LOS ANGELES THEATER REVIEWS

You may think you've seen it all before but GENERATION ME isn't just another story about teen suicide. In all honesty, this new full-length musical from three first-time writers is the surprise of the festival. It has moments - a lot of them - that will knock the wind out of you, and for much of the...

Queer Classics re-imagines one of the most popular comedic plays ever written - Oscar Wilde's THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST by presenting the four lovers in the story as dashing gay men. Director Casey Kringlen brings this sassy comedy to the Hollywood Fringe Festival, mining hysterical new meani...

THE BEST OF CRAIGSLIST started in 2012 as a comedic web series on Funny or Die starring John Pick. In early 2013, after taking the video characters live for a couple of solo performances, Pick designed a rotating ensemble-based performance using real Craigslist posts as source material. Any of us w...

Vanessa Claire Stewart's Stoneface, the Rise and Fall and Rise of Buster Keaton, first produced at Sacred Fools Theatre Company in 2012, finds fresh life in a newly remounted production simply titled STONEFACE at Pasadena Playhouse. With a bigger budget, more space in which to play, and clearly enha...

So what's the big selling point for this new national touring production of JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT, which continues its three-week stop at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood through June 22? Well, how about a pair of better-known American Idol alums in the lead roles... a pair t...

The World Premiere of ROCK & ROLL'S GREATEST LOVERS, with music by Anzu Lawson and Joerg Stoeffel, book and lyrics by Anzu Lawson, tells the Romeo and Juliet story of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, two rebels from opposite ends of the world who stood together in the name of LOVE only to face every kind o...

A frightening thing happens when a woman plays the title role in a gender-reversed King Lear; the betrayal and revenge between mother and sons takes on an added level of horror. What was already tragic to begin with, as originally written for a father and daughters, now feels even more threatening i...

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In the history of the Roman Catholic Church, one papal election curiously stood apart. After Pope Paul's death in 1978, a compromise pope was elected, Albino Luciani, who named himself Pope John Paul I. His reign lasted a mere 33 days when, in apparent good health, he died suddenly, creating the sus...

Is it the role or the actor that lives on through history? In DRAMATIS PERSONAE Kristopher Lee Bicknell gives a tour-de-force performance starting out as a modern actor dressed in stage blacks, going through his warm-up exercises to great classical music as the audience is seated. The actor brings b...

This is the kind of musical even non-musical theatre folks will love! Forget any idea of skipping it because it is a hilariously fun send-up of the 1950s and sci-fi B-movies directed by Dan Spurgeon and choreographed by Anna Safar with spot-on cheeseball precision, featuring a cast that knows how to...

Jo March really thinks she could be the voice of her generation….or at least, a voice of a generation in WOMEN, the record-breaking hit from #Serials @ The Flea Theater, fresh off its sold out run in NYC, which is now at The Hollywood Fringe Festival, directed by Stephanie Ward. This fast-paced co...

Michael Sterling celebrated the 8th anniversary of his popular Supper Club, Sterling's Upstairs at the Federal, on Monday, June 9th, continuing a tradition he began in 2006 to honor his dear friend and mentor, Rosemary Clooney. Sterling promised her that he would make sure future generations would b...

Bye Bye Birdie/book by Michael Stewart/music by Charles Strouse; lyrics by Lee Adams/directed by John LaLonde/choreographed by Hector Guerrero/Candlelight Pavilion Dinner Theatre, Claremont/through July 13...

Hot August Night/Neil Diamond tribute concert with Dean Colley/at Monroe Forum Theare, El Portal, NoHo/through June 15...

The Fantasticks/book & lyrics by Tom Jones/music by Harvey Schmidt/directed by Janet Miller/Good People Theater Company/at The Lillian Theatre/through June 29...

First to take on this brave task of bringing a regional production of the hit musical LES MISERABLES to the L.A./O.C. area is McCoy-Rigby Entertainment, that regional theater powerhouse that has consistently and successfully put on some magnificent, Broadway-caliber productions at their home base at...

An Idaho film festival reunites a pair of estranged screenwriters in the new musical DOG AND PONY by Rick Elise (Peter and the Starcatcher, Jersey Boys) and Michael Patrick Walker (Altar Boyz). As Mags (Nicole Parker) and Andy (Jon Patrick Walker) rehash memories from their 13-year partnership, we q...

Mariah Bonner strikes quite a figure as the narrator of these 5 short plays by The Alliance of Los Angeles Playwrights (ALAP). Encouraging the audience to post on social media about the show, many in the audience were more than happy to oblige! Each of the 5 plays poses questions about sexual orie...

Organized disorder and unintended hilarity. Dropped lines and missed entrances. Forgotten props and late sound effects. Certainly those of us ever involved with producing, directing, or being in a play know how the combination of all these things can lead to a flop. Lucky for the cast of DROP DEA...

Jon Robin Baitz's Other Desert Cities receives a superb mounting at the International City Theatre (ICT) in Long Beach with streamline direction, expert acting, and top-notch technical accoutrements....

Thanks to Carole Eglash-Kosoff's World Premiere production of her play THE HUMAN SPIRIT at the Odyssey Theatre directed with insight and compassion by Donald Squires, I now have a much clearer understanding of the horrible decisions made by white Europeans leading to apartheid against native black A...

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat/lyrics by Tim Rice/ music by Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber/directed & choreographed by Andy Blankenbuehler/Pantages Theater/through June 22...

On Sunday June 1 Joan Ryan brought her 2013 BWW award-winning show to the Catalina Jazz Club. The show was recently retitled On the Edge. The evening was a benefit for the Trevor Project and brought a special guest star to the stage Will and Grace's Eric McCormack....

It was only natural that former Los Angeles Times writer and current Deadline|Hollywood contributor Diane Haithman would one day turn the tables on the town she has covered with such precision for the last 25+ years. A writer after my own heart, she also knows her Shakespeare Ps and Qs....