LOS ANGELES THEATER REVIEWS

Popular American film director and producer, television writer and producer, playwright and actor Del Shores is an expert at creating mid-twentieth century lowbrow female characters; the salt of the earth Southern women on the surface who bubble with peppery torment beneath the surface, just waiting...

As is true with almost every one of The Bard's plays, magic and mayhem, fops and fairies, mistaken identity, romance and humor abound in this tongue-firmly-in-cheek evening with elements of pantomime, Commedia dell'arte and conventions of classical theater woven together with DeCarlo and Rudie narra...

Playwright Stanley Brown directs the world premiere of his play HUCKLEBERRY TOWERS through February 9, 2020, at the ELATE Theatre Company's Lincoln Stegman Theatre in North Hollywood. With a cast of 18, most of whom are seniors who just might be real residents of the retirement home named in the tit...

During the opening night performance of her fun return engagement at Segerstrom Center for the Arts' Cabaret Series at the Samueli Theatre, Tony Award winner Lillias White felt strongly about putting on a a?oehappy show,a?? as a way to combat all the sadness and fear that have overtaken our world. J...

At the center of his play is the Matera family, soon to get together for a very special SUNDAY DINNER in that their son Michael (James Tabeek), a young priest in the Chicago Archdiocese, is returning to his parents' home in the Bronx after his grandfather dies. And just as Jewish mother would “qve...

The real star of the show is its designed-to-travel, multi-level scenic design by 59 Productions, enhanced by sound designer Sebastian Front and lighting designer Matt Daw, which includes some of the most amazing projections I have ever witnessed that completely transform into the many scenes requir...

Energetic, urban and contemporary, Cirque du Soleil's VOLTA, written and directed by Bastien Alexandre, with Jean Guibert as the director of creation, is a captivating voyage of discovery that showcases never-before-seen under the Big Top acrobatics in a visually striking world. Driven by a stirring...

In their continued and laudable feat of presenting diverse voices in theater, Orange County's South Coast Repertory is currently staging another stirring new drama, this time from playwright Donja R. Love entitled FIREFLIES, which continues performances through January 26, 2020 in Costa Mesa under t...

The playwright nervously awaiting the make-or-break review on opening night has been the setting of many stage and movie scenes. But in this play, McNally runs with the idea, taking no prisoners across two acts boasting almost as many Broadway name-drops as punch lines, all delivered with perfect co...

On January 17, 2020, Los Angeles Opera presented Stefano Landi's 1619 opera, The Death of Orpheus, (La Morte d'Orfeo) at El Cid, a performance space usually known for dinner theater. Landi may have written his own libretto. In any case, the story of the five-act opera was inspired by Angelo Polizian...

Directed by Hollace Starr, an associate professor of theatre at Pepperdine University, a designated Linklater Voice teacher, and a lifetime member of the Actors Studio, with an innate understanding of feminine emotional turmoil, and John Perrin Flynn's keen eye for multimedia effects, EARTHQUAKES IN...

With the topic of illegal immigration so prevalent in today's news, now is the perfect time to take a very personal look at the trials and tribulations of those who immigrated, both legally and illegally, to our country in THE NEW COLOSSUS, a new play co-written by The Actors' Gang ensemble and its ...

Arthur Miller's electrifying family drama ALL MY SONS won the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best New Play and Miller his first Pulitzer Prize when it first opened in 1947, and went on to be a recipient of numerous Tony Awards. Inspired by a story from an Ohio Newspaper on an aircraft facto...

BWW Review: @ROCKOFAGESHollywood Tries to Rock Hollywood at the Bourbon Room...

On Sunday afternoon, Long Beach Opera (LBO) presented the world premiere of its adaptation of Henry Purcell's semi-opera King Arthur at the Beverly O'Neill Theater. A semi-opera refers to a Restoration entertainment that combines a spoken play with musical episodes that involvolomot, Darryl Taylor, ...

Playwright Robert Harling based the STEEL MAGNOLIAS story on his experience with the death of his diabetic sister. As her best friend and closest sibling, Harling found it difficult to cope with losing her, and his friends advised him to write about his feelings as a coping method. What began as a ...

On Saturday afternoon January 11, 2020, Pittance Chamber Music presented a concert of infrequently heard music at the Pasadena Conservatory of Music. Pittance is made up of members of the Los Angeles Opera Orchestra. Soloists included soprano Liv Redpath, pianist Paul Floyd, and Principal Clarinetis...

A frequently consistent scene-stealer on The Groundlings stage, Michael Churven takes the directorial reins offstage to deftly guide his amazingly funny cast of six (Samantha DeSurra, Chris Guerra, Ariane Price, Mary Scheer, Annie Sertich and Alex Staggs) to an evening of hilarity in GROUNDLINGS MIX...

A riotous script and a veteran cast who know their way around comedy highlight a bravura production of 'The Man Who Came To Dinner,' Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman's classic 1939 play about a sidelined theater critic, forced to be wheelchair bound in a house in small town Ohio. Jim Beaver, Barry Pe...

Country music is known (and often ridiculed) for its soap opera-like lyrics. Its storytelling often takes listeners on journeys of sadness and despair, and redemption. Tim Alderson's SALVAGE, playing at the Lounge Theatre in Hollywood through January 19, follows those tropes with mostly effective re...

Attendees will enter a nightclub in 1963 Germany just under the shadow of the Berlin Wall where everyone is a spy and no one can be trusted. During the evening, CRIMSON CABARET guests will engage with secret agents and be slipped notes with assigned missions to complete throughout the evening. All g...

The Troubies continues its 25th Silver anniversary season (bringing Los Angeles audiences a quarter century of mayhem!), with their 18th annual holiday offering of A CHRISTMAS CAROLE KING adapted & directed by Matt Walker with musical direction by Derrick Finely, in which the soulful sounds of songs...

The family-friendly fun of Lythgoe Family Productions' annual holiday British Panto returns to the Laguna Playhouse, this time with the reimagined Yuletide re-telling of PETER PAN & TINKER BELL: A PIRATE'S CHRISTMAS, which continues through December 29, 2019 in the city of Laguna Beach. Overall, the...

The Fuse Project and Rockwell Table & Stage most successfully reprises their hit holiday show of last year - SCISSORHANDS - A MUSICAL. With most of the very talented cast returning from last year's production, SCISSORHANDS hits all the high, as well as, all the hilarious notes with astounding vocals...

Taking the film and its music to the next level, The Wallis and For The Record are presenting a holiday season encore of last year's LOVE, ACTUALLY LIVE world premiere in the Bram Stoker Theater at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills through December 29. The multimed...