All Entries Tagged With: "steven stanley"
THE CRUCIBLE (ANTAEUS): 87% – SWEET
BITTERSWEET As for the differing styles of delivery, it’s a brave theatrical device, but it was used for one of the few plays I know that doesn’t need deconstructionist staging. It’s like chipping away at some of the marble on Michelangelo’s David to display it in a smaller museum. Yes, there were moments that I [...]
CHESS (EAST WEST PLAYERS): 75% – BITTERSWEET
SWEET There’s much more to say about this vivid production, but its best left to experience yourself. There are things here and there that were different from previous productions of the show (“Someone Else’s Story” and “Pity the Child” are both moved to the first act, albeit fairly effectively) and the love story needed a [...]
THE WOMEN (THEATRE WEST): 100% – SWEET
SWEET The women created by Clare Boothe Luce may have been born a century or more ago, but her comedy classic remains as sharply-clawed and freshly-mascaraed as if it had been written just last week. Those requiring proof positive of the above need only check out the entertaining revival confectioned by The Women Of Theatre [...]
THE MATCHMAKER (ACTORS CO-OP): 100% – SWEET
SWEET With a whopping cast of 14 nutty actors darting on and off the stage, there are many belly laughs, and countless twists n’ turns to follow. Pat Taylor – Tolucan Times SWEET In a season that has included a brilliantly reconceived The World Goes Round and superbly acted revivals of Agatha Christie’s And Then [...]
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 [...]
PARADE (3-D THEATRICALS): 100% – SWEET
SWEET The company 3-D Theatricals attains a rarefied level of artistry with this arresting, beautifully appointed take on Jason Robert Brown and Alfred Uhry’s Tony-winning 1998 account of the notorious Leo Frank trial in 1913 Atlanta. David C. Nichols – LA Times SWEET At any rate, T. J. Dawson’s staging of Parade overcomes the boxy [...]
WHAT THE BUTLER SAW (MORGAN-WIXSON): 67% – BITTERSWEET
BITTER Problems plaguing the above cast members include overplaying, underplaying, mugging for laughs rather than allowing the laughs to come from the script, inserting unfunny physical shtick not in Orton’s script, and/or insufficient command of lines. Not everyone is ideally cast. All could have done much better with a firmer, surer, clearer directorial hand. Steven [...]
REAL MEN SING SHOW TUNES…AND PLAY WITH PUPPETS: 100% – SWEET
SWEET Like Avenue Q before it, Real Men Sing Show Tunes…and play with puppets proves that you can get away with just about everything (and keep even your oldest and most conservative matinee subscriber rolling in the aisles) if you do it with puppets. Looks like co-creators Louis and Santa Maria have a franchise on [...]
FLASHDANCE, THE MUSICAL (SEGERSTROM CENTER): 42% – SWEET
BITTER Most of the original score, though, is period-unspecific, ultra-low-grade, ingénue-with-a-dream stuff. Poor Alex has to sing what seem like thousands of lines about “knowing that this is my moment” and how leaping and falling is better than never leaping at all — generic, yearning ballads that Ariel, Beauty, and the heroine of “Tangled” all [...]
THE LARAMIE PROJECT & THE LARAMIE PROJECT: 10 YEARS LATER (CHANCE THEATRE): 100% – SWEET
SWEET By presenting both stagings in alternating performance slots as, essentially, two halves of one show, director Oanh Nguyen and company have created a nearly five-hour epic. The results are sobering and painful in their candor, but the sum total – the act of experiencing of both plays – is also richly rewarding. Eric Marchese [...]
COPS AND FRIENDS OF COPS: 83% – SWEET
SWEET Klier’s script builds to a riveting first-act climax with masterful pacing and economy. The second half would benefit from further development, particularly in the placement of some character revelations and digressive conversations that defy credibility given the high-stakes situation that’s been so skillfully established. Still, the fine performances keep this new piece as gripping [...]
FALLING FOR MAKE BELIEVE: 92% – SWEET
SWEET Director Jim Fall and Musical Director Keith Harrison bring unexpected magic to the already magical—a neat trick. Samuel Bernstein – Stage and Cinema SWEET Falling for Make Believe rejects “falling for” the usual “make believe” that has permeated such previous dramatizations of the life of lyricist Hart as the 1948 Hollywood movie Words and [...]
PETER PAN: THE BOY WHO HATED MOTHERS: 97% – SWEET
SWEET Most of the seven actors play multiple roles. They are all gifted with physical agility, grace, and easily switch between different realities and characters. As important is their ability to communicate wonder and joy believably — particularly as adults playing children — and the cast at the Blank Theatre is more than up to [...]
GOD’S MAN IN TEXAS (SIERRA MADRE PLAYHOUSE): 67% – BITTERSWEET
SWEET Though I can’t help wishing that Rambo had pruned down the Act One sermonizing that this particular reviewer found so alienating, God’s Man In Texas turns out to be quite a play, and one well worth driving over to picturesque Sierra Madre to experience. Steven Stanley – StageSceneLA BITTER Director Nancy Youngblut’s staging employs [...]
THE PARISIAN WOMAN (SOUTH COAST REP): 85% – SWEET
BITTERSWEET The result, at least in this entertaining if ultimately puzzling world premiere — which unites the star power of rising director Pam MacKinnon (“Clybourne Park”); actors Dana Delany, Steven Culp and Steven Weber; scenic designer Marion Williams; and sound designer Cricket S. Myers — still feels stuck between two genres, its transformation incomplete. Margaret [...]
A DOLL’S HOUSE (OLD GLOBE): 87% – SWEET
SWEET Ultimately, the evening belongs to Brandt’s dynamic, sensitive direction and Hall’s luminous portrayal. When intensely lyrical and sophisticated playwriting is treated with the utmost artistic insight, it becomes the apotheosis of theater, leaving us moved, touched, and inspired. Tony Frankel – Stage and Cinema SWEET The epoch may be historical and the costumes antique, [...]
THE MIRACLE WORKER (ACTOR’S CO-OP): 93% – SWEET
SWEET These actors bring visceral intensity to the battle of wits and will that erupts when Sullivan attempts to civilize the wild child, culminating in the ferocious battle over the breakfast table. Neal Weaver – LA Weekly SWEET That aside, it’s an earnest production and worth attending for the performances of the two leads. Kurt [...]
SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS (LA MIRADA THEATRE): 100% – SWEET
SWEET Well, here’s your chance to discover just why it flopped and why you should see it anyway. The ridiculously rousing and surprisingly satisfying Broadway-caliber revival which opened last weekend at La Mirada offers three things that keep the libretto and score from being stillborn on arrival: The most fantastic dance sequences you will ever [...]
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, [...]
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. [...]
THE BEAUX’ STRATAGEM (A NOISE WITHIN): 84% – SWEET
SWEET For educational value alone, it’s wonderful to see the play produced professionally, but under Julia Rodriguez-Elliot’s direction, A Noise Within’s production makes it clear why the play was so popular back in its day. “The Beaux’ Stratagem” is immensely funny, and it’s quite entertaining to watch such a well-crafted play. Katie Buenneke – Neon [...]
AMERICAN BUFFALO (GEFFEN): 80% – SWEET
SWEET David Mamet’s “American Buffalo” is set in a junk shop, but there are jewels to be found in the play and they are thrillingly laid out for us in the Geffen Playhouse’s dynamically acted production directed by Randall Arney. Charles McNulty – LA Times SWEET Nevertheless, Mamet’s world, despite its grounding in acute social [...]
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 [...]
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 & [...]
THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST (THEATRE BANSHEE): 67% – BITTERSWEET
SWEET Though the characters in Oscar Wilde’s masterpiece live in a world without cars, telephones, and radios, let alone TV, the Internet, and social media, there’s not a moment of The Importance Of Being Earnest that feels stale or dated. Those in doubt need only head over to Theatre Banshee for proof positive that Earnest [...]
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 [...]
REMEMBRANCE (THEATRE 40): 100% – SWEET
SWEET Under the astute direction of Tim Byron Owen, an extremely talented cast brings these complicated characters to life. Carol Kaufman Segal – Stagehappenings SWEET “Remembrance” is a very special love story that you, too, will long remember. Shari Barrett – BroadwayWorld SWEET In spite of its 3 hour length, Remembrance is enjoyable dramatic fare, [...]
NUTTIN’ BUT HUTTON: 75% – BITTERSWEET
SWEET Winningly directed by Larry Raben and featuring a versatile set by Jeff McLaughlin that morphs from Heymeister’s office to a swanky two-story art deco stage, “Nuttin’ but Hutton” has a lot of somethin’. Travis Michael Holder – Backstage SWEET This is one helluva show that never lets up on entertainment value. Don Grigware – [...]
CHAPTER TWO (LITTLE FISH): 100% – SWEET
SWEET Neil Simon’s Chapter Two is but the latest reason for Los Angeles theatergoers to head on down the 110 to San Pedro and check out this gem of a Little Fish in our very big L.A. theater pond. Steven Stanley – StageSceneLA SWEET The four actors who perform this riveting piece are not only [...]
HAVING IT ALL (LAGUNA PLAYHOUSE): 100% – SWEET
SWEET Still, with eye-catching costuming by Ann Closs-Farley and an exquisite lighting motif by Luke Moyer, Having it All has nearly everything it needs to be an enjoyable musical excursion. Ben Miles – Showmag SWEET Having scored a grand total of seven Ovation Award nominations in its 2011 World Premiere run, the hit musical Having [...]
