LA Times

THE TAMING OF THE SHREW – Independent Shakespeare Company in Griffith Park

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Steven  Leigh Morris – Stage Raw That David Melville should bring La Dolce Vita into his family-friendly outdoor staging of Shakespeare’s knotty Italian comedy makes sense. Italian comedies of the 1960s are no less dodgy, regarding their sexual politics, than the amused brutality towards a defiant spouse found in Taming of the Shrew’s central story. Independent-minded, embittered Katherine (Melissa … Read more

SORDID LIVES at the Westchester Playhouse

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Dany Margolies  –  Arts In LA Give Kentwood Players credit for mounting this production. Del Shores’ “Sordid Lives,” at Westchester Playhouse through Aug. 16, focuses on social outcasts who ignite ire, if not disgust and even hatred.  Read more… David C. Nichols – LA Times Pity the survivors of the late Peggy Ingram, whose bizarre demise … Read more

THE WAY YOU LOOK TONIGHT at the Odyssey Theater

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Margaret Gray – LA Times A divorced couple and their new partners meet for a dinner that shakes up their lives in Peter Lefcourt’s romantic comedy “The Way You Look Tonight,” premiering at the Odyssey Theater under the direction of Terri Hanauer.   Read more… Neal Weaver  – Stage Raw Peter Lefcourt’s romantic comedy takes a wry, … Read more

DIXIE’S TUPPERWARE PARTY at the Geffen Playhouse

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Bob Verini –   Arts In LA The good graces of the Geffen Playhouse are responsible for Los Angeles’ introduction to one Dixie Longate: Alabama native, single mom, social critic, and, above all, housewares entrepreneuse in the unveiling of Dixie’s Tupperware Party. Read more… Margaret Gray – LA Times You might assume that a one-woman show called “Dixie’s … Read more

IN THE BOOM BOOM ROOM at the Hudson Backstage

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Pauline Adamek  – Stage Raw David Rabe’s play is over 40 years old, and it’s now a dated but charming curiosity piece. Performed on Broadway in 1973 (and nominated for a Tony Award for Best Play), Rabe’s strange and messy drama has been revised and remounted a few times over the years, expanding to a … Read more

THE SEXUAL LIFE OF SAVAGES at the Beverly Hills Playhouse

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David C. Nichols – LA Times In its basic contours and execution, Ian MacAllister-McDonald’s “The Sexual Life of Savages” at the Beverly Hills Playhouse is an edgy dramedy of postmillennial eroticism that certainly keeps us watching. Read more… Myron Meisel – The Hollywood Reporter A couple planning on romance is instead waylaid by argument, a fundamental … Read more

ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL at Will Geer’s Theatricum Botanicum

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David C. Nichols – LA Times Whatever the course, the end is the renown in “All’s Well That Ends Well” in Topanga Canyon. Although it has some stylistic quirks and still-refining aspects, this affable, accessible revival of the Bard’s rambling comic study of class distinctions, romantic ambition and hard-earned wisdom is a representative outing for … Read more

ABBAMEMNON at the Falcon Theatre

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David C. Nichols – LA Times Aeschylus meets Agnetha, Björn, Benny and Anni-Frid in “ABBAMEMNON,” the latest deconstruction from Troubadour Theater Company. The classic Greek playwright, Swedish pop group and incomparable troupe may never be quite the same again, and neither will audiences. Read more… Steven Leigh Morris  – LA Weekly There are no sly topical winks … Read more

STONEFACE at the Pasadena Playhouse

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Myron Meisel – The Hollywood Reporter If one cares about the movies, and about comedy (and what can life be without them?), the soul of Buster Keaton (played here by French Stewart) needs must be spliced into one’s DNA. One cannot help but feel proprietary about one’s personal relationship to the bottomlessly expressive, impassive Keaton, … Read more

FLOWER DUET at the NoHo Senior Arts Colony

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David C. Nichols – LA Times The title of “Flower Duet,” in its West Coast premiere at the Road Theatre on Magnolia, refers to Leo Delibes’ celebrated “Lakmé” air for soprano and mezzo. It is being rehearsed by two Vermont-based frenemies, for a mutual friends’ wedding, though the musical component is at best a device. … Read more