Martίn Hernández – Stage Raw. While inundating storms may have receded recently, another one is brewing over at the Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles which has partnered with After Hours Theatre Company for a sumptuous “immersive” co-production of William Shakespeare’s tale of revenge, love, and compassion. After boarding the “King’s Ship” on its journey from … Read more
Steven Leigh Morris – Stage Raw. The lure of lurid allure: Benny Hill meets Samuel Beckett in the late Israeli playwright Hanoch Levin’s farcical and deceptively probing play with music (by Alex Kagan). (Levin’s play is translated from the Hebrew by Naaman Tamuz and is being presented by the Odyssey Theatre Ensemble in its U.S. … Read more
Deborah Klugman – Stage Raw. One of America’s most popular playwrights in the 1950s, William Inge drew on his childhood and youth in a small Kansas town for his incisive portrayals of life in the American Midwest. Inge eventually fell out of favor with critics and audiences alike, a decline precipitated in part by a … Read more
Dana Martin – Stage Raw. Loose morals, licentious proposals and live vinyl rule the night at the Broadwater in Hollywood. Foolish Production Co’s latest production of Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure is a mixed bag of madcap moodiness…. Under Mulhearn’s direction, the show moves quickly and the play’s five acts and multiple plot twists are condensed … Read more
Martίn 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 West and his … Read more
Harker 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
Socks 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”), with the … Read more
Dana 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 has expanded … Read more
Lara J. Altunian – Stage Raw. When it comes to classic fairy tales, there’s always room for updated adaptations — particularly when it comes to introducing one with antiquated values to a new generation of audiences. Santa Monica Playhouse’s rendition of the Brothers Grimm’s Snow White spins the narrative of a helpless young girl into a tender … Read more
Dana Martin – Stage Raw. …Mean Girls is updated from the movie in order to reflect an era of smartphones and selfies but still manages to feel dated. Even the most feared book in school, the almighty Burn Book, loses a bit of its sting. Yet — Mean Girls doesn’t talk down to its audience and … Read more