FUN HOME
Thursday, February 23rd, 2017Coming of age. Coming out. Coming to grips. Three extraordinary actresses breathe life into a young lesbian’s journey from childhood to mid-life in Alison Bechdel’s graphic memoir-turned-Tony-winning musical Fun Home, now making a thrilling Los Angeles debut at the Ahmanson.
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PICASSO AT THE LAPIN AGILE
Tuesday, February 21st, 2017
Albert Einstein and Pablo Picasso square off to both whimsical and profound effect in Picasso At The Lapin Agile, Steve Martin’s delightful theatrical soufflé now getting a splendid, star-studded revival at San Diego’s Old Globe.
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BYE BYE BIRDIE
Monday, February 20th, 2017Glendale Centre Theatre’s terrific revival of the rock-n-rollin’ 1960 Broadway favorite Bye Bye Birdie makes at least two things abundantly clear. First, despite a number of cultural references certain to fly over the heads of whippersnappers too young for their AARP membership card, the fifty-seven-year-old Broadway smash remains younger than most musicals half its age. And second, there’s no SoCal theater better at staging musicals in-the-round than GCT.
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FOR PIANO AND HARPO
Friday, February 17th, 2017
Comedian, composer, pianist, actor, raconteur, best-selling author, quiz-show guest and talk-show host—Oscar Levant was all of these and more, and thanks to writer-star Dan Castellaneta, the largely forgotten 20th-century icon returns to self-deprecating, neurotic, pill-addicted, acerbic life in Castellaneta’s entertaining, elucidating bio-dramedy For Piano And Harpo, a Falcon Theatre World Premiere.
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FREE OUTGOING
Thursday, February 16th, 2017Powerful performances highlighted by Anna Khaja’s riveting star turn command attention in the Los Angeles Premiere of Anupama Chandrasekhar’s Free Outgoing. Still, the unremitting bleakness of its shocking-but-true story of conservative Indian values in today’s anything-goes Internet age could make it a hard sell for East West Players.
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ZOOT SUIT
Tuesday, February 14th, 2017Downtown Los Angeles explodes with music, dance, and dramatic fireworks as the Mark Taper Forum celebrates its 50th-Anniversary Season with a spectacular, timelier-than-ever revival of Luis Valdez’s legendary Zoot Suit.
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EVITA
Monday, February 13th, 2017Refreshingly innovative direction, memorable lead performances, a sensational ensemble, fresh dance moves, and a stunning production design make Musical Theatre West’s revival of the international smash Evita by far the finest regional staging I’ve seen of the Andrew Lloyd Webber-Tim Rice classic.
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DOG SEES GOD: CONFESSIONS OF A TEENAGE BLOCKHEAD
Sunday, February 12th, 2017Teens play teens, and winningly so, in Worst First Kiss Productions’ terrific intimate staging of Bert V. Royal’s hilarious, thought-provoking, ultimately transformative Dog Sees God: Confessions Of A Teenage Blockhead, a sold-out guest production this weekend only at Hollywood’s The Blank Theatre.
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