LOS ANGELES THEATER REVIEWS

Farce is a very difficult type of comedy to do well. It takes the ability of actors to present real characters in outrageously unreal situations so that we care about what happens to them. Just using over-the-top mannerisms and loud vocalizations does not accomplish this, and what you wind up seei...

NOT THAT JEWISH is a wonderful evening of entertainment and laughs in the Jewish Women's Theatre's new home at The Braid Theater in Santa Monica, an extension of the Bergamot Arts District. Monica Piper shares her autobiographical journey trying to prove just what it takes to be Jewish, especially ...

It is rich yet rare to find a new American play that is at once terribly funny, terribly real and utterly demanding of one's attention. Immediate Family is such a play; it's fiercely original way at looking at an American black dysfunctional family is both heartwarming and completely enjoyable. In...

The creation of Arthur Miller's now classic The Crucible about the Salem witch trials of 1692 was influenced by the McCarthy era of the 50s. It provided an intensely ferocious perspective on the unjust distortion and destruction of human life. In Salem, Massachusetts it was a religious issue - did...

Each summer in Griffith Park, Independent Shakespeare Co. presents fully-produced large scale performances for hundreds of people on a nightly basis. Instead of the expensive dinner and a movie scenario, families flock to the park for a more neighborly picnic and a play. It's friendly, affordable (t...

In the history of musical theater, there is little question of the cultural significance of "CATS." It was the first branded spectacle musical and its biggest song "Memory" became an instant standard. All the big musicals that have come along since owe a debt of gratitude to the special effects an...

Kritzerland's Berlin to Rome's theme unintentionally became 'generations,' as the youngster and the senior stole the show from the others of the talented line-up of singing pros. ...

Turning a profit in the theatre business is challenging at best but it isn't surprising that MOTOWN THE MUSICAL easily recouped its initial investment during its run on Broadway, or its outlay for the First National Tour, now playing at the Hollywood Pantages. The popularity of the Motown sound is u...

Proving that money makes their world go around, financial advisors bicker about the falling stock market and how to best keep making money as their clients are losing their portfolios. With each desiring to be at the top of his game, none is safe from the backstabbing devised to make sure only the ...

The West Coast premiere of Dominique Morisseau's Sunset Baby provides a wonderful star vehicle for the very talented Nadege August. As the title character, August wholly embodies Nina, the troubled daughter of her recently deceased mother Ashanti X and her estranged father Kenyatta (who deserted the...

Israeli playwright Anat Gov grew up in a country surrounded by other countries that wanted to blow her homeland out of existence. Perhaps living on the edge of destruction for so long enhanced her ability to face disaster with a sense of hope and laughter. Now being presented by the West Coast Jewi...

Director Denise Devin knows how to set a mood. Her one-hour Shakespeare adaptations condense the Bard's source material into compact, efficient theatre capsules that are perfect for those who want their Shakespeare short and sweet - or in this case, dark and bloody - with enough time left after the ...

Directed by playwright Angeliki Giannakopoulos, the world premiere of MY CHILD: MOTHERS OF WAR is based on her award winning documentary of the same name, which aired nationally on PBS. Composed of a collection of true intertwining monologues telling stories of six mothers whose lives were radicall...

Two famous brothers. One historic collaboration. Gershwin. Theirs was a name that would forever represent the early twentieth century music of the Jazz Age by capturing the heart and soul of the American people. Music drove George, the charismatic life-of-the-party musician who created sophisticated...

The musical Side Show played Broadway in 1997 for 91 performances and was Tony nominated but never got the recognition it deserved. A revamped version went to Broadway in 2014, but it, too, closed early. Like Jason Robert Brown's Parade, another noteworthy Broadway miss, it's worth the attention,...

David Mamet's curious one-act The Anarchist, which bombed on Broadway in 2012 after a mere 17 performances, was called by critics 'a slip of a play'. True, it does come in at 70 minutes, but who cannot be riveted by Mamet's intriguing exploration of salvation? Yes, religious salvation that erupts du...

South Coast Repertory's latest offering, MR. WOLF---now on stage in Costa Mesa through May 3---is a high-quality presentation of an intriguingly audacious if not quite fully-gestated new world premiere play from Pulitzer Prize finalist Rajiv Joseph, the playwright behind the celebrated BENGAL TIGER ...

The Theatre's Co-Artistic Director, Michael Michetti skillfully directs his two brilliant actors (Ed F. Martin and Michelle Azar) in a streamlined, no-fat depiction of two lonely souls possibly finding their ultimate purpose in life....

Harold Pinter's 1978 Betrayal gets an inventive re-mounting by director Aaron Craig as he augments Pinter's dialogues with musical interludes using jazz versions of Motown tunes....

On Sunday April 19, actress/singer Alexandra Billings brought her new show I'm Still Here...Still! to Sterling's Upstairs at the Federal to overwhelming success. It was a packed house of adoring friends and fans who have come to love Billings for what she brings to the stage -passion, a passion for ...

Mary Poppins/book by Julian Fellowes/music by The Sherman Brothers/new songs by George Stiles and Anthony Drewe/directed by Lewis Wilkenfeld/choreographed by Cheryl Baxter/Cabrillo Music Theatre at the Fred Kavli Theatre of the Thousand Oakes Civic Arts Plaza/through April 26 only...

On Friday, April 17 Barbara Minkus brought her new one-woman show An Evening with Barbara Minkus 'It's All About Love' (the good, the bad, the funny, the sad) to Saint Mark's Episcopal Church in Glendale as a fundraiser for the Sacred Arts Ministry. Affable Ron Barnett served as musical director and...

Surprise! This brand new, non-equity national tour of GUYS AND DOLLS---currently onstage at Orange County's Segerstrom Center for the Arts for a limited week-long run through April 19---is a winning, nicely-nicely done charmer. Of course, it helps a lot that this traveling production comes equipped ...

San Francisco playwright and performer Trevor Allen spent a few years in Southern California portraying Pluto, Mr. Smee, the Mad Hatter and other characters in his 5'5' height range on his quest for voice clearance and his dream of becoming Peter Pan. The boy who never wanted to grow up recounts his...

What does it take to become a charismatic spiritual leader, one who has people questioning and empowering their own faith? Is it possible in our media soaked society to grab the attention of millions of people simply by speaking your mind and sharing your faith, ultimately proving the power of posi...