LI’L ABNER
Wednesday, February 6th, 2008
It’s a typical day in Dogpatch, U.S.A.–typical, that is, until the U.S.
Government decides to bomb it to smithereens. Then, local residents scramble
to find something necessary about their beloved town, birthplace of the worst
Confederate General ever, Jubilation T. Cornpone. Meanwhile, marriage-
minded cutiepie Daisy Mae keeps on trying to convince Li’l Abner that there’s
more to life than goin’ fishin’ with his buds. That’s the plot (what there is of it)
of Norman Panama and Melvin Frank’s Li’l Abner, based on Al Capp’s classic
comic strip of the same name.
(read more)
DRIVING MISS DAISY
Tuesday, February 5th, 2008
Alfred Uhry’s Driving Miss Daisy is perhaps best known from the 1989 film
adaptation which starred Jessica Tandy and Morgan Freeman, and which
won Miss Tandy the Oscar at the age of 80. However “Miss Daisy” made her
first appearance in a tiny off-Broadway theater in 1987, with Dana Ivey and
Freeman creating the roles of Miss Daisy and her chauffeur Hoke. That Uhry’s
tale of an elderly Southern Jewish widow and the African American driver
foisted upon her by her adult son could work equally well on the big screen
and on a small stage is testimony to its power. Now, McCoy Rigby
Entertainment’s revival at the La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts
proves that Driving Miss Daisy is equally successful performed on a Broadway-
sized stage, especially in the hands of TV icon Michael Learned and her 3-time
Miss Daisy costar Lance C. Nichols, under the assured direction of Brian Kite.
(read more)
THE MONKEY JAR
Saturday, February 2nd, 2008
STUDENT BRINGS GUN TO SCHOOL; THREATENS TEACHER
An everyday occurrence in inner-city high schools, yet in Richard Martin Hirsch’s
The Monkey Jar, now in its world premiere engagement at Theatre 40,
Bienvenida Charter School is not in the inner city but rather in an upscale West
Los Angeles suburb, and the child involved is just 10 years old.
(read more)
WHAT THE BUTLER SAW
Thursday, January 31st, 2008<
“Doctor, help me! I keep seeing naked men!”
“From now on, we shall never have sex except in a linen cupboard.”
(Two of my favorite lines from What The Butler Saw.)
(read more)
ORSON’S SHADOW
Thursday, January 31st, 2008
The year is 1960. The place is Dublin, Ireland, more specifically the Gaiety Theatre,
where renowned film critic Kenneth Tynan has just arrived on a mission. He plans
to ask Orson Welles of Citizen Kane fame to direct “the greatest actor in the
English language” in a production of Eugene Ionesco’s Rhinoceros. The actor in
question is, of course Lawrence Olivier, fresh from his stage and screen triumph in
The Entertainer. There is one hitch to Tynan’s plan, however, and that is Welles’
belief that “Olivier destroyed me in Hollywood in 1948.”
(read more)
BACHELORETTE
Sunday, January 27th, 2008
The night before bride-to-be Becky’s wedding, her maid of honor Regan arrives
at Becky’s hotel suite accompanied by two young women, neither of whom is
particularly close to Becky. In fact, Regan tells Katie and Gena, “Becky has no
friends. She has to invite her myspace friends. I’m surprised she didn’t post a
bulletin.” Rather harsh words to come from Becky’s maid of honor, but that’s
just the start of an often very funny, and sometimes quite shocking glimpse into
the ugliness that can hide behind pretty faces.
(read more)
THRILL ME
Saturday, January 26th, 2008
Over the next two months, Los Angeles theatergoers will have an
unprecedented opportunity to see two very different treatments of one of the
most talked and written about crimes of the past century, with the two shows
playing virtually across the street from each other. One of them is a world
premiere drama written and directed by the Blank’s award winning Daniel
Henning. The other is the L.A. premiere of a Drama Desk and Outer Critics’ Circle
nominated musical. The drama is Dickie And Babe: The True Story Of Leopold
And Loeb, and the musical is Thrill Me: The Leopold & Loeb Story. I’ll be
reviewing the former in mid-February. The latter opened on Saturday at the
Hudson, and under Nick DeGruccio’s impeccable direction, it is likely to be one of
the most talked about, and praised, musicals of 2008.
(read more)
LEADING LADIES
Friday, January 25th, 2008
Playwright Ken Ludwig is a master of the contemporary farce, something that
anyone who has seen his much performed Lend Me A Tenor can attest to.
Another Ludwig gem is Leading Ladies, now getting first-rate treatment by Norris
Center, a gem of a professional theater hidden in beautiful Rolling Hills Estates,
down Palos Verdes way.
(read more)
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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