LIFE OF RILEY
Sunday, May 15th, 2011
Stan Walker. Godot. Maris Crane. Rosaline. The Little Red-Haired Girl. Mrs. Columbo. Bunbury. Mort Guffman.
To the above list of talked-about-but-never-seen characters of stage and screen fame can now be added George Riley, a man whose impending death has all the onstage characters in Alan Ayckbourn’s seventy-fourth full-length play in a tizzy.
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THE PRISONER OF SECOND AVENUE
Wednesday, April 27th, 2011
Neil Simon revealed a considerably darker side than was his wont in his 1973 hit The Prisoner Of Second Avenue, which Jason Alexander now stars in at North Hollywood’s El Portal Theatre in a production that rivals the best of Broadway revivals.
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COMPLETENESS
Sunday, April 24th, 2011
The KISS principle tells us to “Keep it simple, Stupid!” In other words, it’s a simple design (or romance for that matter) that works best, unnecessary complexity being the enemy of a successful outcome.
Nerds-in-love Elliot and Molly learn the truth of KISS in Itamar Moses’s Completeness, the popular young playwright’s latest World Premiere comedy, now playing at South Coast Repertory. If only the computer scientist and the molecular biologist could just keep it simple, maybe their fledgling romance might have a chance of not imploding.
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THE IDIOT BOX
Saturday, April 23rd, 2011
Six 20somethings live in perfect harmony in a New York penthouse. Their lives are laugh track-accompanied, and canned audience “ooohs” and “aaahs” are heard at sentimental moments. They are cute, ditzy, dumb, wisecracking, and a bit dull.
No, this is not the latest network sitcom or a rerun of Friends, but rather Michael Elyanow’s clever, highly satisfying tour-de-force comedy The Idiot Box, one of my favorite new plays of the past ten years.
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SONDHEIM UNSCRIPTED
Thursday, April 14th, 2011
They’ve improvised William Shakespeare, Tennessee Williams, Jane Austen, and Film Noir to side-splitting success. Now, the comic geniuses that call themselves ImproTheatre strut their musical comedy stuff in Sondheim UnScripted, running in rep with their Will and Williams shows at the Odyssey Theatre.
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ALL IN THE TIMING
Sunday, April 10th, 2011
Trust me. David Ives’ All In The Timing is unlike any program of one-acts you’ve ever seen. Imagine a series of sketches on Saturday Night Live, but with their intelligence level upped to the nth power. Ives’ six comic concoctions are smart plays indeed, each one with its own particular (and peculiar) “high concept.” As performed by a stellar troupe of eight at Crown City Theatre, the sextet of playlets make for one quirky, entertaining evening of theater at its most unique.
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THE TAMING OF THE SHREW
Tuesday, March 29th, 2011
Any director tackling Shakespeare is likely to want to put his or her personal stamp on the tragedy or comedy in question, be it the gazillionth Hamlet or the ump-ump-umpteenth Taming Of The Shrew. Stephanie A. Coltrin is no exception, and under her imaginative direction, Hermosa Beach Playhouse’s Taming Of The Shrew becomes a broadly-played comedic delight.
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RAFTA, RAFTA…
Sunday, March 27th, 2011
Playwright Ayub Khan-Din takes an insightful comedic look at two British South Asian families in his delightful, cross-cultural comedy Rafta, Rafta… The 2008 Olivier Award winner for Best New Comedy, Rafta, Rafta… now gets its West Coast Premiere in a vibrant, colorful production at San Diego’s Old Globe 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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