RESIGNATION DAY
Saturday, January 17th, 2009NOT RECOMMENDED
In Resignation Day, playwright Charles Pike imagines a day in the life of Terry Southern (played by Chairman Barnes), screenwriter of such 60s classics as Dr. Strangelove and Easy Rider as well as cult favorites Barbarella and Candy, a day in 1974 which happens also to be the day that Richard Nixon resigned the office of President of the United States.
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THE BIRD AND MR. BANKS
Friday, January 16th, 2009
How, you might wonder, could a middle-aged nebbish of an accountant named Seymour Banks have become the FBI’s most wanted man in America? The answer to this puzzler can be found in Keith Huff’s quirky, original, and entirely unpredictable dark comedy, The Bird And Mr. Banks, now getting its West Coast Premiere at the illustrious Road Theatre.
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THE BALTIMORE WALTZ
Sunday, January 11th, 2009NOT RECOMMENDED
Paula Vogel’s 1992 The Baltimore Waltz received the Obie for Best New American Play, yet has rarely if ever been performed locally. For this reason alone, Rude Guerrilla’s just opened production is sure to generate considerable interest. Director R.J. Romero writes that Vogel’s work has been “a major presence throughout my adult reading and theatre viewing life,” making it a certainty that love and care have gone into this production. Romero’s sound design is especially effective in creating a fanciful, romantic atmosphere, and his cast demonstrate real commitment to achieving the director’s goals.
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YOU NERO
Sunday, January 11th, 2009RECOMMMENDED
Imagine a Mel Brooks spoof about the fabled Roman emperor Nero, or one written and performed by the Monty Python gang, or perhaps a classic Nero sketch from the 1950s’ Your Show Of Shows, with Sid Caesar as Nero. Now, stretch it out to two acts with a running time of two hours and fifteen minutes and place it on the Julianne Argyros Stage at South Coast Repertory—and you have Amy Freed’s You, Nero.
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AS MUCH AS YOU CAN
Saturday, January 10th, 2009
Diversionary Theatre’s production of Paul Oakley Stovall’s As Much As You Can couldn’t come at a more appropriate moment, November’s Yes On 8 victory having focused attention on the African American community’s attitudes towards gays and lesbians in general and same-sex marriage in particular. These timely topics form the heart of Stovall’s perceptive, thought-provoking, hopeful, and downright hilarious comedy, a contemporary gay take on Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner.
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BAREFOOT IN THE PARK
Saturday, January 3rd, 2009
Neil Simon’s Barefoot In The Park may be 45 years old, but you’d never know it from the fresh and consistently funny revival it’s getting at Glendale Centre Theatre. Corie Bratter’s powder blue Princess telephone with its rotary dial may be a relic of the sixties, and there’s not a computer or plasma TV in sight, but Simon’s gifts as the master of the one-line gag aren’t even a tad dated in this, only his 2nd Broadway comedy.
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LOVE SONG
Friday, January 2nd, 2009
Rude Guerilla has scored a major coup in gaining the rights to present the Southern California premiere of Love Song, John Kolvenbach’s hilarious, captivating, quirky, one-of-a-kind romantic comedy (with a twist). Following its 2006 world premiere at Chicago’s renowned Steppenwolf and a London premiere (studded with American TV stars) later the same year, Love Song has gone on to regional and international acclaim. Why major L.A. theaters let this remarkable gem of a play slip them by is anyone’s guess, but their loss is Orange County’s gain—and Angelinos are hereby advised to take advantage of low gas prices by heading on down to Santa Ana to see what the rest of the world has been gushing about.
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LOVE’S LABOR’S LOST
Friday, December 26th, 2008
I have a confession. I’m not the worlds biggest Shakespeare fan. Yes, I know that as a theater reviewer it’s my “duty” to love the Bard, so sue me for saying that I often get lost in his convoluted plots, whole chunks of dialog whizzing past me or over my head without really sinking in. Thus, when I tell you that I thoroughly enjoyed (and had very little difficulty following) The Porters of Hellsgate’s production of Love’s Labor’s Lost, this is high praise indeed.
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