Los Angeles Theater Reviews
BWW Review: GOOD PEOPLE by Torrance Theatre Company Wraps its First Play-at-Home Series
by Shari Barrett - August 10, 2020
As the last reading in their online Play-at-Home series of free online theatrical experiences, all designed to entertain our community during the stay-at-home orders, Torrance Theatre Company presented GOOD PEOPLE, written by David Lindsay-Abaire and directed by Sasha Stewart Miller on Sunday, Augus...
BWW Review: LA OPERA LIVING ROOM RECITAL BY Latonia Moore
by Maria Nockin - August 09, 2020
LA Operaa??s 'Living Room Recital' by soprano Latonia Moore and pianist Roberto Berrocal is available for streaming on the operaa??s website. Wearing a long green gown with a draped skirt and sparkling jewels at her décolletage, Moore opened her program with Tatianaa??s Letter Scene from Pyotr Ilyic...
BWW Review: DIAVOLO Architechture in Motion Presents THIS IS ME: LETTERS FROM THE FRONT LINES
by Valerie-Jean Miller - August 07, 2020
DIAVOLO Architecture in Motion presents This Is Me: Letters From The Front Lines....
BWW Review: INSIDE OUR TIME: STORIES FROM THE SHELTERING Offers True Tales Told During the Time of Coronavirus
by Shari Barrett - July 25, 2020
Performed virtually by invitation to join the National Womena??s Theatre Festival in North Carolina, 'Inside our Time'presents eight selected stories (from a series of 31) performed by four talented and dedicated actors whose only prop is a notebook containing the story being read. Like all JWT Salo...
BWW Review: 3 WAY LOVVE Centers on a Talented Street Painter and the Three Muses Who Help Launch his Career
by Shari Barrett - July 25, 2020
For those missing the Hollywood Fringe Festival this year, I encourage you to check out its website at https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/ for information about On the Virtual Fringe performances that are scheduled online during July and August this year. And while ita??s not exactly the same watching ...
BWW Review: For Goodness' Sake World Premiere by Jewish Women's Theatre Examines Personal Choices and the Morality Behind our Decisions
by Shari Barrett - July 24, 2020
Jewish Womena??s Theatre based at The Braid in Santa Monica has been voted one of the a?oeBest Live Theatres on the Westsidea?? three years in a row by readers of The Argonaut. The group presents American Jewish stories, art, and other programming that highlights Jewish contributions to contemporary...
BWW Review: Torrance Theatre Company Continues Play-At-Home Online Series with KALAMAZOO
by Shari Barrett - July 13, 2020
On Sunday, July 12 at 6pm, I tuned in for the third play in the series, KALAMAZOO, written by Michelle Kholos Brooks and Kelly Younger, originally developed in 2014 at Pacific Resident Theatre in Venice, CA. The Torrance Theatre Company production was directed by Gary Kresca and featured real-life m...
BWW Review: SQUEAKY: OLD FLAMES CAN REALLY BURN Offers Five Actors Portraying Different Dimensions of the Troubled Charles Manson Follower
by Shari Barrett - July 06, 2020
One thing for sure a?" after watching the play and listening to Squeaky during various time periods of her life, I feel even more sorry for the troubled young woman who allowed herself to be so misguided by a man who knew exactly how to manipulate her need to belong somewhere to his own advantage. S...
BWW Review: LAVENDER MEN, An Emancipation Play Takes A Fantasy Trip Inside the Life of Honest Abe
by Shari Barrett - July 02, 2020
LAVENDER MEN, An Emancipation Play was developed in Skylight Theatre Company's Skylab and received a SOLD OUT reading at circle in the Square Theatre on Broadway this past summer as part of the Circle Reading Series. Originally scheduled to open at the Skylight Theatre on April 25, a scene from the ...
BWW Review: SEX, ADDICTION & LOVE in the 21st CENTURY Takes us Inside Humanity's Universal Yearning for Connection
by Shari Barrett - June 29, 2020
The completely original show composed of more than a dozen scenes explored the eternal question of What is love, anyway? While there may not be one correct answer, the heartfelt theme proved that shame goes away the more we talk and communicate the truth of our own experience with each other. As I...
BWW Review: Torrance Theatre Company Presents Entertaining Comedy SLOW FOOD in Play-At-Home Online Series
by Shari Barrett - June 15, 2020
Torrance Theatre Company newest venture, PLAY-AT-HOME, presents a series of free online theatrical experiences, each designed to entertain audiences during the stay-at-home orders. On Sunday, June 14 at 6pm, I tuned in and really enjoyed SLOW FOOD, playwright Wendy MacLeod's tender comedy that delve...
BWW Review: BREAKING THE WAVES at Home Computer Screens
by Maria Nockin - May 31, 2020
On May 29, 2020, Opera Philadelphia presented the digital premiere of Royce Vavrek and Missy Mazzoli's Breaking the Waves, a story based on the 1996 international film of the same name directed by Lars von Trier. Winner of the Music Critics Association of North America 2017 award for Best New Opera,...
BWW Review: The Blank Theatre's Living Room Series Takes NATHAN C. JONES: A LOVE STORY? Online
by Ellen Dostal - May 30, 2020
On the surface, NATHAN C. JONES appears to be an unassuming little show about a young man and his new romance. But, as the audience is drawn further and further into the story, it becomes clear that the writers are exploring much deeper questions about loneliness, the desire to be loved, and what ha...
BWW Review: SKY ON SWINGS at Home Computer Screens
by Maria Nockin - May 23, 2020
On May 22, 2020, Opera Philadelphia presented the digital world premiere of composer Lembit Beecher and librettist Hannah Moscovitch's opera Sky on Swings. The company gave the opera's world premiere on Sept. 20, 2018, during its Festival O....
BWW Review: Another Tour de Force From Rob Nagle in Virtual NIXON ON NIXON
by Gil Kaan - May 23, 2020
This one-man show would work just as amazingly live and onstage as it does viewed online with the incredible, incredible Rob Nagle as Richard Nixon. Shot and staged in a small office (as a stand-in for Steve McQueen's beach house), Bree Pavey deftly directs Nagle as Nixon on the evening after he ann...
BWW Review: Helder Guimarães' Virtual Return To The Geffen - THE PRESENT Of Mind-Blowing Magic!!!
by Gil Kaan - May 16, 2020
WOW! WOW! WOW! Just finished viewing master illusionist Helder Guimarães' THE PRESENT via Zoom. A.MA.ZING!!! Having actually seen and been wowed before by Helder Guimarães, up close and live, in person at the Geffen's Audrey Skirball Kenis Theatre (back in May of 2019) in his INVISIBLE TANGO, I was ...
BWW Review: Kay Sedia's A HOUSE PARTY OF JUAN's Simply A Muy Necesario Alegría!!!
by Gil Kaan - May 06, 2020
A most welcomed hour of laughs and guffaws during our current stay-at-home status, Kay Sedia premiered her A HOUSE PARTY OF JUAN streaming online at StageIt.com on, most appropriately, Cinco de Mayo. With only one techie Mike Pingel and her husband Daron to help her broadcast, the show fabulously we...
BWW Review: Maggio Musicale's Home Gala
by Maria Nockin - May 02, 2020
On Friday May 1, 2020, Florence Italy's Maggio Musicale presented a a?oeHome Galaa?? featuring artists singing at home accompanied by themselves, their housemates, or a pre-recorded track. In this year of pandemic, Opera Superintendent Alexander Pereira could not open his theater to its usual crowds...
BWW Review: VAMPIRE BURT'S SERENADE - More A Welcomed Diversion Than Finished Theatrical Production
by Gil Kaan - May 01, 2020
In these days of social distancing, producer Kenneth Hughes has captured footage of playwright Ken Roht's VAMPIRE BURT'S SERENADE (shot at the Bootleg Theater, a Los Angeles theatre and rock club); and edited and re-formatted for your virtual theatrical experience. In the style of the low-budget cul...
BWW Review: Be Ready to Play Your Part Creating a HOME in the Past, Present and Future at The Broad Stage
by Shari Barrett - March 07, 2020
The Eli and Edythe Broad Stage in Santa Monica is presenting the Southern California Premiere of HOME, created by Geoff Sobelle and directed by Lee Sunday Evans, who won a 2018 Bessie Award for Outstanding Production....
BWW Review: IN MY MIND'S EYE: An Exploration Of Relying On Inner Intuitions & Overcoming Obstacles at Group Repertory Theatre
by Valerie-Jean Miller - March 06, 2020
We are first introduced to a young girl, a very assertive, opinionated young girl, definitely with a strong sense of identity, and self worth. She is heard speaking, which we come to find out is us hearing her inner thoughts and feelings, through her a?oeMind's Eye,a?? her vocally taped diary, into ...
BWW Review: LA BALLET 'BALANCHINE'S BLACK AND WHITE' AND 2020 GALA at The Broad Stage
by Amber Adams - March 04, 2020
BWW Review: LA BALLET 'BALANCHINE'S BLACK AND WHITE' AND 2020 GALA at The Broad Stage...
BWW Review: Vegas In Three Acts. From The Sublime To The Obscene To The Badonkadonk.
by Jonas Schwartz-Owen - March 04, 2020
And now, the Supermodel of the World, RuPaul Charles has transferred her fierce Drag Queens to the Flamingo Hotel to recreate her award-winning reality show RuPaul's Drag Race where the audience gets to be the judge....
BWW Review: Ballet BC Presents a Contemporary and Emotionally Impactful ROMEO & JULIET at The Soraya
by Shari Barrett - March 04, 2020
In a first for Ballet BC, the new full-length work delves into a thought-provoking retelling of the classic that resonates today, capturing audiences with its deeply human story and enduring themes of love and family. a?oeThe vision of love that Shakespeare gave us in this master work is very precio...
BWW Interview: Thommy Ten and Amelie van Tass on Their Journey to THE CLAIRVOYANTS EXPERIENCE, Landing in La Mirada on 3/14
by Shari Barrett - March 03, 2020
After performing in over 100 sold out casinos throughout the United States and touring worldwide, The Clairvoyants are kicking off 2020 with a brand new interactive live show in which audiences will be involved throughout the show and will experience the magic in their minds and hands. In addition t...
