LOS ANGELES THEATER REVIEWS

It begins with a wager and ends with a food fight and in between the laughs fly fast and furious in Independent Shakespeare Co.'s THE TAMING OF THE SHREW. Yes, throughout much of the play those laughs come at the expense of one woman, Katherine (Melissa Chalsma as the shrew of the title), but direct...

The Max Factor Factor boasts precision dancing and gorgeous harmonies amidst well-timed madcap shtick....

Say what you will about legends, myths and miracles, but Brigadoon has a charm and appeal that can turn a nonbeliever to...well, at least make you rethink your existence as you exult in the lavish musical score by Lerner & Loewe. Now in a lovely production at Sacramento's Music Circus in the Wells F...

Celebrating its 5th year anniversary, Broadway In The Park and Gensler are presenting SINGIN' IN THE RAIN at this year's summer theatre festival, August 7, 8, 9, and 10 at El Segundo Recreation Park Softball Field. Director and Executive Producer Jeff Cason remarks, "This year's show will be our mos...

More laughter, more beauty, more of everything that makes theatre special is what you'll find in the Actors' Gang's production of A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM. It is a night of Shakespeare that takes all emotion to the brink and entertains with a vibrancy of invention that would make old Will smile wer...

Akin to a revue, Smokey Joe's Cafe is made up of songs, songs, and more songs without a single word of dialogue. Like the final tune says 'That Is Rock & Roll'; it's the music of Leiber and Stoller who gave us some of the biggest hits of the 50s like 'Hound Dog', 'Love Potion # 9' and 'Jailhouse Roc...

Bob Randall's 6 RMS RIV VU is a charming look at 70s culture through the eyes of two marrieds about to engage in a tenuous extra-marital affair. Yes, it's dated, but still enjoyable summer fare in a rare revival currently onstage at the Sierra Madre Playhouse in Sierra Madre through September 6....

On the first Sunday of each month, Bruce Kimmel hosts the KRITZERLAND show at Sterling's at The Federal in the heart of the NoHo Arts District. The evening starts with a variety of dinner selections, full bar service, and lots of time to mingle and chat with old and new friends. Starting at 7pm, eac...

Without a doubt there are scenes in Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus that are difficult to watch. Actions that might come across as ludicrous on the page make one shrink with revulsion when viewed in the flesh, and within the confines of a small theater the effect is much like that of a horror show ta...

'Spirit tells me lots of things. It likes to talk.' And talk it did to J.B. Murray, a man who believed that the Holy Spirit came to him in a vision and called him into the service of the Lord. At the age of 70 this illiterate Southern farmer began to paint and write non-semantic script (a kind of wr...

Directed by Adam Shankman and featuring a talented, impossibly photogenic cast that includes Kristen Bell, Hunter Parrish, Benjamin Walker, Amber Riley, Mario, Jenna Ushkowitz and Jonah Platt, the Hollywood Bowl production of the 60's hippie-centric HAIR is lively and unabashedly joyful to the core....

Any actor can tell you what his or her dream role would be and how much they long to play it whenever they can. For Rocky Miller, his 20-year wait to play Don Quixote was well worth it as he fully embodies the heart and soul of Miguel de Cervantes and his Knight of the Woeful Countenance from the m...

When the patriarch of an Italian family is in his last days, his relatives gather in Tuscany to celebrate life, love, and to rediscover the bonds that hold them together. Among the crowd is Luigi's young American niece, Anna, who soon discovers that her uncle is the key to a world of freethinking an...

NO HOMO tells the tale of Luke and Ash, two 20-something Los Angeles urbanites who have known each other since childhood, identify as heterosexual, and live together as roommates even though their relationship pushes the boundaries of gay life. Can two men really be the best of friends, love each ot...

It's all about the love story in Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra and this one has at its core the epic romance of the ages - Mark Antony and the notorious Queen of the Nile - two dramatic individuals consumed with passion of whom much has been written. It's a perfect choice for Kingsmen Shakespea...

On Sunday July 27 powerhouse vocalist Jeanne Page made a stylish return to Sterling's Upstairs at the Federal for a marvelous evening of standards done her way, entitled Reboot. This lady has a unique brand of humor that is intoxicating and infuses every song she sings with the true colors they dese...

The William Andrews Clark Memorial Library is located in the historic West Adams District of Los Angeles and houses the pre-eminent collection of Oscar Wilde materials in the world, including a typed copy of "Lady Windermere's Fan" with Wilde's handwritten notes from 1892, the year this comedy of ma...

As part of their annual Summer at the Playhouse series in July, which this year also included Joey Luft and Mary Bridget Davies, Pasadena Playhouse hosted Henson Alternative's Puppet Up! Uncensored for 3 nights only. Music, Mayhem, Madness was promised and certainly delivered with six puppeteers, co...

Tennessee Williams' classic A Streetcar Named Desire is revered as one of the greatest plays of the 20th century with Blanche DuBois and Stanley Kowalski, two of the most fascinating characters in theatrical history. Written in the 40s, the play does have many dated elements, but given a taut, well...

Intense, riveting tale of two estranged brothers, and as expected with a Neil LaBute script, reveals the darker, deeper secrets of familial loves that maybe should have remained hidden. Yes, LaBute does go there. And how!...

As the title implies, SACRED ELEPHANT is concerned with man's relationship with the planet's largest land mammal. Ancient, intelligent, social and beautiful, the pachyderm has captured the imagination of man for millennia. Indeed, the elephant has approached the status of a deity in some cultures. S...

Hang on for the 100-minute ride of your life in the impeccably cast, tightly directed, stunningly acted Los Angeles premiere of Stephen Adly Guirgis' very smartly written The Motherfucker With The Hat....

REDCAT opened its eleventh annual New Original Works Festival this weekend with a trio of intriguing pieces incorporating movement, dance, music, and a variety of theatrical elements that push the boundaries of thought and creativity. Together they make up the first of three programs that will be of...

A buoyant, truly impressive local revival directed by Alan Souza, 3-DT's DAMN YANKEES is a true audience pleaser, highlighted by an enthusiastic cast and spirited re-imagined sequences that are truly Broadway-caliber. This all-new production is now playing at the Plummer Auditorium in Fullerton thro...

The setting is Paris in the 18th Century with THE GAMESTER performed in rhymed couplets. But don't let the timeframe, language or fabulous costumes fool you. This story of true love, schemes, casual lusts, machinations, treachery and too many casinos feels as modern as today. After all, haven't we...