BRIGHTON BEACH MEMOIRS – Kentwood Players at the Westchester Playhouse

Dany Margolies – The Daily Breeze For good reason, playwright Neil Simon has been loved by the theatergoing public for decades. For even better reason, his “Brighton Beach Memoirs” is widely considered to be among his best plays. Read more… Now running through August 15.

SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN – Musical Theatre West at Carpenter Performing Arts Center

Dany Margolies – Press-Telegram More rain is coming down on the Carpenter Performing Arts Center’s stage through the end of this month than has been seen in Long Beach all year. Read more… Melinda Schupmann – Arts In LA Perennially listed in the top films of all times, MGM’s Singin’ in the Rain is an early rarity: a … Read more

SHIV at The Theatre @ Boston Court

Dany Margolies – The Daily News Breaking out of old patterns, ridding ourselves of toxic habits, or just growing up sometimes requires extreme courage. In the highly metaphoric play “Shiv,” the character who navigates the path of maturity and change is given the qualities of the Hindu deity Shiva. Read more… Myron Meisel – Stage Raw … Read more

THE BITCH IS BACK at The Edye at The Broad Stage

Dany Margolies  –  Arts In LA To be clear, the woman of the title is not only the writer-performer of this solo show, Sandra Tsing Loh. The woman of the title is all women who live to be “of a certain age.” These women have become the largest segment of American women. These women are … Read more

OFF THE KING’S ROAD at the Odyssey Theatre

Dany Margolies  –  Arts In LA An inspired supporting cast and a superb set salvage the heavily flawed script here. Neil Koenigsberg’s play is nobly modeled on the Bergman film Wild Strawberries, centering on an older man trying to come to grips with his regrets. But the writing is repetitious, it is on-the-nose, and it is … Read more

HOW TO BE A ROCK CRITIC at the Kirk Douglas Theatre

David C. Nichols – LA Times Talk amongst yourselves,” says a wild-eyed Lester Bangs as he hammers away at his typewriter, gesturing us into his unkempt apartment, Black Sabbath blaring from the turntable. “And nobody touch my records.”Read more… Dany Margolies  –  Arts In LA The lesson to be learned here is not how to … Read more

A PERMANENT IMAGE at Theatre/Theater

Margaret Gray – LA Times Here’s a deal, L.A. theaters: We’ll happily watch all the liquored-up-dysfunctional-family-reunion dramas you care to stage, as long as you cast Anne Gee Byrd as the mother. Read more… Deborah Klugman – Stage Raw Like his other plays, Samuel D. Hunter’s A Permanent Image is set in the arid cultural wasteland of northern Idaho. Read … Read more