Ed Rampell – Hollywood Progressive During his 70-ish minute one-man show performed without an intermission, Tate never convinced me that he was Picasso. While being nosy about Pablo’s sex life (which really is none of our goddamned business) may be of prurient interest, his creative process and radical politics are far more important. Read more…
Ed Rampell – Hollywood Progressive Verdi’s opera is presented with much verve and a slapstick-like sensibility, with mise-en-scène directed with great alacrity and skill by Shawna Lucey. The garb and sets by scenic and costume designer Adrian Linford evoke the period, as do little touches like rug beaters (I suppose the action takes place in … Read more
Ed Rampell – Hollywood Progressive The Robey Theatre Company’s production of Leslie Lee’s circa 1983 “Colored People’s Time, A History Play” recounts 100 years in the life of African Americans. Through a series of 13 vignettes presented more or less in chronological order, Lee traces the evolution of Blacks from the 1850s to the 1950s, … Read more
Ed Rampell – Hollywood Progressive In “Master Harold”…and the Boys, which was set in 1950 and written circa 1982 when apartheid was still enforced in South Africa, playwright Athol Fugard seems to have dramatized Frantz Fanon’s theories about the psychological impact of racism and colonialism on the human mind. Through action, dialogue and character, Fugard, … Read more
Ed Rampell – Hollywood Progressive Pinter’s slyly subversive 30-ish minute piece does to those veddy British drawing room plays what The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’s Leatherface does to human beings. Although I hasten to add that this is not to say that Party Time is a horror production per se, but rather that it Pinteresquely piquantly … Read more
Ed Rampell – Hollywood Progressive As The Wall Street Journal reports “Jeff Bezos is in early talks to raise $100 billion for a new fund that would buy up manufacturing companies and seek to use AI technology to accelerate their path to automation,” which would likely trigger an avalanche of mass unemployment, and right on … Read more
Edward Hong – The Nerds Of Color There are many incredible ingredients at work with the Los Angeles premiere of Jackie Sibblies Drury’s 2019 Pulitzer Prize-winning drama Fairview, now playing at Rogue Machine Theatre: a crackling ensemble cast, an intriguing and twisty premise, and a thrilling direction by Oz Scott. But despite these elements present, … Read more
Ed Rampell – Hollywood Progressive Right on cue, as the mad wannabe-pharaoh unleashes yet another cataclysmic war in the Middle East, LA Opera’s first operatic production of 2026 is about upheaval and regime change in that part of the world. Innovative minimalist composer Philip Glass’ “Akhnaten” is a lavish aural luau and visual feast that … Read more
Ed Rampell – Hollywood Progressive “the best play about the making of a real-life movie in stage history is Ian Shaw and Joseph Nixon’s ‘The Shark is Broken.’” This dramatization of the making of “Jaws” is simply a must-see for movie history buffs. Read more…
Ed Rampell – Hollywood Progressive Red Harlem uncovers and dramatizes a cinematic slice of film history… According to Kimba Henderson’s play, the Communist Party USA recruited African Americans in Harlem to travel to the Soviet Union circa 1932 in order to act in a movie produced by the CPUSA and financed by Moscow about racism … Read more