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
Dany Margolies – The Daily Breeze For good reason, playwright Neil Simon has been loved by the theatergoing public for decades. For even better reason, his “Brighton Beach Memoirs” is widely considered to be among his best plays. Read more… Now running through August 15.
Dany Margolies – Press-Telegram More rain is coming down on the Carpenter Performing Arts Center’s stage through the end of this month than has been seen in Long Beach all year. Read more… Melinda Schupmann – Arts In LA Perennially listed in the top films of all times, MGM’s Singin’ in the Rain is an early rarity: a … Read more
Dany Margolies – The Daily News Breaking out of old patterns, ridding ourselves of toxic habits, or just growing up sometimes requires extreme courage. In the highly metaphoric play “Shiv,” the character who navigates the path of maturity and change is given the qualities of the Hindu deity Shiva. Read more… Myron Meisel – Stage Raw … Read more
Les Spindle – Edge on the Net As if on cue, following the recent landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling on Marriage Equality, and Wayne Moore’s exuberant musical spoof “Adam & Eve and Steve: The Musical”floats into the L.A. theater arena at precisely the right moment. Parlaying the age-old Biblical story of Adam and Eve into a … Read more