All Entries Tagged With: "bill raden"
MAHMOUD: 83% – SWEET
SWEET The freshest and funniest material — aided by Davis’ smart and brisk staging — belongs to the 11-year-old Tara and her fixation on somehow mitigating the physical differences between her own dark complexion and that of her class’s most popular blond, blue-eyed girl. Bill Raden – LA Weekly BITTERSWEET Despite duo Fringe kudos, there [...]
THE SIZE OF PIKE (MOVING ARTS): 100% – SWEET
SWEET Boys will be boys and men will be men, though the distinction between the two is more likely one of personal income rather than emotional maturity. Or so it is with the three middle-aged children (Dennis Delsing, Jon Amirkhan and Gregg Christie) who explore their frayed adult bonds in this engaging revival of playwright [...]
THE NORTH PLAN: 67% – BITTERSWEET
SWEET The North Plan written by Jason Wells and directed by David Fofi presented by Elephant Theatre Company in its Los Angeles Premiere is a fast-paced, overlapping dialogue, prodigious show with wonderful performances by an astonishing cast who will have you on the edge of your seat! And the ending will have you begging for [...]
PROOF (WHITMORE-ECLECTIC): 100% – SWEET
SWEET Aliah Whitmore imbues Claire with just the right blend of sisterly concern and frustration with the ever-pendulant, combative Catherine. Whitmore also doubles as director, directing her two leads to perform their lengthy speeches with high intensity and volume. Gil Kaan – Culture Spot LA SWEET This is an excellent all-around effort, serving author David [...]
AMERICAN MISFIT: 63% – BITTERSWEET
SWEET Via songs by Mr. Dietz and Phillip Owen, painstaking and inventive direction by Michael Michetti, and the enthusiastic participation of a four-man rockabilly band and a cast of eight (some overlap there), this show shouts encouragement to those who would participate in a collective political and spiritual evolution. If the show were a person, [...]
SMOKEFALL (SOUTH COAST REP): 54% – BITTERSWEET
BITTER Those with a penchant for homespun elegy playfully whipped up may enjoy “Smokefall,” but the work is really a collection of derivative themes in search of a fleshed-out drama. Charles McNulty – LA Times BITTER Director Anne Kauffman and her talented design team contribute polish and visual wit but finally cannot disguise the fact [...]
S.O.E.: 75% – BITTERSWEET
BITTERSWEET Director Darin Anthony’s dynamic direction shifts seamlessly from the light-hearted to the cataclysmic, and his well-matched performers chart that progression with completely credible craft. However, once the play shifts from character study to unfolding mystery, Brandli should have conformed to the rules of the mystery genre. As it is now, her play devolves into [...]
ONE NIGHT WITH JANIS JOPLIN: 95% – SWEET
SWEET In a cosmic collusion of persona and perception, this electrifying concert musical resurrects the Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll with the sort of seismically sensational results normally encountered at stadiums and pop festivals. David C. Nichols – LA Times BITTERSWEET What with Carten carrying half the show, “One Night” is hardly a re-creation of [...]
THE LAST DAYS OF JUDAS ISCARIOT (VICTORY THEATRE): 66% – BITTERSWEET
BITTER Apart from a show-stealing cameo by John Gentry as Pontius Pilate, director Patrick Riviere’s muddied staging is unable to inject dramatic insight or urgency into Guirgis’ tendentious excuse for a Jesuitical catechism class. Bill Raden – LA Weekly SWEET A play so well-executed as is done here doesn’t come along that often — and [...]
TENDER NAPALM: 100% – SWEET
SWEET Tender Napalm is produced by Joe Morra, Lena Georgas, Edwards, Hamilton, and Paige, a labor of love that has paid off in a production which might not normally be this reviewer’s cup of tea, but in whose talented, committed hands, Ridley’s two-actor one-act becomes a theatrical adventure I am very glad I took. Steven [...]
THERAPY: 75% – BITTERSWEET
BITTERSWEET While the story is engaging and follows a plausible trajectory, tightening the threads of the plot to allow for longer development of the characters’ issues would improve the audience buy-in. At play’s end, the three therapists have begun to address their personal lives more proactively, but it is more mechanical and tidy than emotional. [...]
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 [...]
SOUTHERN GOTHIC NOVEL: 100% – SWEET
SWEET A tilt of the head here, and movement of a shoulder and a change of inflection and Blocker glides through the entertaining and intriguing story with just enough Southern-style flair to keep you wanting just one more helping. Trish Ostroski – Tolucan Times SWEET This was a truly immersive Play and there is no [...]
BACKBEAT: 65% – BITTERSWEET
BITTER The design team turns the Ahmanson stage into a virtual black-and-white movie. It’s nice to look at, but Leveaux never finds a way to piece together the two stories, especially in act two. The Beatles glide upstage and down on a platform, Sutcliffe and Kirchherr move across stage on a series of sofas and [...]
HOW TO SURVIVE A ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE (THEATRE ASYLUM): 100% – SWEET
SWEET The result is a comic home run that keeps the subject matter engaging even for those who, like this reviewer, have previously found this particular field of fiction to be of minor interest. Dink O’Neal – ArtsInLA SWEET The creative minds behind “HTSZA,” presented by Combined Artform and After Dark Entertainment, have delivered a [...]
NOTES FROM UNDERGROUND (ZOMBIE JOE’S UNDERGROUND): 88% – SWEET
SWEET exaggerated faces and take chances that would make a Meisner teacher question his calling. Does this creative abandon and lack of established boundaries work for the dark and brutally countercultural “Notes From Underground”? Like gangbusters. Travis Michael Holder – Backstage SWEET This kind of thing makes for difficult reading, and extremely difficult performing. Blomgren [...]
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 [...]
ONE NOVEMBER YANKEE: 83% – SWEET
SWEET Taking its name from the tail number of a crashed airplane, “One November Yankee” at the NoHo Arts Center is about a disaster rather than being a disaster, which is always the better side of the equation for a new play to be on. Philip Brandes – LA Times BITTERSWEET Overall, though, One November [...]
THE RIVALS (ACTORS GANG): 75% – BITTERSWEET
SWEET True, the goofy flamboyance often seems a tad effortful. But the fireworks of Sheridan’s verbal wit are still mesmerizing. Charles McNulty – LA Times SWEET Wit is of paramount importance in this sort of show, and, to its credit, director David Schweizer’s glimmering production—almost too hip and sassy for the Post Restoration Era—crackles with [...]
THE CIRCLE (THEATRE 40): 72% – BITTERSWEET
SWEET In reality it has extremely intricate things to say about them all. Maugham captures the poise of the elite in the ’20s with interpretations about the sexes and the very nature of human relationships, and most importantly, the real consequences of our actions. Director Jules Aaron forcibly seizes all of this, and leads his [...]
ONASSIS: 67% – BITTERSWEET
SWEET Suave, charming, ego maniac Aristotle Onassis comes to vivid life through the brilliantly modulated, cautiously executed and intensely focused performance of Anthony Skordi on the stage of the Stella Adler Theatre in Hollywood. Don Grigware – BroadwayWorld BITTERSWEET Skourdi’s transitions into other characters (Onassis’ Yaya, his father, his uncle and Maria Callas) are less [...]
WAR BRIDE: 100% – SWEET
SWEET One thing is certain. Samantha Macher’s historical drama with a twist is sure to get you talking once the lights have come back up following its stunning climax. Steven Stanley – StageSceneLA SWEET “War Bride” is a wonderfully written play and cleverly directed with some of the most intense stage performances you will see. [...]
TAPE (SMITH & MARTIN/NEEDTHEATER): 100% – SWEET
SWEET If you are a collector of site-specific shows, or have never seen “Tape,” this is your chance to enjoy a dirty little adventure with free parking. Charlotte Stoudt – LA Times SWEET Yet it’s not necessarily a demerit for Forester’s direction that his site-specific production assumes a quieter sense of irony about the situation, [...]
AN INCIDENT AT THE BORDER: 75% – BITTERSWEET
SWEET Incident at the border is a very enjoyable comedy that is sure to make you laugh. Jack Doehring – LifeInLA SWEET Understanding and not overworking Lynn’s dryly English sense of humor is essential here, and director Tracy Woodward educes two notable and one serviceable performance from his players. Travis Michael Holder – Backstage SWEET [...]
DOWN & DIRTY: 100% – SWEET
SWEET The whole production remains very fun, well worth the price of a ticket. David McDowell Blue – Night-Tinted Glasses SWEET Everything is finally brought into fine focus with the closing, company-performed finale of “No Regrets”: Edith Piaf’s stirring anthem of resilience in the face of youthful follies neatly redeems the show’s luridly pandering, all-male-authored [...]
THE PARIS LETTER (GROUP REP): 88% – SWEET
SWEET In fact, Jon Robin Baitz’ The Paris Letter with its breathtaking scope and poetic literary style may very well be categorized a new classic, and the current production is rendered so beautifully by a stellar cast and crew at Group rep through September 2. Don Grigware – Grigware Blogspot SWEET Baitz’s script is literate, [...]
SIX CHARACTERS LOOKING FOR AN AUTHOR (PROMENADE PLAYHOUSE): 60% – BITTERSWEET
BITTER Less deserving is Douglas Matranga’s abysmally uninspired, leaden and half-baked staging. Matranga’s bizarre casting conceit of recruiting ticket buyers to “play” the two children of the titular six characters is only one of the insults that finally transform the under-rehearsed evening from the proverbial actor’s nightmare to the audience’s. Bill Raden – LA Weekly [...]
ROADKILL CONFIDENTIAL (SON OF SEMELE): 83% – SWEET
SWEET Rising playwright Sheila Callaghan’s smart, noirish script, with its poetic language and creepy characters, finds a perfect home with Son of Semele Ensemble. Its interpretation, the show’s West Coast premiere, is amusing and appropriately weird. Katherine Davis – Backstage SWEET At what point does creative freedom collide with moral accountability? Sheila Callaghan’s bleakly sardonic [...]
