All Entries Tagged With: "andrea kittelson"
COOPERSTOWN: 89% – SWEET
BITTERSWEET Director Darryl Johnson seems to hope we’ll sail over these logical gaps on the power of catharsis alone, but we could use a little more help from Golden. Robinson may be destined to be a metaphor forever, but another draft or two could help these promising characters escape a similar fate. Margaret Gray – [...]
MELANCHOLIA (LATC): 100% – SWEET
SWEET Valenzuela skillfully blends elements of music and choreography into this timely play, and his sizable ensemble performs efficiently in multiple roles. Lovell Estell III – LA Weekly SWEET The ensemble cast forms Mario’s community exquisitely, executing narrative twists and turns with power and grace. Lydia Kapp – LifeInLA SWEET Melancholia is an impressive piece [...]
DREAMGIRLS (DOMA): 100% – SWEET
SWEET You’ll definitely enjoy the glitter and the spectacle. Serita Stevens – LASplash SWEET Armed with some impressive singers, this latest production of Dreamgirls does not disappoint. Darlene Donloe – Donloe’s Lowdown SWEET The latest offering “Dreamgirls” Directed by Marco Gomez is yet another glowing example of what musical theatre should be. As the cast [...]
COMPLETE: 58% – BITTERSWEET
SWEET The play is always interesting and fun to watch, and director Jennifer Chambers keeps the comedy in the forefront, but the insistently nonlinear structure sometimes proves distracting. Credibility also is an issue. Neal Weaver – LA Weekly SWEET The play goes back and forth in time, and director Jennifer Chambers, who was once a [...]
THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY OF STEVE JOBS (THEATER ASYLUM): 83% – SWEET
BITTER Overall this is not really a night of theater. It is a night of soap-boxing, and a poor one at that. Mickala Jauregui – A Little Night Musing SWEET In short, “The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs” is a wonderfully-orchestrated piece of theater that successfully walks the fine line between entertainment and [...]
I DON’T HAVE TO SHOW YOU NO STINKING BADGES (CASA 0101): 86% – SWEET
SWEET Casa 0101 artistic director Josefina Lopez, director Hector Rodriguez, and the cast and crew should be very proud of this stellar production. Addressing issues with racial stereotypes is a very challenging thing to tackle but I Don’t Have To Show You No Stinking Badges does so with a sense of humor and realness that [...]
WALKING THE TIGHTROPE: 100% – SWEET
SWEET Director Debbie Devine and her cohorts have fashioned from scratch something incredibly special, suggesting the feeling of a sweet summer dream staged by Federico Fellini. Travis Michael Holder – Backstage SWEET Devine’s staging is quite entrancing, and White even overcomes the perils of being a grown woman cast as a young girl. Don Shirley [...]
THE SNAKE CAN: 80% – SWEET
SWEET Yet Graf’s core instincts are sound, the quips and faceoffs suggesting actual human discourse, and Kaczmarek and Harrison form the tonal poles of a wonderful ensemble. See it with someone you love in spite of yourself. David C. Nichols – LA Times BITTERSWEET Director Steven Robman does the heavy lifting of keeping his talented [...]
THEIR EYES SAW RAIN: 80% – SWEET
SWEET Their Eyes Saw Rain may have an all too predictable and tragic trajectory, but it’s a trip worth taking. Pauline Adamek – LA Weekly SWEET Their Eyes Saw Rain is an investment of the emotional kind, with characters that grab your attention the minute they appear on stage, creating an atmosphere of dread and [...]
SMOKE AND MIRRORS (ROAD THEATRE): 96% – SWEET
SWEET “Smoke and Mirrors” handily demonstrates Selznick’s conquest of his own greatest fear — being a nobody. Perhaps his greatest trick of all: making boredom completely disappear. Philip Brandes – LA Times SWEET This is a fabulous show for kids of all ages. Don Grigware – BroadwayWorld SWEET Fans of his work on stage and [...]
IN THE RED AND BROWN WATER: 100% – SWEET
SWEET Beyond the fact that it is sensational, the Fountain Theatre’s production of “In the Red and Brown Water” by Tarell Alvin McCraney is important for two reasons: It introduces Los Angeles audiences to a dramatic poet in the process of discovering his singular voice and it shows how magnificently one of L.A.’s better small [...]
THE BELLE OF BELFAST: 100% – SWEET
SWEET It’s a smart if slightly derivative play that holds its grip with the glue of a good soap opera. What it says about humanity may be slightly obvious, but the production is so carefully crafted, it’s all worth the effort. Steven Leigh Morris – LA Weekly SWEET The Belle of Belfast playwright Nate Rufus [...]
Critique of the Week – Runner Runner Up
I’ve been picking on Andrea a lot over the last few weeks – though it’s been brought to my attention that she many not be fully aware of this – and as I’ve mentioned before, how I choose a COW (Critique of the Week) is very subjective, something simply jumps out at me, be it [...]
The Saturday Saying
“Critics make sure to sprinkle in at least one or two quotable lines that may be used by the publicist so that even if the reviewer doesn’t love the show, the theater company might still benefit in some immediate way from the critic’s presence.” Andrea Kittelson – from her review of “The Bellflower Sessions” (LA [...]
THE BELLFLOWER SESSIONS: 67% – BITTERSWEET
SWEET A gritty, hard hitting look at the dark places people’s psyches will go … when put in compromising life situations, this is a psychologically intriguing and most involving story. Pat Taylor – Tolucan Times BITTER Despite director Rasmussen’s clever compartmentalized staging and the valiant efforts of Nagle, Monks, and Erb, “The Bellflower Sessions” is [...]
XANADU (DOMA): 92% – SWEET
SWEET DOMA Theatre Company has hit it out of the park, er, out of the skating rink, with its production of “Xanadu,” a fun-filled, high-energy, camp evening of strong voices, good dancers and feel-good 1980s songs. Gil Kaan – Culture Spot LA BITTERSWEET The script is full of clever lines and funny quips and boisterous [...]
COLLECTED STORIES (ODYSSEY THEATRE): 82% – SWEET
SWEET The lives of writers are notoriously difficult to dramatize, but Margulies pulls it off persuasively, showing the two women at work, which leads to their growing intimacy. Director Terri Hanauer elicits fine performances from her cast and expertly calibrates the shifts in the women’s ever-changing relationship. Neal Weaver – Backstage SWEET Directed by Terri [...]
Critique of the Week
Andrea mixes a metaphorical cocktail that could kill a War Horse. Or a discerning reader. Drink deeply. HOUSE Andrea Kittelson – LA Examiner If the Rogue Machine Theatre were a neighborhood, and this production of House a bungalow for sale, I would head to the open house with a spring in my step and good-faith [...]
HOW OBAMA GOT HIS GROOVE BACK: 78% – SWEET
BITTERSWEET In short, “How Obama Got His Groove Back” is just good enough so that it should have been better. Frances Baum Nicholson – The Stage Struck Review SWEET How Obama Got His Groove Back is a romp of fitfully amusing political sketches. And when the jokes misfire, or knock you on the head for [...]
Critique of the Week
Once again Andrea solidifies her position as Queen Esoterica with this latest review. If it’s true that she writes these while sober, I’m hoping she might synthesize the essence of her bloodstream and lend me some for my bong. Oh, and I think she liked the play…but I can’t be sure… LORCA IN A GREEN [...]
LORCA IN A GREEN DRESS (CASA 0101): 93% – SWEET
SWEET Director Jennifer Sage Holmes has given this piece a coherence, providing imagery and pacing which build both the sense and the surrealism of the play into a working whole. Frances Baum Nicholson – The Stage Struck Review SWEET Not everyone will enjoy “Lorca in a Green Dress”—it is at times opaquely symbolic and lacks [...]
JEKYLL AND HYDE (DOMA THEATRE): 94% – SWEET
SWEET Although this musical rendition of Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic novella Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde has often received mixed reviews, I found DOMA’s production thoroughly entertaining (if too loud). Elyse Cook – Stagehappenings SWEET But for this strong revival of Jekyll & Hyde, under the skillful direction of Marco Gomez, praise [...]
HOUSE (ROGUE MACHINE): 83% – SWEET
SWEET You can see why Smith was attracted to this role — it would be a plum opportunity for any actor — and also why director Nitzkin pegged him, with his beautiful speaking voice and edgy charisma, to be master of this “House.” Margaret Gray – LA Times SWEET Were this just a bath of [...]
TRIO LOS MACHOS: 58% – BITTERSWEET
BITTERSWEET Although the production feels bumpy and under-rehearsed, its portrait of the trio glows with a deep and memorable sympathy. Margaret Gray – LA Times SWEET The cast members are stronger musicians than they are actors, and the gifted guitarists and impassioned singers carry the play to its greatest emotional heights. Sara Taylor Ellis – [...]
THE NEW ELECTRIC BALLROOM (ROGUE MACHINE): 91% – SWEET
SWEET The somber vaudevilles his characters compulsively return to aren’t always easy to follow, but the emotion behind their theatrical expression is made crystal clear in this haunting production. Charles McNulty – LA Times SWEET These characters make a thoroughly engaging impression, performances are top-flight, and Leigh Allen’s lighting design and John Perrin Flynn’s direction [...]
WHERE THE GREAT ONES RUN: 58% – BITTERSWEET
SWEET Roberts, the creator of “Mike & Molly,” has a quick way with a one-liner, even if he overpopulates the stage, proliferating subplots while missing the opportunity for more musical numbers. No matter. Kober is credible as a star, and Jennifer Pollono steals the show as a waitress who over-shares. Rode hard and put away [...]
Critique of the Week
Okay here’s my question to the LemonHeadNation; was Andrea really drunk when she wrote this review, or was she just really, really sober? THE IMAGINARY LIFE OF THE STREET SWEEPER, AUGUST G Andrea Kittelson – LA Examiner When critiquing anything French I look to French philosopher John-Paul Sartre for inspiration because Sartre asked a lot [...]
THE IMAGINARY LIFE OF THE STREET SWEEPER, AUGUST G: 64% – BITTERSWEET
SWEET Part musical, multi-media and art The Imaginary Life of the street Sweeper, August G. is anything but another play. The media tools used elevate the show which makes it meaningful and fun to watch. Mary E. Montoro – LifeInLA BITTERSWEET Employing a diverse, 31-piece cast in a fractured narrative that plays fast and loose [...]
EL NOGALAR: 78% – SWEET
SWEET As soon as Gottesman speaks, though, you understand why she was cast; her Maite is charismatic, joyful, insane, a force of nature. Saracho’s boldest update is making the dynamic between Maite and Lopez overtly sexual. After their sadistic, heartbreaking love scene, hauntingly lit by Lonnie Rafael Alcaraz, I will never be able to look [...]
MY THREE ANGELS (GROUP REP): 100% – SWEET
SWEET Now on stage at Group rep in NoHo, Larry Eisenberg’s production of My Three Angels emanates heart and soul guaranteed to make it a truly big hit this holiday season. Don Grigware – BroadwayWorld SWEET A highly entertaining comedy, with plenty of laughs, a lot of heart, and some wonderful performances, this one is [...]
