Ellen Dostal - Page 8

This adaptation of Shakespeare's classic tragedy has been reconceptualized to connect with the modern day #MeToo movement by offering an alternative explanation for one of its leading character's actions. It is built on the notion that all of the women are victims of sexual abuse - most specifically, Lady Macbeth - who, in this version, has been raped by King Duncan while her husband is off fighting the war.

What made the Hot List? THE ART COUPLE from Sacred Fools Theatre Company at The Broadwater, SELL/BUY/DATE at Geffen Playhouse, and ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL at Independent Shakespeare Co.'s new studio theater. Check out the latest recommendations below and go see a show! Reviews by BWW Sr. Editor Ellen Dostal (LADCC).

In The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, a young hotel manager optimistically states, in the face of every disaster: 'In India we have a saying, 'Everything will be alright in the end. So if it's not alright, it is not yet the end.' ' It's the same idea Shakespeare's heroine touts in ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL and, regardless of where it originated, it requires pluck.

Playwright Wendy Graf is best known for her uniquely dramatic works such as PLEASE DON'T ASK ABOUT BECKET, ALL AMERICAN GIRL, and NO WORD IN GUYANESE FOR ME.  But, in her latest world premiere, UNEMPLOYED ELEPHANTS - A LOVE STORY, she takes a lighter - and more formulaic - approach to her subject.

What made the Hot List? A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE at Theatre @ Boston Court, ALLEGIANCE by East West Players at the Aratani Theatre downtown, A WALK IN THE WOODS at Actors Co-op, and JACKIE UNVEILED at The Wallis. Check out the latest buzz below and go see a show! Reviews by BWW Sr. Editor Ellen Dostal (LADCC).

In Act 1 of JACKIE UNVEILED, Tom Dugan's new solo play about Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, she repeats a single phrase over and over. 'I'm no good alone.' The chain smoking, alcohol indulging former first lady has just learned that her brother-in-law (and secret lover) Bobby Kennedy has been assassinated. Now, in the wee hours of the morning, she is distraught.

It can be a wonderful adventure to watch two people falling in love, particularly when they themselves don't realize it's happening. When the adventure takes place on stage - as in John Caird and Paul Gordon's musical two-hander DADDY LONG LEGS - the audience has an advantage because they get to see the relationship develop from both points of view. The misunderstandings are more poignant, the coincidences even more delightful. By the time it becomes apparent to the couple in question, we've already fallen in love with them and are cheering them on to their eventual conclusion. Add music and the whole emotional journey becomes a romantic dream come true no fairy tale could tell better.

By the time Shakespeare gets to the last of his history plays concerning the Wars of the Roses, HENRY V, the party boy who would be king has become a man. Gone are the indiscretions of youth seen in the earlier HENRY IV plays, which follow young Prince Hal on his escapades with Falstaff and the Eastcheap gang. When HENRY V opens, it is the responsibilities of a monarch that now weigh heavily on the new king's head, amid increasing tensions with France.

In Bill Berry's solo show THE BRICK: A ONE MAN MUSICAL, Berry isn't addressing the audience in a theater. He's on a beach having a two-way conversation with his dead mother and we are the accidental eavesdroppers who witness their complicated relationship unfold piecemeal. The convention is more akin to a play than a typical solo performance, a smart decision that sidesteps many of the pitfalls solo artists often fall into. It isn't self-indulgent, doesn't require that the audience be his scene partner, and lets each person take the journey with him by not establishing a foregone conclusion.

So many productions are happening all over the city. Here's what made the Hot List: Bugaboo & the Silent One, The Hothouse, Cabaret, Pirates of Penzance, Shakespeare in Love, Disney's Aladdin. Go see a show!

Say what you will, The Hypocrites have found a way to transform traditional theatre into a form of entertainment that appeals to folks who'd rather go to a party than sit in a theater. And they've done it using Gilbert & Sullivan's operetta THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE. No joke.

It takes an awfully long time to get to the point in Philip Whitchurch's original one act play directed by Julia St. John. Set during a fictional night in the lives of William Shakespeare (played by Whitchurch) and his wife Anne (Sally Edwards) at their home in Stratford-upon-Avon, the story reveals a couple in their later years, bickering but still clearly in love, yet it takes nearly half the play and a frustratingly slow plod through its exposition to get there.

Here's a holiday gift Shakespeare fans will love Discount Tickets for SHAKESPEARE HIS WIFE AND THE DOG, coming to the Broad Stage January 18 28, 2018. This new comedy by Philip Whitchurch runs an hour and 3 minutes with no intermission and it looks terrific!

Last year Casa 0101 produced a lovely dual language version of Disney's Aladdin, which was so popular it extended its run and eventually transferred to a larger venue. Hoping to repeat that success, they have set their sights on another Disney classic but, this time, the production proves too ambitious an undertaking for the company.

Of all the holiday stories written, it would be hard to find one more well-known or popular than Charles Dickens' A CHRISTMAS CAROL. The redemption of a miser named Scrooge whose heart has forgotten the meaning of charity has been adapted, musicalized, spoofed, and dramatized in every medium imaginable, and, like all good cautionary tales, returns as a warning each December.

This year for the holidays, The Wallis has traded its typical musical theatre fare (Into the Woods/2014, Guys & Dolls/2015, Merrily We Roll Along/2016) for something a little less traditional but even more imaginative and fun Vesturport Theatre's THE HEART OF ROBIN HOOD by playwright David Farr.

For the last 25 years, Gerardo Alessandrini has paid homage to the Great American Musical in the best way he knows how, by skewering it relentlessly. It is an arena where nothing is off limits no diva, no composer, and no quirk of the genre, which is why his FORBIDDEN BROADWAY revues are as beloved as any book musical to grace the Great White Way. Now, the biggest game-changer since Rogers and Hammerstein, Andrew Lloyd Webber, or Stephen Sondheim came on the scene, has given him fodder for a new installment in his popular franchise - Lin-Manuel Miranda and his multi-Tony Award-winning mega-hit, HAMILTON: An American Musical.

Open Fist Theatre Company's revival of Ron West and Phil Swann's musical comedy DELEARIOUS has a lot going on. The production contains three storylines in three different time periods twisted together in a fast-paced, boisterous style that was an award-winning hit for the company in 2008. Nine years later, it still packs in more story than you can possibly keep straight but it also offers up plenty of laughs to go along with it.

Theatres have a way of becoming an artist's second home. It doesn't matter if you are a director, designer, actor, or volunteer the countless hours you invest and the close proximity in which you do your work often create friendships that last a lifetime. And each time you step back through those doors you feel like you're coming home. No one knows this to be true more than Joseph Leo Bwarie, whose current home away from home is the Garry Marshall Theatre in Toluca Lake. Bwarie has been connected with the theatre (known formerly as The Falcon) and the Marshall family for many years, and he recently stepped into a co-artistic directorship of the newly-rechristened theatre, along with another longtime Marshall associate, Dimitri Toscas.

Director Michael Michetti is the man of the hour. He has directed some of LA's most compelling productions and, for the past fifteen years, helped The Theatre @ Boston Court become one of the premier theatres for new and innovative work. He currently has a trio of shows on his directing calendar that all explore important and relevant issues to today's audience, regardless of when they were written.