TheaterMania

THE HUMANS at the Ahmanson Theatre

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Erin Conley – On Stage & Screen Despite an impressive pedigree, there is little that’s flashy about The Humans, the 2016 Tony Award winner for Best Play that opened this week at Center Theatre Group’s Ahmanson Theatre. Written by Stephen Karam with the entire original Broadway cast reprising their roles, the one-act play unfolds over the … Read more

HENRY IV at the Japanese Gardens on the West L.A. VA campus

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Deborah Klugman – LA Weekly Tom Hanks as Falstaff, Joe Morton as King Henry IV and a solid supporting ensemble add up to half a dozen good reasons to see director Dan Sullivan’s staging of Henry IV,….Read more… Ellen Dostal – BroadwayWorld Director Daniel Sullivan‘s adaptation of HENRY IV, Parts 1 & 2 may only be playing in … Read more

SOFT POWER at the Ahmanson Theatre

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Ellen Dostal – Musicals in LA It takes an incredible amount of work to create a new musical, and to dream up one that is different from any other musical already written is an even more complicated developmental process. The blood, sweat, tears, and years that go into it are not for the faint of … Read more

NOISES OFF at A Noise Within

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Jonas Schwartz –  TheaterMania Farce is a science, a series of actions and reactions. People slam and swing open doors, they race up and down stairs, they misplace their clothing. If farce is a science, Noises Off deserves a Nobel Prize for physics.Read more… Rob Stevens – Haines His Way What has eight doors and … Read more

SOUTH PACIFIC at La Mirada Theatre

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Jonas Schwartz –  TheaterMania The overture fades in with the woodwinds as the strings wistfully play the motif of “Bali Ha’i,” the lush music that transports audiences to the magical islands of South Pacific. Just beyond the breeze and the luster of the sand, the entire world has clashed violently, and fascism has drawn most of mankind … Read more

BELLEVILLE at the Pasadena Playhouse

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Terry Morgan  –  Talkin’ Broadway Labeling a work of art as being one particular thing can often be problematic, creating expectations that the piece doesn’t fulfill. Amy Herzog’s play Belleville is being promoted as a Hitchcockian thriller, which it is not. It’s only a thriller in the sense that Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is a thriller, in that … Read more

SIGNIFICANT OTHER at the Geffen Playhouse

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Jonas Schwartz –  TheaterMania Joshua Harmon’s Significant Other, now playing at the Geffen Playhouse, explores friendship as a buffer, a support system, and a crutch when navigating the precarious world of love. Often funny, the comedy will remind audiences of their own singlehood, past or present. Unfortunately….Read more… Dany Margolies – The Daily Breeze What … Read more

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