THE LIAR
Monday, October 14th, 2013
Silliness has rarely been cleverer or cleverness sillier than in David Ives’ translation/adaptation of Pierre Corneille’s 1644 comedy The Liar, The Antaeus Company’s end-of-season offering and quite possibly the classical theater masters’ frothiest romp ever.
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I LOVE YOU, YOU’RE PERFECT, NOW CHANGE
Friday, September 13th, 2013
Men may be from Mars and Women from Venus, but the twain do meet … and fall head over heels … and then decide it’s time to fix each other’s flaws in I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change, Joe DiPietro and Jimmy Roberts’ smash off-Broadway musical revue, now getting a sparklingly performed 17th Anniversary revival at North Hollywood’s Crown City Theatre.
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SHERLOCK THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS
Monday, September 2nd, 2013
The world’s greatest detective meets the author of Alice of Wonderland in Gus Krieger’s Sherlock Through The Looking Glass, the latest from The Porters Of Hellsgate, and if Krieger’s play could stand some trimming, tightening, and clarifying, topnotch performances and exciting staging combine to further solidify the Porters’ reputation as one of L.A.’s most exciting young acting troupes.
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IN THE NEXT ROOM (or the vibrator play)
Sunday, August 25th, 2013
Debuting its new home at North Hollywood’s Secret Rose Theatre, L.A.’s award-winning The Production Company opens its seventh season with a sparkling Los Angeles Intimate Stage Premiere of Sarah Ruhl’s delightful, provocative, ultimately uplifting In The Next Room (or the vibrator play), a 2010 Best Play Tony nominee and one that more than matches Ruhl’s previous The Clean House, Dead Man’s Cell Phone, and Eurydice in quirky originality and charm.
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NIGHT HAWKS
Saturday, August 3rd, 2013
A pair of aging partners in murder-for-pay meet in a rundown diner for breakfast (and playwrights-only-know what else) in Dennis A. Pratt & Robert Vincent O’Neil’s crackerjack comedy-mystery-suspense thriller Night Hawks, now getting a much deserved extension at North Hollywood’s Crown City Theatre.
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THE ISLAND
Tuesday, July 23rd, 2013RECOMMENDED
It’s one thing (and an admirable one at that) for Skypilot Theatre to have as its slogan “New Plays, Written, Developed, and Performed In Los Angeles.” It’s something even more noteworthy for the company to undertake that most difficult genre of all, the musical. After all, it’s hardly uncommon for a new musical to be “in development” for half a dozen years or more.
I don’t know where The Island is on its trajectory from inspiration to final form. There are certainly aspects of this World Premiere’s book and songs that could, as they say, “use some work.” Notwithstanding, I quite enjoyed this “musical re-imagining of Shakespeare’s The Tempest, flaws and all.
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ModRock
Monday, June 24th, 2013
The city was London, the season was Summer Of ’65, and the Beatles had only recently “crossed the pond” to conquer America. Back in the UK, the Profumo Affair and its sexy instigator Christine Keeler was being splashed across British tabloids while at nearby seaside resorts, leather-clad Rockers were clashing in the streets with trendily dressed Mods.
This heady period in 20th Century English history now returns to bouncy, tuneful life in ModRock, Hagan Thomas-Jones’ dandy new jukebox musical that’s a little bit Romeo & Juliet, a little bit Grease, and a whole lot of fun.
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FOOL FOR LOVE
Monday, May 27th, 2013RECOMMENDED
Powerful performances by Chad Doreck and Lauren Plaxco make the Gloria Gifford-directed revival of Sam Shepard’s overwrought one-act Fool For Love now playing at T.U. Studios worth checking out.
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