HONKY
Tuesday, May 24th, 2016
If laughter is indeed the best medicine for what ails us, then anyone afflicted with racism would do well to check out the latest from Rogue Machine, Greg Kalleres’s foul-mouthed and fabulous satirical comedy Honky. (And if you think the R-word doesn’t apply to you, then you clearly haven’t heard Avenue Q’s “Everyone’s A Little Bit Racist.”)
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TORCH SONG TRILOGY
Sunday, April 24th, 2016RECOMMENDED International Stud
RECOMMENDED Fugue in a Nursery
Widows And Children First!
Andrew J. Villarreal gives the year’s most extraordinary performance as flamboyant but mush-hearted Jewish drag queen Arnold Beckoff in Harvey Fierstein’s Torch Song Trilogy, making Theatre Out’s rarer-than-rare revival well worth seeing despite the flawed execution of the first two of its three one-act plays.
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STAGE KISS
Thursday, April 21st, 2016
Noël Coward meets Noises Off meets Conor McPherson when a couple of onetime lovers find themselves lip-locked once again in not one but two not-so-brilliant regional theater productions in Sarah Ruhl’s scrumdiddlyumptious backstage comedy Stage Kiss, now getting its West Coast Premiere at the Geffen Playhouse.
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THE UNDERSTUDY
Sunday, March 20th, 2016
The Understudy, Theresa Rebeck’s love letter-slash-poison pen missive to Broadway, Hollywood, and the craft/vocation/affliction of acting, makes for a terrifically acted Southern California Premiere showcase for a trio of L.A. up-and-comers.
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CLOUD 9
Saturday, March 12th, 2016
Nearly four decades have passed since Cloud 9 made its West End debut, but Caryl Churchill’s comedic examination of gender and sexuality remains every bit as entertaining, as contemporary, and as downright mind-blowing in 2016 as it was in 1979, particularly as given vibrant new life by The Antaeus Company in a “partner-cast” staging that would give any Broadway revival a run for its money, albeit on a far more intimate (and infinitely more affordable) scale.
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THE MONGOOSE
Monday, March 7th, 2016NOT RECOMMENDED
Acting, direction, and design are all Grade A in The Mongoose, but what on earth prompted The Road Theatre Company to give Will Arbery’s head-scratcher of a script the go-ahead?
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PAST TIME
Saturday, February 20th, 2016
Stepping inside someone else’s skin may be just what Grandpa James and Grandson Chris need to make their respective romantic lives click in Padraic Duffy’s deliciously quirky, often side-splittingly funny, ultimately heartwarming (albeit somewhat over-padded) World Premiere comedy Past Time, now playing at Sacred Fools’ excitingly refurbished digs on Hollywood’s Theatre Row.
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CRIERS FOR HIRE
Thursday, February 18th, 2016
A trio of SoCal Filipinas earning extra cash by weeping and wailing at funerals may provide the title (and the hook) for Giovanni Ortega’s Criers For Hire, but it’s the play’s mother-daughter reunion and its look at a teenage girl’s coming-of-age in a new land that give Ortega’s delightful, charming World Premiere comedy its emotional heart and punch.
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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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