Bob Verini – Stage Raw One might have expected that accomplished actor but novice playwright Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network, Batman v Superman) would be more adept at creating characters for The Revisionist than knowing what to do with them. Read more… Now running through April 17.
Bob Verini – Stage Raw Let’s start by talking about the song, and if you’re reading about Dreamgirls you already know what song I mean. It’s the one that everyone’s always waiting for, the one that practically single-handedly justifies a revival of the Tom Eyen-Henry Krieger-Michael Bennett 60s pop musical in and of itself. It stands as … Read more
Bob Verini – Stage Raw The premise of William Donnelly’s No Wake is straightforward enough — the throwing together of a divorced couple after the suicide of their long-estranged daughter. With the addition of a third character, the wife’s new husband who has come along for moral support, the action could proceed in any number of ways, … Read more
Deborah Klugman – Stage Raw The clash of values in playwright Bess Wohl’s disputatious two-hander takes place between Irene (Betty Gilpin), a chattering blonde tourist from Denver, and Manuel (Carlos Leal), a handsome Spaniard who’s ferried her back to his loft in Barcelona for wild, mutually satisfying sex. Read more… Dany Margolies – The Daily News … Read more
Bob Verini – Stage Raw In the vast scheme of Tennessee Williams’ long career, the 1978 Vieux Carré stands as one of his lesser plays, derivative and ill-shaped. Among the works of his final two decades, however, it’s one which can still credibly command a stage if given a vigorous and mature production. Read more… David C. … Read more
Bob Verini – Stage Raw Late in the second act (and third hour) of Ameryka, a world premiere presentation by Nancy Keystone’s Critical Mass Performing Group, a dapper gent played by Ray Ford steps up to bear witness to a gay bar encounter with Witold, a young native Pole. Read more… Now running through March 6.
Bob Verini – Stage Raw Diana Amsterdam’s The Dodgers, now playing at the Hudson Mainstage, deals with a December “Day of Infamy,” but it’s not the one that interrupted Americans’ Sunday morning breakfast with news about something called Pearl Harbor. Just short of 28 years later, on December 1, 1969, the government held a televised lottery to … Read more
Bob Verini – Variety The stunningly appointed “Empire The Musical,” world premiering at La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts (and no relation to the hit Fox series), gains strength from the entire company’s shared desire to erect the unprecedentedly tall Empire State Building, in stubborn defiance of the Great Depression. Alas, authors Caroline Sherman and Robert … Read more
Les Spindle – Edge on the Net Writer-director Woody Allen’s memorable 1994 film comedy“Bullets Over Broadway” served up a touch of vintage Billy Wilder (a la “Some Like It Hot” and “One, Two, Three”) driven by Allen’s trademark genius for mixing a farcical story with darker elements and trenchant humor. Read more… Margaret Gray – LA … Read more
Deborah Klugman – LA Weekly Since it premiered on Broadway in March 2014, a number of theater writers have commented on how the range and power of lead diva Idina Menzel transforms Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey’s so-so musical into a show well worth seeing. Read more… Bob Verini – Stage Raw The Pantages is playing … Read more