All Entries Tagged With: "artsbeatla"
DYING CITY: 93% – SWEET
SWEET Directed by Michael Peretzian and starring Laurie Okin and Burt Grinstead, the production serves Shinn’s drama admirably. The acting is as meticulously observed as it is emotionally tense. And though confined to a cramped room, the staging fluidly handles the shifts of time and situation. Charles McNulty – LA Times SWEET The ambiguities that [...]
JOE TURNER’S COME AND GONE (MARK TAPER): 92% – SWEET
SWEET This powerfully acted production of “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone,” which opened Wednesday at the Mark Taper Forum under the direction of Phylicia Rashad, is a gift for audiences hungering for theatrical nourishment after being fed a steady diet of snacks. Charles McNulty – LA Times SWEET Thesps Keith David, Glynn Turman and John [...]
THE ROYALE: 68% – BITTERSWEET
BITTERSWEET “The Royale” doesn’t penetrate all that deeply into the story of a boxer who made history for himself, his sport and his country. But its lively manner of telling reanimates this breakthrough saga for a new generation. Charles McNulty – LA Times SWEET Daniel Aukin stages a mesmerizing spectacle with a perfect five-member ensemble. [...]
MISS JULIE (GEFFEN PLAYHOUSE): 67% – BITTERSWEET
BITTERSWEET A few minutes into this “Miss Julie,” you might think that the Geffen Playhouse started out with a traditionally cast “The Heiress” and then switched plays after losing a few key supporting players. Julie’s fall at the hands of this John isn’t so devastating. But the injustice of her money and his lack of [...]
HURACLOWN: 100% – SWEET
SWEET It isn’t all smiles: There are a couple of interludes where a dark melancholy sets in, and this otherwise cheerful clown turns pitifully sad. But for the most part it’s old-school clowning without techno frills, and with plenty of laughs for all ages. Lovell Estell III – LA Weekly SWEET A philosopher once observed [...]
ANNAPURNA: 94% – SWEET
SWEET From White’s poignant script to Bart DeLorenzo’s faultless direction to Megan Mullally and Nick Offerman’s beautifully centered performances, “Annapurna” is a lovely theatrical construct from the ground up. F. Kathleen Foley – LA Times SWEET Under the sturdy, austere direction of DeLorenzo and featuring two actors capable of such astonishing commitment to their art, [...]
SLIPPING: 100% – SWEET
SWEET The deconstructed text is challenging – hopping back and forth in place and time utilizing a plethora of short scenes packed into eighty-five minutes – but the experience is compelling and occasionally shocking (there is also male nudity in this production). Ultimately, the play’s strength lies in its honest depiction of abuse and loneliness. [...]
BILLY & RAY: 97% – SWEET
SWEET Still, the most fascinating aspect of “Billy & Ray” is Bencivenga’s smart, knowing script, which captures an important era in filmmaking fueled by two great minds who rose above their shared belief that “if there’s one thing Hollywood hates, it’s originality.” Travis Michael Holder – Backstage SWEET Mike Bencivenga’s World Premiere play Billy & [...]
END OF THE RAINBOW: 79% – SWEET
SWEET No real-life tragic heroine has ever gone into that good night quite as ungently as Garland does in “End of the Rainbow,” which manages to send you out wondering whether you’ve just seen a cautionary bummer or a high-on-life theatrical thrill-aganza. Better that we don’t have to decide and can just agree to mark [...]
THE WHALE (SOUTH COAST REP): 72% – BITTERSWEET
SWEET Director Martin Benson championed “The Whale” since he first encountered it, and his enthusiasm shows in every aspect of this production. Thomas Buderwitz’s cluttered set and Michael Roth’s thoughtful and subtle sound design are wonderfully effective. Each performance is filled with life and urgency, and we realize from the first moment that the stakes [...]
WOLVES: 69% – BITTERSWEET
BITTERSWEET Director Michael Matthews and his game cast intently embrace the darkness, but Yockey’s newest work doesn’t seem ready to be honored with such a ferociously ardent effort to make it whole. Travis Michael Holder – Backstage BITTER He directs the actors, to the varying degrees that they can take direction, toward real motivations and [...]
CHINGLISH (SOUTH COAST REP): 100% – SWEET
SWEET Directed by Leigh Silverman, who staged the work on Broadway, “Chinglish” gleams with witty intelligence about the dizzying divide that separates the world’s two economic superpowers. Charles McNulty – LA Times SWEET Hwang brilliantly blends character, dialogue, and the idea that even when bilingual interpreters are present, translations are fraught with errors and misconceptions, [...]
PETER PAN (PANTAGES): 96% – SWEET
BITTERSWEET Without negating the freshness of Rigby’s performance, “Peter Pan” in 2013 is ripe for a genuine reinterpretation rather than just the amiable rehash at the Pantages. Lewis Segal – LA Times SWEET Barrie has been unjustly overshadowed as a writer by this domineering success: while his plays often evince the sentimentality of arrested development, [...]
THE GRAND IRRATIONALITY: 60% – BITTERSWEET
BITTER Kennedy’s characters may talk about big ideas and make many sales pitches, but it’s unlikely that audiences will be sold on “The Grand Irrationality.” Katherine Davis – Backstage SWEET Is this play funny? Yes. Will Kennedy’s outlet for revenge stand the test of time and become a classic for the ages? Probably not. Is [...]
A CHRISTMAS CAROL: TWIST YOUR DICKENS: 67% – BITTERSWEET
BITTER What upsets me more is that the idea for Twist Your Dickens is phenomenal, but it ends up being a poor excuse for perplexing and annoying attempts at hilarity. Tony Frankel – Stage and Cinema SWEET This version of Dickens’ classic won’t live on nearly as long as the original. But it doesn’t really [...]
GATZ (REDCAT): 91% – SWEET
SWEET Theatre like this arrives once in a blue moon, and you don’t want to miss a word-for-word of it. Tony Frankel – Stage and Cinema SWEET In its simultaneous devotion to Fitzgerald’s text and ingenious expansion upon it, “Gatz” looks forward to an entirely new American theatrical form. It is quite simply not to [...]
INTIMATE APPAREL (PASADENA PLAYHOUSE): 100% – SWEET
SWEET Her fate is the subject of Lynn Nottage’s beautifully poignant play, “Intimate Apparel,” now receiving a sensitive production at Pasadena Playhouse under the direction of artistic director Sheldon Epps. Charles McNulty – LA Times SWEET The series of events that leads to Esther’s resolution, if somewhat predictable, was enough to get an engaged audience [...]
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 [...]
KRAPP’S LAST TAPE (KIRK DOUGLAS THEATRE): 96% – SWEET
SWEET The emphasis on humor in Michael Colgan’s visiting Gate Theater Dublin production, executed by the brilliantly talented John Hurt, makes it easier to swallow Beckett’s bitter pill. Bob Verini – Variety SWEET A truly great actor, Hurt’s performance is riveting. His voice, both the pre-taped version and when he speaks live, is rich with [...]
NOVEMBER (MARK TAPER): 67% – BITTERSWEET
BITTERSWEET “November,” though adept and amusing, is hardly hilarious and essentially harmless. The last is what’s most wrong with it. David C. Nichols – Backstage BITTER Given the hard, cramped Mark Taper Forum seats, I for one was very glad the show ran faster than its promised 80 extremely glib minutes. Jason Rohrer – Stage [...]
BY THE WAY, MEET VERA STARK: 73% – BITTERSWEET
SWEET “By the Way, Meet Vera Stark” would rather be antic than preachy. This is a reasonable if not an entirely necessary trade-off. But Lathan fills out the human dimension of a character Nottage clearly loves too much to weep over. Charles McNulty – LA Times BITTERSWEET The evening at the Geffen is overall something [...]
JUSTIN LOVE: 88% – SWEET
SWEET “Justin Love” could thrive from a move to larger quarters, where production numbers could be as grand as Lori Scarlett and David Manning’s catchy score and Scarlett’s delightfully irreverent lyrics, without losing the sweetness and simplicity of what ultimately emerges as a great Hollywood-style love story. Travis Michael Holder – Backstage SWEET Though a [...]
UNDER MY SKIN: 57% – BITTERSWEET
BITTER The cast is certainly lively — Yvette Cason’s snappy, streetwise Angel and Megan Sikora as Melody’s party-hearty sidekick practically do cartwheels for laughs. But nothing can prevent this dead-on-arrival show from being shipped straight to the comedy morgue. Charles McNulty – LA Times BITTER As helmed by Marcia Milgrom Dodge, the hijinks consistently push [...]
THE BOOK OF MORMON (PANTAGES): 100% – SWEET
SWEET This national tour production gets the job done, matching the stampeding verve, if not the granulated sharpness, of the original Broadway production. Charles McNulty – LA Times SWEET The joyous West Coast premiere of Trey Parker, Robert Lopez, and Matt Stone’s Tony-winning gusher doesn’t just meet expectations; it tramples them. Neither Broadway musicals nor [...]
SILENCE! THE MUSICAL: 91% – SWEET
SWEET Musically, the show wants only to get a rise out of the audience. Silliness is the name of the game, and there’s a slapdash quality to the proceedings that, were it not so openly embraced, might seem amateurish. Instead, the buffoonery (although a tad prolonged) seems almost artful. Charles McNulty – LA Times SWEET [...]
NO LOVE: 67% – BITTERSWEET
BITTER In a pre-show announcement, the audience is warned that there will be violence and nudity and told that if we like what we see, we should tell our friends. If we don’t like it, we are asked to still tell our friends that there is violence and nudity. There is violence and nudity. Travis [...]
ELEPHANT ROOM: 55% – BITTERSWEET
SWEET They succeed by the seat of their pants, which is to say through their collective free-form wits, recognizing that the only definition of theater that matters is the one that begins with giving pleasure to an audience. Charles McNulty – LA Times SWEET No, “Elephant Room” may not be theater—or work as well as [...]
THE GRONHOLM METHOD: 97% – SWEET
SWEET Director BT McNicholl does a laudable job of keeping the action kinetic while leading his actors to remain calm, cool, and cagey. All four performers are outstandingly understated, though their roles could be played to the hilt of theatrical grandiosity. Travis Michael Holder – Backstage SWEET Director BT McNicholl often takes the audience to [...]
MARY POPPINS (AHMANSON): 94% – SWEET
SWEET This is a lovely evening of theater, with everything and everyone operating at a gratifyingly consistent high level of professionalism. Samuel Bernstein – Stage and Cinema SWEET Mary Poppins is a thoroughly engaging, beautifully produced piece of musical theater. Jason Baxter – LASplash SWEET Baby boomers who are hungry for a heaping helping of [...]
RED (MARK TAPER): 94% – SWEET
SWEET Alfred Molina’s volcanic incarnation of painter Mark Rothko is reason enough to rush to the Taper for John Logan’s “Red,” to say nothing of the involving text and visual audacity of helmer Michael Grandage’s impeccably imported Donmar Warehouse production. Bob Verini – Variety SWEET In their finest moments, Logan’s script and Molina’s performance combine [...]
