Tracey Paleo – Gia On The Move OLD FRIENDS, a musical review of Stephen Sondheim’s greatest hits starring Bernadette Peters opened last night at the Ahmanson Theatre. And what a treat! Read more… Travis Michael Holder – TicketHoldersLA There simply could not be a more fitting living tribute to the brilliance of Sondheim, the most … Read more
Anita W. Harris – LA Theatrix The play thus offers many lenses through which to challenge notions of race and gender—including a hilarious science-based plot twist near the end—successfully inverting what we might think of as true and fixed. It’s a refreshingly lighthearted way of sending up those concepts, though a more substantive story … Read more
Jonas Schwartz – Theatermania When one thinks of the brash musical La Cage Aux Folles, gritty does not usually come to mind. The bare-bones production at Pasadena Playhouse lacks the gaudy, bawdy luster promised in the title song, and instead leans into tackiness. Read more… Patrick Chavis – LA Theatre Bites Podcast 9.3 out of … Read more
Jonas Schwartz – Theatermania When something unique is presented to you, you can either reject it, or absorb its sumptuous foreign flavors. Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman’s Pacific Overtures, so heavily influenced by Japanese culture and Kabuki theater techniques, is a tantalizing treat in which a country is the main character. The East West Players’ … Read more
Jonas Schwartz – Theatermania The ageless classic Fiddler on the Roof has bottle-danced its way into Los Angeles’s La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts with an incandescent re-creation, complete with Lee Martino’s restoration of Jerome Robbins’s Tony award-winning original choreography. Led by Jason Alexander, the cast is impeccable, fulfilling the joyousness and pain of … Read more
Jonas Schwartz – Theatermania Westrate and Owen’s concept of A Streetcar Named Desire is ripe with possibilities, and they skillfully tighten the noose around Tennessee Williams’ characters. With the constricted proximities, the audience feels less like they’re viewing a play than guiltily eavesdropping on neighbors’ high drama. Read more…
Jonas Schwartz – Theatermania Someone as delightfully unpredictable as the legendary comedian Joan Rivers deserves a delightfully unpredictable show. The new biographical play Joan by Daniel Goldstein, now having its world premiere at South Coast Rep, however, is a pleasant but by the numbers program. Read more… Patrick Chavis – The Orange Curtain Review South … Read more
Travis Michael Holder – TicketHoldersLA Anyone who’s been privy to my usual grumblings concerning the dated nature of traditional musical comedy as opposed to the innovation of contemporary musical theatre will appreciate my excitement about David Lindsay-Abaire’s multiple-Tony-winning 2021 musical adaptation of his also award-winning play. To me, it’s the quintessential paradigm of how such … Read more
Patrick Chavis – LA Theatre Bites Podcast 7.5 out of 10! Above Average! Listen more… Jonas Schwartz – Theatermania Dragon Lady is a touching, hilarious mixture of karaoke and familial strife as writer and actor Sara Porkalob’s forebearers see two different realities of the immigration experience. Playing multiple characters in her one-person tribute to her … Read more
Jonas Schwartz – Theatermania Martin Crimp’s translation of Edmond Rostand’s classic Cyrano de Bergerac plays fast and loose with Rostand’s original text, but the story of a love triangle built on words and beauty remains the same in the new production at Pasadena Playhouse. Read more…