Justin Love — Book by Patricia Cotter and David Elzer, Story byDavid Elzer and Bret Calder, Music by Lori Scarlett and David Manning, Lyrics by Lori Scarlett. Sharon Perlmutter – TalkinBroadway.com Justin Love gives an old plot a modern twist, shines it up with with a bright and upbeat score, adds genuinely clever dialogue and lyrics, and wraps it all up in a Hollywood that only exists in fairy … Read more
Three Views of the Same Objectby Henry Murray. Sharon Perlmutter – TalkinBroadway.com It’s a play about aging—Stop! Wait! Don’t turn away! It’s an honest, frank-and-sometimes-funny look at people making difficult life decisions at a time of life when their conversation focuses just a bit too much on bodily functions. Read more… David C. Nichols — L.A. Times … Read more
The Book of Mormon by Trey Parker, Robert Lopez andMatt Stone. David C. Nichols – Backstage With a subversive chortle and a heart bigger than the Great Salt Lake, The Book of Mormon hits Los Angeles and triumphantly becomes the hottest attraction in town. The joyous West Coast premiere of Trey Parker, Robert Lopez, and Matt Stone’s Tony-winning gusher doesn’t just meet expectations; it … Read more
Silence! The Musical by Jon and Al Kaplan (music and lyrics) and Hunter Bell (book). David C. Nichols — Backstage The impending Book of Mormonnotwithstanding, it’s unlikely that Angelenos will see anything more scabrous or ham’s-holiday funny than Silence! The Musical at the Hayworth Theatre. This “unauthorized parody” of the Oscar-winning thriller is receiving a take-no-prisoners L.A. premiere and in the process decimates its source and … Read more
Focus Group Play by Carrie Barrett. David C. Nichols — L.A. Times The working title says it all in Focus Group Play. Carrie Barrett’s dark-tinged satire of nutritional marketing research gone awry skewers corporate product testing with agreeable, albeit predigested gusto. Read more…
The Blue Iris by Athol Fugard. David C. Nichols – Backstage In The Blue Iris, prolific South African playwright Athol Fugard treads delicately yet resolutely through the landscape of the heart. In doing so, the venerable 80-year-old dramatist cannot help clutching at ours, as this riveting U.S. premiere demonstrates. Read more… Sharon Perlmutter – TalkinBroadway.com It’s hard to know exactly what to make … Read more
Heartbreak House by George Bernard Shaw. David C. Nichols — Back Stage After opening with a revisionist ’60s Measure for Measure that entertainingly served the Bard, the forces at Theatricum Botanicum take on Heartbreak House and serve George Bernard Shaw even better. Shaw’s deathless 1917 allegory about British socioeconomic factions heedless of the impending world war enjoys a wonderful revival, Chekhovian in tone, Shavian in attack. Read more…
Incident at Vichy by Arthur Miller. David C. Nichols – LA Times Resolute craft drives the cautionary content of Incident at Vichy at the Sierra Madre Playhouse. Arthur Miller’s 1964 study of detainees in Nazi-occupied France isn’t exactly top tier, but when executed as intensely as this gripping revival, it might as well be. Read more…
West Side Story by Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim andArthur Laurents. David C. Nichols – LA Times It’s not just the exposure to countless editions of West Side Story that causes us to stagger dazed and elated from the Chance Theater. Less a revival than a whole-scale reinvention, this stunning chamber version of the landmark 1957 musical by Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim and Arthur … Read more
The Pianist Of Willesden Lane by Mona Golabek. Mayank Keshaviah – LA Weekly History is most powerful when we see the “all” through the small — the panorama of the textbook through the peephole of the personal. Acclaimed pianist Mona Golabek give us just that in sharing the story of her mother, Lisa Jura, a budding piano … Read more