NOISES OFF
Thursday, September 29th, 2011
Imagine a production of one of those hilarious English farces like No Sex Please, We’re British whose actors are still struggling with their lines, have yet to master the requisite comic timing, and still haven’t learned when to enter and exit. Lines will be forgotten, jokes won’t get their payoff, cues will be missed, and the entire production an absolute mess. Certainly not one you’d pay to see, right?
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LOOT
Sunday, September 25th, 2011
No one wrote darker, more subversive comedies than Joe Orton—or funnier ones for that matter. Those requiring proof of the above need only head on over to San Pedro’s Little Fish Theatre to check out their terrific production of Orton’s darkly subversive farce.
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GUIDED CONSIDERATION OF A LAMENTABLE DEED
Saturday, September 24th, 2011
The play may well be the thing, but sometimes “the thing” adds up to considerably more than just the play. Such is the case with needtheater’s World Premiere production of Frank Basloe’s Guided Consideration Of A Lamentable Deed. Though Basloe’s dark comedy is intelligent, entertaining, and thought-provoking enough to stand on its own, when you add a pre-show “kegger” (more about that later), a one-of-a-kind venue, and live music after the show for those who wish to stick around, this brand new play by a relative unknown becomes a “thing” well worth taking a chance on.
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A WIDOW OF NO IMPORTANCE
Friday, September 23rd, 2011
East West Players open their 46th Anniversary Season with the World Premiere of Shane Sakhrani’s infectiously funny and utterly charming A Widow Of No Importance, a generation gap comedy set in Mumbai, India that theatergoers from any ethnic background are likely to embrace as warmly as its core South Asian audience.
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PRIDE AND PREJUDICE
Wednesday, September 21st, 2011
Pride And Prejudice. Is there anyone who isn’t familiar with Jane Austen’s romantic classic in one form or another? True, not everyone has read the novel (and that includes this reviewer), but between the 1980 and ’95 TV adaptations, the 1940 and 2005 movie versions, and the innumerable romcoms (novels, plays, films, TV series, etc.) which have taken Austen’s tale as inspiration, there’s hardly one of us who won’t feel at least a spark of recognition while watching P&P’s latest adaptation at South Coast Repertory, all the way from Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy’s scrappy first meeting to the blissful happy ending we know awaits them.
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THE ALTRUISTS
Saturday, September 3rd, 2011
Nicky Silver skewers liberal do-gooders in his outrageously funny The Altruists, a hilarious confection that kept this liberal do-gooder wannabe in stitches throughout its ninety nonstop minutes of absurdist fun at West L.A.’s Pico Playhouse.
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TARTUFFE (OR THE IMPOSTER)
Wednesday, August 31st, 2011
If like this reviewer you’ve never seen a show at The Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum, then you are in for a treat, particularly if Moliere’s Tartuffe is your first exposure to this rustic gem of a an outdoor theater.
PRIVATE LIVES
Saturday, August 27th, 2011
For a comedy that’s now reached the ripe old age of seventy one, Noël Coward’s Private Lives remains as young, fresh, and lively as ever—and those in need of proof need simply check out the terrific Private Lives revival now playing at Long Beach’s International City Theatre.
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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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