Archive for February, 2011
The Monday Moment
Staggering numbers. The World Is Obsessed With Facebook from Alex Trimpe on Vimeo.
Critique of the Week
NO. SAINTS LANE Erin Daley – LA Theatre Review Theater is so much more to me than just putting on plays. It’s the capital ‘T’ Theater, the cultural institution, the social force, the secular communion and the fullest way to tell a story. The work that I love, the work that really ignites me is [...]
Critique of the Week – Runner Up
THE BERLIN DIG Joel Elkins – LA Theatre Review John Stuercke claims he wrote The Berlin Dig as a reaction to the recent rise in fundamentalism in the United States and even gives credit to Sarah Palin for inspiring it. We can now add this to the list of things she has inflicted us with. [...]
THE DROWSY CHAPERONE (3D THEATRICALS): 100% – SWEET
SWEET Southern California’s first locally licensed staging of this irresistible valentine to fluffy, old-fashioned Broadway musicals is less opulent than previous productions. Yet director TJ Dawson ensures that the vehicle remains handsome, stylish, and witty, capitalizing on the giddy high spirits that make it such an effervescent treat. Les Spindle – Backstage SWEET This Drowsy [...]
“MASTER HAROLD”…AND THE BOYS (RUBICON): 100% – SWEET
SWEET The subsequent dismantling of the apartheid regime partially validates the slender hope held out in this classic play’s wounded finale, but the enduring potency in its universal invitation to face the racism within ourselves is a measure of how far we still have to go. Philip Brandes – LA Times SWEET “Master Harold”…and the [...]
The Potable Quotable
“John Stuercke claims he wrote The Berlin Dig as a reaction to the recent rise in fundamentalism in the United States and even gives credit to Sarah Palin for inspiring it. We can now add this to the list of things she has inflicted us with.” Joel Elkins – LA Theatre Review
LOCKED AND LOADED: 100% – SWEET
SWEET Susman gives the underdog the upper hand, which Lay-Ya uses to force the superficialities aside to reveal the very real, raw pain coursing beneath. After such deep diving, the resurface at play’s end is a little easy; nevertheless, the whole shebang is a much more entertaining evening than the premise portends. Chris DeCarlo directs. [...]
THE VIOLET HOUR: 67% – SWEET
SWEET As one of the characters describes it, the title of the play refers to that daily miracle as the sky turns all shades of brilliant colors, signifying when the evening is about to reward you for the day. As I left the Sunday matinee and headed west into a brilliant LA sunset, it may [...]
NO. SAINTS LANE: 67% – SWEET
SWEET It’s amazing what a fledgling theater company filled with enthusiasm and youthful abandonment can do with a black-box space, a couch that looks like it was lifted from a scene study workshop, and a little more than a dozen lighting instruments. With respectful deference to company member Eric Czuleger’s audacious black comedy, written for [...]
The Thursday Thought
I’ve been in story meeting like this. If you find yourself in one, remain calm, try to remain fixed in reality, take notes, nod, don’t look them directly in the eye – then leave and go to the nearest bar.
Pasadena Playhouse Makes Bold New Move for Vacated Second Stage: Late Night Catechism 3
Groan. If you didn’t catch the irony dripping from that title up there, then let me help you out here: the Pasadena Playhouse, the company that closed its doors for several months because of financial woes, re-opens, and decides to make a bold move to instill new hope in its future by ousting the promising [...]
BOOMERMANIA (RE-MOUNT NOHO ARTS CENTER): 79% – SWEET
BITTERSWEET The framework for inspiring theatre is there, but the show needs subtlety and more of the intelligent insight; how else can we be expected to take in such a huge subject? I fear, though, that audiences may flock to this the same way that they supported the silly Smokey Joe’s Café and the latest [...]
WRINKLES: 83% – SWEET
SWEET Yet there’s also something a little distasteful about the piece’s steadfastly surface-level approach to the porn world’s creepier aspects — and the farce’s energy wanes midway through, when the play’s one joke has reached its saturation point. Still, the show’s saved by deft and hilarious turns from Hill’s ferocious “tiger mom,” and by the [...]
ARK Theatre Lab Shows: February 23rd (UPDATE: SECOND SHOW MOVED TO TUESDAY, MARCH 1ST)
UPDATE: Due to some unforseen conflicts, the second show of the workshop has been moved to TUESDAY, MARCH 1ST. Same place, same time. So the schedule now is TOMORROW, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 23RD AND NEXT TUESDAY, MARCH 1ST. Sorry for the inconvenience. Hope some of y’all can still make it. Just a gentle soothing reminder that [...]
THE AUTHOR: 100% – SWEET
SWEET The Author is not so much an examination of these roles in the world of theater as it is an illumination, a recognition of all the necessary parts. Poetic and intense, humorous and endearing, the voices of the piece are as varied and random as the lighting cues seemed to be; and yet as [...]
The Monday Moment
A sequence of lines traced by 500 individuals. Kind of like the telephone game. Whisper a phrase into someone’s ear and have them repeat it exactly to the next person. It changes. Kinda like evolution. At least I believe that was the point of the video by artist Clement Valla. And it’s a good one. [...]
GIGI (REPRISE THEATRE COMPANY): 78% – SWEET
BITTER Still, the results are wan. A faint glow of nostalgia gets smothered in an overall atmosphere of “eh.” Daryl H. Miller – LA Times BITTERSWEET Reprise’s production of Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe’s Gigi, now at the UCLA Freud Playhouse, is more of a pleasant sparkling wine than the fine French champagne one [...]
Critique of the Week
THE BERLIN DIG Eve Meadows – Stagehappenings The synopsis of the play seems interesting and significant. We are in present day Germany where three friends meet. One is a Turkish native who denies the Armenian holocaust. The two others are staunch German nationalists who condemn the Hitler era but disagree about current Turkish immigrants who [...]
ROCK OF AGES (PANTAGES THEATRE/SEGERSTROM CENTER): 89% – SWEET
SWEET You will chortle, and you will sing along, and you will hate yourself in the morning — which may be the only way in which the show really faithfully re-creates the heyday of the infamous Rainbow Bar & Grill. Chris Willman – LA Times SWEET Director Kristin Hanggi pulls out all stops to keep [...]
SPRING AWAKENING (PANTAGES THEATRE): 100% – SWEET
SWEET On the contrary, SPRING AWAKENING suggests—as it is sung in the show’s final moving song—to “listen to what’s in the heart of a child.” When you’re given the opportunity to peer into what it means to be a teen in an adult-run world, take a moment… and just… listen. Michael L. Quintos – BroadwayWorld [...]
The Potable Quotable
“Just one final comment for the some of you who may be wondering. I am actually a life long and very proud flaming heterosexual. Such a condition does not in any way interfere with my ability to thoroughly enjoy this play.” Ron Irwin – LA Examiner Review of “But Not For Love”
NERVE (CHANCE THEATER): 100% – SWEET
SWEET The format of Adam Szymkowicz’s two-hander from 2006—a young couple at a bar at the end of their first date—is not only deceptively simple, it’s also a meditation on a number of issues related to love and romance, marriage, pairing off, and self-image and identity. As such, it’s an absolute showcase for the actors [...]
DANGEROUS BEAUTY: 75% – SWEET
BITTERSWEET Long story short, the discrepancy between the production’s lavish appearance and the musical’s cliché-ridden reality makes the illusion that we’re encountering something special impossible to sustain. Charles McNulty – LA Times SWEET Though the paper-thin story line rushes toward predictability with the passing of every prepackaged plot point, exquisite production values and outstanding singing [...]
THE CATHOLIC GIRL’S GUIDE TO LOSING YOUR VIRGINITY (FALCON THEATRE): 100% – SWEET
BITTERSWEET Hendy’s play skirts irreverence, and never really tackles the complications of growing up Catholic in today’s vanity and sex-obsessed culture. It is for audiences who desire no more than a few chuckles and a sweet, tidy ending – even when it is undeserved. Occasionally, Mr. Alexander was heaven. The repetitive nature of the play’s [...]
THE CRADLE WILL ROCK (STELLA ADLER): 75% – SWEET
SWEET History repeats itself in “The Cradle Will Rock” at the Stella Adler. In fact, it tops itself. This exceptional Blank Theatre Company revival of Marc Blitzstein’s 1937 landmark play not only justifies revisiting the past, it reminds us why theater matters to begin with. David C. Nichols – LA Times SWEET In bringing back [...]
THE BERLIN DIG: 33% – BITTER
BITTER However, the art of drama is to be able to weave interesting ideas and historical truths into a human story that includes relationship, self-discovery, empathy, and sometimes even catharsis; it does not beat the audience over the head with incessant facts and figures, a diatribe of political polemics and propaganda. Author John Stuercke would [...]
ALCESTE: 100% – SWEET
SWEET The plight of two exceedingly imperfect lovers separated by death, selfish desires, and soul-searing guilt burns with dramatic intensity in B. Walker Sampson’s free adaptation of the Euripides tragedy “Alcestis.” Director Darin Dahms masterfully mines the comedy of the mostly dark piece, bringing modern flair and stylish symbolism to the ancient text. Amy Lyons [...]
MOONLIGHT AND MAGNOLIAS (COLONY THEATRE): 100% – SWEET
SWEET This often hilarious, often biting behind-the-scenes peek into the neuroses and dysfunctions of three infamous industry giants as they swim through the muck and battle one another’s chest-high egos to create an epic motion picture succeeds on all levels thanks to Hutchinson’s acerbic wit and his innate ability to conjure an insightful send-up of [...]
BUT NOT FOR LOVE: 67% – SWEET
BITTERSWEET In the third act, the Everett seems to be trying to make all the valid arguments – trying to present every pro and con of the situation. However, these arguments just don’t ring true when coming from the characters that ultimately make them. Finally, there are two one-eighties in Act Three that feel contrived. [...]
THE REVENANTS: 60% – SWEET
SWEET The play is well written by Chicago-based playwright, Scott T. Barsotti. The special effects team is to be commended for “Zombie Transformation.” It is a show that all ages can enjoy – it is definitely unique. If you are twenty or thirty something….don’t miss it! Never seen a theatre production? Let this one be [...]