REMEMBERING BOYLE HEIGHTS
Saturday, November 17th, 2018Boyle Heights, Los Angeles, its past, its present, and the challenges it faces in the future, make for an eye-opening theatrical experience in Casa 0101’s World Premiere docudrama Remembering Boyle Heights.
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DEATH AND COCKROACHES
Friday, November 16th, 2018A man-sized cockroach with the body of a gay porn god offers a cock-addicted aspiring TV writer unexpected aid in dealing with his father’s imminent death in Eric Reyes Loo’s raunchy, risk-taking, emotionally rewarding dysfunctional-family dramedy Death And Cockroaches, a Chalk Repertory Theatre World Premiere.
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BLISS (or Emily Post is Dead!)
Tuesday, November 13th, 2018Clementine, Maddy, and Antonia are women on the verge of a nervous breakdown in North Orange, New Jersey circa 1960 in Jami Brandli’s BLISS (or Emily Post is Dead!). That they’re also Clytemnestra, Medea, and Antigone reincarnated is one reason Brandli’s take on mid-20th-century suburbia works considerably less well than it would if she had stuck to satire. The other is the play’s two-and-a-half-hour running time.
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THE COLOR PURPLE
Monday, November 12th, 2018Sensational performances and an intimate theatrical setting make Greenway Arts Alliance’s The Color Purple an exciting addition to the L.A. holiday scene if not as spectacular a revival as the musical’s 2012 99-seat L.A. debut.
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VALLEY OF THE HEART
Thursday, November 8th, 2018Epic in scope, educational in intent, and exquisite in design, Luis Valdez’s Valley Of The Heart examines America’s WWII internment of its Japanese-American citizens and their foreign-born family members in ways both familiar (the Broadway musical Allegiance played L.A. just ten months ago) and original (our narrator is Mexican-American). If only the Zoot Suit playwright proved more adept at creating authentic-sounding dialog. If only Valley Of The Heart didn’t so often feel like Wikipedia on stage.
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THE UNAUTHORIZED MUSICAL PARODY OF STRANGER THINGS
Monday, November 5th, 2018The talented team who spoofed Bridesmaids, Clueless, Jurassic Park, Hocus Pocus, and Home Alone to hilarious effect take satirical aim at Stranger Things, the latest of their Unauthorized Musical Parody series at Rockwell Table + Stage and one of UMPO’s best.
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AVENUE Q
Friday, November 2nd, 2018Avenue Q proves an ideal showcase for ten terrifically talented Trojans, eight of whom are making their Musical Theatre Repertory debuts, as USC’s premier all-student musical theater company opens its 13th season with 2004’s Tony-winning grown-up take on a children’s TV classic.
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VIETGONE
Saturday, October 27th, 2018Romantic comedy lovers are in for a treat as a couple of Vietnamese evacuees in an Arkansas refugee camp circa 1975 fall reluctantly in love in Qui Nguyen’s Vietgone, one of East West Players’ all-around best productions in years.
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