LOS ANGELES THEATER REVIEWS

World Premiere of playwright Aruna Harjani's WEST BOLLYWOOD received an earnest mounting at The Matrix Theatre. The outstanding, high-energy choreography by Danish Bhandara greatly complemented this mash-up (or clash) of West Hollywood gay life and the more traditional Indian culture. All involved e...

The world premiere of Michael Leoni's FAMOUS receives a phenomenal, all-encompassing mounting from An 11:11 Experience in their new venue, The 11:11, in the heart of West Hollywood. Director Leoni drives his all-around talented cast at a neck-breaking speed like an expert racecar driver lapping his ...

Even if you have seen it before, I cannot stress enough how miraculous the current production of ANNIE is at the Hollywood Bowl, directed with creative ingenuity by Michael Arden. Featured in the cast of incredibly talented triple-threat (acting, singing, dancing) performers are Ana Gasteyer as the ...

Quite possibly the most popular family-friendly stage musical of all time, ANNIE---the classic 1977 Tony Award winner for Best Musical based on Harold Gray's 'Little Orphan Annie' comic strip---seems like a no-brainer choice to appear as the annual all-star summer musical at the world-famous Hollywo...

When it comes to seeing a fresh new show with low or even non-existent expectations, nothing is more pleasurable and satisfying than walking out at the end of it with a huge, beaming smile on your face. That was the giddy communal feeling that I and an ecstatic audience experienced recently during t...

A major theme running throughout THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW musical is transvestism which, according to O'Brien, was not originally meant to be as prominent as it ended up being after its original London production starring the cross-dressing, incredibly sexy Tim Curry as Frank-n-Furter. Brilliantly cont...

One thing's for sure - country musicals are an awful lot of fun. There aren't very many of them and, if you can name one at all, it's most likely THE BEST LITTLE WHOREHOUSE IN TEXAS or THE ROBBER BRIDEGROOM. But there is another rarely produced gem that is just as enjoyable - PUMP BOYS AND DINETTES ...

Norm Foster has written over sixty plays which have been produced all over the world. Selections from this most-produced Canadian playwright have been included at Theatre 40 for many years, but this time the group is excited to present the U.S. Premiere of his appropriately titled new play SCREWBALL...

Director Dan Fishbach returns to the Odyssey Theatre, following up his smartly-directed JACQUES BREL IS ALIVE AND WELL AND LIVING IN PARIS from last season, with his equally smartly-directed SIDE BY SIDE BY SONDHEIM. Strong vocals notwithstanding, Fishbach has managed to also feature the comedic und...

For Laura, in Noel Coward's beautiful pre-World War II black & white film, Brief Encounter, it is an unexpected meeting at a train station that leads to a secret romance with a friendly stranger named Alec. In ARRIVAL & DEPARTURE, the stage play inspired by Coward's film, written and directed by Ste...

Featuring an eclectic mix of sexy, DARK & DIRTY show tunes and comedy songs, Bucket List Cabaret, the brain-child of Theatre 40 member Amanda Conlon and her husband Peter Flanigan, invaded Three Clubs on July 19, 2018 with an explosively entertaining evening of musical fun that kept its audience lau...

On Friday July 13th, I witnessed the incredible performances of Misty Copeland, Isabella Boylston and Jeffrey Cirio as the lead soloists in the mesmerizing and captivating La Bayadere', at the world-renowned Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, at the Music Center in Downtown Los Angeles. ABT was presented as...

Due to Wilson's fervor when performing, with his dynamic dance moves, impassioned singing and impeccable dress, he was soon christened 'Mr. Excitement,' a title Wilson would keep for the remainder of his career. His live performances consisted of knee-drops, splits, spins, back-flips, one-footed acr...

Perhaps, as suggested by playwright Peter Lefcourt in his world premiere play THE DEATH AND LIFE OF MARY JO KOPECHNE, she had also been drinking and could not say no to a man of considerable power and influence, a man who could help advance her career, a man she also may have admired after the death...

An endearing musical with an even more endearing story, BIG FISH is a winsome stage production that is currently making its Orange County regional debut at Anaheim's Chance Theater through July 29, 2018 helmed by its own resident executive artistic director Oanh Nguyen. Filled with hard-to-believe, ...

Featuring 18 original songs and a cast of ten (6 dogs and 4 humans), the world premiere of MUTT HOUSE: THE MUSICAL at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City recounts the story of quirky outsider Eddie Corbin (Ryan McCartan) who has managed to find a place to call home in a neglected downtown animal...

The west coast premiere of Patrick Marber's THREE DAYS IN THE COUNTRY receives a sturdy mounting by the always dependable Antaeus Theatre Company. Marber's adaptation of Ivan Turgenev's classic A MONTH IN THE COUNTRY has been smartly condensed and updated from its original five-act length to a much ...

There are few shows of this genre, i.e., cover bands, tributes to, impersonators and artists embodying a legendary character... or three or four... that have the triple-threat talent needed for these portrayals of Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis Presley....

Summer would not be complete without seeing at least one Shakespeare play outdoors somewhere in Los Angeles. This year I decided to spend a bewitching night in Griffith Park, selecting to see my favorite Bard comedy, A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, presented by the Independent Shakespeare Company (ISC) c...

Jennifer Hudson made her self-proclaimed, long-awaited debut at the Hollywood Bowl July 6 and 7, where she sang her silvery-fringed, mini-skirted butt off, totally charming her appreciative audience. Jennifer's vocal prowess was certainly in superlative, peak form as her hellllld notes and high, hi...

On Friday evening July 6, 2018, Pacific Opera Project (POP) presented Gioachino Rossini's little known opera LA GAZZETTA at the newly outfitted Ebell Club in Los Angeles. The area where patrons sat at tables was surrounded with a semi-circle of single seats. Every seat has been sold for the entire t...

It contains possibly the last words William Shakespeare ever wrote and chances are you've never seen a production of it. THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN was written around 1613 but not published until 1634, and is attributed to both Shakespeare and John Fletcher, the man who would succeed him as resident play...

A beloved entertainment icon borne from showbiz royalty, it was certainly no surprise that living legend Liza Minnelli-a past recipient of four Tony Awards, an Oscar, a special Grammy, two Golden Globe Awards, and an Emmy Award-was greeted with thunderous cheers and ovations during her recent return...

What sounded like a gramophone played Christmas Island as the audience shuffled inside the second-story stage of the Lonny Chapman Theatre. Wind-blown debris and leaves adorned the entire stage and a tree snapped in half sat upstage. Patio furniture, newspapers and pipes helped set the scene of the ...

When Santa Monica's Morgan-Wixson Theatre decided to present MARY POPPINS The Broadway Musical as the final production of their 2017-18 Mainstage season, the group had no idea how the old theater adage "The Show Must Go On" would prove the title character's belief that "anything can happen when you ...