Martίn Hernández – Stage Raw. In this stellar production, co-directors Barry Pearl and Michelle Elkin, with Elkin doing double duty as choreographer, have assembled a gifted cast that is as committed to the incongruous storyline as it is to an earnest portrayal of teen angst, inter-generational conflict, young love, and the redemptive power of music … Read more
Deborah Klugman – Stage Raw. As written, Tornado is easy to relate to, with well-drawn characters, believable dialogue and a point to make about how people from different backgrounds misread each other. The play mirrors some of the divisions that beset our nation in a clear illustrative way. It eschews caricature and unneeded exposition while … Read more
Deborah Klugman – Stage Raw. In Scintilla, directed by Ann Hearn Tobolowsky, playwright Alessandro Camon wraps a dire message about climate change around the chasmal differences between a mercurial artist and her resentful adult son. Not nearly as gripping as Time Alone, his intense and poignant work about the impact of crime on the lives … Read more
Katie Buenneke – Theater Digest. I would not, normally, choose to be watching the musical 1776. Just thinking about it brings back memories of watching the movie in my US history class, junior year of high school, with Abigail Adams wistfully singing about saltpeter to Mr. Feeny. It did not work for me then, when … Read more
Jonas Schwartz – Theatermania Ava: The Secret Conversations, written by and starring Elizabeth McGovern, looks at the life of golden-age movie star Ava Gardner. But oddly, it focuses more on a periphery character, a sycophantic hack writer. This might come as a disappointment to those who want to spend time with Gardner rather than this … Read more
Martίn Hernández – Stage Raw. Written in 2016, the twilight of the Obama administration, playwright Karen Zacarίas’s thought-provoking comedy portrays a “border dispute” between Latino Millennials and White Boomers. Their altercation seems quaint in the wake of the Trump years, but even without the MAGA madness, Zacariás’s clever mix of jokes and sly social/political commentary … Read more
Philip Brandes – Stage Raw. What starts out as an intimate, often comically awkward reunion of aging Boomer scientists evolves into a sobering meditation on climate change, intergenerational responsibility, and personal sacrifice in Santa Barbara’s Ensemble Theatre Company production of The Children. British playwright Lucy Kirkwood’s 2016 drama is already a theatrical staple thanks to … Read more
Deborah Klugman – Stage Raw. Murder-by-cop. In Blue, playwright June Carryl lays out a blueprint for this grim, all-too-frequent horror show, building her story around a character who has taken the life of another human being and is struggling to justify this action both to himself and the person recording his take on events. The … Read more
Deborah Klugman – Stage Raw. In Manuel Puig’s stage play, Kiss of the Spider Woman, two fundamentally different personalities — a gay man accused of sexual relations with a minor, and a political prisoner-slash-macho straight guy working to overthrow a repressive regime — are housed together in a dingy cell with wretched food, dim lighting, … Read more
Patrick Chavis – LA Theatre Bites. Boston Court and Playwrights’ Arena Present: Unrivaled @ Boston Court Pasadena – 7.5 out of 10 – Above Average! More… Katie Buenneke – Theater Digest Sei Shōnagon (Chelsea Yakura-Kurtz) wrote The Pillow Book, an assemblage of musings that entertained not just her fellow ladies-in-waiting in the court of Empress … Read more