ENCOUNTER
Thursday, September 13th, 2012NOT RECOMMENDED
East West Players abandons its usual fare (i.e. Asian-American-themed plays and musicals and mainstream plays and musicals with Asian-American casts) for an evening of South Asian dance. Those expecting colorful, Bollywood-style musical numbers will be disappointed, however, and so too I fear will EWP’s subscriber and fan base. Far more suited for a limited run at a Performing Arts Center specializing in eclectic music and dance, Navarasa Dance Theatre’s Encounter, while artfully designed and beautifully performed, failed to ignite this reviewer’s interest, its eighty-minute running time feeling considerably longer despite the talent involved.
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STRANGE BEDFELLOWS
Sunday, August 19th, 2012NOT RECOMMENDED
A smart, funny, sophisticated, incisive satire of old-school Orange County conservatives vs. the progressive LGBT minority in their midst would make for a terrific World Premiere production at Santa Ana’s Theatre Out. Unfortunately, Andy Black and Patricia Milton’s Strange Bedfellows is not that play.
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THE BAT
Friday, August 3rd, 2012NOT RECOMMENDED
The swanky upstate New York home designed by Jeff G. Rack seems the ideal setting for murder, the kind written about by Queen Of Crime Agatha Christie or her American predecessor Mary Roberts Rinehart. Ric Zimmerman has lit the elegant upper class digs for maximum suspense, with candles taking the place of electricity when the lights go out (more than once as we know they will). Bill Froggatt’s sound design provides an eerie, suspenseful musical underscoring to this tale of mystery and impending doom.
If only direction and performances came anywhere close to the collaborative efforts of these three top L.A. design talents in The Bat, the latest production from Beverly Hills’ Theatre 40.
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THE NEW ELECTRIC BALLROOM
Tuesday, June 19th, 2012NOT RECOMMENDED
When deciding whether to spend an hour and a half with a trio of loony Irish sisters in Enda Walsh’s The New Electric Ballroom, the latest production of the multiple award-winning Rogue Machine, you might want to ask yourself how important it is for you to understand what’s happening onstage when watching a play. How important is it for you that a story should unfold in some kind of recognizable reality? How willing are you to suspend disbelief, ignore confusion, and simply go with the flow?
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ANNA CHRISTIE
Monday, March 19th, 2012NOT RECOMMENDED
There are times when a single performance can either salvage a play or sink it. In the case of The Old Globe’s revival of Eugene O’Neill’s Anna Christie, the latter is unfortunately true.
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ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA
Monday, March 5th, 2012NOT RECOMMENDED
Antony and Cleopatra. For anyone around in the 1960s, those two names can’t help but conjure up memories of Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, whose scandalous real-life love story mirrored that of the legendary historical couple they were playing on screen.
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BALM IN GILEAD
Monday, February 20th, 2012NOT RECOMMENDED
Balm In Gilead, Lanford Wilson’s gritty slice of the lives of a couple dozen addicts, hookers, hustlers, pimps, and thieves has been enthusiastically lauded by theater critics since its 1965 premiere and its roles welcomed by actors eager for a walk on the wild side. Having now spent two and a half hours with these largely unsympathetic, offputting folks, however, this reviewer does not particularly share their enthusiasm.
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JERKER
Monday, November 14th, 2011NOT RECOMMENDED
Robert Chesley’s 1986 two-character drama Jerker has been called “one of the most important pieces of gay theater ever created,” though you’d be hard-pressed to determine why this is so based only on the 25th Anniversary production now on stage at Space 916 in West Hollywood.
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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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