Bob Verini – Arts in LA The Echo Theater Company has gone to some lengths to sidestep, in its pre-opening publicity, the subject matter of Tommy Smith’s remarkable new play titled Firemen. The world premiere drama is described as “a different kind of love story” that “explores an unthinkable love relationship,” though what proves unthinkable is … Read more
Neal Weaver – Arts in LA Adam Rapp’s haunting solo-drama startles with its very first line: “Fifteen years ago I killed my sister.” Then the narrator, who is identified only as The Son (Belgian actor George Regout), goes on to reveal the circumstances of the death. When he was 19, he was driving home on … Read more
Bob Verini – Arts in LA So you’re a distinguished playwright in your early 60s: a very Chekhovian age; an age when the mind drifts toward dreams once grasped, then compromised, then lost, and fixates on memories of simpler, happier times. You look around your Bucks County farmhouse and think, “Gosh, this looks a lot … Read more
Bob Verini – Arts in LA For this chamber musical, Shaun Davey and Richard Nelson have crafted Irish faux folk tunes that rely more on vocal brio than beauty. And let’s face it, the characters’ increasing insobriety lowers the bar on singing quality as the play’s Christmastime celebration progresses. But the adaptation of James Joyce’s … Read more
Neal Weaver – Arts In LA Prolific playwright Lucille Fletcher is best known for the suspense drama Sorry, Wrong Number—which began life as prizewinning 1948 radio play, starring Agnes Morehead, and in 1950 was made into a film noir that garnered an Oscar nomination for its star, Barbara Stanwyck. Fletcher’s Night Watch is also a suspense drama, in which … Read more
Bob Verini – Arts in LA The Light in the Piazza’s cross-cultural love story, in which red-state Americans fall victim to the allure of Florence circa the early 1950s, is musically alluring, although helmer Kent Nicholson eschews the glamorous spectacle that characterized Bartlett Sher’s Broadway original. With the NY chorus halved, and musical director Dennis … Read more
Melinda Schupmann – Arts In LA Preposterously silly, Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan’s comes to Fullerton and Redondo Beach via 3-D Theatricals season opener. It is another hit in the theater company’s chain of musicals that last season included Shrek the Musical and Parade. In this one, Max Bialystock’s (Jay Brian Winnick) Broadway play, Funny Boy: A Musical Version … Read more
Dany Margolies – Arts In LA Let’s say the police are after you, but you’re innocent, and they’re actually not police but enemy spies, and your only means of escape is to jump out of a window. But you’re actually an actor, and your window is a picture frame, and your show is filled with … Read more
Steven Leigh Morris – LA Weekly A quartet of Big Idea plays has opened over the past two weeks, exploring the intersections of art, psychology and history. Sarah Ruhl’s Passion Play, co-presented by the Odyssey Theatre Ensemble and Evidence Room, has been around since at least 2005, with productions at Arena Stage in Washington, Chicago’s … Read more
Jonas Schwartz – Arts In LA Let’s Misbehave culls many of Cole Porter’s hits and some of his rarities to create a surprisingly touching love triangle. A winning cast of three takes what could have just been a revue of hit-parade songs and makes the audience believe these songs are originating from the characters’ hearts. Read more… … Read more