Bob Verini – Stage Raw After well-received productions in Chicago and Off-Broadway, Hit the Wall delivers nothing less than a gut punch in its West Coast debut at the Los Angeles LGBT Center. Playwright Ike Holter calls his absorbing treatment of the 1969 Stonewall Inn riots a “remix” of scholarship, oral history and legend…..Read more… David C. … Read more
Margaret Gray – LA Times Los Angeles can be careless with its history, unsentimentally bulldozing the past to make room for the future. Unlike certain cities I could mention — Athens, say, or Rome — Los Angeles could never be accused of hoarding. Read more… Now running through Oct. 4.
Margaret Gray – LA Times No Prince Charming — or any other man, for that matter — appears onstage in the revival of “Real Women Have Curves” at the Pasadena Playhouse. Nevertheless Josefina López’s crowd-pleasing play is a Cinderella story, with a touchingly pure faith in the power of a makeover. Read more… Jonas Schwartz – … Read more
Deborah Klugman – Stage Raw There are several hearty laughs to be had as the credits roll on Peter Lefcourt’s clichéd comedy, which is set in a West L.A. Starbucks where a homegrown terrorist is holding people hostage. Read more… Margaret Gray – LA Times One unintended consequence of the communications age is the increased difficulty … Read more
Deborah Klugman – LA Weekly August Wilson’s plays are as much about the historical experience of African-Americans as they are about any one of his characters. This is certainly true of Fences, which begins in 1957, a year marked by federal troops on the ground in Arkansas and the forced desegregation of Little Rock Central High … Read more
David C. Nichols – LA Times A skirmish of wit attends “Much Ado About Nothing” in Griffith Park, and it proves a notable argument. Independent Shakespeare Company concludes its summer season with an agreeably quirky, riotously funny take on the Bard’s evergreen romantic comedy. Read more… Now running through August 30.
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
David C. Nichols – LA Times Meet voluble Pepe, patriarch of the world’s most dubious clan of Mexican entertainers, who has retained his unwarranted confidence over the decades since his brood began touring the bottom-rung nightclub circuit. Read more… Now running through August 23.
Margaret Gray – LA Times Football may be a grandly theatrical sport, but its sweeping, corporeal drama doesn’t easily translate onto the small stage. Read more… Now running through September 6.
Les Spindle – Edge on the Net Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Pulitzer-winning 1943 musical “Oklahoma!” sparkles anew in Cabrillo Music Theatre’s exuberantly entertaining revisit to the Broadway classic. Read more… Margaret Gray – LA Times The first collaboration between Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, “Oklahoma!,” which debuted in 1943, is often credited with reinventing musical theater — … Read more