Dana Martin – Stage Raw. Jonathan Larson’s semi-autobiographical rock musical tick, tick…Boom! opens the 2023 season at Long Beach International City Theatre. The production is earnest but struggles to find synthesis… Ernesto Figueroa’s Jon is charming and gently guides the musical’s throughline, sometimes struggling to find the character’s emotional range. Samantha M. Lawrence is a versatile performer, … Read more
Rob Stevens – Haines His Way. For my first theatre review of 2023, I ventured out to Theatre West in Hollywood and joined the lively audience for Storybook Theatre’s opening performance of Hansel and Gretel. Lloyd J. Schwartz wrote the book (he also directed) and the music and lyrics for eight songs were provided by Hope … Read more
Katie Buenneke – Theatre Digest If you’re a long-time subscriber to this newsletter, you know that I love to check out a new musical that mashes up pop songs with a classic story. Sometimes, those shows are good and fun (e.g. Six, & Juliet). Sometimes they are not (Once Upon a One More Time). Sometimes they’re in between … Read more
Martίn Hernández – Stage Raw In the 1990s, playwright Justin Tanner was the wunderkind of small venue L.A. theatre. Tanner churned out hit after hit, like Pot Mom, Zombie Attack, and Teen Girl, for the now defunct Cast Theatre, where he was resident playwright. The Cast was also where artistic director Diana Gibson reigned supreme, raking in the bucks … Read more
Tracey Paleo – Gia On The Move While Odysseus went off to war……abandoning his family and kingdom for 20 years, it is his wife Penelope who strategically saves Ithaca. But there is a cost. Penelope now sets the record straight by recounting the story we know, with other disturbing facts that have never been discussed. Read … Read more
Rob Stevens – Haines His Way Taking a break from their usual musical fare, Center Theatre Group-Ahmanson is offering2:22-A Ghost Story by Danny Robins through December 4. The opening night was November 4, missing Halloween by a few days. Little costumed trick or treaters may have provided more scares than what transpired on stage. The reviewers … Read more
Rob Stevens – Haines His Way “I Like Ike” appeared on a political campaign button in 1952 as the decorated general and political neophyte Dwight D. Eisenhower ran for the office of President of the United States as the Republican candidate. Fortunately for him and unfortunately for the Democratic nominee Adlai Stevenson, most of America … Read more
Jonas Schwartz-Owen – Theatermania The final five minutes in Part 1 of Matthew Lopez’s epic Tony-winning The Inheritance, now running at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles, are some of the most gut-wrenching moments in theater. At the performance I attended, the entire audience sat connected — some teary-eyed, some crying — but it seemed everyone was … Read more
Rob Stevens – Haines His Way Before gaining real star power with her roles as Elphaba in Wicked and the voice of Elsa in Disney’s animated Frozen, Idina Menzel and her Rent co-star Taye Diggs led the cast of Andrew Lippa’s off-Broadway The Wild Party. Also, earlier in 2005 in Glendale and Long Beach, Musical Theatre Guild did an amazing job with a … Read more
Terry Morgan – Stage Raw Branden Jacobs-Jenkins has been one of the most promising new playwrights of the past decade. His plays are widely produced and he’s been a Pulitzer finalist twice. I’ve loved about half (Neighbors and Gloria) of the five shows of his I’ve seen, was mildly entertained by another (Appropriate) and underwhelmed by the … Read more