Gatz by Elevator Repair Service after F. Scott Fitzgerald. Pauline Adamek – ArtsBeatLA It’s engrossing, subtle and riveting. A theatrical performance that consists of the “reading” and acting out of an entire novel over the course of a single day, Gatz, by New York City’s experimental theater ensemble Elevator Repair Service(ERS) is a unique and rewarding experience – both literary and theatrical. … Read more
The Morini Strad by Willy Holtzman. Sharon Perlmutter – TalkinBroadway.com I have to admit out front that I’m not a huge fan of “unlikely friendship” plays, in which two complete opposites start out hating each other, but ultimately end up with a mutual respect. Willy Holtzman’s The Morini Strad is a better than average example of the genre, largely because … Read more
The Coarse Acting Show by Michael Green, adapted byPaul Plunkett. David C. Nichols – Backstage In his priceless 1964 volume “The Art of Coarse Acting,” English journalist and humorist Michael Green typifies a coarse actor as “one who can remember his lines, but not the order in which they come.” After more pointed examples, Green notes: “His problems? Everyone else connected … Read more
86′d by Jon Polito and Darryl Armbruster. David C. Nichols – L.A. Times Would that all indie films translated to the stage as well as “86’d” at Theatre 68. Jon Polito and Darryl Armbruster’s dark comedy about collective moral equivalency in a late-night diner weathers some blips in tone and casting to hold us in uncomfortably laughing thrall. Read more…
Teatro ZinZanni: Love, Chaos & Dinner by Norman Langill, Kevin Kent, Joe de Paul, Mat Plendl, Juliana Rambaldi, Duffy Bishop, Manuela Horn, Hans Teuber and Jane Langill. David C. Nichols – L.A. Times Federico Fellini and Toulouse-Lautrec meet Garrison Keillor and Wolfgang Puck by way of Bricktop and Bob Fosse in Teatro ZinZanni’s “Love, Chaos & Dinner,” now catapulting its way around the collective id of Costa Mesa. This latest high-concept spectacle from the iconoclastic … Read more
Nora by Ingmar Bergman. David C. Nichols – Backstage It’s seldom that a revision of a classic carries the riveting punch of Nora, now getting its overdue Los Angeles debut at Pacific Resident Theatre. This stark black-box take on Ingmar Bergman’s searing 1981 reduction of Henrik Ibsen’s immortal A Doll’s House grabs its viewers from the outset and never lets go. Read more…
42nd Street by Mark Bramble, Michael Stewart, Harry Warren and Al Dubin. David C. Nicols – L.A. Times Audiences craving unbridled pizazz should race to 42nd Streetat the Carpenter Center in Long Beach. Musical Theatre West opens its 60th season with the indestructible backstager, and scores a toe-tapping triumph. Read more… Shirle Gottlieb – Gazette Newspapers If you’re a musical theater buff, you’re undoubtedly acquainted … Read more
Bad Apples by Jim Leonard. Terry Morgan – LAist.com Circle X Theatre Co. has been one of the best theatre companies in Los Angeles for fifteen years now. One thing the company has never lacked for is ambition, and this admirable quality is on display in their current world premiere, Bad Apples. It’s a musical concerning the Abu … Read more
November by David Mamet. Pauline Adamek – ArtsBeatLA David Mamet’s grubby and farcical political play November, now playing at the Mark Taper Forum Downtown, is a riot of foul language and racial epithets, all tumbling from the mouth of the President of the United States, as daffily portrayed by Ed Begley Jr. Read more… David C. Nichols – Backstage It’s a week before Election … Read more
By the Way, Meet Vera Stark by Lynn Nottage. Terry Morgan – LAist.com Lynn Nottage’s play, By the Way, Meet Vera Stark, is more intriguing as a concept than a reality. It looks at the marginalization of African-American actors in the twentieth century, an undeniably interesting subject, but then stumbles in multiple ways. The fault, unfortunately, is … Read more