Theatre 40 :: LA Drama Critics Circle

THE THIN PLACE, Echo Theater Company at Atwater Village Theatre

March 22, 2023Harker Jones – BroadwayWorld Tony-nominated playwright Lucas Hnath’s THE THIN PLACE is an eerie meditation on grief, regret and the need for closure, though it is undermined by the lack of a satisfying conclusion… Obie Award- and Outer Critics Circle Award-winning Hnath (“Red Speedo”; “A Doll’s House, Part 2″) carefully delineates each character with precise
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ONCE at Laguna Playhouse

March 22, 2023Socks Whitmore – Stage Raw In Dublin, a struggling Irish musician bumps into a young Czech woman and his life changes forever. This is the premise of the 2007 musical film Once, and likewise the stage musical of the same name, both featuring songs by Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová (including the infamous “Falling Slowly”),
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TWILIGHT: LOS ANGELES, 1992 at the Mark Taper Forum

Sabina Zúñiga Varela. Photo by Craig Schwartz Photography.

March 22, 2023Dana Martin – Stage Raw Center Theatre Group meets the moment with Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992, conceived, written and revised by Anna Deavere Smith. The original production premiered on Broadway in April, 1994. Smith wrote it as a solo piece, which she developed from hundreds of interviews following the 1992 L.A. uprising. This updated version
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THE LONELY FEW at Geffen Playhouse

March 18, 2023Patrick Chavis – LA Theatre Bites World Premiere: The Lonely Few @ Geffen Playhouse – 8 out of 10 – Good Show! LA Theatre Bites Recommended! More… Jonas Schwartz-Owen – Theatermania The Lonely Few, a world premiere rock musical at the Geffen Playhouse, does away with conventional narrative. It immerses its audience in rock clubs
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LA EGOISTA at Skylight Theatre

Lys Perez and Chanel Castañeda. Photo by Jenny Graham.

March 17, 2023Patrick Chavis – LA Theatre Bites West Coast Premiere: La Egoista @ Skylight Theatre – 8.2 out of 10 – Good Show! LA Theatre Bites Recommended! More…

HAROLD AND MAUDE at Group Repertory Theatre

Clara Rodriguez and Landon Beatty. Photo by Doug Engalla.

March 17, 2023Rob Stevens – Haines His Way. GRT’s production uses projections on the back wall and on smaller screens that come and go from the wings in an attempt to open up the action. Unfortunately, they don’t add much to the show and Larry Eisenberg’s lackadaisical direction lets the production drag on. Most scenes just meander
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SNOWHITE at Santa Monica Playhouse

Photo courtesy of Santa Monica Playhouse

March 15, 2023Lara J. Altunian – Stage Raw When it comes to classic fairy tales, there’s always room for updated adaptations — particularly when it comes to introducing one with antiquated values to a new generation of audiences. Santa Monica Playhouse’s rendition of the Brothers Grimm’s Snow White spins the narrative of a helpless young girl into
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Archive for Theatre 40

The ‘R’ in SCR. A WW2 ‘Much Ado’. ‘Sunday’ starts Sondheim fest. The ‘Maggie’ musical.

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Friday, February 24th, 2023

Photo by Jenny Graham/SCR

Don Shirley – Angeles Stage

Plus Geffen’s ‘Breath,’ Kristina Wong, and more.

A flood of openings gushed through Greater LA theaters in February — although two of the new productions were delayed by an outbreak of COVID.

During the first weekend of the month, South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa planned to activate the “repertory” in its name for the first time in the company’s 59-year history — with two different plays sharing the same stage and many of the same actors in alternating performances. “The Little Foxes” and “Appropriate” were waiting in the wings, united not only by a stage and actors and narrative similarities but also by a composite title — “Voices of America.”

Unfortunately, COVID barged in, canceling the entire opening weekend of both plays. Read more…

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THE METROMANIACS at Theatre 40

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Friday, August 12th, 2022

Photo by Michèle Young

Rob Stevens – Haines His Way

Way back in the mid 1970s, when I was just a few years into my theatre-going and theatre-reviewing career, I made the acquaintance of the lovely Viola Heigi-Swisher, who at the time was the Los Angeles theatre reviewer for the glossy, artsy New York-based monthly magazine After Dark. She was given about a column’s worth of space each month to report on all the shows she had seen. I have never forgotten her one-line pithy review of a poorly done new comedy we witnessed together at the long gone and still sorely missed Callboard Theatre. “There were five doors on stage—it must have been a farce.” Read more…

Now through August 21

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Tags : Alexis Piron, David Ives, Haines His Way, Marjorie Hayes, Rob Stevens, The Metromaniacs, Theatre 40

TAMING THE LION at Theatre 40

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Friday, August 6th, 2021

202003_Taming-the-Lion_DSC_0071

Rob Stevens – Haines His Way

Actor William Haines started his film career in 1922 in bit parts as a contract player for Goldwyn Pictures. After his studio became part of Metro Goldwyn Mayer in 1924, the size of his roles increased as did his popularity in silent films. Read more…

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Tags : Haines His Way, Rob Stevens, Taming the Lion, Theatre 40, William Haines

SEQUENCE at Theatre 40

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Wednesday, August 2nd, 2017

Photo by Ed Krieger

Paul Birchall – Stage Raw

In playwright Arun Lakra’s quick-witted, if perhaps overly cerebral piece, it isn’t a rabbit’s foot or a four-leaf clover that makes someone lucky — it’s genetic predisposition. Or perhaps it’s an evolutionary adaptation that allows people to peer into the future, quantum physics-style, and somehow bring about their future happiness.
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Frances Baum Nicholson – The Daily Breeze

Imagine writing a play in the hopes of creating as complex a double helix as a strand of DNA. That appears to be the intent of Arun Lakra, whose “Sequence” is at Theatre 40 in Beverly Hills. Complex it is, at least in volume though not necessarily in nuance. Still, the play proves artfully directed enough that the script’s overt nature is, to some extent, overcome.
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Now running through August 20

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Tags : Frances Baum Nicholson, Paul Birchall, Stage Raw, The Daily Breeze, Theatre 40

SEPARATE TABLES at Theatre 40

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Friday, May 26th, 2017

Photo by Ed Krieger

Neal Weaver – Arts In LA

In the 1940s and 50s, British playwright Terrence Rattigan was considered an important playwright, scoring successes in both England and the U.S. with The Winslow Boy, The Browning Version, Separate Tables, and other works. Read more…

Rob Stevens – Haines His Way

“Loneliness is a terrible thing, don’t you agree.” That sentiment is expressed by one of the lonely characters in British playwright Terence Rattigan’s Separate Tables, a collection of two one-act plays set at the Beauregard Hotel in Bournemouth, England….Read more…

Now running through June 18

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Tags : Haines His Way, Neal Weaver, Rob Stevens, Separate Tables, Stage Raw, Terrence Rattigan, Theatre 40

SEPARATE BEDS at Theatre 40

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Tuesday, May 31st, 2016

Photo by Ed Krieger

Jenny Lower – Stage Raw

Separate Beds, a relationship comedy by that lacks the absurdity of a farce and the insight of a drama, may stir self-recognition among a few long coupled audience members. (If so, you should get yourself to a marriage counselor right away.) Read more…

Now running through June 19

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Tags : Jenny Lower, M.J. Cruise, Separate Beds, Stage Raw, Theatre 40

A SHRED OF EVIDENCE at Theatre 40

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Thursday, March 24th, 2016

Photo by Ed Krieger

Not so much a ‘whodunit’ as a guilty cover-up, Sheriff’s stuffy old mystery A Shred of Evidence plays like a trip back in time to quaint 1950s England.

Sheriff begins with a small action — the switching on of a radio — that completely alters the course of his central character’s life. A morning news report of a nearby fatal hit-and-run accident becomes more than just shocking as Richard Medway struggles to remember the events of the previous night. Read more…

Now running through April 11

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Tags : A Shred of Evidence, Pauline Adamek, R.C. Sheriff, Stage Raw, Theatre 40

TWO SISTERS at Theatre 40

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Thursday, January 28th, 2016

Photo by Ed Krieger

Paul Birchall – Stage Raw

Those of us raised in Jewish families will recall (with a mix of fear and affection) that larger-than-life figure known as the Jewish Grandmother, a towering being known for her boundless love and her connection to a past now lost in the murky fogs of time. Read more…

Now running through February 21

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Tags : Gail Louw, Paul Birchall, Stage Raw, Theatre 40, Two Sisters

AMERICAN WEE-PIE at Theatre 40

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Thursday, April 2nd, 2015

Photo by Ed Krieger

Deborah Klugman – Stage Raw

Like the cupcakes in her story, playwright Lisa Dillman’s American Wee-Pie may be too sugary for some palates. It was for mine. Read more…

Now running through April 13.

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Tags : American Wee-Pie, Deborah Klugman, Lisa Dillman, Stage Raw, Theatre 40

BLONDE POISON at Theatre 40

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Thursday, January 15th, 2015

Photo by Ron Vignone

Myron Meisel – Stage Raw

While it probably isn’t quite accurate to say that performer Salome Jens saved my life, I prefer to believe that it’s true. After an evening and morning of obliterative obsession, attending her one-woman show about Anne Sexton didn’t seem like the most propitious choice under the circumstances, but I already had purchased my ticket.

FLARE PATH at Theatre 40

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Thursday, November 27th, 2014

Photo by Ed Krieg

Neal Weaver – Stage Raw

In the middle years of the 20^th century, Terrence Rattigan (1911-1977) was perhaps England’s most important playwright. (Noel Coward was in a state of temporary eclipse, though he would experience a triumphant resurgence a few years later.) Rattigan specialized in genteel, conventional well-made plays, but his skill and his talent for capturing the flavor of English middle-class life redeemed him. Read more…

Now running through December 14.

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Tags : Flare Path, Neal Weaver, Stage Raw, Terrence Rattigan, Theatre 40

THE GAMESTER at Theatre 40

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Thursday, July 31st, 2014

Photo by Ed Krieger

Deborah Klugman – Stage Raw

A playwright and a well-regarded translator and adapter of Moliere’s work, Freyda Thomas found inspiration for her The Gamester in Le Joueur, a late 17^th century play by Jean-Francois Regnard. Read more…

Now playing through August 24.

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Tags : Deborah Klugman, Freyda Thomas, Jean-Francois Regnard, Le Joueur, Stage Raw, The Gamester, Theatre 40

THE THIN PLACE, Echo Theater Company at Atwater Village Theatre

ONCE at Laguna Playhouse

TWILIGHT: LOS ANGELES, 1992 at the Mark Taper Forum

THE LONELY FEW at Geffen Playhouse

LA EGOISTA at Skylight Theatre

HAROLD AND MAUDE at Group Repertory Theatre

SNOWHITE at Santa Monica Playhouse

Archive for Theatre 40

The ‘R’ in SCR. A WW2 ‘Much Ado’. ‘Sunday’ starts Sondheim fest. The ‘Maggie’ musical.

THE METROMANIACS at Theatre 40

TAMING THE LION at Theatre 40

SEQUENCE at Theatre 40

SEPARATE TABLES at Theatre 40

SEPARATE BEDS at Theatre 40

A SHRED OF EVIDENCE at Theatre 40

TWO SISTERS at Theatre 40

AMERICAN WEE-PIE at Theatre 40

BLONDE POISON at Theatre 40

FLARE PATH at Theatre 40

THE GAMESTER at Theatre 40

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