David C. Nichols – Stage Raw It’s hard to imagine a more theatrically idiosyncratic or versatile double bill than Henry Purcell’s 17th century English baroque landmark and Béla Bartók’s nightmarish 20th century Hungarian tone poem. Read more… Now running through November 15.
Myron Meisel – Stage Raw A spoiler and an alert: I’m going to gush, and you should rush, as only two performances remain of one of the year’s most remarkable and exciting productions, Agua a Cucharadas, a Spanish translation of the 2012 Pulitzer Prize-winning play Water by the Spoonful by Quiara Alegría Hudes, making its Los Angeles debut after … Read more
Pauline Adamek – Stage Raw These are exciting times for Catholics worldwide. Ever since their current religious leader, his Holiness Pope Francis was appointed last year, he has been making headlines for his lenient doctrines and humanitarian proclamations, ushering in a new era for this notoriously hard-line religion. Read more… Now running through November 17.
Myron Meisel – Stage Raw Set entirely in the confines of the office of the British Consul in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, during the first day of the annual Hajj pilgrimage, Zealot, by the well-established and prolific Theresa Rebeck (Seminar, Mauritius, Bad Dates, Spike Heels), cannot avoid being a presumptuous play, satirizing and exposing obtuse Western perceptions that … Read more
Deborah Klugman – LA Weekly Performer Chuma Gault is at the top of his form in The Gun Show, a play by EM Lewis that deals with Americans and their guns. An unpredictable work that stealthily gathers steam, it begins with a discourse on the national gun debate and gradually evolves into a personal account of … Read more
Steven Leigh Morris – LA Weekly A common habit by drama critics is to compare and contrast a new adaptation of an old work with or against that old work, which would seem a reasonable approach. But not in the case of poet-performer-playwright Luis Alfaro. Alfaro’s work, whether the solo autobiographical performance St. Jude, presented last … Read more
Deborah Klugman – LA Weekly Ken Levine, who wrote the new play A or B?, has spent decades in television, writing, producing and consulting, mostly on sitcoms. His credits include the iconic M*A*S*H, where he was head writer. M*A*S*H was smart, entertaining and told Americans a thing or two about who we are. Read more… Now running through November … Read more
Bob Verini – Stage Raw Rockwell Table and Stage, in Los Feliz, has long been the local locus of the interactive/immersive restaurant/musical. That means you eat and drink while the action is taking place all around you, and a pop diva is as likely to belt her showcase number in your lap, breathing on your … Read more
Bob Verini – Arts In LA Diane Paulus’ circus-themed Pippin revival is every bit as good as you’ve heard, and then some. It invests the famously thin libretto (crafted by Roger O. Hirson in 1972) with so much conviction, and so bathes it in an overlay of gorgeous lighting (many thanks, Kenneth Posner), acrobatics, juggling, and gymnastics, … Read more
Neal Weaver – Stage Raw The name Johan Nestroy looms large in German-language theatre, but it probably doesn’t mean much to American theatre-goers, though perhaps it should: One of his plays, Einen Jux will er sich machen (He Wants to Go on a Spree), provided the basic plot for Thornton Wilder’s The Merchant of Yonkers, later developed … Read more