LOS ANGELES THEATER REVIEWS

The smart and witty script by Stan Zimmerman & Christian McLaughlin keeping the one-liners and puns steadily coming make for a fast-paced one-act. Easy to tell the writers really know their way around gay and Jewish life. Zimmerman most assuredly directs his talented cast of four in a quick stride, ...

As kid musicals go, SCHOOL OF ROCK isn't half bad. It falls somewhere between ANNIE and MATILDA on the Richter scale of stories about downtrodden kids overcoming obstacles to win in the end. It's got enough emotional oomph to tug on your heartstrings and it gives you plenty of reasons to happily che...

Stidley Theatrical's world premiere of SOLO MUST DIE: A MUSICAL PARODY succeeds in presenting an intentionally cheesy production of a fan fiction written by Hugh, a nerdy Star Wars aficionado. All performers fully commit to their individual and collective antics as various Star Wars characters, as s...

Somewhere in a cheap hotel in Chicago, circa late 1930s, three women are singing the blues. Two have been around the block and seen it all. One is woefully wise beyond her years. All have been burned by the flames of desire and lovers who have done them wrong. This is the set-up for BLUES IN THE NIG...

Tao, means the path, or the Way; it is 'ever present, but must be manifested, cultivated and perfected in order to be realized.' That is the tenet applied in this extraordinary production of Japanese drumming, dazzling choreography and a unique, charming on-stage presence by the entire Cast....

Having seen 42nd Street when it first opened on Broadway, and seeing this version all these years later, was refreshing and really made me happy that tap is still one of the most enjoyable forms of entertainment to watch or do....

Seduced by the notion that, in America, winning is everything, an immigrant loses sight of what is really important in Leon Martell's world premiere play, ICE. Commissioned by 24th STreet Theatre to commemorate its 20th anniversary, the 65-minute one act highlights the plight of every hopeful soul d...

I have seen and loved many shows by The Dollface Dames performed at other locations in our city, each show having a different feel to it along with each group's own style of choreography. There is so much variety, within their shows and the venues where they perform, no two shows have ever been alik...

Sunday was gorgeous. So gorgeous, in fact, the first half of the day distracted me-cutting my trek to the Dudamel/LA Phil concert dangerously close. After running home and tossing on my short-suit, I threw myself into the middle of Columbus avenue in a frenzied flail-praying for a lit cab. Luckily, ...

Director Simon Levy, who has won much acclaim for his current production of Chaim Potok's The Chosen at the Fountain Theatre, now brings his directorial insight on achieving assimilation into America to the Sierra Madre Playhouse's production of THE IMMIGRANT, written by Mark Harelik about his grand...

A Noise Within most successfully revives their 2011 audience favorite, Michael Frayn's 1982 NOISES OFF. Co-directors Julia Rodriguez-Elliott and Geoff Elliott sure-handedly lead their comically gifted cast through a fast moving two-hour-forty-minute romp of the most expert props handling, laser shar...

Directed with crackling energy by Dana Resnick at the Odyssey Theatre, BAD JEWS opens the evening after Poppy's funeral, a beloved family patriarch who survived the Holocaust, hiding his most precious gold possession under his tongue for two years. Now that he is gone, a family battle to inherit th...

With their latest Friday and Saturday night show GROUNDLINGS ROYAL WEDDING, the vastly talented Groundlings troupe has done it again with much responding side-splitting laughter to their funny, funny in-house scripts, their comic timing and expert delivery. The comedically gifted cast of ten whip th...

DEAR JOHN, WHY YOKO? with music by Anzu Lawson and Joerg Stoeffel, book and lyrics by Anzu Lawson, tells the untold story of a love that changed the world and defined an era fraught with the same type of protests taking place now. It is my hope by sharing your story, we may all be lucky enough to li...

Armed with a grand, sweeping songbook from Rodgers and Hammerstein, and a romantic, progressive-for-its-time book by Hammerstein and Joshua Logan, it is difficult not to be continually enchanted by SOUTH PACIFIC, the groundbreaking 1949 stage musical based on James A. Michener's Pulitzer Prize-winni...

Everyone knows who Gene Kelly is, but after seeing this wonderful tribute to the many sides of him, you can't help but feel love in your heart for what he accomplished, how he felt about life, love and happiness, work, and for the amazing gifts he gave to all of us....

The second play in this year's Block Party is AMERYKA, written and directed by Critical Mass Performance Group Artistic Director Nancy Keystone, which continues through April 29, 2018 at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City. Plan to arrive early so you can take advantage reading all the informati...

What our schoolbooks lack in historical accuracy, art can sometimes pick up the slack by being a reliable, more enthusiastic source to fill in those gaps. This becomes abundantly clear immediately upon experiencing the haunting yet beautifully-dramatized world premiere play LITTLE BLACK SHADOWS, Kem...

For a few decades, The Complexions Dance Company has been my very favorite company to see perform. They did not fail me again. Literally mind-blowing performances from this visit to the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion....

On Sunday, April 22, 2018, the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra gave a matinee performance of Leonard Bernstein's Chichester Psalms together with Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 in D Minor....

There are certain Dance Companies that are in a class by themselves. Dance Theatre of Harlem is one of them. They not only encompass many forms of the Dance brilliantly, they are committed to diversity in their dancers and repertoire....

I was lucky enough to be one of the lucky ones to be in the Broad Stage audience recently when the extraordinary Dance Theatre of Harlem invited Los Angeles audiences, for the first time in way too many years, to join in with them in experiencing the wonders of neo-classical and contemporary ballet ...

On April 20, Pacific Opera Project (POP) presented Mozart's DON GIOVANNI at The Vortex in downtown Los Angeles's arts district. DON GIOVANNI is the perfect choice for a small opera company. Composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart wrote an opera that required few choristers and contained only eight solo par...

One of America's most accomplished and in-demand Baritones today, Nathan Gunn has one of those deeply lush singing voices that can pierce your heart just as it can effortlessly command the room's attention. He does exactly both with his impressive world premiere one-man show FLYING SOLO which contin...

The air between the words is so thick you could cut it with a knife in Daniel Talbott's shadowy play about three siblings attempting to survive their dysfunctional family. Each is broken in his or her own way and, as the hairball unravels, the audience must piece together their fragmented story over...