Deborah Klugman – Stage Raw What happens when ethnic identity stops being a gift and starts being a curse? In Nicholas Pilipal’s The Bottoming Process, a gay Filipino American man becomes so obsessed with how his Asian-ness —and his sexuality — is perceived that he torches a mutually loving relationship with someone who, it would … Read more
Harker Jones – BroadwayWorld. Aerosol in the air as Tracy Turnblad, Penny Pingleton, and the teens of Baltimore bring politics and pizzazz to Hollywood with a stunning production of one of the best and beloved musicals of all time… It’s a thrilling, unsinkably upbeat show, gleefully over the top, with colorful characters, costumes, and sets. … Read more
Harker Jones – BroadwayWorld. Despite the sex comedy aspects of the show, a vein of melancholy runs throughout it, much of it being told through the lens of regret. This isn’t encapsulated any better than in Desirée’s lament “Send in the Clowns,” which is hopeless and hopeful and remorseful and accepting and existential all bound … Read more
Harker Jones – BroadwayWorld. Tony-nominated playwright Lucas Hnath’s THE THIN PLACE is an eerie meditation on grief, regret and the need for closure, though it is undermined by the lack of a satisfying conclusion… Obie Award- and Outer Critics Circle Award-winning Hnath (“Red Speedo”; “A Doll’s House, Part 2”) carefully delineates each character with precise … Read more
Harker Jones – BroadwayWorld. It’s one thing to have unresolved issues; it’s another to be in your mid-thirties and unable to process them with a little more aplomb than these friends do. With some fine tuning to the script and the direction (and thusly the performances), this could be a moving meditation on that nebulous … Read more
Patrick Chavis – LA Theatre Bites Circle X Theatre Company’s West Coast premiere production of Do You Feel Anger? @ Atwater Village Theatre – 10 out of 10 – Masterpiece! LA THEATRE BITES RECOMMENDED. Read more… Terry Morgan – Stage Raw There’s a Cowboy Junkies song from 1993 called “Hunted,” which is about the ever-present threat of … Read more
Harker Jones – BroadwayWorld. Directed and choreographed by Tony winner Casey Nicholaw, the musical is colorful and energetic and snarky and heartfelt all at once. He gets fantastic performances from his actors and the flow from rocking to reflective in the musical sequences is smoothly done. His choreography is jaw dropping at times, especially when … Read more
Harker Jones – BroadwayWorld Little Orphan Annie has been a part of our collective consciousness for going on a hundred years, first in comic-strip form then on radio then films and finally on Broadway, where the intrepid moppet really defined her place in pop culture. The show ran for six years, won seven Tony Awards … Read more
Harker Jones – BroadwayWorld In the West Coast premiere of Cyndy A. Marion’s BROKEN STORY, Jess (Lindsay Danielle Gitter), a Manhattan journalist, relates her childhood obsession with a mobster’s daughter whose parents died under mysterious circumstances. Years later, that daughter, Jane Hartman (Lynn Adrianna Freedman), has moved to Los Angeles and become a successful author. … 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