Dany Margolies – Arts In LA Late in their lives, a man and woman meet cute at a New Jersey dog park. He’s an easygoing, teasing but overly friendly chap. She’s a dignified, pretty but fearful gal. “Oh, no,” one thinks. “Don’t let this oil-and-water twosome end up together. They’ll make each other miserable.” Read more… … Read more
Dany Margolies – Arts In LA If you have never seen a musical and hoped you never would, perhaps it’s time to venture into the world of The Drowsy Chaperone, a charmer of nonstop pep. If, however, you are mad for musicals and not only spot the tropes but also relish them, this luscious spoof is … Read more
Myron Meisel – The Hollywood Reporter Like many of the best things in life, overindulgence, even with the classics, can lead to irritability. One could well be sated for life with A Midsummer Night’s Dream (probably the most frequently mounted of all Shakespeare comedies) after landmark productions by Max Reinhardt, Peter Brook and Peter Hall, the Benjamin Britten opera, the George Balanchine ballet, not … Read more
Dany Margolies – Arts In LA The score of the classic Fiddler on the Roof is among American musical theater’s best. In this production, the music and lyrics get top-tier treatment. But the direction misses opportunities, while so tightly cramming performers into scenes that the audience may fear for the performers’ safety. Among those squandered elements, a … Read more
Dany Margolies – Arts In LA “A movie is cold comfort for a man who loves the theater,” says Alfie Byrne, this musical’s hero. That pretty much sets the tone for the character and for this show. Its major themes will be the making of art and admitting who we are. And the art here will … Read more
Margaret Gray – LA Times In Greg Pierce’s “Slowgirl” at the Geffen Playhouse, 17-year-old Becky (Rae Gray) comes to visit her Uncle Sterling (William Petersen), who left the U.S. years earlier for Costa Rica. She’s freaked out by his primitive jungle lifestyle, which is charmingly evoked by Richard Woodbury’s sound design and the tropical leaves … Read more
Deborah Klugman – ArtsBeatLA Sporting a message of sisterhood and tolerance, Wendy Graf’s well-intentioned but clumsy drama builds around two half-sisters: Julia (Diarra Kilpatrick), an ambitious attorney living and working in Manhattan, and Neyla (Yvonne Huff), her newly discovered sibling, whom Julia’s father had sired when he was a soldier in Iraq. Read more… Dany Margolies – Arts … Read more
Dany Margolies – Arts In LA A steady rain falls on the lives of two Chicago cops, but it can’t wash away the pain and hatred and guilt that live in them. Though one seems to be the “good cop” and the other “bad,” nothing is clear-cut in this Keith Huff play. Read more… Pauline Adamek – … Read more
Pauline Adamek – ArtsBeatLA Continuing their commitment to presenting high quality theater for children, the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts is staging another imported show. The award-winning Catherine Wheels Theatre Company from Scotland presents White, a magical and delightful production for the very young, in the Wallis’ smaller space, the intimate Lovelace Studio Theater. Read more… Dany Margolies – Arts In LA … Read more
Les Spindle – Edge on the Net Celebrated composer-lyricist Meredith Willson (1902-1984) had a colorful but surprisingly limited Broadway career, which included “The Unsinkable Molly Brown” (1960), “Here’s Love” (1963), and his most indelible musical, “The Music Man” (1957). Read more… Shirle Gottlieb Yeah, you’re right, “The Music Man” is an old war-horse over fifty years old; but it still … Read more