David C. Nichols – LA Times Life changes in an instant. The ordinary instant.” And so it did for Joan Didion in 2003, when her husband John Gregory Dunne succumbed to cardiac arrest in their New York apartment. Read more… Now running through Oct. 30.
Neal Weaver – Stage Raw Vince Melocchi’s provocative, long one-act hinges on the death in Afghanistan of a young recruit named Danny, who’s from a small Pennsylvania town. His fiancée Amy (Connor Kelly-Eiding), who works in a local donut shop, is trying to cope with her grief over his loss, but she’s also angry on … Read more
Margaret Gray – LA Times One of the few laugh lines in Dael Orlandersmith’s harrowing new solo show, “Forever,” in its world premiere at the Kirk Douglas Theatre, comes in an exchange she describes with an attendant at the morgue after her mother’s death. She asks him if he’s afraid. His laconic reply: “The dead … Read more
David C. Nichols – LA Times The dilemmas facing the life-battered protagonist of “Good People” are perhaps strategically manipulated, but that doesn’t make them any less relevant, humorous or dramatically engrossing. Read more… Now running through Oct. 12.
David C. Nichols – LA Times The unparalleled sardonic wit of Oscar Wilde sustains “The Importance of Being Earnest” at A Noise Within, where it will doubtless be a crowd-pleasing hit, despite (or because of) its distinct idiosyncrasies, and therein hangs a conundrum. Read more… Now running through Nov.22.
Neal Weaver – Stage Raw This Mel Brooks musical, adapted from the film by Brooks and Gene Wilder, somehow manages to be both a send-up and homage to Mary Shelley’s original novel, Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus, and James Whale’s 1931 movie Frankensteinand its 1935 sequel Bride of Frankenstein. Read more… Margaret Gray – LA Times Underpinning much of … Read more
Margaret Gray – LA Times Michael Wilson’s revival of Horton Foote’s “The Trip to Bountiful,” which has just opened at the Ahmanson Theatre, premiered on Broadway in 2013 to a bounty of praise and nominations, especially for Cicely Tyson, who won the Tony Award for her portrayal of Mrs. Carrie Watts. Originally written as a … Read more
David C. Nichols – LA Times Controversial psychology and show-biz moxie commingle in “The Behavior of Broadus,” with triumphant results. As delightfully self-assured as it is comically self-referential, made up of equal parts whimsy, wacky, profane and profound, this cracked experiment in satirical musical development is a wickedly entertaining watershed for Sacred Fools Theater Company, … Read more
Margaret Gray – LA Times Let’s Make a Deal’s” Wayne Brady as the lead in a revival of “Kiss Me, Kate”: It almost sounds like an especially wacky draft in some fantasy stunt-casting league for theater directors. Sheldon Epps of the Pasadena Playhouse has not only made it happen, he has used it as the … Read more
Les Spindle – Edge on the Net Also known as “Cockfight Play,” a perhaps less threatening title preferred in some media outlets, Mike Bartlett’s Olivier Award winning British play, “Cock,” makes its L.A. debut in a taut and terrific staging. Read more… Margaret Gray – LA Times “We’re just going around in circles,” a character accurately observes in … Read more