OF GOOD STOCK at South Coast Repertory
Margaret Gray – LA Times South Coast Repertory’s generosity to new playwrights has a fairy godmother-like charm. The company commissioned a play from the relatively unknown writer Melissa Ross and has mounted a lavish, gorgeous world premiere production of it. Read more… Now running through April 26.
SISTER at Theatre Theater
Deborah Klugman – Stage Raw Sister opens on a dark bare stage, its single set piece being a plain white toilet, the kind you find in rundown apartments. The story takes place in a crummier section of Hollywood. We learn about that when the main character Denise (Erica Gimpel) directs a trick to her residence, in … Read more
BLOOD at Theatre Theater
Deborah Klugman – LA Weekly Writer-director Michael Phillip Edwards drew inspiration for his spooky comedy Blood from a Jamaican storyteller he knew in childhood, a man named Parsons, whose wild tales mixed moral imperative, ominous foreboding and pitch-black humor. Read more… Now running through May 30.
VIRGIN at the Santa Monica Playhouse
Neal Weaver – Stage Raw This one-woman show, written, performed and co-directed by Alyson Renaldo (with Chris deCarlo) may be about virginity, but that doesn’t mean it’s devoid of sex. Read more… Now running through April 19. This one-woman show, written, performed and co-directed by Alyson Renaldo (with Chris deCarlo) may be about virginity, but that … Read more
DUNSINANE at the Wallis Annenberg Center
Paul Birchall – Stage Raw Playwright David Grieg’s compelling drama is a sequel of sorts to Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Given that just about everyone is dead at the end of Shakespeare’s play, one could well ask “what on earth can happen in a sequel to Macbeth?” Do the Three Witches move on down to Fort Lauderdale to get … Read more
NEWSIES at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre
Bob Verini – Arts In LA A good rule of thumb for movie-to-musical adaptations is—and this isn’t original with me; I’ve heard it from many of my buddies in the tuner biz—if you’re dealing with a great movie, do something to keep it great, but do so in a distinctly different way. Read more… David C. … Read more
JULIUS CAESAR at A Noise Within
Margaret Gray – LA Times A Noise Within’s new production of “Julius Caesar” has plenty of style. Or rather, plenty of styles: bold but random design elements that compete for attention with the substance. Read more… Now running through May 8.
AMERICAN WEE-PIE at Theatre 40
Deborah Klugman – Stage Raw Like the cupcakes in her story, playwright Lisa Dillman’s American Wee-Pie may be too sugary for some palates. It was for mine. Read more… Now running through April 13.
THIEVES at the El Portal Theatre
Pauline Adamek – Stage Raw Three siblings and their father — all estranged — reunite at their mother’s ramshackle country homestead shortly after her death to uncover her will and to sling recriminations at each other. Despite its flashes of black humor, Charlotte Miller’s gutsy, messy and heavy-duty family drama Thieves is about as jolly as that … Read more