Myron Meisel – Stage Raw Moments before heading out to witness Alan Mandell’s staging of Endgame at the Kirk Douglas Theatre, just before sundown, I lit my first yahrtzeit candle to commemorate the first anniversary on the ancient lunar calendar of the death of my father. Leaving it to burn in my absence permitted me to approach Samuel Beckett’s … Read more
Jenny Lower – Stage Raw Lunatics & Actors, the latest world premiere by Jeremy Aluma’s clowning troupe Four Clowns, is less a fixed narrative than a series of funny, unpredictable, and menacing vignettes that excavate the distinction between creative performance and insanity. Playwright David Bridel, dean of the USC School of Dramatic Arts, has crafted … Read more
Deborah Klugman – Stage Raw Sometimes a play registers as up front and personal; one’s immediately drawn into the experience of its characters, heartrending or comic or both as the case may be. Read more… Now running through June 5
Lovell Estell III – Stage Raw Michael Weller has a knack for writing about specific cultural time periods. In Moonchildrenhe peered into the turbulent, “hell no, we won’t go,” drug-fueled, free love 1960’s via a year in the life of a group of idealistic college students. Here, the spotlight is on the tenuous hangover days of … Read more
Terry Morgan – Stage Raw There are many reasons that Brian Friel’s elegiac character study Dancing at Lughnasa has become a theatrical staple. One is that the Tony award-winning play is an excellent and affecting work, while another is that it offers terrific roles for five actresses. Read more… Now running through June 12.
Neal Weaver – Stage Raw This curious play, written by Meghan Brown, developed with Fugitive Kind Theatre, and incorporating input from director Amanda McRaven, is a freewheeling fantasia drawn from themes, characters, and situations in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. It’s also an apocalyptic dystopia, cast in the form of a sequel depicting events that occurred after the … Read more
Deborah Klugman – Stage Raw The Story of Alice, a musical show with book and lyrics by Michael Hiltzik, is suitable for young children. If you’re looking for grownup entertainment, this is not for you. Read more… Now running through May 29.
Lovell Estell III – Stage Raw This world premiere comedy from Los Angeles playwright Jennie Webb has its moments of glorious insanity and humor, but not enough of them to make it a full-on success. Read more… Pauline Adamek – ArtsBeatLA Jennie Webb’s hilarious new play Currency, is a sly commentary on modern relationships — both … Read more
Paul Birchall – Stage and Cinema What makes this boisterous jukebox musical about the life of late music and stage legend Peter Allen (whose songs make up the show’s core) so winning, is the combination of larger-than-life excess and the piquant whiff of melancholy – all of which are frankly irresistible to a wide swath … Read more
Paul Birchall – Stage Raw A ghost story around the campfire on the beach: It seems like such a natural fit, you almost wonder why you haven’t seen this sort of thing before. But director Kate Jopson’s compelling site specific production of Kristin Idaszak’s moody drama, set a few yards from the thundering surf at twilight … Read more