Les Spindle – Frontiers L.A. There’s a hint of Gone With the Wind and a touch of vintage nighttime soap opera, merged with appealing musical interludes, in this ambitious stage adaptation of Carole Eglash-Kosoff‘s sprawling historical novel. Read more… Now running through Oct. 4.
Les Spindle – Frontiers L.A. This offbeat autobiographical piece by writer-director-performer Dr. Merle Conscious Soden, subtitled Homeless to Hollywood, makes up for lapses in technical polish with sly humor, heart and sincerity. Read more… Now running through September 19.
Melinda Schupmann – Arts In LA Media exposure to the tumult in evangelical mega-churches brought about by the clash of money, power, and ego makes David Rambo’s 1999 cautionary tale a familiar story to modern audiences. The examination of faith, conscience, and ambition is great fodder for drama. Read more… Les Spindle – Frontiers L.A. Writer-director … Read more
Myron Meisel – Stage Raw I listen to a lot of country music (Charlie Louvin on the turntable at the moment), though for the most part I cannot abide what plays under that pretense on the radio. Most of that seems irretrievably suburban, though one imagines that’s what become of most of the actual countryside … Read more
Les Spindle – Frontiers L.A. Rob Mersola‘s dicey new comedy Luka’s Room benefits from the efforts of a splendid ensemble cast under the crisp direction of Joshua Bitton. Read more… Myron Meisel – Stage Raw His father’s finances suddenly gone south (or perhaps merely hidden during the pendancy of his most recent divorce), 19 year old Luka … Read more
Jonas Schwartz – Arts In LA Bent, playwright Martin Sherman’s revelatory 1979 play about the gay experience in Nazi concentration camps, receives an arresting production at the Mark Taper Forum. Moisés Kaufman’s direction and his stellar cast will leave audiences breathless. Read more… Jenny Lower – LA Weekly It’s difficult and rare to come across stories … Read more
Les Spindle – Frontiers L.A. Howard Skora’s zany dark comedy, directed by Jim Fall, stars veteran actress Patty McCormack (who is well-remembered as an 11-year-old Oscar nominee, playing a murderous moppet in the classic 1956 thriller The Bad Seed). Read more… Neal Weaver – Stage Raw Howard Skora’s black farce is constructed like a TV sitcom, but … Read more
Bob Verini – Stage Raw Most people’s command of international finance and investment, I think it’s fair to say, probably cuts not much deeper than the “Money makes the world go around” lyrics from Cabaret. Yet in telling the sorry true-life saga of the titular Houston energy giant and its catastrophic demise, Lucy Prebble’s Enron coolly takes for granted … Read more
Deborah Klugman – Stage Raw The most interesting scene in this production of Donald Margulies’s 1992 play involves an encounter between Jonathan (Jason Weiss), a successful Jewish-American painter having a much-touted exhibition in London, and Grete (Casey McKinnon), an art journalist of German extraction who is interviewing him. Read more… Les Spindle – Frontiers L.A. The … Read more
Deborah Klugman – Stage Raw Like many plays that deal with our mortality, those about dementia can be extraordinarily affecting. They speak to a loss of self nearly as complete and devastating as our physical demise. Read more… David C. Nichols – LA Times The first glimmer of it comes on a Friday. They’ve flown me … Read more