SMOKEFALL
Wednesday, April 10th, 2013
Man, woman, birth, death, infinity.
The spirit of Thornton Wilder is alive and well and living inside playwright Noah Haidle, whose remarkable Smokefall, now getting its World Premiere at South Coast Repertory, bears comparison with Wilder’s Our Town and The Skin Of Our Teeth.
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THE WHALE
Thursday, March 21st, 2013
A morbidly obese man attempts to reconcile with his angry teenage daughter.
This is all I knew about Samuel D. Hunter’s The Whale going in, and if you wish to be as blown away by this absolutely brilliant, unexpectedly funny, devastatingly powerful new play as I was, ask no questions. Simply reserve your seat at South Coast Repertory and let Hunter, director Martin Benson, and five phenomenal actors do the rest. You’ll thank me for not having given anything but this away.
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EURYDICE
Sunday, March 17th, 2013
A Noise Within continues its Spring 2013 season, one with a decidedly more modern spin than is usual at California’s Home For The Classics, with Eurydice, Sarah Ruhl’s magical, mystical, poetic retelling of the Orpheus myth from the point of view of his bride.
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MRS. WARREN’S PROFESSION
Saturday, March 16th, 2013
Daughter Discovers Mom To Be Millionaire Madam
No, this isn’t a headline story in The National Inquirer or on TMZ, nor is it the latest reality TV show or nighttime soap. In fact, the mother and daughter in question are from over a century back (when you only needed $40,000 to be a millionaire) and the two lead characters in George Bernard Shaw’s Mrs. Warren’s Profession. Can you say “ahead of its time?”
Shaw’s 1893 ground-breaker makes an exciting return to Los Angeles as The Antaeus Company premieres another if its couldn’t-be-better revivals starring the incomparable Anne Gee Byrd in the title role. Who could ask for anything more?
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WOLVES
Saturday, March 9th, 2013
There Will Be Blood. What a title this would have made for playwright Steve Yockey’s latest creation had the name not already been taken. Or There Will Be Chills, or There Will Be Turmoil, or There Will Be Sex (or at the very least Foreplay), or There Will Be Laughs. Wisely, Yockey has simply called his newest devilish confection Wolves (as in Who’s Afraid Of The Big Bad …) and as its real and alternate titles suggest, the prolific stage scribe has confectioned one sexy, funny, dark, bloody fairy tale for adults.
I’LL BE BACK BEFORE MIDNIGHT
Saturday, February 23rd, 2013
Things do considerably more than merely go bump in the night when Greg and Jan Sanderson leave the big city for life in a haunted country farmhouse in I’ll Be Back Before Midnight, Peter Colley’s Gaslight-meets-Deathtrap suspense thriller now getting a shriek-a-minute Los Angeles Premiere at Burbank’s Colony Theatre.
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A FAMILY THING
Tuesday, February 19th, 2013
Alcoholism, drug addiction, childhood abuse, homophobia, racism, and murder would hardly seem a recipe for laughter, yet despite its dramatic underpinnings, Gary Lennon’s World Premiere A Family Thing turns out to be one of the funniest shows in town. It’s also one of the best acted, and one L.A. playgoers in search of a dark, gritty, yet thoroughly entertaining hour-and-a-half of theater won’t want to miss.
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THE GIFT
Friday, February 8th, 2013NOT RECOMMENDED
Fine performances, impressive design elements, and an absolutely stunning action sequence prove insufficient reasons for this reviewer to recommend a trip to the Geffen Playhouse for the American Premiere of Joanna Murray-Smith’s highly problematic dark comedy The Gift.
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