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BWW Reviews: ROSES Smell Sweet at Mark Taper Forum
Frank D. Gilroy's Pulitzer Prize-winning play The Subject Was Roses depicts a dysfunctional family circa 1946 whose son returns from WWII... a man. The strained day-to-day relationship between the mother and father changes for the better with his return, but only briefly, as buried feelings surface ...
BWW Reviews: Feminism Takes Center Stage with THE FEMALE of the SPECIES
Hearing Margot Mason's (Annette Bening) brash opening words on the phone to her publisher 'F*** You!', people will either automatically turn on or turn off to Joanna Murray-Smith's The Female of the Species about the misadventures of a fictional best-selling feminist writer plagued by writer's block...
BWW Reviews: Theatre West Revives Arthur Miller's THE PRICE
Arthur Miller's talky play The Price does not quite stand up to his masterpieces All My Sons or Death of a Salesman. Focusing in on the disagreement between two brothers who come together for the first time in 16 years to sell off their father's antiques, it has its moments of tenderness and deep fe...
BWW Reviews: BARK! The Musical Woofs Louder @ CLOSBC, Redondo Beach
When I first reviewed Bark! The Musical at the Coast Playhouse in 2004 for reviewplays, I said it was a musical 'worth yip, yip, yipeaying about. Woof, woof, woof for joy!' Well, now it's on a much bigger stage in Redondo Beach, and because of a fantastic cast and creative team this very intimate li...
BWW Reviews: MTW Honors SWEENEY TODD
Hard to believe, but Sweeney Todd first bowed on Broadway in late 1979 and I was in New York to witness the brilliant achievement of Sondheim, Angela Lansbury and Len Cariou and the entire creative team. MTW is presenting the masterwork for the first time and to celebrate its 30th anniversary. They ...
BWW Reviews: La Mirada County SPELLING BEE
Talk about quirkiness and how it can be used to its best advantage in a musical! The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee is terribly funny in a rather intelligent and offbeat manner with prize worthy characterizations of lively eclectic people. It may be a tad too long like the actual spelling ou...
Audiences Love Souvenir
When I first saw Souvenir 3 years ago in Brentwood with its Broadway star Judy Kaye, I marveled at her Tony nominated performance, but did not like the play. I took a look at it again Friday at the Falcon Theatre, enjoyed the performances, but have not changed my mind. The production is first rate, ...
BWW Reviews: Crown City Revives A PRAYER FOR MY DAUGHTER
In 1978, Thomas Babe's A Prayer for My Daughter impacted audiences who were living through the post-Vietnam syndrome. Casual use of drugs, crime and police brutality were rampant. We were in a state of moral decay. In retrospect, it has all gotten progressively worse. So, the intense drama is like h...
BWW Reviews: Open Fist Opens a Glamorous STAGE DOOR
Even if we've seen and heard it a million times over, the old show biz debate about devotion to stage versus film is a treat as served up in Kaufman and Ferber's Stage Door, being given a red carpet production at the Open Fist Theatre....
BWW Reviews: A Stellar Evening with Judy Norton at Sterling's
This is my first cabaret review for 2010, not counting the finale for LA's Next Great Stage Star 2010 held at Sterling's Upstairs @ Vitello's earlier this month on January 3. I must admit, I have yet to be disappointed @ Sterling's with the service or with the cabaret artist being showcased. Proving...
BWW Reviews: ORPHEUS Descends...at Theatre/Theater
Orpheus Descending, one of Tennessee Williams' earlier, lesser-known plays, is a retelling of this classical Greek myth, set in Williams' trademark version of the underworld…the deep South. However, the latest revival of Orpheus, playing at Los Angeles' Theatre/Theater through Feb. 21 reminds us ...
BWW Reviews: Reprise Bows with a Shimmering CAROUSEL
Carousel/music by Richard Rodgers/book & lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II/directed by Michael Michetti/choreographed by Lee Martino/Reprise Theatre Company @ Freud Playhouse, UCLA/through February 7....
BWW Reviews: Ray Bradbury Charms With WISDOM 2116
Ray Bradbury's Wisdom 2116/ conceived, directed & choreographed by Steve Josephson/ Fremont Centre Theatre/ through February 27....
BWW Rewiews: 11, SEPTEMBER is a Date with a Disaster
Almost eight years after the tragic events of September 11th, the phrase "9/11" has adopted a rather sarcastic tone. It has become a running joke, a phrase tossed around ad nauseum whenever a speaker needs to add gravity or significance to whatever he or she is pronouncing. Wanna sound important? Ju...
BWW REVIEWS: Moscow Ballet a Treat at La Mirada
Moscow Ballet's Great Russian Nutcracker played La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts on December 23, 2009....
BWW REVIEWS: Cabrillo Makes Christmas a Lot Whiter
White Christmas played the Cabrillo Music Theatre @ Thousand Oaks. The show features a book by David Ives & Paul Blake, music & lyrics by Irving Berlin and direction by Todd Nielsen. The production ran December 26-29 only....
BWW REVIEWS: HOUSE OF BESARAB, Environmental Play Extends by Popular Demand
House of Besarab is conceived and written by Terance Duddy & Theodore Ott produced and directed by Terance Duddy The Hollywood American Legion Theater through January 17, 2010 (possibly beyond)....
BWW REVIEWS: Opera Diva Julia Migenes Graces Upright Cabaret Stage
The unequalled Julia Migenes brought her holiday show Julia Migenes' Holiday Magic from Bach to Pop! to the Upright Cabaret on Vermont St in Hollywood Sunday December 20; this diva could sing the phone book and I'd show up. Dressed in black velvet and quoting from Stephen Nissenbaum's book The Battl...
BWW REVIEWS: Sterling's Hosts Annual 'LA'S Greatest Stage Star for 2010'
Sterling's Upstairs at Vitello's is presenting its annual LA's Next Great Stage STAR! What a terrific event! Not unlike TV's American Idol, talented artists compete before judges and a live audience. At Sterling's they go head to head for 6 Sundays: the first was November 29 with the finale to take ...
BWW REVIEWS: Broadway's James Barbour in Concert is a Holiday Treat
James Barbour brought his holiday concert straight from New York to the Colony Theatre in Burbank for one performance only Monday December 21 at 7pm. The benefit for the Colony co-starred rock/jazz singer Michelle Wolf with husband, brilliant musician Peter Wolf accompanying. Barbour referred to him...
REVIEW: Regional Premiere of RENT Rocks Long Beach (ends 12/20)
LONG BEACH, CA-Just a little over two months after RENT's current Broadway National Tour made a tour stop in nearby Costa Mesa, Musical Theater West debuts the first L.A.-area professional regional production of RENT at the Richard and Karen Carpenter Center for the Performing Arts. Their production...
TV Stars Roday, Weston, and Detmer Thrive on the LA Stage in EXTINCTION
What follows in Gabe McKinley's EXTINCTION, presented by Red Dog Squadron, is a dissection of life's changes and the ability to evolve, where the two characters bounce back and forth between the lure of maturity and reckless abandonment. The show offers riotous laughs, hard-hitting truths, and a bru...
Timeless and Timely 'Mary Poppins' Premieres in Los Angeles
Many people rightly consider "Mary Poppins" a timeless classic. Well, with the new musical's Los Angeles premiere Sunday night at the Ahmanson Theater, you can also call it timely. While it first premiered in London five years ago in a very different economic and social climate, seeing it now, ami...
REVIEW: The Actors' Gang ALL CAKE, NO FILE is what's cookin'
A Johnny Cash prison tribute cooking show concert? The concept alone should be enough to intrigue audiences into checking out All Cake, No File; the latest theatrical concoction from Los Angeles' prestigious The Actors' Gang. Set as part of the troupe's WTF?! Festival, all proceeds from the show are...
Review: LA's ECLIPSED Explores New Territory
ECLIPSED, presented by the Center Theatre Group and opened at Los Angeles' Kirk Douglas Theatre on Sept. 20th, narrates the daily routine of a group of "wives" (women who are raped and held captive as servants) of a rebel commanding officer in 2003 war-torn Liberia. There isn't much of a storyline....
Videos
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The Most Happy Fella North Coast Repertory Theatre (6/03-6/28) |
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Millennials Are Killing Musicals Colony Theatre (4/30-5/17) |
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Melt : The Play The Marilyn Theatre at the Lee Strasberg Institute (6/11-6/13) |
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Magic at the Biltmore with David Minkin The Biltmore Los Angeles (3/28-3/28) PHOTOS |
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Best of PlayGround-SF Playground-SF (5/30-5/31) |
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The Anti-Magic Magic Show The Hobgoblin Playhouse (6/06-6/27) |
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Brian Henson''s Puppet Up! Ricardo Montalban Theatre (7/31-8/09) |
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Angry, Raucous, and Shamelessly Gorgeous Gil Cates Theater (6/10-7/12) |
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Les Talens Lyriques Zipper Concert Hall (5/24-5/24) |
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Kim's Convenience The Old Globe (5/15-6/14) |
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