FAIRIES WITH CHILDREN
Saturday, November 13th, 2010RECOMMENDED
Gay best friends go underground in a Pomona cul-de-sac in an attempt to change the hearts and minds of conservative America in John Trapper’s Fairies With Children (The Yes On Hate Episode), a World Premiere comedy now playing at the Meta Theatre.
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CRIMES OF THE HEART
Wednesday, November 10th, 2010
East West Players 2010-11 season continues with its second smash hit in a row—an absolutely splendid staging of the quirky Southern comedy Crimes Of The Heart. The third major Southern California revival of Beth Henley’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play since May, East West’s is the first to feature an all-Asian American cast—and why not? As Artistic Director Tim Dang has stated, “Asians do live in the South, Asians do speak with Southern accents and Asians historically have been part of the American landscape for well over a century.” Since Hollywood casting directors remain for the most part blithely unaware of this reality, it’s up to theater companies like East West to give members of the Asian American acting community roles like Henley’s delightfully quirky Magrath sisters—parts which Elizabeth Liang, Kimiko Gelman, and Maya Erskine bring to vivid, authentic, hilarious, and emotionally resonant life.
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INTO THE WOODS
Thursday, November 4th, 2010
If you love Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods even half as much as I do, you must see Lucid By Proxy’s remarkable new revival, brilliantly directed by Calvin Remsberg in the most unique Into The Woods setting ever.
Since its Broadway premiere 23 years ago, Into The Woods has become one of the most performed musicals in the U.S.—in regional CLOs, on college and high school campuses, and in intimate theaters. Its first act, which magically combines some of the best loved of Grimm’s Fairy Tales, and its second, which explores with considerable depth what happens after “happily ever after,” make for a show which retains its freshness and originality two decades after it first captivated Broadway audiences.
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THE TRAIN DRIVER
Thursday, October 21st, 2010RECOMMENDED
The partnership of Athol Fugard and The Fountain Theatre has possibly led to more awards and award nominations than any ongoing collaboration between writer and theater in the Los Angeles area. Fountain productions of Fugard’s The Road To Mecca, Exits And Entrances, Victory, and Coming Home have won raves from local reviewers and numerous Ovations and LADCC awards, among others. The arrival of Fugard’s latest, The Train Driver, a work the playwright describes as “the most important play I’ve written” therefore seemed a good opportunity to see what all the kudos have been about.
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DIVING NORMAL
Wednesday, October 20th, 2010
The lives of three 20something New Yorkers intersect in Diving Normal, Ashlin Halfnight’s smart, funny, engrossing comedy-drama now getting its West Coast Premiere at the SFS Theatre under Neil H. Weiss’s astute direction.
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SPOTLIGHT CABARET: BROADWAY NU SKOOL
Tuesday, October 12th, 2010
There’s been an explosion of New York style cabaret in Los Angeles over the past few years, with Aaron Jacobs’ second-Sunday-of-the-month Spotlight Cabaret providing audiences the chance to enjoy the vocal talents of some of our finest musical theater talents while savoring some of Café Metropol’s tasty dinner treats or a cocktail, beer, or glass of wine.
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KURT VONNEGUT’S SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE
Thursday, October 7th, 2010RECOMMENDED
“You’ll either love it, or push it back in the science-fiction corner,” opined the New York Times in its 1969 review of Kurt Vonnegut’s anti-war sci-fi novel Slaughterhouse Five. The same can probably be said about its theatrical adaptation by Eric Simonson, now getting its first West Coast production fourteen years after its World Premiere at Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre Company. Theatergoers unfamiliar with Vonnegut’s dense, epic tale, or those whose tastes run towards realistic, linear storytelling rather than the avant-garde or experimental may choose to pass on Action Theatre’s intimate staging, despite its generally fine acting and imaginative direction by Tiger Reel. On the other hand, Vonnegut fans will want to check out how adapter Simonson manages to compact Slaughterhouse Five down to an intermission-free ninety minutes of live theater.
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THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE
Saturday, October 2nd, 2010
Since discovering USC’s Musical Theatre Repertory nearly three years ago with their sensational intimate staging of Sunday In The Park With George, I’ve tried never to miss an MTR production. Unlike USC mainstage productions, MTR shows are entirely student produced, directed, designed, and performed, thereby providing sneak previews of future Broadway/regional theater on-and-offstage talents. With veteran MTR members graduating each June and moving on to professional careers, every new school year introduces a fresh batch of Trojan theater majors every bit as talented as their predecessors, something MTR’s current production of William Finn’s The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee makes perfectly clear.
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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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