LA Times

THE BROTHERS SIZE at the Fountain Theatre and DROP DEAD at NoHo Arts Center

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Steven Leigh Morris  – LA Weekly Tarell Alvin McCraney’s tender, poetical drama The Brothers Size (Fountain Theatre) and Billy Van Zandt & Jane Milmore’s meta-theatrical farce Drop Dead! (presented by Theatre 68, at North Hollywood’s NoHo Arts Center) share one salient commonality: Each production has moments when the actors recite stage directions about their own characters. Tarell Alvin McCraney’s … Read more

THE GUARDSMAN at the Noho Arts Center

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Deborah Klugman – Stage Raw Hungarian playwright  Ferenc Molnar’s The Guardsman has been viewed in this country mostly as a theatrical confection, an entertaining comedy about a jealous actor who undertakes an elaborate charade to establish his wife’s fidelity, or lack thereof. Alfred Lunt and Lynne Fontanne brought it to the stage in 1924, then reprised their … Read more

UNORGANIZED CRIME at the Lillian Theatre

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Bob Verini –  Variety Stars are called stars because they shine brighter than anyone else. Every time Chazz Palminteri sashays into “Unorganized Crime” as Gotham mob scion Sal Sicuso, cool and sardonic, seething with banked menace, you can’t take your eyes off him. It’s a supporting role, but he’s more than enough reason to travel to Hollywood’s … Read more

SIX DANCE LESSONS IN SIX WEEKS at the Laguna Playhouse

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Melinda Schupmann – Arts In LA A special sort of magic occurs when a celebrated and much-loved star takes on a role in live theater. Such is the atmosphere at Laguna Playhouse’s current offering, starring Leslie Caron and the multi-talented David Engel. The two-person vehicle sets up a sure-fire storyline. Lily, a former teacher and … Read more

WOMAN PARTS at Son of Semele Ensemble

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Margaret Gray – LA Times Son of Semele Ensemble has selected two startlingly different short plays for “Woman Parts,” a double bill planned, according to the program, as a corrective to the underrepresentation of women in the theater. The first offering, “Sex & God,” by the Scottish playwright Linda McLean, weaves together melancholy monologues by … Read more

PRAY TO BALL at the Skylight Theatre

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David C. Nichols – LA Times Highly promising talent bounces through “Pray to Ball” at the Skylight Theatre. Amir Abdullah’s tersely entertaining examination of Islam, college basketball and friendship has some new-play issues, but it’s undeniably heartfelt and thought-provoking. Played out on the wood-paneled span of designer Jeff McLaughlin’s marvelous set, “Ball” follows two lifelong … Read more

THE LION IN WINTER at the Colony Theatre

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Neal Weaver  – Stage Raw “I guess all families have their ups and downs,” says Eleanor of Aquitaine in James Goldman’s perennially popular comedy drama about 12thcentury royals. But in most families, the ups and downs don’t come as fast and furiously as in this play, and certainly they’re never expressed quite so articulately, with … Read more

FIVE MILE LAKE at South Coast Repertory Theatre

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Bob Verini –   Arts In LA It can’t be easy to pen a remarkable play about unremarkable people whose main concern is how unremarkable their lives are. (Ask Chekhov.) Yet, Rachel Bonds has pulled it off handily with Five Mile Lake, whose central figures have solid reasons for doubting their own choices and equally solid reasons … Read more

EVERYTHING YOU TOUCH at Boston Court Performing Arts Center

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Margaret Gray – LA Times You may have seen your share of makeovers, but nothing like the one Sheila Callaghan inflicts on her heroine in “Everything You Touch,” her lushly written dark comedy world-premiering at Boston Court Performing Arts Center.    Read more… Pauline Adamek  – Stage Raw Sheila Callaghan’s compelling play examines the dysfunctional dynamic between … Read more