The Daily News

CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY at the Pantages Theatre

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Erin Conley – On Stage & Screen Believe it or not, the characters in the musical version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory do not actually enter the titular chocolate factory until the very end of act one. That’s right, over an hour in to this perplexing adaptation there is nary an Oompa Loompa in sight.Read more… … Read more

LINDA VISTA at the Mark Taper Forum

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Erin Conley – On Stage & Screen What does ‘starting over’ really mean if you’re stuck in the same self-destructive behavior patterns? In Steppenwolf Theatre’s production of Linda Vista, a new play by Tracy Letts that opened this week at Center Theatre Group’s Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, a middle-aged man attempts to figure out … Read more

DIXIE’S TUPPERWARE PARTY at the Kirk Douglas Theatre

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Dany Margolies – The Daily News Sure, “Dixie’s Tupperware Party” keeps its audience amused. The show also educates, teaching us a bit about the history of Tupperware and the woman, Brownie Wise, who invented the Tupperware party. But mostly, at least if you’re interested in comedy as an art form, this solo show is mighty … Read more

VALLEY OF THE HEART at the Mark Taper Forum

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Erin Conley – On Stage & Screen Two immigrant families, one Mexican and one Japanese-American, have lived peacefully as neighbors on a ranch in the Santa Clara Valley for years, working together in the fields. The oldest children from each family have even fallen in love with each other—and then Pearl Harbor happens, and soon … Read more

OUR VERY OWN CARLIN MCCULLOUGH at the Geffen Playhouse

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Deborah Klugman – LA Weekly Our Very Own Carlin McCullough is about a mother and a daughter and the tennis coach who comes into their lives and transforms them.Read more… Jonas Schwartz –  TheaterMania Parenting is a daunting task, one that comes with no rule book. Even when a parent, particularly a single one, desires the … Read more

TURN ME LOOSE at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts

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Deborah Klugman – Capital & Main In his powerhouse performance as Dick Gregory, the stand-up comic who rose to fame in the 1960s, Joe Morton tells the following story: He was civil rights organizing in the South with his good friend Medgar Evers, when he received a call informing him that his infant son had … Read more

SHOUT SISTER SHOUT! at the Pasadena Playhouse

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Deborah Klugman – LA Weekly Born in 1915, Sister Rosetta Tharpe has been called the godmother of rock & roll for her profound influence on a legion of famous vocalists, including Elvis Presley, Tina Turner and Johnny Cash (who noted in his induction speech into the Hall of Fame that she was his favorite singer). Read … Read more

LUCKY STIFF at Actors Co-op

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Neal Weaver  – Stage Raw It’s hard to imagine a more far-fetched plot than the one that animates this zany musical by Lynn Ahren (book and lyrics) and Stephen Flaherty (music), based on The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo by Michael Butterworth. Read more… Rob Stevens – Haines His Way Lucky Stiff is a … Read more

THE BODYGUARD at the Pantages Theatre

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Erin Conley – On Stage & Screen Not many musicals literally start with a bang. In the case of The Bodyguard: the Musical, now playing at the Pantages Theatre in Los Angeles, an opening gunshot was both very startling and pretty effective at getting the stragglers to settle into their seats. Read more… Rob Stevens – Haines … Read more