Terry Morgan – Talkin’ Broadway The cost of integrity is never cheap, but it varies. Sometimes one can lose relationships with family or friends, lose a job or, in the direst circumstance, lose one’s life. In the early 1950s, the House Un-American Activities Committee wielded Cold War communist paranoia to attack people whose views they … Read more
Ellen Dostal – Musicals in LA Maureen Huskey’s new one act play with music takes place wholly in the moment before death. Conceived as a 90 minute suspension of time in which Alice B. Sheldon (Betsy Moore) watches her life pass before her eyes, it blends music, movement, sound, and text to create as enigmatic a … Read more
Erin Conley – On Stage & Screen Sometimes, family can bring out the worst in us—especially if your relatives would do anything to get to the top.Read more… Terry Morgan – Talkin’ Broadway Sometimes a play simply works within its own era, and exists later simply as an accurate representation of that time. But other … Read more
Deborah Klugman – Stage Raw Rope, Patrick Hamilton’s 1929 suspense thriller at Actors Co-op, commences with an electrifying moment — the sort of cleverly crafted theatrics one might expect from director Ken Sawyer. In a pitch-black theater, the soft strains of a popular love ballad (“Smoke Gets in Your Eyes”) can be heard.Read more… Rob … Read more
Frances Baum Nicholson – Stage Struck Review When news the Tony-winning “Dear Evan Hansen” was headed for L.A. on its first national tour, a dash for tickets seeming mildly reminiscent of the “Hamilton” frenzy began. Erin Conley – On Stage and Screen There have been plenty of musicals about complicated, grieving families over the years, … Read more
Frances Baum Nicholson –The Stage Struck Review Of all of Oscar Wilde’s creations, the overall theme of “A Picture of Dorian Gray” has most become a part of the English language. Rob Stevens – Haines His Way In his program notes for the current A Noise Within’s production of his adaptation of A Picture of Dorian … Read more
Erin Conley – On Stage & Screen Jukebox bio-musicals are seemingly a dime a dozen these days—Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of The Temptations is currently playing at the Ahmanson Theatre, and the Pantages Theatre was recently home to On Your Feet, the Gloria and Emilio Estefan musical. But Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, which just reopened … Read more
Dany Margolies – The Daily Breeze Romance! Swordplay! History! All this plus a play that probably none of us has ever seen before.Reportedly giving this play its first-ever revival since its premiere in 1938, Will Geer’s Theatricum Botanicum presents “Haiti,” written by William DuBois (just to be clear, not W.E.B. Du Bois).Read more… Rob Stevens … Read more
Erin Conley – On Stage and Screen You cannot walk five feet in the Pantages Theatre without encountering a bunch of mini pies for sale, perfectly setting the scene for Waitress, the hit Broadway musical that opened in Los Angeles for the first time last night. Read more… Rob Stevens – Haines His Way In 2007 writer/director/actress … Read more
Frances Baum Nicholson –The Stage Struck Review The classic screwball comedy films of the 1930s and 40s have remained popular from that time on because of four basic elements: the ridiculousness of the essential storyline, the crisp and evocative dialogue, the quality of and apt casting of the performers, and timing – always the fast-paced, … Read more