Layout Image

BEST OF BEST OF THIS WEEK THIS WEEK, Open Fist Theatre Company at Atwater Village Theatre

Photo by Chris Phipps
March 22, 2023Martίn Hernández – Stage Raw Following in the satirical footsteps of Saturday Night Live and The Daily Show, this Open Fist Company production takes the past year’s cream of the crop of its Thursday night comedy sketch show, This Week This Week, and skewers our calamitous society with mostly hilarious results. Creator and director Ron
Read More

TWELFTH NIGHT At The Broadwater Studio Theater

Photo courtesy of Foolish Production Co.
March 22, 2023Tracey Paleo – BroadwayWorld Notwithstanding that they fell into many textbook Shakespeare traps, and that there was zero chemistry between any single one of the characters, the Foolish Production Company cast actually knew what they were doing. And mostly their 1-hour rendition of TWELFTH NIGHT (playing in rep with MEASURE FOR MEASURE at The Broadwater)
Read More

CARDENIO at City Garage Theatre

Photo by Paul Rubenstein
March 22, 2023Rob Stevens – Haines His Way City Garage, the resident theatre company at Santa Monica’s Bergamot Station Arts Center, built their thirty-plus year reputation for doing heavy lifting with productions of Greek tragedies and the works of Brecht and Beckett among other dramatists. With their latest offering, Cardenio, they prove they can let down their
Read More

THE THIN PLACE, Echo Theater Company at Atwater Village Theatre

March 22, 2023Harker Jones – BroadwayWorld Tony-nominated playwright Lucas Hnath’s THE THIN PLACE is an eerie meditation on grief, regret and the need for closure, though it is undermined by the lack of a satisfying conclusion… Obie Award- and Outer Critics Circle Award-winning Hnath (“Red Speedo”; “A Doll’s House, Part 2″) carefully delineates each character with precise
Read More

ONCE at Laguna Playhouse

Photo by Jason Niedle
March 22, 2023Socks Whitmore – Stage Raw In Dublin, a struggling Irish musician bumps into a young Czech woman and his life changes forever. This is the premise of the 2007 musical film Once, and likewise the stage musical of the same name, both featuring songs by Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová (including the infamous “Falling Slowly”),
Read More

TWILIGHT: LOS ANGELES, 1992 at the Mark Taper Forum

Sabina Zúñiga Varela. Photo by Craig Schwartz Photography.
March 22, 2023Dana Martin – Stage Raw Center Theatre Group meets the moment with Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992, conceived, written and revised by Anna Deavere Smith. The original production premiered on Broadway in April, 1994. Smith wrote it as a solo piece, which she developed from hundreds of interviews following the 1992 L.A. uprising. This updated version
Read More

THE LONELY FEW at Geffen Playhouse

Lauren Patten. Photo by Jeff Lorch.
March 18, 2023Patrick Chavis – LA Theatre Bites World Premiere: The Lonely Few @ Geffen Playhouse – 8 out of 10 – Good Show! LA Theatre Bites Recommended! More… Jonas Schwartz-Owen – Theatermania The Lonely Few, a world premiere rock musical at the Geffen Playhouse, does away with conventional narrative. It immerses its audience in rock clubs
Read More

Archive for Much Ado About Nothing

The ‘R’ in SCR. A WW2 ‘Much Ado’. ‘Sunday’ starts Sondheim fest. The ‘Maggie’ musical.

By LADCC critics · Comments (0)
Friday, February 24th, 2023
Photo by Jenny Graham/SCR

Photo by Jenny Graham/SCR

Don Shirley – Angeles Stage

Plus Geffen’s ‘Breath,’ Kristina Wong, and more.

A flood of openings gushed through Greater LA theaters in February — although two of the new productions were delayed by an outbreak of COVID.

During the first weekend of the month, South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa planned to activate the “repertory” in its name for the first time in the company’s 59-year history — with two different plays sharing the same stage and many of the same actors in alternating performances. “The Little Foxes” and “Appropriate” were waiting in the wings, united not only by a stage and actors and narrative similarities but also by a composite title — “Voices of America.”

Unfortunately, COVID barged in, canceling the entire opening weekend of both plays. Read more…

Comments (0)
Categories : Reviews
Tags : , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING at A Noise Within

By LADCC critics · Comments (0)
Thursday, February 23rd, 2023
Photo by Craig Schwartz

Photo by Craig Schwartz

Katie Buenneke – Stage Raw

I must start this review by confessing that this production of Much Ado About Nothing is a victim of my own expectations. Much Ado is my favorite Shakespearean text, and I’ve always respected the craft A Noise Within puts into their productions of the classics. I expected to love this show — but sadly, I was disappointed.

To me, a successful performance of this play hinges on the chemistry between Beatrice and Benedick; their bickering is a form of self-defense. Beatrice indicates that they had once been in a relationship, but it ended poorly. They duel, sparks flying, lashing out to cover their wounded hearts, and there’s delicious dramatic irony because the audience knows that their barbs are just a façade, and they’ll end up happily together by the end of the play. But the aforementioned sparks are absent here. Read more…

Patrick Chavis – LA Theatre Bites

Much Ado About Nothing @ A Noise Within – 9 out of 10 – Exceptional Show! LA Theatre Bites Recommended! More…

 

Comments (0)
Categories : Reviews
Tags : , , , , , , , ,

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING – ISC in Griffith Park

By LADCC critics · Comments (0)
Thursday, August 20th, 2015

 

Reynaldo Macías / Blu PHIV Photography

Reynaldo Macías / Blu PHIV Photography

David C. Nichols – LA Times

A skirmish of wit attends “Much Ado About Nothing” in Griffith Park, and it proves a notable argument. Independent Shakespeare Company concludes its summer season with an agreeably quirky, riotously funny take on the Bard’s evergreen romantic comedy. Read more…

Now running through August 30.

 

Comments (0)
Categories : Reviews
Tags : , , , , ,

Archives