Pauline Adamek – LA Weekly Drawing on the traditions of ancient Greek comedy (masks, songs, a giant phallus) Chuck Faerber’s mildly amusing farce is a zany rendition of the siege of Troy by a crack team of dimwits. Ten years into the Trojan war, the Greeks are still anxious to retrieve their abducted Helen from … Read more
Les Spindle – Frontiers L.A. During the 1970s, dinner theaters were popular throughout the nation, offering least-common-denominator entertainment served alongside overcooked roast beef and weak cocktails. It wasn’t as much about going to the theater as a quest for chuckles that didn’t tax the brain. Yuppie patrons dined on semi-digestible grub while getting buzzed.Read more… … Read more
Neal Weaver – LA Weekly I doubt that anyone has ever thought that Steven Cragg was Mark Twain, but it provides him with a useful gimmick to galvanize his one-man show. He appears costumed and bewigged in a deliberately seedy simulacrum of the outfit worn by Hal Holbrook in his Mark Twain solo show.Read more… … Read more
Deborah Klugman – LA Weekly Developed through workshops under Tim Robbins’ direction, this inspired production of Shakespeare’s fantasia snaps and crackles with the comedic shenanigans of a dynamic ensemble. Visual spectacle, so often integral when this piece is produced, here takes a back seat; instead, the performers merrily cavort across a setless stage, relying on … Read more
Pauline Adamek – LA Weekly A nicely acted, crisply directed and neatly written piece of 1950s sci-fi comedy, featuring nearly naked, green-painted, go-go-dancing space aliens — what’s not to love?! Playwright Matthew Sklar stars as Captain Dan Dixon in his creature-feature retro romp through space.Read more…Now running through September 14.
Dany Margolies – Arts In LA Sometimes theater is about humankind’s greatest achievers. Sometimes it’s about supremely tragic figures. And sometimes, as with this show, it’s about the rest of us.Read more…
Bob Verini – ArtsInLA Merlin’s adventures, “untold?” Gosh, hasn’t the saga of the windbag wizard been told a bazillion times, in books (picture and grownup), films, TV movies, and even a couple of Broadway musicals? And the thing is, he’s really such a lousy character when you come right down to it. All-knowing, all-powerful figures … Read more
David C. Nichols – LA Times Armageddon arrives amid unrepentant lunacy in “Revelation” at the Lillian Theatre. Samuel Brett Williams’ pitch-black apocalyptic comedy isn’t quite cohesive structurally, but it’s a breakneck, often uproarious trek through hell on Earth.Read more… Now running through August 25.
Dany Margolies – Arts In LA Torrance Theatre Company reportedly twisted itself into a chocolate pretzel to put on this production of Roald Dahl’s Willy Wonka. The results are worth it.Read more… Now running through August 17.
Dany Margolies – Arts In LA “When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?” asks Albie at the top of this show. “And what were you afraid of?” These questions cleverly plunge the audience into a childlike mindset, priming each viewer to enjoy the wonders of magic—prestidigitational and … Read more