D DEB DEBBIE DEBORAH
Friday, August 12th, 2016RECOMMENDED
Twilight Zone meets Theater Of The Absurd in D Deb Debbie Deborah, Jerry Lieblich’s trippy journey to a land where no one, not even the title character, is who they seem, and though it’s anyone’s guess what Lieblich is getting at throughout most of his play’s seventy-five minutes, confusion hardly matters till a sudden eleventh-hour try for profundity takes Quadruple D from entertaining to exasperating.
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GYPSY
Sunday, June 12th, 2016RECOMMENDED
A weak first act, a considerably more successful second, and a terrific Tara Pitt throughout add up to a mixed bag of a Gypsy revival at Theatre Out, but one still worth checking out for Pitt’s powerhouse performance as (wonder of wonders) an age-appropriate Mama Rose.
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THE WIZ
Monday, June 6th, 2016RECOMMENDED
For the next six weeks, The Emerald City can be found in Simi Valley as Actors Repertory Theatre Of Simi presents The Wiz, aka The Super Soul Musical “Wonderful Wizard of Oz,” a mixed bag of a production that nonetheless offers SoCal audiences the rarer-than-rare chance to see a bona fide Broadway groundbreaker, one that proved that a musical with an all-African-American cast could not only win Tonys (seven in all) but become one of the Top Forty longest-running musicals in Broadway history.
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HEDDA GABLER
Monday, June 6th, 2016RECOMMENDED
Some of L.A.’s finest stage stars take center stage in Andrew Upton’s 2002 version of Henrik Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler, and while the age-blind casting of most of the play’s lead roles proves problematic, the Antaeus Company’s latest partner-cast revival nonetheless offers Los Angeles theatergoers some of the finest acting in town.
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THE GOLDEN DRAGON
Monday, May 9th, 2016RECOMMENDED
Five exceptional performances, Michael Michetti’s highly imaginative direction, and a breathtaking Theatre @ Boston Court production design add up to reason enough to check out Roland Schimmelpfennig’s The Golden Dragon despite a script more pretentious than profound.
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TORCH SONG TRILOGY
Sunday, April 24th, 2016RECOMMENDED International Stud
RECOMMENDED Fugue in a Nursery
Widows And Children First!
Andrew J. Villarreal gives the year’s most extraordinary performance as flamboyant but mush-hearted Jewish drag queen Arnold Beckoff in Harvey Fierstein’s Torch Song Trilogy, making Theatre Out’s rarer-than-rare revival well worth seeing despite the flawed execution of the first two of its three one-act plays.
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SLEUTH
Friday, March 25th, 2016RECOMMENDED
Anthony Shaffer’s cat-and-mouse comedy mystery thriller Sleuth ran nearly three years on Broadway in the early 1970s, chalking up over 1200 performances, much of the play’s success stemming from its multiple unexpected plot twists. The terrifically acted revival now playing at Little Fish Theatre delivers on most of the surprises, but unfortunately not on the big post-intermission humdinger.
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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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