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
Terry Morgan – Stage Raw Schrödinger’s cat has been in the local theatrical zeitgeist of late. It was used to symbolize the interlocked statuses of life and death in Dirt (which just closed at the Raven Playhouse) and is even more central in Aaron Hendry’s The Superhero and His Charming Wife, a production by the Not Man Apart theater … Read more
Neal Weaver – Stage Raw Gary (playwright Terry Ray) and Brad (Kevin Scott Allen) are sort of a gay odd couple. Gary is a 28-year-old gay virgin, nerdy and prim, who thinks his homosexuality is a deep dark secret, though everyone at his school refers to him as gay Gary. Read more… Les Spindle – Frontiers … Read more
Pauline Adamek – Stage Raw An astonishingly edgy, timely and sensitive drama by Aliza Goldsmith, A Singular They is making its world premiere at the Blank Theatre — and what a singular play it is. Read more… Now running through May 1.