LA RONDE
Thursday, January 15th, 2009
Even before the first of its ten “dialogues,” you know you’re not in for your great-great-great grandfather’s La Ronde in director Larry Biederman’s stunningly conceived, designed, and executed production of the 1900 Arthur Schnitzler classic. Despite its late-19th Century setting, there’s not a divan or gas lamp or bustle in sight. Instead, a black-and-white Annie Lennox (circa the Eurythmics) belting out “I need someone to listen to the ecstasy I’m faking” is projected on an irregularly-cut upstage canvas screen, behind which the outlines of cocktail party guests and the shadows of a man and woman move this way and that, seemingly unable to connect.
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BILL W. AND DR. BOB
Sunday, January 4th, 2009RECOMMENDED
Bill W. And Dr. Bob, Samuel Shem and Janet Surrey’s biodrama about the founders of AA, has been around L.A. for quite a while now. Its current incarnation at Theatre 68 is in fact its fifth Los Angeles run and follows its 2007 New York Times-reviewed off-Broadway premiere at New World Stages. Having finally gotten the chance to see this often very moving story of the men who, almost by accident, revolutionized the treatment of alcoholism and other addictions, I can understand its popularity and appeal. Despite certain structural drawbacks and its air of “disease movie of the week,” Bill W. And Dr. Bob is both educational and entertaining, and in the second act especially, emotionally powerful.
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THE BUSY WORLD IS HUSHED
Sunday, November 30th, 2008
Besides being one of the best and most intelligent new plays in quite a while, Keith Bunin’s The Busy World Is Hushed couldn’t come at a more appropriate time. Following a Yes On 8 victory which was fueled largely by so-called “devout Christians,” it is refreshing indeed to see a play which presents a gay-affirming branch of Christianity, and a lead character (and person of the cloth) who not only accepts that her son is gay but actively encourages his quest for Mr. Right.
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JACOB MARLEY’S CHRISTMAS CAROL
Sunday, November 23rd, 2008
Southern Californians may not be able to depend on snow before Christmas, but one thing is certain about our theater scene. There will be Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carols galore every year from November through December.
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THE GIANT AND THE PIXIE
Sunday, November 23rd, 2008RECOMMENDED
If its title makes you think that The Giant And The Pixie will be a holiday show for kids, think again. This world premiere drama is most definitely for adults only, and though its fantasy aspect (each character has a fairy tale counterpart) didn’t work for me, and despite the characters not being people I’d want to hang around with, the excellent work of the five-actor cast makes The Giant And The Pixie worth seeing.
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THE JOY LUCK CLUB
Wednesday, November 12th, 2008
Fans of Amy Tan’s novel The Joy Luck Club or Wayne Wang’s 1993 film version will find much to relish in East West Players’ production of its stage adaptation by Susan Kim.
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CHARLES DICKENS’ OLIVER TWIST
Sunday, November 9th, 2008
Say the words Oliver Twist and the first thing that pops into mind may be a song—“Food Glorious Food,” “Where Is Love,” “You’ve Got To Pick A Pocket Or Two,” “Who Will Buy”… Lionel Bart’s songs are so inextricably linked to Charles Dickens’ original story that it’s hard to imagine an Oliver Twist without them, yet British writer-director Neil Bartlett has dared to do so in his 2004 adaptation (“in twenty-four scenes with several songs and tableaux”) entitled Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist, now getting a magical L.A. premiere at A Noise Within.
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SONG OF EXTINCTION
Friday, November 7th, 2008
•A middle-aged immigrant biology teacher relives the genocide in his native Cambodia in which 2,000,000 of his countrymen lost their lives…
•A 40ish biologist obsesses over the impending extinction of a rare species of Bolivian beetle…
•A 15-year-old viola prodigy must come to grips with his mother’s terminal illness…
These are the threads which EM Lewis weaves together in her exquisitely poetic and deeply moving new play Song Of Extinction.
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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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