Steven Leigh Morris – LA Weekly Actor John Barrymore, star of theater and screen for a quarter of a century until his death in 1942, was thrown out of prep school after having been seen entering a brothel. This detail isn’t in William Luce‘s 1996 two-person show based on the actor’s reminiscences, Barrymore, though the play does … Read more
Melinda Schupmann – Arts In LA From 1954 to the present, Reginald Rose’s Emmy-nominated teleplay on CBS’s Studio One has been rewritten as a theatrical piece, was made into an Academy Award–winning film with some of the finest actors in the business, and has been reworked by theater companies over the years, even as 12 … Read more
Melinda Schupmann – Arts In LA Mel Brooks’s very funny 1974 film became The New Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein in late 2007. Receiving mixed reviews from the critics, it nonetheless played on Broadway for more than 500 performances, and it began a very successful touring show in 2009. Its appeal comes from a lively … Read more
Melinda Schupmann – Arts In LA For all the purported sexual sophistication attributed to the French, Marc Camoletti’s cheeky farce about a married couple’s “liaisons dangereuses” at a French country house is less daring and more conventional than one might expect. Still, its romantic machinations make for amusing moments.Read more… Now running through November 3.
Melinda Schupmann – Arts In LA It might be deduced, knowing painter Mark Rothko’s iconoclastic nature, that he might not applaud the news that a recent Christie’s auction of paintings included one by him that sold for $86.9 million. Considered one of the great postwar modern artists, in the latter years of his life he … Read more
Melinda Schupmann – Arts In LA A hero and the musical about him have been on a journey. From the book by William Steig to the Dreamworks animated film and then back to the book again, this musical has undergone multiple changes from Broadway and the national traveling production to its current successful regional incarnation … Read more
Deborah Klugman – LA Weekly In her book Nickel and Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich detailed her sojourn into the world of the working poor, illuminating (as no recounting of statistics ever could) the struggle, heartache and resilience of this often forgotten and/or disrespected class of Americans. Read more… Melinda Schupman – ArtsInLA Barbara Ehrenreich’s 2001 book, Nickel … Read more
David C. Nichols – LA Times Old Hickory gets a charge of anarchistic electricity in “Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson” at the Chance Theater in Anaheim Hills. This sublimely raucous take on Alex Timbers and Michael Friedman’s savage emo rock evisceration of American politics via the seventh president of the United States is an in-your-face triumph.Read … Read more
Deborah Klugman – LA Weekly Although the wow factor is missing, aficionados of John Lennon probably will appreciate this tribute to the iconic musician, which juxtaposes renditions of his most famous songs with a narrative of his life. Read more… Melinda Schupman – ArtsInLA Tribute band concerts have become more and more common, particularly when the … Read more
Melinda Schupman – ArtsInLA Sarah Ruhl’s slightly daffy but contemplative play takes a shot at our cell phone culture while examining human connections and the nature of love. Jean (Alina Phelan) is sitting in a cafe, ostensibly working on something, when a cell phone at the next table rings over and over, interrupting her concentration. … Read more