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New Contact Email: StageSceneLA@gmail.com
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StageSceneLA.com's
RECOMMENDATIONS AND WOW!'S
(Click on the title to read the full length review.)
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IN THE MOOD FOR A DRAMA?
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WOW!
ALL MY SONS
Arthur Miller’s absolutely brilliant All My Sons has made a welcome return in a production at Santa Monica’s Ruskin Group Theatre that is about as fine as they come, blessed by the inspired direction of Edward Edwards and brilliant lead performances (by Dominic Comperatore, Austin Highsmith, Paul Linke, Maurey Sterling, and Catherine Telford) and splendid supporting turns all around. The Ruskin’s L-shaped configuration combined with its very intimate dimensions means that actors are often literally within touching distance of the audience—and Edwards has his cast act accordingly, scaling down their performances to film-like subtlety. A larger house would cry out for bigger, stagier work. Here, less is absolutely right. Lovers of great theater, brilliant writing, and superb acting and direction need look no further than All My Sons at the Ruskin.
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WOW!
FREE MAN OF COLOR
John Newton Templeton, a young ex-slave, was the first man of color to attend Ohio University—over three decades before the Emancipation Proclamation. His story comes to vivid life in Free Man Of Color, Charles Smith’s enlightening, award-winning bioplay. Smith’s drama takes us from the day of John Newton Templeton’s arrival in Athens, Ohio to his graduation ceremony four years later, its three lead characters brought to three-dimensional life by Kareem Ferguson, Frank Ashmore, and Kathleen Mary Carthy under the confident direction of Dan Bonnell. Theatergoers who think of U.S. history as dry and tedious will be quickly won over by Free Man Of Color. When the play ends with the simple words, “I present to you John Newton Templeton,” few in the audience will have failed to be entertained and moved by this American hero’s inspiring life story.
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WOW!
PARASITE DRAG
The storm clouds on the Central Illinois horizon pale against the shadows of abuse, adultery, addiction, illness, incest, and suicide in Parasite Drag, Mark Roberts’ slice of Midwest life. Electrically directed by David Fofi and powerfully performed by a quartet of topnotch actors, Parasite Drag mixes dramatic confrontations with biting dollops of humor to gripping effect. At under two hours, Roberts’ play moves along lickety-split, never outstaying its welcome. Its characters are well-drawn and fleshed out and its ensemble (Mim Drew, Robert Foster, Boyd Kestner, and Agatha Nowicki) do terrific work each and every one. Though occasionally lightened by some refreshingly comedic moments, it is Parasite Drag’s relentless dramatic intensity (and powerful performances) that are likely to remain in the audience’s collective memory long after its sudden climactic blackout.
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WOW!
TITUS REDUX
John Farmanesh-Bocca’s Titus Redux is William Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus like you’ve never seen it before. Yes, there’s still rape, mutilation, and two boys cooked in a pie, and much of Shakespeare’s original dialog remains intact. Still, from the moment Tamora responds to Titus’s “I give him you, the noblest that survives” with a very contemporary “Fuck you!”, you know you’re in for something different. Adding to the “something new” factor is Farmanesh-Bocca’s exciting choreography/fight choreography and numerous filmed sequences. Titus Redux features talent in abundance, and though a two-hour running time is too long not to be interrupted with an intermission, all in all Titus Redux makes for an often thrilling, frequently highly entertaining evening of multimedia theater. Jack Stehlin gives a towering performance in the title role.
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IN THE MOOD FOR A COMEDY/DRAMA?
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WOW!
JUST 45 MINUTES FROM BROADWAY
Start with quite possibly the most gorgeous set ever designed for a 99-seat theater, add to that an intelligent, witty script which reads like a 21st Century version of Kaufman and Ferber’s The Royal Family, cast it with some of L.A.’s finest stage and screen talent—and the result is Henry Jaglom’s Just 45 Minutes From Broadway, one of the best new plays I’ve reviewed here. Jaglom’s characters are three-dimensional, flawed, noble, and both loveable and mildly irritating the way real families are. There are laughs aplenty, but just as many moments of dramatic conflict, the kind no family is without and especially not one in the business called show. Each and every cast member does memorable work here under Gary Imhoff’s excellent, nuanced direction … and the production’s amazing set is surely one of the most magnificent ever designed by Joel Daavid.
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WOW!
OPUS
Michael Hollinger’s Opus makes it clear that the world of classical music, particularly that of the String Quartet, is no less unstable than that of rock—and perhaps even more so. The play keeps its audience on the edge of their seats throughout its lickety-split ninety minutes, that is when they’re not laughing at playwright Hollinger’s witty jokes or shedding a tear or two over former quartet member Dorian’s heart-wrenching inner demons. Director Simon Levy adds Opus to the string of hits he’s directed at the Fountain, and neither his work nor the cast he has assembled could be any better. Daniel Blinkoff in particular gives one of the year’s truly great performances as a man whose self-confidence and self-esteem have been nearly destroyed by a toxic relationship. The spellbinding Opus is L.A. intimate theater at its brilliant best.
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WOW!
SHAKE
Set in New York City and moving back in time, month by month, from October 2002 to September 10, 2001, Joshua Fardon’s Shake mixes drama, comedy, and mystery in equal measure, performed by a crackerjack ensemble and directed with flair by Kiff Scholl. Audience members are advised to pay close attention to clues and to remember them as Shake travels month by month back to the evening before September 11. There are numerous performance gems, particularly Michelle Gardner in as scene-stealingly hilarious a star turn as you’re likely to see for a good long while. Linda Graves is another laugh getter and Joe Egender is once again an electric stage presence. Provocative, engaging, funny, and frequently riveting, Shake is likely to keep you on the edge of your seat from start to finish—and give you plenty to talk about and reflect on.
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Recommended
SOUTHERN BAPTIST SISSIES
Southern Baptist Sissies is Theatre Out’s first production of a Del Shores’ play, and a mostly successful one at that, thanks to Christopher Diehl’s confident direction and a number of excellent performances. Tito Ortiz captures all of Benny’s flamboyant fabulousness, Stan Jenson makes the part of Peanut very much his own—a grown-up sissy we come to love and respect, and Roxie Lee does memorable work as three very different Southern Baptist mothers, one trashy, one smug, one heartbreakingly caring. David C. Carnevale gets high marks for Southern Baptist Sissies’ production design, from its versatile three-part set to its effective lighting to its just-right costumes. Ten years after its debut, Del Shores’ play remains as relevant, as funny, and as impactful as ever. Theatre Out now gives audiences in the OC a chance to discover many of its rewards.
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WOW!
YELLOW
Yellow, by far Del Shores’ most realistic, dramatic work to date, packs more laughter and tears into its two acts than any play in recent memory. Expect to laugh so much during Act One that you’ll have tears streaming down your cheeks. Expect those tears to multiply in the emotionally wrenching Act Two. Together, the two acts make for one powerful, unforgettable theatergoing experience. Shores avoids movie-of-the-week blandness and clichés with his snappy, sassy, intelligent dialog and Yellow’s unexpected twists and turns. The cast (David Cowgill, Susan Leslie, Luke McClure, Kristen McCullough, Matthew Scott Montgomery, and Evie Louise Thomason) simply couldn’t be better, doing work that is sure to be remembered come award season. Yellow is a play I cannot wait to see again … and again. This is definitely one not to be missed!
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IN THE MOOD FOR A COMEDY?
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WOW!
BECKY’S NEW CAR
Steven Dietz’s Becky’s New Car gets a splendid Southern California Premiere production at Pacific Resident Theatre. Director Michael Rothhaar has solved the play’s inherent stumbling block—that this is a comedy about an adulteress—by casting Joanna Daniels as Becky. Like a 21st Century Doris Day, the ever youthful PRT vet has an innate likeability, the kind you’re either born with or you’re not. Daniels has it in spades, so much so that even as we watch her two-time poor, clueless Joe, we know that she doesn’t have a mean bone in her body, and we find ourselves rooting for her no matter what. It helps that Dietz’s script has Becky not only breaking the fourth wall, but doing so in a way that turns the audience into characters in the play (and Becky’s accomplices) from the get-go. The supporting cast shine every bit as brightly.
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WOW!
BEDROOM FARCE
Alan Ayckbourn is back at the Odyssey Theatre, his West L. A. “home away from home,” with his 1975 smash Bedroom Farce, in a production which provides two hours of frothy fun, particularly in its wild-and-crazy second act. Like Ayckbourn’s other comedies, Bedroom Farce has its own unique gimmick. It takes place entirely inside the bedrooms of three very different couples during one eventful night and the following morning. Under Ron Bottitta’s snappy direction, the entire cast of Bedroom Farce give colorful, distinctive performances. Scenic designer Darcy Prevost creates bedrooms each as different as night is to day. Kathryn Poppen’s costume designs capture 1975 polyester in all its wonderful awfulness. Bedroom Farce makes for as enjoyable an evening of clever writing and fine comedic performances as you’re likely to see around town these days.
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WOW!
BOYS’ LIFE
Howard Korder writes insightfully—and hilariously—about the male psyche in Boys’ Life, smashingly revived by Crown City Theatre Company. Impeccably acted and directed, this is a production which ought to disprove once and for all any notion of Los Angeles not being the great theater town it is. If ever there was a play capable of provoking repeated peals of laughter and heated post-performance discussion, Boys’ Life is exactly that play. As a college psychology or gender studies class outing, it could easily provide food for several class periods of heated discussion. It would also make for a great Girls’ (or Boys’) Night Out at the theater. However you choose to see it, Boys’ Life gives eight up-and-coming young actors (including leads Ben Rovner, David Rispoli, and Jason Karasev) a terrific showcase for their talents—and one well worth catching.
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WOW!
THE CLEAN HOUSE
A cast of charmingly odd characters meet and interact in The Clean House, Sarah Ruhl’s quirky, whimsical, and ultimately quite moving soufflé, now playing at Long Beach’s International City Theatre in a production which enchanted this reviewer from its hilarious opening monolog (a joke told entirely in Portuguese without translation) to its transcendent finale. A Ruhl play requires just the right touch to make it work. Too heavy and the comic soufflé will fall. Too light and the audience won’t take these people seriously. Fortunately director caryn desai and her accomplished quintet of actors know exactly how to play by the Ruhls—and the result is a production that blends reality and whimsy in almost equal measure. The Clean House serves once again to establish ICT as one of Metropolitan L.A.’s finest mid-sized houses.
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WOW!
EAT THE RUNT
A candidate for a high-level fund-raising position in a major big city art museum is interviewed by various higher-ups in Avery Crozier’s Eat The Runt. If this seems hardly the stuff of great drama, let alone the laugh-out-loud comedy that Eat The Runt is, then wait till you hear the gimmick that makes it a truly unparalleled theatrical experience. Each of Eat The Runt’s cast of eight multiracial, multi-aged actors (five male and three female) have learned all of the play’s roles and not a single one knows who will play which character until just following the preshow announcements, when the audience assigns the parts. The mind boggles at the challenges Eat The Run poses to its stellar L.A. cast and its crackerjack director Tom Beyer, but all nine meet them with flying colors. Reserve your seats soon. Word-of-mouth is going to make this a sell-out hit.
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WOW!
THE GOOD BOOK OF PEDANTRY AND WONDER
If the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary seems hardly the stuff of great drama, it would seem even less likely the source of laugh-out-loud comedy. Nonetheless, it’s precisely the latter that English playwright Moby Pomerance has concocted in his terrifically entertaining The Good Book Of Pedantry And Wonder. With a playwright as clever and original as Pomerance providing the words, direction as sparkling as that of John Langs, and a cast as splendid as the one assembled on the stage of Theatre @ Boston Court, the journey from lights up to curtain calls is an enjoyable one indeed. Melanie Lora gives delectably tart performance. Brian Sidney Bembridge’s set is a wonder of imagination and detail. The Good Book Of Pedantry And Wonder is one of the smartest plays I’ve seen in a long while, and every bit as entertaining as it is smart.
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WOW!
THE LAST ROMANCE
Life begins at eighty or so for the two lead characters in The Last Romance, Joe DiPietro’s charming, funny, and very romantic new comedy. Like DiPietro’s earlier Over The River And Through The Woods, it offers some of the best comedic roles ever for septuagenarian and even octogenarian actors, and was written especially for two of them, Marian Ross of TV’s Happy Days fame and WWII vet Paul Michael, her real life partner. Under Richard Seer’s brisk and breezy direction, Ross and Michael simply couldn’t be better or more endearing. Supporting them are the marvelously grumpy Patricia Conolly and operatic baritone Joshua Jeremiah. Filled with laughs galore and a few tears as well, The Last Romance is a welcome summer arrival at The Old Globe, and one sure to captivate and delight audiences from eighteen to eighty … and beyond.
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WOW!
THE MYSTERY OF IRMA VEP
The Mystery Of Irma Vep once again weaves her unique blend of madness and merriment (in L.A. intimate theater mode) in an entertaining revival by Deconstructed Productions. Irma Vep is not only one of the most hilarious satires ever written for the stage, it also provides two same-gendered actors the chance to deliver tour de force performances. Here the performers in question are the marvelously gifted duo of Michael Lorre and Kevin Remington, in a production directed by Lorre with considerable panache. The two actors have gone back to the heightened style of 1930s movie acting, and the resulting comedy is considerably funnier for not being overly exaggerated. Off-stage costume changes take place lickety-split, thanks to the very busy unseen dresser Henry Senecal. With its two master performers at the helm, this is a Mystery Of Irma Vep destined to delight.
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IN THE MOOD FOR A ONE-ACTOR BIO-PLAY?
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WOW!
LENNY BRUCE IS BACK (AND BOY IS HE PISSED)
Comic Lenny Bruce’s death from a drug overdose in 1966 at the age of forty ended Lenny’s life, but not his legend. Lenny Bruce Is Back (And Boy Is He Pissed) brings Lenny back to life in the year 2010 and has him look back on his life and legend, commenting on the many changes which have transformed our world in the forty-four years since his death. Directed with imagination and flair by Bob Guza and featuring a tour de force solo performance by Ronnie Marmo, this Theatre 68 production is a fascinating, funny, and insightful look at a man who truly epitomizes the words “ahead of his time.” Lenny Bruce comes alive, not as a celebrity impersonation, but as a real live flesh-and-blood human being, so much so that one quickly forgets that this is a performance. Probably no one would be happier about the play’s (and Marmo’s) success than Lenny himself.
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IN THE MOOD FOR SOME MERYL STREEP?
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WOW!
STREEP TEASE
An affection for Meryl Streep has inspired standup comedian/actor Roy Cruz to invite a bunch of talented male actors to join him in recreating memorable Meryl moments in the comedy tribute/phenomenon he has entitled Streep Tease. David Dean Bottrell, Drew Droege, Ron Morehouse, Steve Hasley, Mike Rose, Trent Walker, and Cruz deliver a Streep monolog each, the package of Meryl’s Greatest Hits making for an often hilarious yet always respectful hour of Streep, Streep, Streep, Streep, Streep, Streep, and Streep. Interspersed between segments are Meryl Streep audience-participation trivia quizzes. The evening concludes on a high note with the full cast lip-synching to “Mamma Mia.” With sold out crowds and dozens more Meryl films ripe for the picking, my guess is that, like Meryl Streep’s career, the end of Streep Tease is far from being in sight.
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IN THE MOOD FOR A MUSICAL?
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WOW!
THE BEDROOM WINDOW
The Bedroom Window is the first musical soap opera for the CW demographic and a very entertaining one at that. Nanea Miyata’s melodies are highly listenable, scenes flow seamlessly from one to the next like movie dissolves and fast cuts, and dialog segueways almost imperceptibly into song and back again. The Bedroom Window proves an excellent showcase for its talented young cast and creative team. Under Elissa Weinzimmer’s imaginative direction, the musical (with book by Daniel Mahler, Miyata, and Brittany Morrison) is blessed with four sensational leading performers—Emily O’Brien, Justi Mortelliti, Christopher Higgens, and Jesse James Rice. The Bedroom Window may actually coax 20/30somethings away from their TV screens and multiplexes and into a real live theater. And wouldn’t that be something to sing about!
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WOW!
SONGS FOR A NEW WORLD
PCPA Theaterfest concludes its Summer 2010 season in Solvang with Jason Robert Brown’s Songs For A New World, a glorious song cycle about facing the “new world” that unexpected life changes can bring about. This splendid change-of-pace evening of music stars three sensational PCPA favorites (and one terrific “newcomer”) and is directed with consummate imagination and flair by PCPA’s multi-talented Erik Stein. Again and again, Stein and his cast find ways to emphasize the human connections between the “characters” who sing of their hopes, dreams, fears, successes, and failures. Brown’s songs provide each of the four cast members (Melvin Abstson, Karin Hendricks, Jerry Lee, and Melinda Parrett) abundant moments to shine. This beautiful, moving cycle of Songs For A New World completes PCPA’s summer season on a gloriously high note.
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WOW!
[title of show]
WeHo’s Celebration Theatre celebrates its twenty-eighth year of presenting quality live theater to the LGBTQQIA community with the Los Angeles Premiere of Hunter Bell and Jeff Bowen’s award-winning off-Broadway hit [title of show]. Directed with consummate panache by Celebration Artistic Director Michael A. Shepperd, [title of show] is the perfect musical for show queens of any gender or sexual orientation. The cast assembled for [title of show]’s L.A. premiere (Jennifer R. Blake, Micah McCain, Jeffrey Landman, Carey Peters) is as vocally strong as it gets. Onstage musical director Gregory Nabours not only provides impeccable keyboard accompaniment but has great fun with the role of “Larry.” Even those who don’t know 1954’s The Golden Apple from McDonald’s Golden Arches will want to stand up and cheer this thoroughly original musical hit.
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WOW!
USS PINAFORE
Adapter/director Jon Mullich has cleverly transformed the British warship Pinafore into the Starship Pinafore. Yes, that’s Starship, à la Star Trek’s Starship Enterprise. Though bona fide Trekkies will pick up on many more of the in-jokes than “outsiders,” even theatergoers who’ve never had the slightest interest in the Star Trek phenomenon will find much to tickle their fancies. USS Pinafore’s plot follows the G&S original, but there are also references to Pirates Of Penzance, and Star Trek substitutions pop up here and there. (“He Is An Englishman” has become “He Is An Earthling Man.”) The cast couldn’t be better. Tony Potter’s set replicates an Enterprise-like starship interior amazingly well given budget limitations. Whether Trekkie, Gilbert & Sullivan fanatic, or neither, you’re likely to have a galactically good time at USS Pinafore.
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WOW!
A WITHER’S TALE
William Shakespeare’s darkest comedy A Winter’s Tale and the soulful Seventies sound of Bill “Ain’t No Sunshine” Withers make for a perfect match in A Wither’s Tale, the latest offering by the multi-award-winning Troubadour Theater Company and one of the Troubies’ richest and best productions yet. As in the Shakespeare original, A Wither’s Tale’s funniest segments are in its second half, but even the more somber early proceedings feature enough gags to keep a smile on audience faces even as Withers’ music weaves its melancholy spell. Performances are all-around terrific, headed by Matt Walker, whose role here gives him a better than usual chance to show off his legitimate acting chops and R&B pipes. Beth Kennedy matches him as Paulina, tough girl ally of the Queen, and as a shepherd whose flock consists of a single, pitiful toy sheep named Bobby.
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Visit
www.Bitter-Lemons.com
to find out what other reviewers have to say
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