TheaterMania

A RAISIN IN THE SUN at A Noise Within

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Jonas Schwartz –  TheaterMania Progress treads so slowly it almost feels backwards. Lorraine Hansberry’s award-winning play A Raisin in the Sun premiered almost six decades ago, but American culture still grapples heavily with racism and other prejudices. The Younger family of the play grabs at the American dream, but society keeps moving the brass ring just out … Read more

SELL/BUY/DATE at the Geffen Playhouse

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Margaret Gray – LA Times The writer and actress Sarah Jones is gorgeous, about 8 feet tall (at least it seems that way) and rail thin, with a wide mane of hair. When she walks onstage at the Geffen Playhouse, where she is performing her one-woman show “Sell/Buy/Date” through April 15, it’s impossible to imagine … Read more

WATER BY THE SPOONFUL at the Mark Taper Forum

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Katie Buenneke – Stage Raw Though Quiara Alegría Hudes’ trio of plays is called the “Elliot trilogy,” Water by the Spoonful, isn’t really about Elliot. The middle work in the triad, it’s a stark change from its predecessor, Elliot, A Soldier’s Fugue, currently playing at the Kirk Douglas in Culver City. Here, Elliot (Sean Caravajal) is no … Read more

IRONBOUND at the Geffen Playhouse

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Erin Conley – On Stage & Screen At what point in life must you be willing to sacrifice happiness for survival? Ironbound, a play by Martyna Majok currently in its west coast premiere at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles, tells the story of Darja (Marin Ireland), a Polish immigrant struggling to build a life … Read more

CABARET at La Mirada Theatre

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Jonas Schwartz –  TheaterMania Cabaret has undergone much alteration from Harold Prince’s original 1966 Broadway production. In 1972, wunderkind Bob Fosse revamped the story line for the film version, commissioning the composer John Kander and lyricist Fred Ebb to write new songs, such as “Mein Herr,” “Money,” and the pair’s trunk song “Maybe This Time.” … Read more

A CHRISTMAS CAROL at A Noise Within

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Jonas Schwartz –  TheaterMania A Christmas Carol is perfect fare for the holidays. It captures the importance of giving, sharing with loved ones, and reevaluating past choices. A Noise Within‘s co-producing artistic director Geoff Elliott has created his own adaptation, which has been performed at the theater for the last six years.Read more…

SPAMILTON at the Kirk Douglas Theatre

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Jonas Schwartz –  TheaterMania No one parodies the Great White Way like Gerard Alessandrini. For 35 years, he’s made audiences sidesplittingly laugh with his Forbidden Broadway series where, through song, he’s shattered the idols of Broadway like Ethel Merman, Andrew Lloyd Webber, and Mary Martin. In Spamilton, Alessandrini tightens his target to assassinate the biggest musical sensation of … Read more

BRIGHT STAR at the Ahmanson Theatre

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Dany Margolies – The Daily Breeze “Bright Star” is a fairly new musical by Steve Martin and Edie Brickell. It had a life on Broadway last year and has arrived at L.A.’s Ahmanson Theatre.Read more… Jonas Schwartz –  TheaterMania Bright Star has so many winning attributes that one can easily forget its shortcomings and simply enjoy … Read more

UNDERNEATH THE LINTEL at the Geffen Playhouse

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Dany Margolies – The Daily Breeze It seems Arye Gross hasn’t aged well. As the actor emerges onstage at the Geffen’s Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater, he puffs and sweats and walks creakily.Read more… Jonas Schwartz –  TheaterMania The biggest mystery of Underneath the Lintel is how the unspectacular quest for the late fees of a 113-year-old past … Read more