LOS ANGELES THEATER REVIEWS

With the release of her new CD Crazy Little Things in April, actress/singer Lynda Carter and her band opened a three day gig @ the Catalina Jazz Club in Hollywood on Thursday, March 31 to a wildly enthusiastic crowd. Carter, best known for TV's Wonder Woman in the 70s is still incredibly gorgeous an...

As I sat through Becky Mode's Fully Committed for the third time, I realized just how many meanings the title has. First, as it takes place in a restaurant, fully committed means that lunch or dinner reservations are completely booked. Secondly, it indicates that a person is 100% devoted or dedicate...

Playwright Kathleen Clark has fashioned a very sweet play Southern Comforts about two aging people, both widowed, who decide to tie the knot for the second time, with each other. Now onstage @ ICT, Long Beach it boasts fine direction from Jules Aaron and two superlative performances from Michael Lea...

If you want to laugh your tush off, you cannot afford to miss Alexandra Billings as Katie Hepburn @ the Celebration Theatre. This silly 70-minute piece Katie's Corner is a loosely structured improv where an older Kate Hepburn gets about as demented as one could imagine, saying and doing any f----n' ...

On Sunday March 20 Broadway's former Young Cossette of Les Mis pretty Demaree Alexander brought her cabaret act to Sterling's Upstairs @ Vitello's with a bevy of talented guests on board. This young lady has a background not only in Broadway pop music but also in country; consequently, she nicely es...

On Sunday March 13 actor/singer/impressionist Perry Lambert returned to Sterling's Upstairs @ Vitello's with The Perry Lambert Show. The one thing that people can say about Lambert, apart from the fact that he is multi-talented, is that he abounds with an infectious energy which keeps the show movin...

Arguably the biggest blockbuster stage musical of this fresh century, WICKED has returned to Orange County for an almost month-long engagement at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts through April 3. The stage musical -- a consistent box-office hit since its Broadway debut seven years ago -- has ballo...

The 2006 movie dramedy Little Miss Sunshine was and still remains such a low-key charmer that to attempt to simulate it on stage with music is at once challenging, courageous and perplexing. Why? Why retell a story that is so perfect on film unless you can achieve a brand new and interesting take on...

'Tale as old as time' nails the complex simplicity of Beauty and the Beast the quintessential story of true love, the most difficult to obtain and sustain. Disney's adaptation of the fairy tale with its sweepingly imaginative spectacle wins over even the hardest of hearts. The animated film was such...

On Saturday March 5 comic actor Jim J. Bullock debuted a whole new cabaret act entitled Different @ Sterling's Upstairs @ Vitello's. Expecting the silly, over-the-top zaniness that has characterized Bullock's work on TV and stage over the past 30 years, the audience was blown away by his ferocity, w...

You know you're in for a naughty good time when a show includes graphic puppet sex, cute but sadistic bears, and a special appearance by TV's Gary Coleman. What can somewhat be described as a very, very adult-leaning, expletive-spewing cousin of the iconic PBS children's series Sesame Street, AVENUE...

Insatiable avarice is at the core of Tennessee Williams last play (1980-82) A House Not Meant to Stand, now receiving its West coast premiere at the Fountain Theatre. Astutely directed by Simon Levy and performed by a brilliant ensemble, this House has the symbolism and lyricism expected of Williams...

The second longest-running show in Broadway history, CATS, that renowned Andrew Lloyd Webber musical that purred its way to a Tony win for Best Musical in 1982, is certainly one of those shows almost everyone and their mother has seen at least once. It is also most notably known for being the musica...

The issues of gay marriage and fidelity in marriage in general are explored with humor, intelligence, and a genuine optimism in David L. Ray's Caught, now extended at the Zephyr Theatre through April 3. Fans of Del Shores and Southern Baptist Sissies will see parallels. Growing up Southern Baptist a...

When did the Pantages Theatre turn into a nostalgia rock concert venue? 2011 so far has featured 60's-set HAIR and the 1891 emo rockers of SPRING AWAKENING and now, it plays host to the national tour of ROCK OF AGES, the surprising yet undeniably hilarious Tony-nominated jukebox musical that feature...

The play Spring Awakening by Frank Wedekind, which was written in Germany in the late 19th century was censored for a time due to its portrayal of masturbation, abortion, homosexuality, rape, child abuse and suicide. Treating the rocky sexual coming of age of a group of teenagers, its helter-skelt...

After a successful and Tony nominated run on Broadway, Moises Kaufman's latest play, 33 Variations, opened Wednesday evening at LA Center Theatre Group's Ahmanson Theatre. ...

It's been just a little more than a year since a touring production of SPRING AWAKENING has graced a theater filled with screaming fans here in Southern California. While the touring cast list has certainly changed, many of the same brilliant elements that made this 2007 Tony winner for Best Musical...

Pedro Antonio Garcia's hard-hitting Firehouse, based on a real-life incident of the past decade, receives its world premiere at the Whitefire Theatre in Sherman Oaks. Under the steady hand of director Bryan Rasmussen (who also costars as the Captain), the play packs a punch as a razor-sharp indictme...

In his lovely script The Trip to Bountiful Horton Foote engages our attention with his keen appraisal that 'The world can't be bought'. Believing the best things in life are free - well, almost..., elderly Carrie Watts (Gwen Van Dam) proves just how healing a return to one's roots, however brief, ma...

On the evening of Saturday, January 29, two of the original stars of Jonathan Larsen's Pulitzer Prize-winning Broadway musical RENT, Adam Pascal (Roger) and Anthony Rapp (Mark), shared a double-bill concert at the Barclay Theatre in Irvine, California. The concert was part of a concert tour which th...

The debate over same-sex marriage is the overarching theme of David L. Ray's stirring new world premiere play 'CAUGHT,' now performing at the Zephyr Theatre in West Hollywood for an extended engagement through February 13. Set in the months before voting on Prop. 8 happened, this thoughtful, sometim...

Directed with great care and blissful appeal, this spiritually buoyant new touring production of the 2009 Tony Award-winner for Best Musical revival, HAIR: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical revels in its naughty, raucous fun and its sonically adventurous musical soundtrack. A delightful hybrid o...

An accomplished comedienne, an emotionally powerful actress, and a gifted vocalist worthy of large marquees, Foster allowed all three to be fully experienced live in her exquisite showcase An Evening with Sutton Foster, a song collection of her Broadway hits, personal favorites, and selections from ...

Between the Southern California arrivals of Lincoln Center Theatre's impressive SOUTH PACIFIC revival and the Tony-winning NEXT TO NORMAL tour starring Alice Ripley, to the incredibly entertaining offerings from regional and smaller theaters in the area, 2010 was a banner year in musicals and plays....