F. Kathleen Foley – Stage Raw As for the production itself, director/choreographer Jeremy Lucas and a vigorous cast remind us of why Rent remains an important theatrical milestone, even after the shadow of AIDS has been largely dispelled by life-saving medical advances. Read more… Travis Michael Holder – TicketHoldersLA To discover that the Taper would … Read more
Travis Michael Holder – TicketHoldersLA Alex Edelman possesses one of the most distinct and unique voices to emerge on the scene since the late Robin Williams. Last November in the special engagement in the shuttered Mark Taper Forum, Edelman’s hilarious and perfectly timed Obie-winning Just for Us became the recipient of my annual TicketHolder Solo … Read more
Don Shirley – Angeles Stage A not-so-funny thing happened on the way to the Mark Taper Forum. Read more…
Jonas Schwartz – Theatermania A Transparent Musical is special — more for what it is about than what it actually is. The ambition and sentiment are admirably high, but the execution needs serious work. Director Tina Landau gathers an excellent cast who perform strongly, but the text gives them too little with which to produce … Read more
Jonas Schwartz-Owen – Theatermania Dynamic performances by Nija Okoro and Greg Alverez Reid fuel Center Theatre Group’s new revival of Pearl Cleage’s Blues for an Alabama Sky. Phylicia Rashad, who originated Okoro’s role in the play’s 1995 world premiere, returns to direct this humorous production that always simmers with devastation under the surface. Read more… Deborah Klugman … Read more
Erin Conley – On Stage & Screen Lackawanna Blues, Ruben Santiago-Hudson’s autobiographical solo show, has been on quite a journey since it first premiered at the Public Theater in New York in 2001. After that first production, which won a special citation Obie Award, it played at multiple regional theaters across the United States before being … Read more
Erin Conley – On Stage & Screen What does ‘starting over’ really mean if you’re stuck in the same self-destructive behavior patterns? In Steppenwolf Theatre’s production of Linda Vista, a new play by Tracy Letts that opened this week at Center Theatre Group’s Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, a middle-aged man attempts to figure out … Read more
Erin Conley – On Stage & Screen Two immigrant families, one Mexican and one Japanese-American, have lived peacefully as neighbors on a ranch in the Santa Clara Valley for years, working together in the fields. The oldest children from each family have even fallen in love with each other—and then Pearl Harbor happens, and soon … Read more
Jonas Schwartz – TheaterMania Lynn Nottage’s Pulitzer Prize-winning drama Sweat, now playing at the Mark Taper Forum, exposes the collapse of the American working class in the new millennium. When backed up against the wall and left with neither income nor hope, people sink into racism almost by reflex. The ramifications of humanity’s anger hangs over … Read more
Katie Buenneke – Stage Raw Though Quiara Alegría Hudes’ trio of plays is called the “Elliot trilogy,” Water by the Spoonful, isn’t really about Elliot. The middle work in the triad, it’s a stark change from its predecessor, Elliot, A Soldier’s Fugue, currently playing at the Kirk Douglas in Culver City. Here, Elliot (Sean Caravajal) is no … Read more