LOS ANGELES THEATER REVIEWS

Based on Puccini's La Boheme, the Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize winning musical RENT with book, music and lyrics by Jonathan Larson is a rock opera that tells the story of one year in the life of a group of bohemians struggling in the East Village alphabet city streets of New York during the 1990s. ...

Whereas contemporary parents struggle to keep their children away from drugs and alcohol, Kelly Carlin spent her girlhood trying to keep her parents clean and sober, Growing up with George Carlin and his wife Brenda was not the easiest task, as young Kelly figuratively spent many useless years on a ...

On Sunday, February 8 LA's Next Great Stage Star 2015 came to an exciting conclusion at Sterling's Upstairs at the Federal. After an amazing 90-minute program in which the 20 contestants gave 150% to their uptempo songs from Broadway shows, fourteen contestants were eliminated and the top six* final...

Of the multitude of recent film-to-stage adaptations that have risen from the video dust bin to breathe new life in a different guise, the stage version of DIRTY DANCING---whose first national tour is now gyrating inside Costa Mesa's Segerstrom Center for the Arts through February 15---is by far one...

There was a moment in Chance Theater's LOCH NESS, a new musical, when I realized I had fallen completely in love with it; when everything suddenly came together in the most wonderful of ways - the glow of the lighting on a handful of heart wide open actors, the lyrical swell of their singing voices ...

It all started simply enough when Dick Cavett invited author/critic Mary McCarthy on his PBS talk show on January 25, 1980. What resulted from a completely unplanned remark was one of the biggest literary feuds in history. McCarthy, when asked by Cavett to mention questionable authors at the time, i...

Steve Kazee is best known for his Tony award-winning role as Guy in the musical Once. He has since been seen as Gus on the Showtime show, Shameless. On February 6th, patrons at Rockwell had the pleasure of experiencing his very first Los Angeles show....

The luminous Karen Landry dominates (when she can) as Jacob's wife Mary - still feisty, still vibrant, financially savvy, ultimate protector of their two sons and keeper of peace in the Mercer household. Brava, Landry!...

The second you take your seat to experience Kneehigh's dazzlingly unorthodox adaptation of the classic doomed romance TRISTAN AND YSEULT at South Coast Repertory, you know for sure you're in for---well, as the folks in Monty Python would say---something completely different. From the get-go, there's...

This two-man tour de force musical comedy mystery is killing it on stage at The Old Globe in San Diego - or, rather, it's killing someone - and that someone is none other than Great American Novelist, Arthur Whitney. Unfortunately, this is one birthday party the much-hated author will never get to e...

On February 2, the 54th version of Kritzerland At Sterling's Upstairs at The Federal delighted its packed house with songs (some memorable, some lesser known) of American Songbook composer Jerome Kern. Hosted, as always, by the personable and very knowledgeable Bruce Kimmel; each song had elaborate ...

Every once in awhile I am blown away by an innovative and excitingly creative theatrical production which surprises me both physically and emotionally. Such was the case when I experienced Eugene O'Neill's ANNA CHRISTIE at the Odyssey Theatre Ensemble. The incredible cast stars Zoe Perry alongside...

Playwright Lily Blau receives a strong mounting of her world premiere The Missing Pages of Lewis Carroll at the Theatre @ Boston Court. Director Abigail Deser glides her able cast through what Blau has imagined would be in the missing pages of author Lewis Carroll's actual diaries....

Playwright Zayd Dohrn dazzlingly attacks, dissects and vividly presents the unusual concept of reborn dolls in the Fountain Theatre's powerfully, intriguing Los Angeles premiere of his Reborning....

The Coachella Valley Reportory Theatre has scored a coup with HAVING OUR SAY. The top-notch acting of H. Chris Brown and Regina Randolph, the brilliant set design by Jimmy Cuomo, the imaginative props by Doug Morris, and the professionalism of the entire crew make Emily Mann's script sparkle....

THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK at Theatre Palisades begins with Otto Frank returning to the family hiding place after his release from Auschwitz when the camp was liberated on 1-27-45. With worldwide celebrations of its 70th anniversary this week, now is the perfect time to experience the story never to be...

There is a very good possibility that many of you have seen or heard of the terrific musical collective known as Postmodern Jukebox across one or more of your preferred social media platforms. This group of clever and talented viral-video/YouTube sensations is the brainchild of arranger/pianist/musi...

The Ahmanson Theatre welcomes back Dame Edna for the third time with Dame Edna's Glorious Goodbye The Farewell Tour. Things will never be quite the same thanks to Barry Humphries. He's Edna's manager and has exploited the lady's mind, body and spirit so much through the years that they are practical...

A friend referred to The King and I as a war horse, an old chestnut, for it has surely surpassed time as an enduring musical classic, but upon seeing it again, one realizes just how potent, vibrant and topical a piece it truly is. Musicals of such depth and perspective with a keen eye to the future ...

Disconnection really starts firing on all cylinders with the combined talents of Bo Foxworth as Landon; the successful, but damaged lawyer wanting piano lessons and Dennis Nollette as Michel, the charismatic piano teacher....

LOVE, SEX AND THE I.R.S. follows two heterosexual men, Jon (Jeffrey Cannata) and Leslie (David Herbelin), who share an apartment in New York. To save money, Jon has been filing tax returns listing his roommate, Leslie, as his wife. The day of reckoning comes when the I.R.S. informs the "couple" that...

A noticeably long, drawn-out silence opens Cabrillo Music Theatre's production of COMPANY as 35-year old Robert (Alxander Jon) comes home to his empty New York bachelor pad. It is the final moment of solitude before the coordinated cacophony of voices begins in Nick DeGruccio's sleekly directed revi...

The stylistic marriage of Shakespeare's language and Tarantino's Pulp Fiction reaps heady rewards for linguists and lovers of indie crime drama in PULP SHAKESPEARE at Theatre Asylum in Hollywood. The runaway hit of the 2010 Hollywood Fringe Festival is reinventing itself in a new production produced...

Vibrant videos of saturated color on the 30-foot high backdrops combined with the elaborately detailed and bright traditional Chinese costuming make Shen Yun 2015 an explosion of bodies and hues in perpetual motion....

Mitch Hara breaks the fourth wall in his hilarious solo play MUTANT OLIVE about father and son forgiveness. A self-described "ADHD buzz saw looking for a two-by-four," Hara gives life to alter-ego Adam Astra, an actor whose past seems to constantly seep into his present. Astra gleefully spoons out t...