … Read more
Les Spindle – Edge on the Net Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Pulitzer-winning 1943 musical “Oklahoma!” sparkles anew in Cabrillo Music Theatre’s exuberantly entertaining revisit to the Broadway classic. Read more… Margaret Gray – LA Times The first collaboration between Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, “Oklahoma!,” which debuted in 1943, is often credited with reinventing musical theater — … Read more
Shirle Gottlieb – Gazette Newspapers This blockbuster rock-opera exploded from the stage in 1971 and has been playing all over the world ever since. Composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber, with lyrics by Tim Rice, the plot revolves around the last week of Jesus’s life — from his arrival in Jerusalem until his world-renowned death. Read … Read more
Jonas Schwartz – Arts In LA Todd Almond’s libretto for the musical Girlfriend is as honest as a John Hughes gay musical would have been—if John Hughes had written a gay musical. Using Matthew Sweet’s 1990s Alternative Rock album of the same name as it’s framework, this story captures the anticipation and titillation that sets … Read more
Pauline Adamek – Stage Raw If you’re anything like me, you’ll go into Mike Kindle’s one-act drama knowing nothing about the mother of Barack Obama, but come out with a healthy respect for the progressive woman who, virtually single-handedly, raised the man who became the President of the United States. Read more… Deborah Klugman – LA … Read more
Deborah Klugman – Stage Raw In 2012, Ilia Volok appeared locally in a stage adaptation of Gogol’s Diary of a Madman, in which he portrayed the mental dissolution of a petty bureaucrat living in Czarist Russia. Volok was compelling to watch even though the cumbrous prose made some of his performance slow going. Read more… Now running … Read more
Terry Morgan – Stage Raw Every theater company has its ups and downs. It’s the nature of artistic endeavor. Evidence Room, celebrating its 20th anniversary as a company, has an admirable history of successful and award-winning plays, most recently with its producing partner, the Odyssey Theatre Ensemble. Unfortunately, their new show, Martin Crimp’s adaptation of Pierre … Read more
Paul Birchall – Stage Raw On a most straightforward level, playwright Lyle Kessler’s new dramedy is about the fractious relationship between two sons and their irascible, judgmental, curmudgeonly dad. However, Kessler’s work is concerned not merely with a family’s brawls, confrontations, and rage — as it appears on the surface. Read more… Neal Weaver – Arts … Read more