Pauline Adamek – ArtsBeatLA Legendary comedy writer Neil Simon’s 1972 play The Sunshine Boys has an excellent premise: two old vaudevillian stars who worked together for over 40 years, but who haven’t spoken in over a decade, are reunited for a TV spot. (In fact, it was a good enough premise for Fellini to copy for Ginger e … Read more
Les Spindle – Edge on the Net In chronicling the beginning of a momentous chapter in the history of gay culture, namely the initial outbreak of the AIDS epidemic in the early 1980s, Larry Kramer’s watershed play “The Normal Heart” offers a deeply moving snapshot of an era, while imparting timeless truths.Read more… Bob Verini … Read more
Les Spindle – Edge on the net In a world so enamored with the modern-day equivalent of Barnum and Bailey-namely the dazzling extravaganzas offered by Cirque de Soleil-Lorenzo Pisoni might be referred to as the little clown who could.Read more… Pauline Adamek – LA Weekly As the title indicates, Humor Abuse is no lighthearted evening … Read more
Bob Verini – ArtsInLA Time heals everything, so the song goes, and a quick overview of history reveals there’s no calamity so atrocious that the passage of time won’t soften its impact. Shed any tears over the massacre of the Huguenots lately? How about the victims of the Children’s Crusade? Fortunately, art often comes forward … Read more
Les Spindle – Frontiers L.A. Following its aptly acclaimed 2000 world premiere run at the Hudson Theatre in Hollywood, the groundbreaking bare: A Pop Opera (now retitled bare: A Rock Musical) met with success off-Broadway and in regional theaters, developing a strong cult following. The passionate and musically vibrant pop-rock piece returns to L.A. following … Read more
Les Spindle – Frontiers L.A. The works of veteran playwright-actor Sam Shepard (True West, The Curse of the Starving Class, A Lie of the Mind) are largely thought of as brooding portraits of severe family dysfunction in America’s heartland. His characters often face an inescapable legacy of decline and despair. Their psychological baggage leads them … Read more
Les Spindle – Edge on the Net A favorite pastime of Broadway musical fanatics is sharing stories of infamous musical flops. Of course, the perception of a “flop” can reflect a box-office calamity or an artistic failure, or a combination of the two. The measure of artistic worth is subjective.Read more… Now running through September … Read more
Les Spindle – Frontiers L.A. To borrow a lyrical phrase from Annie Get Your Gun, actor-producer Ryan O’Connor (aka Ryan LaConnor) spends his Monday nights doin’ what comes naturally. For O’Connor that doesn’t mean packing a pistol or crooning an Ethel Merman ditty written by Irving Berlin. It means serving as the amusing and vivacious … Read more
Les Spindle – Edge on the Net How’re you gonna keep ’em down on the farm once they’ve illuminated the stages of Broadway? Actor-singer David Burnham who has forged an acclaimed and prolific career in such shows as “Wicked,” “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” and “The Light in the Piazza,” enjoys sharing his heartfelt … Read more
Pauline Adamek – ArtsBeatLA Dramatic lighting sets the mood at Rockwell Table & Stage, for the latest “For The Record” musical production (previously staged)—this time a tribute to the four feature films of creative Australian filmmaker Baz Luhrmann. The cabaret-style show smoothly segues from snippets from Romeo + Juliet to Moulin Rouge! to The Great Gatsby, with a little Strictly Ballroom occasionally thrown in … Read more