WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF
Tuesday, October 20th, 2009
The first act of Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf is called “Fun And Games,” but beware. These are not your usual party games, as audiences can once again discover in Hermosa Beach Playhouse’s absolutely sensational revival of the 1962 Broadway classic. Under Stephanie A. Coltrin’s expert direction, and featuring bravura lead performances by Matthew Brenher as George and Suzanne Dean as Martha, this is a production that more than holds its own against the Bill Irwin/Kathleen Turner Broadway revival which played the Ahmanson a few years back, or last season’s Ovation-nominated staging at the Rubicon.
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NEVER LAND
Thursday, October 8th, 2009NOT RECOMMENDED
Take some of L.A.’s finest actors, including the extraordinary Shannon Holt, the ever reliable William Dennis Hunt, and Lisa Pelikan, so memorable as Amanda Wingfield in the Colony Theatre production of The Glass Menagerie a few years back. Surround them with a design team made up of some of our city’s most gifted artists, Jared A. Sayeg on lighting and Cricket S. Myers on sound, to name just two. Then, saddle them with one of the longest and most perplexing plays you’re likely to see this or any year and the result is Phyllis Nagy’s Never Land, a production that seemed to me as if it would Never End.
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THE SEAGULL
Saturday, September 26th, 2009RECOMMENDED
The award-winning Chance Theater takes on Chekhov’s The Seagull with admirable results, the production featuring excellent performances, astute direction, and a gorgeous design. Then again, what else would you expect from Orange County’s finest intimate theater?
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CHILDREN OF A LESSER GOD
Thursday, September 24th, 2009
It’s been thirty years since Mark Medoff’s Children Of A Lesser Gods opened theatergoers’ eyes to a new world, a silent world in which hand gestures take the place of the spoken word, and to a character who steadfastly refuses to venture out into what most would call “the real world.” Technological breakthroughs since 1979, particularly the growth of the Internet and more recent developments like cell phone texting, have considerably reduced the schism between the hearing and deaf worlds. Still, as Deaf West Theatre’s fine 30th Anniversary production of the Tony, Drama Desk, and Olivier Award-winning play makes clear, the deaf world and that of hearing people remain very different indeed.
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THE NIGHT IS A CHILD
Wednesday, September 9th, 2009
Who wouldn’t want to escape the winter cold of Massachusetts for the beaches of Rio De Janeiro? Certainly not 50ish widow-housewife-mother-grandmother Harriet Easton, who’s just arrived in the land of sun and samba. Harriet’s face lights up with joy at the simple fact of being in Brazil, but her smile hides a pain almost too excruciating to live with, the grisly reason for which is revealed pouco a pouco in Charles Randolph-Wright’s magical new play The Night Is A Child, now getting a stunning staging at the Pasadena Playhouse under the nuanced direction of Sheldon Epps.
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GROSS INDECENCY
Friday, September 4th, 2009RECOMMENDED
When contemporary theatergoers hear the name Oscar Wilde, probably the first thing that pops into most of their heads is Wilde’s oft-performed classic comedy The Importance Of Being Earnest, or perhaps one of his many famous sayings. (“Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much.” “Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination.” “One should always play fairly when one has the winning cards.”) The Oscar we meet in Moisés Kaufman’s Gross Indecency (subtitled The Three Trials Of Oscar Wilde) is quite a different one.
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BREAKING AND ENTERING
Wednesday, August 19th, 2009RECOMMENDED
A legendary one-hit-wonder novelist receives an unwelcome late night visit from his “biggest fan” in Colin Mitchell’s Breaking And Entering, a very dark comedy now in its world premiere production at Beverly Hills’ Theatre 40 under the able direction of Mark L. Taylor.
TREEFALL
Thursday, August 13th, 2009
At some time in the perhaps not so distant future, after a series of “ecological events” has altered civilization as we know it, a trio of teenage boys have set up house in a primitive one-room mountain cabin somewhere in the Pacific Northwest. Despite the cataclysms that have befallen society, the “family unit” has somehow found a way to survive in Henry Murray’s Treefall, now in its world premiere engagement by Rogue Machine. Though a post-apocalyptic nightmare fairy tale would not be my usual theatrical cup of tea, the performances of its talented, charismatic young cast, the contributions of a superb design team, and some ultimately moving, thought-provoking writing make Treefall an absorbing piece of theater.
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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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