All Entries Tagged With: "ed rampell"
BRECHT ON BRECHT (ATWATER PLAYHOUSE): 100% – SWEET
SWEET On the small, basically barren stage, featuring five mismatched chairs and one door frame attendees must walk through to enter, the sense of being in for a real treat is palpable—and this welcome new mounting of the 1961 Off-Broadway classic does not disappoint. Travis Michael Holder – ArtsInLA SWEET Directed with a keen vision [...]
MASTER CLASS (INTERNATIONAL CITY THEATRE): 95% – SWEET
SWEET Though Berminghan’s interpretation of Callas is loaded with gravitas, credibility, and charisma, right down to her Arianna Huffington-like accent, McNally’s script may prove too pedantic for some and too profane for others. Actually based on Callas’ time as a teacher at the Julillard School, Master Class is, nonetheless, a learning experience for all. Ben [...]
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 [...]
TOMORROW: 91% – SWEET
SWEET Though this outstanding show will speak particularly to theater people, audiences of every stripe are sure to be enthralled. Iris Mann – Backstage SWEET That the emphasis of the play was not clear (at least to this critic) doesn’t diminish the effective impact of his love of the theatre and why it counts. Dale [...]
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 [...]
THE GRAPES OF WRATH (A NOISE WITHIN): 86% – SWEET
SWEET A Noise Within’s stellar production of Frank Galati’s 1990 Tony Award–winning stage adaptation honors the novel’s messages, bringing the work to the stage in a way that is sincere, memorable, and deeply relevant. Katherine Davis – Backstage SWEET A Noise Within’s production is agonizing but beautifully realized; it is an excellent example of how [...]
OTHER DESERT CITIES (MARK TAPER): 76% – SWEET
BITTERSWEET What should be a perfect storm, alas, isn’t. Working with watchable and often affecting material, Egan and his cast of five feel like they’re trying to wrestle two or three disparate plays into a shapable entity. Despite a career-stretching performance by JoBeth Williams and strong work by the consistently reliable Robert Foxworth, “Other Desert [...]
FAITH: PART I OF A MEXICAN TRILOGY: 100% – SWEET
SWEET The cast could not be better. Not only do America, de la Rocha, and Delgado resemble actual sisters, they are selflessly attuned to each other, the parents of Rodriguez and Lopez, Fernandez’s surrogate mom, and both suitors, with the decision to double cast Delgado as young Esperanza and Ponce as a priest quietly inspired. [...]
SEMINAR: 70% – BITTERSWEET
SWEET Theresa Rebeck’s “Seminar” is a sturdy example of a genre that once ruled Broadway but is now more or less defunct: the intellectual light comedy. With its literary lion (Jeff Goldblum) roaring and sniffing out red meat among his writing group’s eager acolytes, “Seminar” is fueled more by plot mechanics than by the thrum [...]
MACBETH (ANTAEUS): 95% – SWEET
SWEET From that heartbreaking opening funeral—director Kubzansky’s invention which informs the rest of the play—the couple’s intensity and depth of feeling for each other is riveting. Mr. Nagle gives the lord a humanity that is by turns appealing and appalling. Ms Auberjonois’ decent into madness is truly effective. Steve Peterson – Grigware Blogspot SWEET At [...]
HEARTBREAK HOUSE (THEATRICUM BOTANICUM): 100% – SWEET
SWEET Rarely will you see a production of such an intricate comedy of ideas rendered so clearly, and with such a clear purpose. Steven Leigh Morris – LA Weekly SWEET The open-air theatre of Theatricum Botanicum struck me as an odd choice for the company to perform Shaw’s Heartbreak House. I was wrong, very wrong. [...]
STONEFACE: THE RISE AND FALL AND RISE OF BUSTER KEATON: 94% – SWEET
BITTERSWEET There are insightful bits and pieces elucidating how Keaton came to be such a skilled filmmaker, but as constructed, the play can best be described as a travelogue of stereopticon slides of the brilliant star’s life, with scenes presented in a variety of formats – some of them straightforward, but most in the style [...]
HOLDING ON – LETTING GO: 100% – SWEET
SWEET Intelligently written, passionately acted and sponsored by one of the larger hospice services in the area, it walks one couple through the processing of grief. Grim as this may sound, the play offers a window on the wisdom and beauty that can accompany an essentially ugly thing. Frances Baum Nicholson – Pasadena Star-News SWEET [...]
THE WHO’S TOMMY (DOMA THEATRE): 70% – BITTERSWEET
BITTER The production at the Met has no such saving grace. Samuel Bernstein – Stage and Cinema SWEET Thanks to its terrific cast and band, The Who’s Tommy starts DOMA’s 2012 season with a bang. Steven Stanley – StageSceneLA SWEET This captivating rock opera musical is largely due to the handsome, talented, charismatic young actor, [...]
NEW JERUSALEM: 57% – BITTERSWEET
BITTER Breathing life into those ideas, however, requires performers who understand them. Setting aside flubbed lines, cadences and delivery frequently do not reflect a good handle on their meaning. Instead, emotional peaks arrive at arbitrary overacted moments, with insignificant sound and fury. Philip Brandes – LA Times BITTERSWEET Ives strives to make the theological debate [...]
TWENTIETH CENTURY (SIERRA MADRE PLAYHOUSE): 86% – SWEET
BITTER Though director Michael Lorre and his solid cast manage more than a few shining moments, the story feels stale and the ham-fisted comedy never hits its requisite screwball stride. Amy Lyons – LA Weekly SWEET Twentieth Century gives the venerable Sierra Madre Playhouse one of its best productions ever, and if you’ve never visited [...]
THE INDIANS ARE COMING TO DINNER: 86% – SWEET
SWEET This is a delightful play, sparkling with humorous dialogue and rib-tickling situations but at the same time, rife with a humanity that will, to use an applicable, old cliché, tug at your heartstrings. Ingrid Wilmot – Will Call BITTERSWEET Boasting some winning one-liners and artful emotional interactions, Rowland’s play teems with complex themes and [...]
AWAKE IN A WORLD THAT ENCOURAGES SLEEP: 100% – SWEET
SWEET Although sometimes outlandish in how it delivers its message, this cracked polemic’s originality and full-throttle attack are unmistakable. David C. Nichols – Backstage SWEET But on the stage, “Awake,” starring Barry with Joseph Culp (Don Draper’s surly father in those stylish “Mad Men” flashbacks) and the lovely Tacey Adams, is a masterpiece of comic [...]
RED HOT PATRIOT: THE KICK-ASS WIT OF MOLLY IVINS: 65% – BITTERSWEET
BITTERSWEET Kathleen Turner, who portrays Ivins in “Red Hot Patriot: The Kick-Ass Wit of Molly Ivins,” which opened Wednesday at the Geffen Playhouse, can’t quite duplicate the light East Texas drawl. (Turner’s signature husky tone sounds as though she’s been treating a sore throat by gargling with bourbon.) But the veteran actress has that same [...]
Is it Possible to Divorce Ideology from Aesthetics when Writing a Review or a Play?
No. I don’t think it is. Nevertheless, I think it is vitally important to try. Or at least understand the difference. Why? Well mostly because I think the ability to do so is what separates a “professional” critic from everyone else. And it is also what separates great plays from good ones. Let me define [...]
HOPE: 91% – SWEET
SWEET Add infidelity, a surprise pregnancy and a dash of romantic intrigue, and it equals a melodrama that’s fit for just about any age. Musical director Ben Taylor’s slate of oldies impressively evokes the period, while cast performances are uniformly good under José Luis Valenzuela’s direction. Lovell Estell III – LA Weekly SWEET Generally, however, [...]
PEACE IN OUR TIME (THE ANTAEUS COMPANY): 90% – SWEET
SWEET This handsome production will get an audience – with this many cast members, how could it not – but it especially ought to be seen by young people, and most specifically by those who don’t think they like theater. Disguised as imagined history, like all great art it’s about the future. It’s a very [...]
THE GOD OF ISAAC: 71% – BITTERSWEET
BITTERSWEET That said, under the sharp direction of Darin Anthony, the cast gives a uniformly professional, entertaining performance, bringing to life a play that does not have a single original idea, thought, or word. What Sherman has written instead is a play filled with recycled Jewish stereotypes spewing jokes that have been around for years. [...]
MY NAME IS RACHEL CORRIE: 70% – BITTERSWEET
SWEET The controversy surrounding “My Name Is Rachel Corrie” will not likely dissipate with its forthright Los Angeles premiere at the Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum. Still, local audiences of all ideological stripes can finally put this much-debated work into context, thanks to a remarkable title performance by Samara Frame. David C. Nichols – LA Times [...]
SANDRA BERNHARD: I LOVE BEING ME, DON’T YOU?: 100% – SWEET
SWEET She’s here through Monday, August 21, with nightly shows on the 13th, 14th and 17th-21st. Trek into downtown, Angelenos. You’ll leave with a stitch in at least one of your sides and a new found sense of empowerment. The animal within will surface. Lauren Lloyd – LAist SWEET But it’s this combination of glamour [...]
Critique of the Week – Runner Up
RICHARD III (THEATRICUM BOTANICUM) Ed Rampell – Hollywood Progressive Enjoying Shakespeare under the stars at Topanga Canyon’s Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum is de rigeur during summertime for Angeleno theatergoers. No July, August or September in L.A. is complete without an outing to this outdoor pantheon of plays when the Theatricum’s repertory season is in full [...]
RICHARD III (THEATRICUM BOTANICUM): 79% – SWEET
BITTER Maybe if Melora Marshall had been playing the title role –director Ellen Geer has employed cross-gender casting — on opening night, the production wouldn’t have seemed so pedestrian both conceptually and in pace. But the play, second only to Hamlet in length, needs the kind of sprightly staging that a theatre carved into the [...]
POOR OF NEW YORK: 80% – SWEET
BITTER Unfortunately this, a pastiche of 19th century text, early 20th century sentimentality and 21st century acting styles keep clashing as the performance rolls by. A few of the actors take the plunge into deep pathos, most notably Kate O’Toole and Juliana Olinka as mother and daughter Fairweather; and Van Boudreaux, who nearly channels Edward [...]
TIGER TIGER BURNING BRIGHT: 100% – SWEET
BITTERSWEET Despite outstanding performances by the women, Nickens’ lax and uneven staging (on lighting designer Chris Covics’ ramshackle kitchen-sink set) never gets beyond the play’s surface melodrama to plumb its far more tantalizing gallery of psychological grotesques. Bill Raden – LA Weekly SWEET Tiger Tiger examines how people can get so invested in lies that [...]
THE CHINESE MASSACRE (ANNOTATED): 75% – SWEET
SWEET The ensemble cast is expertly led by the visionary directing of Jeff Liu. Their collective talent carries the audience as the play vacillates between right brain emotionality and the rapid-fire delivery of historical dates and annotations designed to remove the viewer from the trauma of the events as they unfold. The cast delivers extraordinary [...]
