DENTAL SOCIETY MIDWINTER MEETING
Friday, June 27th, 2014RECOMMENDED
Buzzworks Theater Company returns with the often entertaining West Coast Premiere of Laura Jacqmin’s Dental Society Midwinter Meeting, and though the one-act comedy proves a hit-or-miss affair, I’d gladly take it over a January in Skokie, Illinois.
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CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF
Saturday, June 21st, 2014RECOMMENDED
A pair of sensational performances by Sienna Farall as Maggie and Brian Robert Harris as Big Daddy elevate Theatre Palisades’ revival of Tennessee Williams Cat On A Hot Tin Roof above standard community theater fare.
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THE BROTHERS SIZE
Friday, June 20th, 2014RECOMMENDED
The Fountain Theatre follows its multiple award-winning 2012 production of Tarell Alvin McCraney’s In The Red And Brown Water with the Los Angeles Premiere of the 33-year-old playwright’s The Brothers Size, and while the production is as beautifully acted as they get, I am a good deal less enamored with the second in McCraney’s Brother/Sister Plays trilogy than I was with the first.
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DOG AND PONY
Sunday, June 15th, 2014RECOMMENDED
A trio of utterly fabulous Broadway leading ladies led by the magical Nicole Parker are reason enough to catch The Old Globe’s latest World Premiere musical, Dog And Pony, though the show itself, despite Roger Rees’ effervescent direction, still needs a good deal of work.
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BEIJING SPRING
Thursday, May 22nd, 2014RECOMMENDED
A sensationally talented, mostly very young cast of Asian-American triple-threats, exciting, eclectic choreography, and a story that merits retelling are the best reasons to catch East West Players’ season closer, Tim Dang and Joel Iwataki’s Beijing Spring. The musical itself, however, still needs work despite considerable revision since its 1999 World Premiere.
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THE HYPOCHONDRIAC
Tuesday, May 13th, 2014RECOMMENDED
Moliere’s The Imaginary Invalid gets trimmed down from three acts to a fast-moving fifty-minutes as Zombie Joe’s Underground Theatre presents Roger K. Weiss’s The Hypochondriac, and thought results fall short of the brilliance of December’s A Christmas Carol, there are laughs aplenty to be had.
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MACBETH
Saturday, April 26th, 2014RECOMMENDED
Elijah Alexander and Jules Willcox deliver powerhouse performances as Macbeth and his Lady as A Noise Within presents its latest excursion into Shakespeare territory. By contrast, Larry Carpenter’s direction proves considerably less impressive.
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THE VORTEX
Sunday, April 13th, 2014RECOMMENDED
A pair of sensational lead performances and a fabulous 1960s design are the best reasons to catch this rare revival of Noël Coward’s 1924 hit The Vortex despite a half-hour or so of cuts which make the latest Malibu Playhouse production a less-than-unqualified success.
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