THE CRIPPLE OF INISHMAAN
Saturday, January 26th, 2019
A stageful of stereotype-defying Irish islanders, an abundance of well-earned laughs and maybe even a tear or two thrown in for good measure are just a few of the reasons Martin McDonagh’s The Cripple Of Inishmaan at Antaeus Theatre Company adds up to one supremely satisfying (and pardon my Irish) fecking entertaining evening of L.A. theater.
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THE EIGHT: REINDEER MONOLOGUES
Sunday, December 23rd, 2018
A salacious Santa’s unspeakable indiscretions aren’t nearly so laughable in a #metoo era as they were when Jeff Goode premiered The Eight: Reindeer Monologues twenty-five Christmases ago, just one reason his quarter-century old collection of R-rated solo confessions proves even more powerful and relevant than when it debuted in 1994, a dark comedy gone darker than ever as its ingeniously staged, splendidly performed Crown City Theatre Company debut makes abundantly clear.
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A CHRISTMAS STORY
Thursday, December 20th, 2018
Ralphie Parker’s back for a second December at the Sierra Madre Playhouse, still wishing and hoping to find a Red Ryder Carbine Action 200-shot Range Model air rifle BB gun under the tree, still providing audiences of all with A Christmas Story sure to both touch the heart and tickle the funny bone.
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IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE: THE RADIO PLAY
Friday, December 14th, 2018
There’s more than one Christmas miracle in store for the cast and characters of Theatre Unleashed’s It’s A Wonderful Life: The Radio Play, Jim Martyka’s double-your-pleasure adaptation of the holiday perennial.
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STEAMBATH
Saturday, November 24th, 2018Six towel-clad men and one similarly draped young woman kvetch about the insignificant lives they have left behind as they await who knows what lies ahead in Bruce Jay Friedman’s Steambath, an only fitfully diverting Odyssey Theatre Ensemble revival of a 1970 off-Broadway play that, even with Anthony Perkins as its star, couldn’t manage to make it past 128 performances.
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BLISS (or Emily Post is Dead!)
Tuesday, November 13th, 2018Clementine, Maddy, and Antonia are women on the verge of a nervous breakdown in North Orange, New Jersey circa 1960 in Jami Brandli’s BLISS (or Emily Post is Dead!). That they’re also Clytemnestra, Medea, and Antigone reincarnated is one reason Brandli’s take on mid-20th-century suburbia works considerably less well than it would if she had stuck to satire. The other is the play’s two-and-a-half-hour running time.
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TWO MILE HOLLOW
Monday, October 29th, 2018Anton Chekhov meets Aaron Spelling in Leah Nanako Winkler’s Two Mile Hollow, an Artists At Play World Premiere whose first act is so deliciously, risk-takingly hilarious, one can’t help wishing there were about a quarter-hour less of Act Two.
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VIETGONE
Saturday, October 27th, 2018
Romantic comedy lovers are in for a treat as a couple of Vietnamese evacuees in an Arkansas refugee camp circa 1975 fall reluctantly in love in Qui Nguyen’s Vietgone, one of East West Players’ all-around best productions in years.
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Since 2007, Steven Stanley's StageSceneLA.com has spotlighted the best in Southern California theater via reviews, interviews, and its annual StageSceneLA Scenies.
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