Margaret Gray – LA Times Whenever I read about the artistic scandals of the past — the near-riot provoked by Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring,” for example — I glumly conclude that we have grown so jaded that art has lost its power to appall. Read more… Steven Leigh Morris – Stage Raw Playwright Alice Tuan’s … Read more
David C. Nichols – LA Times Sophocles and post-traumatic stress disorder commingle in “Ajax in Iraq” at the Miles Memorial Playhouse, to dazzling, disturbing effect. Read more… Now running through June 1.
Deborah Klugman – Stage Raw Hungarian playwright Ferenc Molnar’s The Guardsman has been viewed in this country mostly as a theatrical confection, an entertaining comedy about a jealous actor who undertakes an elaborate charade to establish his wife’s fidelity, or lack thereof. Alfred Lunt and Lynne Fontanne brought it to the stage in 1924, then reprised their … Read more
Pauline Adamek – Stage Raw Writer-director Sharon Pollock’s sluggish two-hour, two-act play attempts to dramatize the mystery of the Lizzie Borden murders with a puzzle-like plot, but her convoluted approach and inept staging simply make for a confusing and excruciating experience. Read more… Now playing through June 15.
Neal Weaver – Stage Raw Shirl Hendryx’s play is set in an inn on a small Mediterranean island off the coast of Greece, where a group of movie-makers have gathered to prepare for a location shoot. Socially conscious American movie star Branson (Richard Chassler), who’s scheduled to head the cast, has insisted on the hiring … Read more
Dany Margolies – Arts In LA Late in their lives, a man and woman meet cute at a New Jersey dog park. He’s an easygoing, teasing but overly friendly chap. She’s a dignified, pretty but fearful gal. “Oh, no,” one thinks. “Don’t let this oil-and-water twosome end up together. They’ll make each other miserable.” Read more… … Read more
Neal Weaver – ArtsInLA The newly formed Australian Theatre Company was launched April 23 (Shakespeare’s birthday) by producers Nick Hardcastle and Nate Jones, with the intention of creating opportunities for Australian actors, directors, and writers living in LA, and introducing the work of Australian writers to American audiences. (The company is quick to add that … Read more
Myron Meisel – The Hollywood Reporter A Delicate Balance (1967) won the Pulitzer Prize shamefully denied Edward Albee for Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. Spiky, stilted and maybe maddening to many, it was probably the most abstruse honoree at that point in the award’s history. Albee managed the difficult feat of being muskily dated and vanguardishly visionary … Read more
Neal Weaver – Stage Raw It was probably historically inevitable that N. Richard Nash’s Broadway comedy The Rainmaker would have been turned into a musical by Nash, working with the creators of The Fantasticks, Harvey Schmidt (music) and Tom Jones (lyrics). Read more… Now running through June 15.
Bob Verini – Arts In LA Kimber Lee’s different words for the same thing, directed by Neel Keller, seems intended as an Our Townfor our time. Like the Thornton Wilder classic, it takes a cross-section of a little burg to investigate themes of love, death, and community, though Lee’s strategy is more tightly focused on a single … Read more