Margaret Gray – Los Angeles Times As a singer and songwriter, Alanis Morissette has one of the most distinctive voices in rock ’n’ roll. Her raw, quirky, brainy lyrics, idiosyncratic diction and powerfully expressive range mean that nobody in the universe sings quite like her. But if you subscribe to the many-worlds interpretation of quantum … Read more
Jonas Schwartz-Owen – Theatermania Roger Q. Mason burns the history books with Lavender Men, a world premiere fantasia that re-envisions the passions of our 16th president, Abraham Lincoln. The play, produced by Playwrights’ Arena & Skylight Theatre Company at the Skylight, is a revolutionary response to a country focused on keeping its constituents disenfranchised and invisible. … Read more
Tracey Paleo – BroadwayWorld Silly and tender, this might be one of the most beautiful performances you will ever see. Who could ever imagine that mere swaths of fabrics and plastics, a few balloons, and fluttering paper could hold attention as the emotional centerpiece of any single theatrical performance? And yet, here is the proof … Read more
Tracey Paleo – Gia On The Move It’s the late 90’s…and you’re hanging out in a boy’s basement bedroom, somewhere in suburban America with two teenagers as they stay up on a school night; chugging soda, watching MTV, and preparing for the future. As the morning approaches, their seemingly innocent sleepover reveals another purpose. Read more… … Read more
Tracey Paleo – Gia On The Move There is plenty of onstage masturbating, politics, ranting, screaming, dissing, spousal browbeating, murder, misogyny, borderline sexual violence, scumbag behavior, and all-around mayhem – not counting the weather. Apparently, Los Angeles is so flooded that half of the Hollywood sign is underwater. (Well, that’s neat…). Oh, and let’s not … Read more
Tracey Paleo – Gia On The Move Sierra Madre Playhouse’s rendition of KING OF THE YEES directed by Tim Dang, so often plods along at such a ponderous pace, including occasionally awkward staging at the tip of the wings, that the sprightly comedy of this adventure is a bit dwindled. And that’s a shame. Because … Read more
Deborah Klugman – Stage Raw Ben Moroski won a Best of Fringe award in 2012 for The Vicious Minute and a Top of the Fringe award in 2014 for his solo performance of The Wake. This year he’s back at The Fringe with his latest solo piece, Dog— a downer of a tale nonetheless presented with the same singular, mesmerizing … Read more
Peter Debruge – Variety The lights come up on four Korean American teens crowded around a hotel bed. They’re members of a So Cal church group on a mission to Bangkok, Thailand — though the location only matters is the abstract. Audiences never leave the hotel room in “Man of God,” although director Maggie Burrows’ … Read more
Tracey Paleo – BroadwayWorld In a word…Delicious. A Noise Within winds down its 2021-22 season with playwright Mary Zimmerman’s primal retelling of Ovid’s METAMORPHOSIS. It is nothing short of spectacular. Read more… Rob Stevens – Haines His Way In 1996, playwright/director Mary Zimmerman adapted some Greek myths from the classic poem Metamorphoses by Ovid. A full production was … Read more
Steven Leigh Morris – Stage Raw Shakespeare’s play gets a Wooster Group-ish makeover in John Gould Rubin’s modern dress staging for the Wallis. Tech is omnipresent, almost omniscient. Narrow, vertical panels on both sides of the stage provide screens for Keith Skretch’s projection design, featuring striking images of fires and floods now generally associated with … Read more