GIDION’S KNOT at the Pasadena Playhouse/Carrie Hamilton Theatre

by

Pauline Adamek – LA Weekly Aaron Francis’ bold scenic design has the audience seated in school desks for Gidion’s Knot, getting you into the right frame of mind for Johnna Adams’ intense one-act showdown between a fifth-grade teacher and a parent. Corryn (Vonessa Martin) shows up for a teacher-parent conference, having been summoned a few days … Read more

DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE at the Actors Co-Op David Schall Theatre

by

Bob Verini –   ArtsInLA  With two weekends to go until Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde vacates Actors Co-op in Hollywood, those who enjoy horror stories brought to the stage don’t have many chances to take it in. But they should make the effort. An ensemble of six sports fine accents and great versatility in bringing … Read more

YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN at Richard and Karen Carpenter Performing Arts Center

by

Melinda Schupmann – Arts In LA Mel Brooks’s very funny 1974 film became The New Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein in late 2007. Receiving mixed reviews from the critics, it nonetheless played on Broadway for more than 500 performances, and it began a very successful touring show in 2009. Its appeal comes from a lively … Read more

THE BLACK SUITS at the Kirk Douglas Theatre

by

Bob Verini – Arts in LA This world premiere musical, now at Kirk Douglas Theatre, manages to get plenty of new wine into very old, if not downright dusty, bottles. The saga of the making of the eponymous garage band soars despite a paper-thin, clichéd plot; derivative character types; and QED themes of friendship and … Read more

THE PAIN AND THE ITCH at the Zephyr Theatre

by

Terry Morgan – LAist Having seen a couple of plays written by Bruce Norris, (Clybourne Park and The Parallelogram) I’m beginning to detect a theme in his writing. He seems to find the purportedly liberal beliefs of certain rich white people worthy of ridicule, specifically convictions of a “politically correct” strain. Nowhere is this clearer … Read more

the road weeps, the well runs dry at L.A.T.C.

by

Deborah Klugman – LA Weekly There are glints of the Oresteia in Marcus Gardley’s poetic, sweeping drama, the road weeps, the well runs dry, which takes place in a 19th-century Oklahoma town settled by fleeing African-American freedmen and their Native American cohabitants. The story’s tragic chain of events erupts around the searing rivalry between the … Read more

WHEN YOU WISH: THE STORY OF WALT DISNEY at the Freud Playhouse

by

Les Spindle –  Frontiers L.A. The world premiere of a new musical, When You Wish: The Story of Walt Disney—celebrating the life and career of the legendary animator/mogul Disney (1901-1966)—seems well-timed to the upcoming release of a holiday season film, Saving Mr. Banks. The eagerly awaited movie starring Tom Hanks as Disney is set during the making … Read more

4000 MILES at South Coast Repertory Theatre

by

Bob Verini – ArtsInLA Amy Herzog’s 4000 Miles comes to us with a considerable reputation as a Pulitzer Prize finalist, but whatever virtues this intergenerational seriocomedy may possess, they certainly don’t come through in South Coast Repertory’s version.Read more… Now running through November 17.

EVITA at the Pantages Theatre

by

Bob Verini – ArtsInLA “She didn’t say much but she said it loud.” That’s Eva Peron (1919–1952) as assessed by nemesis Che Guevara during the prologue of Evita. But as it happens, the accusation of saying very little, very loudly has dogged the Andrew Lloyd Webber–Tim Rice through-sung tuner ever since it emerged as a … Read more

MOSKVA at City Garage

by

David C. Nichols – LA Times Mikhail Bulgakov meets Sergei Eisenstein at Andy Warhol’s Factory in “Moskva.” This ornate take on Bulgakov’s “The Master and Margarita” is a nobly ambitious, surreally unhinged deep-dish bowl of dramaturgical borscht.Read more… Pauline Adamek  – ArtsBeatLA City Garage is known for staging edgy and provocative avant garde theater and … Read more