Deborah Klugman – LA Weekly Wit and the magic of a well-designed spectacle combine in the beguiling, interactive adaptation Aladdin and His Winter Wish, embellished with comic characters, polished performances and colorful tech and costumes. Directed by Bonnie Lythgoe, Kris Lythgoe’s engaging script preserves the basic story of a penniless youth (Jordan Fisher) who garners wealth … Read more
Mayank Keshaviah – LA Weekly Like the Ghost of Christmas Past, the Second City’s twist on the Dickensian classic is back to remind you that you’ve been naughty. Very naughty, in fact, judging by the responses from audience members, who are (anonymously) asked to write down “the worst thing you’ve ever done.” Some of those … Read more
Neal Weaver – LA Weekly Apparently writer-actor Jim Martyka decided that what the world needs now is an adaptation of the ever-popular Frank Capra Christmas movie It’s A Wonderful Life as a staged radio play. But he sought to improve this visually boring format by adding a framing device: a corny and stereotypical backstage backstory … Read more
Deborah Klugman – LA Weekly The office dork smitten with the comely gal in the next cubicle is a familiar comic setup. In Alex Dremann’s strained satire, the unhappy swain, Colin (Trevor H. Olsen), has much bigger problems than the simple disregard he engenders from the willowy Fran (Jennifer Flack): He is literally disappearing!Read more… … Read more
Pauline Adamek – LA Weekly Much like the dastardly pirates terrorizing the high seas in his fun Peter and the Starcatcher, playwright Rick Elice has ransacked the best of British kids lit, giving us plucky, pint-sized sleuths fresh from the Boy’s Own adventures and larger-than-life characters straight out of rowdy pantomimes. Based on the 2006 … Read more
Neal Weaver – LA Weekly Bette Midler and Hollywood super-agent Sue Mengers have many things in common: both were self-invented, and both are marked by a large dollop of sass and brass, a mean wit and a knack for uninhibited, earthy language. So Midler was the obvious choice to play Mengers in John Logan’s solo … Read more
Neal Weaver – LA Weekly This farce by Paul Storiale kicks off with the Logans, Joanne (Elyse Ashton) and Dean (Rob Schaumann), planning to sell their house, ship Grandpa Logan off to a nursing home and move to Florida. They’ve invited their three misfit children home for one last family Christmas. Just when the kids … Read more
Deborah Klugman – LA Weekly What made Ebenezer Scrooge such a miserable old coot? Adapter-director Christina Harris elaborates on this aspect of Dickens’ cautionary tale in Sierra Madre Playhouse’s amiable musical production of A Christmas Carol, embellished with songs and upbeat ensemble dancing. Scott Harris portrays the tight-fisted miser as less an icy capitalist than … Read more
Steven Leigh Morris – LA Weekly The opening stanza of Lewis Carroll‘s poem “Jabberwocky” goes like this: ‘Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe: All mimsy were the borogoves; And the mome raths outgrabe. Perhaps such nonsense verse and satirically inverted logic, also found in Carroll’s books such as Alice’s Adventures … Read more
Deborah Klugman – LA Weekly Suitable for the kindergarten set, writer Scott Martin’s benign adaptation of the classic children’s story features Caitlin Gallogly as a friendly and cherished little girl, whose mom (Bonnie Kalisher) just isn’t a good cook. Searching for adventure, the tyke stumbles upon the three bears’ habitat and, after sampling their food … Read more