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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LIFE ON THIS COUCH
Friday, August 26th, 2011
ec•cen•tric ([ik-sen-trik, ek-)—adjective: (of a person or behavior) Unconventional and slightly strange, as in “No one writes eccentric characters quite like Laura Richardson.”
For proof of the above, head on over to Open Fist Theatre where Richardson’s latest, Life On This Couch, is delighting audiences with the playwright’s unique, quirky, and thoroughly entertaining take on life. Like the eccentrics in Richardson’s Do Do Love and Come Back Little Horny, the people who live on and around Cece Taylor’s sofa are folks you might not want to live with 24/7, but it sure is fun to spend a couple hours observing the habits, mating and otherwise, of this wild and crazy bunch.
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BEAU JEST
Thursday, August 25th, 2011
Perhaps the three best words of advice to offer any theater company hoping to stay in business year after year are the following: Know Your Audience. The post-retirement set who make up Glendale Centre Theatre’s loyal subscribers keep coming back again and again because they trust GTC to give them the kind of time-proven hit musicals and plays that they grew up enjoying, shows like this season’s Forever Plaid, To Kill a Mockingbird, Big River, and 1776, to name just a few.
Beau Jest, the current Glendale offering, isn’t going to win any “Drama Critics’ Circle” awards for sophistication, daring, or cutting-edgedness. In fact, the New York Times savaged a New Jersey production back in 1994 in a review which still shows up first if you Google the title. But tell that to last night’s mostly over-65 crowd, who loved every one of Beau Jest’s sitcommy jokes and archetypical characters, and you know what? Even though I’m not quite as up there in age as the majority of the aforementioned, I too had a ball from start to finish, thanks in great part to the terrific talent who’ve put together GCT’s latest offering.
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MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING
Monday, August 22nd, 2011
If William Shakespeare has been called an acquired taste, the time has come for this reviewer to confess to having—despite considerable kicking and screaming—acquired a taste for the Bard. No longer can I protest too much, as I have in years past, that (to quote from a 2008 review) “I often get lost in his convoluted plots, whole chunks of dialog whizzing past me or over my head without really sinking in.” Yes, Shakespeare’s plots can still be hard to follow, and yes, there are still passages that even the finest Shakespearean actor cannot render comprehensible to my 21st Century ears, but after having (in the past year alone) raved about productions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream (two of them!), The Comedy Of Errors, Measure For Measure, The Taming Of The Shrew, and The Merchant Of Venice, I’m actually starting to look forward to “Another Op’ning, Another Show.”
The Old Globe 2011 Shakespeare Festival production of Much Ado About Nothing can now be added to the above list, director Ron Daniels and an extraordinarily talented cast having come together to create a truly magical evening of romance and laughter under the San Diego stars.
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THE UNDERPANTS
Friday, August 19th, 2011
What a difference two seconds can make. That’s how short a time Louise Maske insists that her undies dropped down to her ankles “in front of the neighbors, in front of strangers, and at the King’s parade” in The Underpants, adapted from German playwright Carl Sternheim’s 1910 original by none other than Steve Martin. Yes, that Steve Martin, whose unique take on love and life makes Long Beach Playhouse’s production of The Underpants a delightful August surprise.
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AGATHA CHRISTIE’S SPIDER’S WEB
Saturday, August 13th, 2011
Theatre 40 has another Agatha Christie hit on its hand with The Queen Of Crime’s 1954 comedic mystery Spider’s Web. Though not quite on a par with T40’s previous Christie gem Black Coffee (Dame Agatha’s plotting and the cast’s British accents are slightly less razor-sharp this time), Spider’s Web nonetheless makes for a thoroughly entertaining brain teaser with nearly as many laughs as you’d expect in an English farce.
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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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