Pauline Adamek – ArtsBeatLA In TALHOTBLOND:, a working man falls for a hot woman he meets in an internet chatroom. His increasing obsession has a dramatic impact on his work and home lives. Playwright Kathrine Bates has developed an oeuvre taking real life crimes as the starting point for her dramas. Her most notable work is The Manor, a hugely popular and … Read more
Bob Verini – Arts In LA Poor Dog Group’s ambitious Five Small Fires explores the phenomenon of cults, particularly the behavior of those who find a haven within them. The Cal Arts–rooted collective professes to have been exploring cults and ritual for a long time, though if it has been thinking much about the types and motivations … Read more
Deborah Klugman – ArtsBeatLA Sporting a message of sisterhood and tolerance, Wendy Graf’s well-intentioned but clumsy drama builds around two half-sisters: Julia (Diarra Kilpatrick), an ambitious attorney living and working in Manhattan, and Neyla (Yvonne Huff), her newly discovered sibling, whom Julia’s father had sired when he was a soldier in Iraq. Read more… Dany Margolies – Arts … Read more
Margaret Gray – LA Times In “Stand-Off at Hwy #37,” a world premiere by Native Voices at the Autry, playwright Vickie Ramirez probes the ambiguous political landscape between Native and non-Native American territories… The issues are well laid out, each of the performers is strong and the script is often pointed and witty, but Ramirez’s … Read more
David C. Nichols – LA Times “Modern Family” goes Bollywood in “A Nice Indian Boy,” now receiving a stalwart premiere at East West Players. Although Madhuri Shekar’s same-sex variant on the time-honored culture-clash comedy has its unfinished aspects, it’s pleasantly funny entertainment. Read more… Now running through March 23.
Margaret Gray – LA Times The Pacific Resident Theatre’s new production of Shakespeare’s “Henry V,” directed by Guillermo Cienfuegos, is about as spare and unvarnished as the theater gets. The set consists of a few folding chairs in the blackest, boxiest of conceivable black-box stages. There’s one prop: a tinny-looking crown. Read more… Myron Meisel – … Read more
Margaret Gray – LA Times For much of Samuel Brett Williams’ “Derby Day,” in its L.A. premiere at the Elephant Theatre (which gave Williams’ “Revelation” its world premiere last year), the sole sympathetic character onstage is Becky (Kimberly Alexander), a waitress at Oaklawn Park Race Track in Arkansas. Read more… Neal Weaver – Arts in LA You … Read more
Myron Meisel – The Hollywood Reporter Chaim Potok’s 1972 bestseller My Name is Asher Lev has been deftly adapted by Aaron Posner and receives a peerless realization by a splendid cast. Posner reduces the novel to its essential conflicts, yet rather than diluting the impact he effectively intensifies the immediacy of the emotional payoffs. Read more… Don Shirley … Read more
Don Shirley – LA Observed Con artistry requires the ability to get the victims to suspend disbelief – the same quality that theatrical artistry usually requires of audiences. David C. Nichols – LA Times “Tartuffe” returns to A Noise Within’s repertoire after 22 years, and it proves worth the wait. Molière’s deathless assault on religious … Read more
Myron Meisel – The Hollywood Reporter Word is out: the three 50 Shades of Grey books have reached 100 million in sales, taking only a few years to equal the entire James Bond ouevre over decades, making it every bit as ripe for spoofery. While this musical parody may never reach the hilarious heights of the gold … Read more