TERMINUS AMERICANA
Saturday, July 25th, 2009NOT RECOMMENDED
Publicity materials for Terminus Americana provide the following synopsis for Matt Pelfrey’s play: “After barely surviving an office rampage, Mac Winchell is thrust into a nightmare landscape populated by lost Marlboro Men, psychotic vagabonds, sinister corporate thugs and a strange cult known as a ‘The Church of Christ, Office Shooter’. Mac attempts to escape this twisted reality by undertaking a quest that ultimately leads him into the darkest corners of the American Dream. Terminus Americana is a surreal, visceral and challenging examination of our violence-saturated culture.”
CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF
Wednesday, July 15th, 2009
The Tennessee Williams estate is very particular about whom it grants right to Mr. Williams’ plays. Justly concerned about protecting the two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright’s reputation, the estate won’t let just any theater company stage the Williams oeuvre, particularly the two plays which won him the Pulitzer—A Streetcar Named Desire and Cat On A Hot Tin Roof. Other than A Noise Within’s 2000 production and the Geffen’s in 2005, I can’t recall a local staging of Cat, nor can I recall its being produced by a 99-seat theater. Thus, The Neighborhood Playhouse’s just-opened revival of the 1955 classic is a major Southland theatrical event.
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EQUUS
Saturday, July 4th, 2009
Let’s play a game of word association. I say “Equus” and you say the first thing that pops into your head. Here goes. “Equus.” All right, what was your answer? Was it
a) Horse? b) Richard Burton? c) Psychiatrist? d) Nudity? e) Broadway?
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THE VOYSEY INHERITANCE
Wednesday, July 1st, 2009
FINANCIER BILKS CLIENTS OF INVESTMENTS
FORTUNES LOST IN FINANCIAL SCANDAL
Sound familiar? Could these headlines be referring to convicted felon Bernie Madoff?
Actually, not.
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THE UNSEEN
Friday, June 26th, 2009NOT RECOMMENDED
My idea of a perfect theatergoing month would be one in which twenty shows out of twenty would merit a WOW! review. I realize that this would only bolster the erroneous impression that, as one person put it, “Steven Stanley has never met a show he didn’t like,” but I’ve never understood reviewers who consistently pan what they see and then keep going back for more. I go to the theater because, quite frankly, nothing makes me happier.
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FARRAGUT NORTH
Thursday, June 25th, 2009
Farragut North is the Washington D.C. subway stop where political has-beens debark to do the only thing left for them in the world of politics—boring, thankless consultant jobs. It’s also the title of Beau Willimon’s exciting, riveting new play about the behind-the-scenes maneuverings (and back-stabbings) of a Presidential primary campaign, a 2008 off-Broadway production now transferred to the Geffen Playhouse for its West Coast Premiere.
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HE ASKED FOR IT
Sunday, June 21st, 2009
Freshly arrived in LaLa Land from Wyoming, aspiring actor Ted is working out on the treadmill at 24 Hour Fitness. Could the hunk doing cardio next to him possibly be gay? Perhaps a question or two might clear up any confusion. Ted: Do you like Madonna? Hunk: No. After a few more failed attempts to get the conversational ball rolling, the new guy in town plunges into his life story. “I never got that kind of radar thing you’re supposed to get,” the gaydar-challenged young actor explains. “You should try the Internet,” suggests the gym bunny, and when Ted plunges in and suggests maybe getting together, the studly object of his attention responds succinctly, “Sorry, but I don’t go out with guys I meet at the gym.”
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FACING EAST
Thursday, June 18th, 2009
It has been said that there is no greater loss than that of a child a parent has given life to. Imagine, then, how much more devastating the pain must be when that parent feels responsible for his or her child’s death, and how much greater still if the child’s death has occurred at his or her own hands.
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