Bob Verini – Stage Raw A modest variation on Noises Off with a hat tip to the musical Mystery of Edwin Drood, Khai Dattoli’s Off Book seemed to inspire considerable mirth in the small but indomitable crowd at the Secret Rose Theater on a recent Friday evening. I wish I could have shared more of that mirth, but I want … Read more
Deborah Klugman – Stage Raw There’s an old superstition that an empty theater should never be left dark – hence the term ghost light, referring to the solitary light that illuminates the house after everyone’s gone home. Read more… Now running through August 27.
Myron Meisel – Stage Raw Citizen: An American Lyric by poet Claudia Rankine, was published to great acclaim last year, winning the National Book Critics Circle Award and Los Angeles Times Book Prize for poetry. In this theatrical realization, it represents an uniquely valuable tool not merely for a keener awareness of the ubiquity of everyday … Read more
Pauline Adamek – Stage Raw Brandon Baruch’s dramedy No Homo, ostensibly about the gay scene in L.A., was a multi-award winner at last year’s Hollywood Fringe Festival. The play went on appear at to New York’s International Fringe fest and underwent some reworking, including an altered ending. It now returns to L.A. for a short season … Read more
Les Spindle – Frontiers L.A. Rob Mersola‘s dicey new comedy Luka’s Room benefits from the efforts of a splendid ensemble cast under the crisp direction of Joshua Bitton. Read more… Myron Meisel – Stage Raw His father’s finances suddenly gone south (or perhaps merely hidden during the pendancy of his most recent divorce), 19 year old Luka … Read more
Dany Margolies – Long Beach Press-Telegram Emiily is in an ethics class with her fellow classmates when her teacher Mr. Baggot poses a thought experiment conducted by Ethics Man, a superhero moral philosopher. Ethics Man posits a train, hurtling toward a washed-out bridge. But if he switches the tracks, he will certainly kill one boy … Read more
David C. Nichols – LA Times Meet voluble Pepe, patriarch of the world’s most dubious clan of Mexican entertainers, who has retained his unwarranted confidence over the decades since his brood began touring the bottom-rung nightclub circuit. Read more… Now running through August 23.
Steven Leigh Morris – Stage Raw Perhaps it’s Quixotic, but I find Theatricum Botanicum to be a kind of beacon, a shining light on the hills of Topanga Canyon. The alfresco venue was co-founded by TV actor and Old Leftie Will Geer, whose fame was cemented – if fame is ever cemented – by his role … Read more
Margaret Gray – LA Times Football may be a grandly theatrical sport, but its sweeping, corporeal drama doesn’t easily translate onto the small stage. Read more… Now running through September 6.
Melinda Schupmann – Arts In LA In an era when most musical groups are helmed by young singers with a broad appeal, barbershop quartets speak to an older demographic and are usually populated by, as the cast reminds us, old white men. In this story, three men who have sung together for nearly 30 years … Read more