VIOLET SHARP
Monday, February 16th, 2009RECOMMENDED
On the evening of March 1, 1932, Charles A. Lindbergh, Jr., 20-month-old son of aviator Charles Lindbergh, was kidnapped from the Lindberghs’ New Jersey home. Lindbergh, Sr., who had achieved international fame as the first man to fly solo across the Atlantic, and his wife Anne Morrow Lindbergh, herself an accomplished aviatrix, ended up paying the $50,000 ransom demanded by the unknown kidnapper(s) only to have their son’s decomposed body discovered just miles from their home on May 12. A little over four years after the kidnapping, a German named Bruno Hauptmann was executed for the crime, protesting his innocence till the end.
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THE JAZZ AGE
Sunday, February 15th, 2009
Anyone needing ammunition against those who claim that there is no theater (i.e. great theater) in Los Angeles have only to invite the naysayers to The Blank’s production of The Jazz Age and lo and behold—crow will be eaten. Everything about this West Coast premiere of Allan Knee’s biodrama is first-class grade-A brilliant, from its direction (by Michael Matthews) to its superb trio of actors (Jeremy Gabriel, Luke Macfarlane, and Heather Prete) to its exquisite design to the above-stage band led by Ian Whitcomb.
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NOISES OFF
Sunday, February 15th, 2009
Nobody loves farce more than the British, whether it’s plays like No Sex Please, We’re British, or Joe Orton’s What The Butler Saw, or Alan Ayckbourn’s Taking Steps, or any of Ray Cooney’s frantically-paced comic gems (Move Over Mrs. Markham, Run For Your Wife, etc.) These British farces are so popular that they not only get major professional productions throughout the world, they have also become a staple of community theaters, where unfortunately they don’t always get the caliber of actors required. Only performers with a) total command of their lines, b) perfect coming timing, and c) absolute readiness to enter and exit on cue can do these comedies justice.
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DIVORCE! THE MUSICAL
Saturday, February 14th, 2009
Imagine you’re a multitalented young writer-musician-performer with two failed marriages under your belt—and you’re not yet thirty. Would you consult a lawyer? Too late for that now. See a therapist? Been there, done that. Write an original musical about your experiences on the divorce battlefield? Now THAT’s an idea!
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THE GRADUATE
Friday, February 13th, 2009
Say the words The Graduate and the first thing likely popping into your head will be the voices of Simon and Garfunkel singing “Here’s to you, Mrs. Robinson” or perhaps “The Sounds Of Silence.” Then there’s the famous movie poster of a very young Dustin Hoffman gazing at Anne Bancroft’s stockinged leg filling the foreground. And who can forget Hoffman’s semi-incredulous, “Mrs. Robinson, you’re trying to seduce me,” one of the American Film Institute’s 100 most famous movie lines … ever.
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TIME STANDS STILL
Thursday, February 12th, 2009
Donald Margulies’ Pulitzer Prize-winning Dinner With Friends held a microscope up to the lives of two married couples, a foursome of best friends for a decade. Throughout the course of the play’s two acts, the audience sees the two couples as they see one another … and as they see themselves in the privacy of their own homes.
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LOST IN YONKERS
Tuesday, February 10th, 2009
If anyone is wondering why Neil Simon’s Lost In Yonkers won both the Tony Award for Best Play and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, head over to the La Mirada Performing Center For The Arts. The McCoy Rigby Entertainment production of this Simon favorite is a textbook example of how to make an 18-year-old comedy seem as fresh as if it were only now getting its world premiere.
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JESUS HATES ME
Sunday, February 8th, 2009
Life in small town South Central Texas is anything but dull in Jesus Hates Me, Wayne Lemon’s quirky dark comedy getting its West Coast Premiere in a beautifully acted and directed (by Oanh Nguyen) production at Anaheim Hill’s Chance Theater.
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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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