THE MYSTERY OF IRMA VEP
Thursday, October 1st, 2009
Begin as your inspiration with Alfred Hitchcock & Daphne DuMaurier’s Rebecca. (A young woman arrives at a grand and stately manor, the second wife of its handsome owner, only to be surrounded by memories of wife number one, particularly those brought up by the mansion’s housekeeper.) Add a smidgen of The Werewolf. (Among the household staff is a hunchback swineherd who turns half man/half wolf whenever there’s a full moon.) Spice with a dash of Dracula. (Another household worker is rumored to be one of those “beings who never die,” and we all know what that means.) Sprinkle in a tad of The Mummy. (Our widowed, remarried hero journeys to Cairo where his presence brings a long-dead Egyptian you-know-what back to life.) Mix all this together and the resulting soufflé is Charles Ludlam’s The Mystery Of Irma Vep, a hilarious homage to 1930s/40s Hollywood melodrama.
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THE LITTLE DOG LAUGHED
Saturday, September 19th, 2009RECOMMENDED
Santa Monica’s venerable Morgan-Wixson Theatre begins its 64th season with arguably its boldest choice ever, The Little Dog Laughed, Douglas Carter Beane’s hilarious, biting Hollywood-New York showbiz satire. It’s not every community theater that will take a chance on a love story between a gay movie star and a bisexual hustler, featuring a lesbian agent, R-rated language, brief full frontal male nudity, and plenty of same-sex smooching. Fortunately for L.A. theatergoers in search of cutting-edge entertainment, the Morgan-Wixson has taken just such a chance, the result of which is a brilliantly written, well acted and directed, and funny slash conversation-provoking evening of theater.
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ART
Wednesday, September 16th, 2009
“How do you like my new haircut?”
“Don’t you just love my new outfit?”
“What do you think about my new sunglasses?”
How many of us have not been asked one of these questions and been faced with the age-old dilemma—to tell the truth, i.e. the whole unpleasant truth, or to avoid trouble by telling a little white lie. “It looks marvelous on you! You’ve never looked better. I’m going right out to get some too!” How much easier it is to avoid hurting a friend’s feelings, and at the same time how frustrating and annoying, when what you really want is to tell your friend what an enormous mistake he or she has made.
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SECRETS OF A SOCCER MOM
Sunday, September 13th, 2009
You don’t have to be the mother of a budding soccer star to enjoy Stillspeaking Theatre’s latest offering. Still, San Marino’s professional theater couldn’t have picked a better play for the community which surrounds it than Kathleen Clark’s Secrets Of A Soccer Mom. My guess is that the carpool set will love it. After all, even this single male reviewer with no particular interest in raising children, playing soccer, or watching children play soccer had a fine time getting to know its three title characters.
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F*CKING MEN
Friday, September 11th, 2009
With a title like F*cking Men and the promise of full frontal male nudity, the latest Celebration Theatre production will have no problem attracting audiences. Joe DiPietro’s modern gay twist on Arthur Schnitzler’s 1900 classic La Ronde has been filling seats in London for the past two years and counting. What WeHo theatergoers will be getting, however, is much more than merely a sexually explicit title and some briefly viewed private parts. DiPietro’s play, particularly as directed here by the justly admired Calvin Remsberg, is a witty, perceptive, absolutely engrossing look at gay relationships, both sexual and romantic. F*cking Men says much about the way gay men meet and mate, but audiences of either sex or any sexual orientation are likely to recognize themselves in at least one of DiPietro’s diverse cast of characters.
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THE GOLDEN GAYS
Thursday, September 10th, 2009RECOMMENDED
John Patrick Trapper’s The Golden Gays has just opened at Casita Del Campo in Silverlake, and though this men-in-drag Golden Girls spoof runs about half an hour too long (and would do better with a stronger focus on the “girls” themselves), it provides laugh after unsophisticated laugh and is a likely crowd pleaser.
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BLOCK NINE
Sunday, August 30th, 2009
If ever a production could be called unique, then Tom Stanczyk’s Block Nine is just that production. Press materials describe it as “an unapologetically same-sex, retro-noir 1930s gangster homage” and “an exploration of sexuality, gender, stereotype, romance and aggression (in) an underworld full of guns, jail breaks, booze and bodies.” How’sthat for something out of the ordinary?
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VISITING MR. GREEN
Saturday, August 29th, 2009
The “Odd Couple Two-Hander” has become something of a Colony Theatre specialty over the past few years. Take a mismatched duo, put them in the same space, and watch the sparks fly. The two characters can be the same sex or opposite, they can be the same age or decades apart, and the space in which they find themselves can be indoors or outdoors. All that is required is that those sparks start flying.
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