Harker Jones – BroadwayWorld The musical TOOTSIE, based on the 1982 film of the same name, is a contemporary take on an old trope: a man unconvincingly passes himself off as a woman, everyone in his world buys it, and hilarity tries to ensue. It’s been done countless times, going back past Shakespeare to the … Read more
Terry Morgan – Artsbeat LA Bitchiness, thy name is Albee. Has there ever been a play that reveled in so much in mean-spirited badinage as Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Sour wit courses through the blackened veins of this show like acidic blood, or more specifically like the booze the characters actively embalm themselves with. Read … Read more
Terry Morgan – ArtsBeat LA Plays that chart the course of a romantic relationship have long been a staple of theater. Stories told in a nonlinear way are less common but not unheard of. When you take the previous two structures and apply them to the topic of a lesbian interracial marriage, the result is … Read more
Lovell Estell III — Stage Raw Few elements of the criminal justice system generate more discourse and lack of consensus than capital punishment. There are now some 3,000 men and women on death row in the United States, many of whom have been languishing there for decades. Closer to home, California, which has 744 condemned … Read more
Harker Jones – Arts In LA After showcasing cheeky musical adaptations of films as diverse as Bridesmaids, Jurassic Park, and Hocus Pocus, Rockwell Table & Stage is back with a seasonal story that has enchanted audiences for 28 years. Tim Burton’s 1990 film Edward Scissorhands is an enduring classic that all misfits identify with—and we’ve … Read more
Harker Jones – LA Weekly Presenting its 10th season of screams and scares at the Mountain View Cemetery in Altadena, Wicked Lit has become an Halloween-season tradition in Los Angeles. The immersive walking theater experience presented by Unbound Productions gives patrons a look at Mountain View’s stunning mortuary (designed by Cecil E. Bryan) and provides … Read more
Katie Buenneke – Stage Raw By now, Kander and Ebb’s 1966 musical Cabaret is as much a part of the American musical theater canon as Oklahoma. While it’s much darker than most of its Rodgers and Hammerstein counterparts (save, perhaps, for Carousel), it now feels like an old standby, performed by regional theaters and colleges nationwide. Read more… Rob Stevens … Read more
Ellen Dostal – BroadwayWorld The air between the words is so thick you could cut it with a knife in Daniel Talbott‘s shadowy play about three siblings attempting to survive their dysfunctional family. Each is broken in his or her own way and, as the hairball unravels, the audience must piece together their fragmented story over … Read more
Neal Weaver – Stage Raw Stephanie Alison Walker’s stirring drama is set in Buenos Aires in the 1980s, when Argentina was ruled by a ruthless military junta. Anyone who spoke out against the regime could be taken into custody and “disappeared,” and even those who privately disagreed with the government and its policies were in … Read more
Harker Jones – Edge on the Net The “Unauthorized Musical Parody Of…” series has a recipe that always works: take a beloved film, break it down to its most basic parts, find ways to lovingly exploit them and then loop in pop songs that help propel the story. And it works every time.Read more… Now … Read more