Paul Birchall – Stage Raw Adam Mervis’s romantic satire, set amongst a group of youngish Los Angelinos, is caparisoned with many of the bells and whistles of the millennial generation: Mentions of Tinder and Bumble, ipads, video games, and bitcoin abound, as well as the (quite narratively irrelevant) spiritual presence of the actress Natalie Portman, … Read more
Deborah Klugman – LA Weekly Siamese Sex Show is one of those offbeat musicals where it doesn’t seem to matter that one or two plot threads are a little hard to follow. The choreography by April Thomas is so exuberant, the costumes by Michael Mullen are so fanciful, and the story and spectacle so deliciously … Read more
Terry Morgan – Stage Raw The most painful duty of a critic is watching a group of very talented people knock themselves out in support of a project that simply doesn’t work. One has some idea of the level of effort that goes into such an ambitious endeavor, and it’s no fun to proclaim the … Read more
Deborah Klugman – Stage Raw Humor is subjective. In this case the show in question is writer/performer Drew Droege’s Bright Colors and Bold Patterns, directed by Michael Urie at the Celebration Theatre. Urie wowed L.A. audiences in Buyer & Cellar at the Ahmanson in 2014. Droege is a comedian known on the Internet for his drag impersonations of … Read more
Lovell Estell III – Stage Raw Playfulness and the unexpected inform this sextet of one-acts by David Ives. Not all of them are knee-slapping winners, but Ives’s eccentric humor and witty, nimble use of the word make the show a success. Read more… Now running through October 2
Deborah Klugman – Stage Raw Blueberry Toast may not feature a knockout script, but it sure packs a punch when inimitable performer Jacqueline Wright, at her manic and brilliant best, takes on one of the lead roles. Read more… Now running through October 23
Neal Weaver – Stage Raw As I was driving to The Road Theatre to see this Edward Albee play, the radio news announced that Albee had died earlier in the day, at the age of 88. At the theatre, director Andre Barron informed the crowd in the lobby that Albee had passed away. There was … Read more
Lovell Estell III – Stage Raw It’s been nearly eighty years since Thornton Wilder’s Pulitzer Prize winning paean to small town America was first performed, yet it still retains a mysterious charm. Perhaps it’s the play’s evocation of a less complicated time and place, or maybe it’s Wilder’s simple exploration of what is common and … Read more
Deborah Klugman – Stage Raw In Nosferatu, adapter/director Bill Reilly’s musical stage adaptation of F.W. Murnau’s 1922 horror film classic, the bodies pile up swiftly, felled at the hands (or should I say teeth) of the title character, the remorselessly bloodthirsty Count Orlok (Michelle Holmes). Read more… Now running through October 31
Terry Morgan – Stage Raw The Young Vic production of Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge was roundly praised in both London and New York. The current version at the Ahmanson, however, has at least a couple of major problems. Read more… Dany Margolies – The Daily Breeze Belgian theater director Ivo van Hove revives Arthur Miller’s … Read more