HOUSE OF THE RISING SON
Thursday, April 28th, 2011
“There is a house in New Orleans
They call the Rising Sun
And it’s been the ruin of many a poor boy
And God I know I’m one”
The New Orleans mansion Trent Varro shares with his father Garrett and grandfather Bowen may indeed prove the ruin of Felix Martin, or so it would seem when the young Angelino catches sight of the shocking tableau which ends Act One of Tom Jacobson’s World Premiere drama House Of The Rising Son. (No, the last word isn’t misspelled.)
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THE CHINESE MASSACRE: ANNOTATED
Friday, April 22nd, 2011
Late 19th century Los Angeles history comes to vivid, complex, highly theatrical life in The Chinese Massacre (Annotated), award-winning playwright Tom Jacobson’s latest World Premiere, and once again (as with Jacobson’s Ouroboros, Bunbury, and The Twentieth Century Way), audiences are in for something special indeed.
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CHERRY SMOKE
Wednesday, April 20th, 2011
The going-nowhere existences of a quartet of 20somethings living in an unemployment-plagued Donora, Pennsylvania are brought to painfully vivid life by playwright James McManus in his award-winning Cherry Smoke, now getting a first-rate West Coast Premiere by the brand new Lucky Mellon Collective, an exciting addition to the Los Angeles theater scene.
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STANDING ON CEREMONY: THE GAY MARRIAGE PLAYS
Monday, March 28th, 2011
A rotating cast of Hollywood celebrities. Eight or nine short plays by some of the country’s finest playwrights. Tons of laughs and more than a few tears. And all this to promote the cause of marriage equality. What progressive theatergoer could pass up a chance like this?
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FOR THE RECORD: BAZ LUHRMANN
Saturday, March 5th, 2011
What do you get when you blend New York-style cabaret, an octet of Broadway and on-their-way-to-Broadway stars, a sensational backup band, music from the silver screen, and a trendy Hollywood-adjacent night spot?
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A HOUSE NOT MEANT TO STAND
Thursday, March 3rd, 2011
The McCorkles of Tennessee Williams’ A House Not Meant To Stand would seem to have more in common with the trailer trash of Del Shores’ Sordid Lives than with the lost souls of The Glass Menagerie or other early Williams’ plays. Perhaps that’s why I enjoyed Tennessee’s last play, now getting its West Coast Premiere nearly thirty years after it first opened in Chicago, so much. That, and the fact that it’s the latest offering by the only Intimate Theater in Los Angeles to win the L.A. Ovation Award for Production Of The Year four times.
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WRINKLES
Wednesday, February 16th, 2011
The Fukutani-Komiyamas are your typical middle-class Pasadena family. Mom Nancy is a divorced single mother and successful attorney. Teenaged Jason is a high school student who’d rather listen to his iPod and play video games on his laptop than write the university essay his mom is always on his case about. “Why don’t you just bang me over the head with a blunt object,” retorts his frustrated mom when Jason informs her that his essay is (pointing at head) “up here.” Grandpa Harry shares digs with daughter and grandson, the better to provide Jason with a mature male influence. Yes, the Fukutani-Komiyamas are your typical middle-class Pasadena family with one exception.
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MR. KOLPERT
Tuesday, February 1st, 2011NOT RECOMMENDED
When a play gets a 5-star review in London’s The Guardian yet fails to impress in an intimate Los Angeles production, one can’t help wondering, “What went wrong in the transatlantic transfer?”
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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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