MOONLIGHT AND MAGNOLIAS
Saturday, October 10th, 2009
Hollywood legend has it that movie mogul David O. Selznick shut himself, director Victor Fleming, and script doctor Ben Hecht inside his office for five straight days, the three men subsisting entirely on a diet of bananas and peanuts, as Hecht rewrote the entire script of Gone With The Wind, a book he’d never read.
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DEATHTRAP
Friday, October 9th, 2009
For a record-breaking four years, New York audiences found themselves both riveted and tickled to death by the multitude of plot twists and turns in Ira Levin’s Deathtrap, that is when they weren’t laughing in utter delight at the sheer brilliance of Levin’s five-character, one-set, two-act mystery-comedy, still the longest running thriller in Broadway history. Angelinos can now find out what all the excitement was about simply by driving down to San Pedro to catch Little Fish Theatre’s terrific revival of the comedy-suspense classic.
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STEEL MAGNOLIAS
Tuesday, October 6th, 2009
Steel Magnolias: (n) any of those Southern women whose delicate exterior hides a tough-as-nails core
Anyone who’s seen the star-studded 1989 movie adaptation of Robert Harling’s off-Broadway play doesn’t need to consult Websters to know what a Steel Magnolia is. We all remember Sally Field’s M’Lynn, whose petite stature belied her inner strength in the face of tragedy, or Shirley MacLaine’s Ouiser, the curmudgeon with a marshmallow heart hidden deep inside. On the other hand, no matter how many times you’ve seen the movie or watched it on DVD (and laughed and cried at all the most memorable moments), seeing the original Harling play live on stage is a treat, and when performed by a cast as all-around terrific as the one assembled at the La Mirada Theatre For The Performing Arts, the treat is a tasty one indeed.
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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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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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