Rob Stevens – Haines His Way Alla Nazimova was one of a kind. Mostly forgotten now, she was a force to be reckoned with in the early days of the film industry—that is Silent Movies. The Russian-born actress, coming off her Broadway successes, negotiated her own contract with Metro Pictures in 1917 that paid her … Read more
Rob Stevens – Haines His Way. For my first theatre review of 2023, I ventured out to Theatre West in Hollywood and joined the lively audience for Storybook Theatre’s opening performance of Hansel and Gretel. Lloyd J. Schwartz wrote the book (he also directed) and the music and lyrics for eight songs were provided by Hope … Read more
Steven Leigh Morris – Stage Raw A dozen skilled performers romp through some 30 holiday-themed and mostly traditional ditties in this seasonal cabaret, thoughtfully staged by Victoria Lavan Liberty. I have to admit to a certain squeamishness at hearing Richard Berent’s “A Kids Forever” and “Wihla Hutson and Alfred Burt’s “Some Children See Him.” The … Read more
Don Shirley – Angeles Stage Also: ’2:22,’ ‘To Kill a Mockingbird,’ ‘Rent,’ ‘Eisenhower’ When a narrative work of art attains “classic” stature, it often settles comfortably into collegiate required-reading lists — but loses its share of the current limelight. So if E.M. Forster or Homer were alive today and sampling theater on the west side … Read more
Rob Stevens – Haines His Way “I Like Ike” appeared on a political campaign button in 1952 as the decorated general and political neophyte Dwight D. Eisenhower ran for the office of President of the United States as the Republican candidate. Fortunately for him and unfortunately for the Democratic nominee Adlai Stevenson, most of America … Read more
Neal Weaver – Stage Raw Steve Nevil’s “tumbleweed comedy” strives to be both a version of Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot set in the American West in 1870, and homage to the film westerns of John Ford and Sam Peckinpah — and to a large extent it succeeds on both counts.Read more… Now running through April 22
Neal Weaver – Stage Raw In suburban NYC, the Corelli family business — a construction company — is facing a dire threat. The firm, founded by paterfamilias Dominick (Vincent Palmieri) and henpecked Uncle Albert (David Mingrino), provides employment for Dominick’s elder son Carmine (Johnny Ferretti) and tough-talking butch daughter Marie (Heather Alyse Becker). But Albert’s … Read more
Melinda Schupmann – Arts In LA Playwright John Bishop, a longtime member of New York’s Circle Repertory Theatre, wrote a number of plays and screenplays, among them this comic spoof of manor house murder mysteries. It follows in the tradition of screwball comedies popular in the 1930s and ’40s. Read more… Now running through October 18.
Margaret Gray – LA Times Theatre West has revived Jim Beaver’s play “Verdigris,” a hit for the company 30 years ago, about a young man’s absorption into an offbeat Oklahoma family in the summer of 1972. Read more… Now running through April 19.
Neal Weaver – Stage Raw The name Johan Nestroy looms large in German-language theatre, but it probably doesn’t mean much to American theatre-goers, though perhaps it should: One of his plays, Einen Jux will er sich machen (He Wants to Go on a Spree), provided the basic plot for Thornton Wilder’s The Merchant of Yonkers, later developed … Read more