LOS ANGELES THEATER REVIEWS

THE WINTER'S TALE is not the easiest of Shakespeare's plays to stage. It must believably present a story sharply divided into two parts set in two different countries with drastically contrasting tones, and pull off an ending that resolves them by way of magic or a well-concealed plot, based on whi...

In 1972 Pippin opened on Broadway and became one of the longest running musicals in Broadway history, closing in 1977. Stephen Schwartz's bubbling optimistic tunes made the surreal and sensual mood of the piece an ultra-pleasant experience for theatre goers. One actually left the theatre humming the...

Admirably directed by 3-D Theatricals co-founder and resident artistic director TJ Dawson, this ambitiously impressive regional revival of RAGTIME: THE MUSICAL, continues through October 26 at its home-base at the Plummer Auditorium in Fullerton before moving north for its set of performances at the...

At least four plays have been written about Florence Foster Jenkins, who in the 30s and 40s, in spite of being considered the worst singer ever, recorded and gave highly publicized annual SRO concerts including one in 1944 at... Carnegie Hall. A rank amateur, Jenkins had no pitch, tone or rhythm and...

Peter Shaffer's incredibly intriguing examination of the demise and death of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart at the hands of Court Composer Antonio Salieri in 1791 Vienna is at the core of Amadeus, which premiered in London in 1979, went on to win a Tony Award as Best Play of 1981 and also an Oscar for the ...

A strong, nicely-matched cast of four playing well opposite, and with, each other; firmly directed at a steady clip by Elina de Santos; and presented with top-notch production elements make Nice Things a very nice 85 minutes of entertainment....

Multi-award winning playwright Jim Leonard, Jr. definitively succeeds in explicitly depicting the tragic affects of caring for Buddy, a mentally disturbed boy with a gift for divining water....

Folks who are unfamiliar with the Don't Hug Me series of shows need look no further than at the signs in the lobby of the group rep that say 'Have a Crappie Day!' It's obvious that the show inside is unlike any other with an unmistakable individuality and peculiarly regional point of view, that ever...

Tim Bagley weaves the hysterically sad and poignantly funny incidents of his working actor career into his quick, one-hour, entertaining creation No Actors Allowed...

David Ives' fascinating two character play within a play Venus in Fur won a Best Actress Tony Award for Nina Arianda in 2012. It's no wonder as the role in theatrical size and scope is every actress's dream. Now onstage at SCR, Casey Stangl directs two first-rate actors in Ives' thoroughly engrossin...

Actor/singer John Lloyd Young, best known for his Tony-winning portrayal of Frankie Valli in the original Broadway Jersey Boys and for his performance in the 2014 film, has performed three cabaret concerts at the Cafe Carlisle in New York since 2013. He felt it was high time to bring the act home to...

Since its creation in 1997, Ragtime has remained one of my favorite musicals for two reasons. Its simply gorgeous almost opera-like musical score by Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens moves me to the bone, and it has more meaningful historical content about America at the turn of the 20th century than...

Perhaps Kander and Ebb's best musical, apart from Chicago, Cabaret has it all: a fine book, deliciously diverse characters, dynamite music and a subtext that will not quit. The subtext being: either compromise or get out if you value your life, the latter, to be sure, the wiser. This is Berlin, circ...

For 90 solid minutes, Tony Award-winning Broadway icon Brian Stokes Mitchell---under the guise of a showtunes-centric cabaret concert themed around his most recent studio album Simply Broadway---provided his enthralled Costa Mesa audience a virtual master class in musical theater performance. Not on...

Dane Whitlock directs his creation, subtitled 'A New Musical Mash-up Parody SLASHER Musical,' at a uproarious neck-breaking pace allowing just enough time to laugh at the hysterical antics or gasp at the low-budget frights or sway your bodies to the recognition of Donna Summer classics....

Writer/director Sean Abley has wisely chosen this troupe of talented actors to be his Bitches. All women characters (performed over-the-top by males in men's clothing) sharply deliver some snappy one-liners with some delicious drag queen bulls-eyed intensities....

With the arrival of a two-disc studio recording of the complete Kander & Ebb score of And The World Goes Round from Kritzerland Records, there's reason to shout and sing out loud.Starring powerhouse vocalists Brent Barrett, Jason Graae, Christiane Noll, Kristin Towers-Rowles, Kyra DaCosta and musica...

The appeal of trading in the hustle and bustle of a 21st Century lifestyle for a 1955 throwback downgrade is the focus of Jordan Harrison's wonderfully intriguing play MAPLE & VINE, now having its Los Angeles/Orange County premiere production at the Chance Theater in Anaheim Hills through October 19...

What I found so utterly engaging about the world premiere of Steve Martin and Edie Brickell's new musical BRIGHT STAR is its complete unpretentiousness. Certainly its musical style --American bluegrass with a heaping helping of laid back mountain charm -- has the kind of lilting homespun ease that m...

Jersey Boys, called a jukebox musical, is an uber well-structured, Tony Award-winning show presented in a documentary-like format. It tells the true story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, retaining most of their original musical hits. There are lots of laughs, great rock and roll music and a r...

In his timeless and invigorating 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 (Cicely Tyson), in her Tony-winning role, proves just how heal...

Tarell Alvin McCraney quite ingeniously explores the inner workings of a contemporary posh big city prep school by pitting five underclassmen against each other as they attempt to find unison in the school's choir. Nothing has changed in the course of the school's longevity; problems that once were ...

BRONIES! THE MUSICAL made a big splash at this year's Hollywood Fringe Festival. It won multiple awards including Best Musical, the Thirty9One Golden Elephant for best director/producers, and a Producers' Encore Award, and more importantly, it won the hearts of everyone who saw it....

Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Lindsay-Abaire's thoughtful, riveting character study GOOD PEOPLE continues at the La Mirada Theater for the Performing Arts through October 12. Buoyed by impressive performances, this excellent regional production of the Tony Award-winning play shines the spo...

I revert to childhood when I see a Mel Brooks movie or show. The sillier the better: the sight gags, the double entendres, the more the merrier. The New Mel Brooks Musical, Young Frankenstein is a real rip-roaring hoot of a show from start to finish as produced by DOMA with a great cast and zippy fa...