JOE TURNER’S COME AND GONE by August Wilson. Deborah Klugman – LA Weekly For this critic August Wilson has always been eloquent on the page, a bit wordy on the stage. This second in his 10-play chronicle of the African-American experience takes place in 1911, a bare 46 years after the Civil War ended. Wilson’s vibrant characters … Read more
THE ROYALE by Marco Ramirez. Pauline Adamek – ArtsBeatLA A ferocious cast giving their all in a powerful play—Marco Ramirez’ The Royale is a tremendously satisfying evening of theater, now playing at the Kirk Douglas Theatre. Set in the world of boxing during the early 1900s, we meet a tough young fighter Jay “The Sport” Jackson (David … Read more
MISS JULIE by August Strindberg. Pauline Adamek – ArtsBeatLA Turn-of-the-century Swedish playwright August Strindberg’s naturalistic drama Miss Julie was remarkable in its day for its scandalous subject matter and frank dialogue exchanges. With its scathing commentary on the entrenched class system, passion and power, the play was banned in Britain for nearly fifty years after its publication. … Read more
ANNAPURNA by Sharr White Pauline Adamek – ArtsBeatLA In playwright Sharr White’s quirky two-person drama, directed by Bart DeLorenzo, a formerly married couple reunites and tries to make sense of their estrangement. Married in real-life actors Nick Offerman and Megan Mullally face off in this odd-ball drama of lost love and recriminations.Read more…
FELA! Book by Jim Lewis and Bill T. Jones Pauline Adamek – ArtsBeatLA Pounding rhythms, colorful tribal costumes, exquisitely light and authentic African choreography, visually stunning staging and politically charged lyrics – Fela! is a biographical funk concert musical that is not to be missed! Add a charismatic and gifted performer as the central subject (Adesola … Read more
IT GOES LIKE THIS by JACK BETTS. Pauline Adamek – LA Weekly Written and directed by veteran actor Jack Betts, It Goes Like This is a personal story, clumsily told. Leaden-footed, as if cast in concrete, the melodramatic saga manages to be both utterly predictable yet also contain enough dramatic revelations to rival a telenovela. Kevin McCorkle rigidly portrays a highly decorated … Read more
SLIPPING by Daniel Talbott. Pauline Adamek – ArtsBeatLA Dealing with the emotional highs and lows of adolescence is tough enough, but in Daniel Talbott’scoming-of-age drama, Slipping, the lead character Eli also has to contend with the sudden death of his father, grapple with his sense of self-worth within an abusive sexual relationship and cope with starting at a new … Read more
Orange Flower Water by Craig Wright. Pauline Adamek – LA Weekly In Craig Wright’s 80-minute domestic drama, a pair of mid-western married couples face the dissolution of their respective marriages. David and Cathy Calhoun (Jeff Denton andLeslie Liberman) and Brad and Beth Youngquist (Mick Thyer and Sarah Ann Schultz) have been friends for a few years before David comes to the realization … Read more
Billy & Ray by Mike Bencivenga. Pauline Adamek – ArtsBeatLA Boasting a superb clowny performance by Kevin Blake as Hollywood filmmaker Billy Wilder, Billy & Ray is a light comedy about the making of the groundbreaking motion picture Double Indemnity. Mike Bencivenga’s enjoyable new play is currently running at the Falcon Theatre in Toluca Lake. A producer at Paramount Studios, Joseph Sistrom (Anthony Starke), has just … Read more
Neverwhere by Robert Kauzlaric, adapted from the novel written by Neil Gaiman. Pauline Adamek – LA Weekly After assisting a distraught and injured woman named Door (Paula Rhodes), a milquetoast office worker named Richard (Bryan Bellomo) embarks on a journey that draws him into a fantastical subterranean world that lies beneath London. Neil Gaiman’s Wizard of Oz-esque story promises a … Read more