ArtsBeat LA

STRAIGHT WHITE MEN at the Kirk Douglas Theatre

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Myron Meisel – Stage Raw As a theater critic, I find myself writing perhaps disproportionally about plays with race, gender and sexuality issues — those subjects being responsible for a disproportionate amount of the most meaningful work being created — for which I am arguably ill-equipped to discuss, falling back on the presumptive faith that … Read more

OUTSIDE MULLIGAR at the Geffen Playhouse

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Bob Verini  –   Stage Raw The committed theatergoer, confronted with the prospect of a play set in Ireland, may well inquire, “First of all, is it one of the light ones or one of the dark ones?” Read more… Jonas Schwartz –  TheaterMania Outside Mullingar feels like a memory play of the distant past that is set … Read more

SEVEN SPOTS ON THE SUN at the Theatre at Boston Court

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Pauline Adamek  – ArtsBeatLA Martín Zimmerman’s one-act drama Seven Spots on the Sun explores the impulse of revenge, and the notion of redemption, against the backdrop of a horrifying civil war. The lives of two couples in two separate (but nearby) South American villages are presented as mirror images. Read more… Margaret Gray – LA Times We … Read more

APPROPRIATE at the Mark Taper Forum

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Les Spindle –  Edge on the Net In “Appropriate,” the initial conventionality in introducing the characters and basic storyline elicits raucous and sardonic laughs, as the depth of resentments among the siblings and their family members gradually come to light. Yet, there’s far more than garden-variety family baggage afoot here, Read more… Pauline Adamek  – ArtsBeatLA … Read more

THE SOUND OF MUSIC at the Ahmanson Theatre

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Dany Margolies  –  Arts In LA First of all, this is indeed your father’s The Sound of Music, in its national tour now launching here. The stage version birthed the film, which retained much of the theatrical book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse, music by Richard Rodgers and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II.  Read more… … Read more

REBORNING at the Fountain Theatre

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Paul Birchall – Stage and Cinema This fascinating drama by playwright Zayd Dohrn is set in the bizarre subculture of women who buy dolls that eerily resemble actual babies. Can this possibly be enough material here for a play? Read more… Bob Verini –   Arts In LA Roger Ebert once opined, “It’s not what a movie … Read more

O REJANE at the Bootleg Theater

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Pauline Adamek  – ArtsBeatLA It takes a highly talented actor to emulate a real-life theater legend. Born 1856, Gabrielle Réjane (her stage name) was a remarkable French actress and innovative theater impresario who altered French culture, its fashion and socio-politics during the late 19th Century. Conceived and written by Ilana Turner, a new play about … Read more

THE MAGIC FLUTE at the Broad Stage

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Pauline Adamek  – ArtsBeatLA Joyful & exuberant — Isango Ensemble’s afrobeat version of Mozart’s fairytale opera The Magic Flute is a unique and beautiful experience. You will probably have never experienced anything like it before, and perhaps never will again — it’s that special. Read more… Now running through Oct. 12.

THE GOAT OR, WHO IS SYLVIA? AT THE LGBT Center’s Davidson/Valentini Theatre

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Pauline Adamek  – ArtsBeatLA Ann Noble gives a magnificent performance in Edward Albee’s absurd drama The Goat or, Who Is Sylvia?, now playing at the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s Davidson/Valentini Theatre. Ostensibly a study of the irreparable destruction of a perfect marriage, Albee softens us up with his dry humor and jokey lines swirling around a premise, … Read more