F. Kathleen Foley – Stage Raw It’s not all techno razzle-dazzle, though. Staging a musical this long and complicated is challenging, but Hade sturdily structures the mechanism with few creaking nuts and bolts. Read more… Patrick Chavis – LA Theatre Bites Podcast 9 out of 10! Exceptional Show! LA Theatre Bites Recommended! Listen here…
Tracey Paleo – Gia On The Move I’m not sure why Antonio Jaramillo chose THE WOOL GATHERER as the vehicle to showcase himself and his real life partner Ashley Alvarez. But it sure did bring me back to all the worst things about the 1970s. Sure, it’s a love story. But there is so much … Read more
F. Kathleen Foley – Stage Raw The Fantasticks, the longest running musical in history, goes back so many years and has gone through so many iterations—including a critically ill-received 2000 film—that you would think material this familiar wouldn’t pack the same emotional punch of a first viewing. You would be wrong. Read more… Amanda Callas … Read more
F. Kathleen Foley – Stage Raw The Los Angeles premiere of Reel to Reel at Rogue Machine may be one of the most unusual—and quietly moving— productions you are likely to see this season. Read more… Travis Michael Holder – TicketHoldersLA What John Kolvenbach has created could so easily slip into gimmickry but never does … Read more
Travis Michael Holder – TicketHoldersLA The scenes recalling pivotal moments in Neil Diamond’s life rise above the usual musical theatre romanticized fluff versions of actual events; nothing is glamorized in telling the story of a man who, besides fame, fortune, and the admiration of millions, never was able to shake off a lonely childhood and … Read more
F. Kathleen Foley – Stage Raw Sister Act, which premiered at the Pasadena Playhouse in 2006 and went on to a healthy run on Broadway, is one of those cash-grab enterprises that exploited fool-proof source material —namely, the popular 1992 film starring Whoopi Goldberg — to make bank. Read more…
F. Kathleen Foley – Stage Raw In a crisply effective staging, directors Jeremy Palmer and Alison Boole go boldly over-the-top, with plenty of lavish mugging and double-takes. Read more…
Patrick Chavis – LA Theatre Bites Podcast 6.9 out of 10! Below Average! Listen more… F. Kathleen Foley – Stage Raw The production is handsomely mounted in every particular. As for director Andy Weyman and his superlative cast, they go boldly over the top in pursuit of laughs, yet keep the action moored in essential … Read more
F. Kathleen Foley – Stage Raw Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale, now at the Skylight Theatre, commences at Christmastime in the court of King Leontes, monarch of Sicilia. Those gathered for the festivities drink, party, and dance to the blaring strains of Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You.” Read more…
Amanda Callas – BroadwayWorld Corktown ’39 is a new play that feels like a classic, the kind of intelligent, thought-provoking drama that you can imagine a playwright like Aaron Sorkin or Henrik Ibsen might have written. Read more… Tracey Paleo – Gia On The Move Not since reading or seeing on stage, works by Eugene … Read more