SMOKE

posted on July 4th, 2016 at 6:13 PM by Steven Stanley

Fearless only begins to describe Patrick Stafford and Emily James’ stunning performances in Kim Davies’ walk-on-the-wild-side two-hander Smoke, now running in raw, risk-taking Rogue Machine rep with the similarly single-word-titled Honky and Bull.
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posted in Drama, Hollywood/West Hollywood, Theater Review, WOW!

BULL

posted on July 4th, 2016 at 11:02 AM by Steven Stanley


Youtube videos would like bullied teens to believe “It Gets Better” once high school days are over and done. Not so in the dog-devour-dog business world of Mike Bartlett’s Bull, where it’s one pitiful runt going head to head against a pair of vicious pit bulls. Sorry, make that one pit bull and one pit bitch. Now running in rep with Rogue Machine’s Honky and Smoke, Bull makes for one devastatingly funny, mercilessly soul-shattering fifty-five minute ride.
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posted in Comedy-Drama, Hollywood/West Hollywood, Theater Review, WOW!

CHURCH & STATE

posted on July 3rd, 2016 at 1:48 PM by Steven Stanley

A North Carolina senator’s “Road To Damascus” conversion from staunch 2nd Amendment advocate to gun control champion may sound about as improbable as Barbara Boxer suddenly turning pro-life, but it makes for powerful, thought-provoking comedy (that’s right, comedy) in Jason Odell Williams’ Church & State, now being given a sensationally acted and directed NNPN Rolling World Premiere* by Skylight Theatre Company.
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posted in Comedy, Los Angeles, Theater Review, World Premiere, WOW!

A FEW GOOD MEN

posted on July 2nd, 2016 at 10:54 AM by Steven Stanley

An edge-of-your-seat suspense-filled script, a mystery it would take a Sherlock Holmes to solve, courtroom sequences that would do Perry Mason proud, razor-sharp direction by Tony Pauletto, a topnotch production design, and crackerjack performances by a cast of twenty-four, most particularly by KC Clyde in the role that scored a pair of Toms (Hulce and Cruise) respective Tony and Golden Globe nominations, all of the above add up to a NoHo Arts Center guest production of Aaron Sorkin’s A Few Good Men that rivals work being done by L.A.’s finest intimate theater companies.
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posted in Drama, North Hollywood, Theater Review, WOW!

BAD JEWS

posted on July 1st, 2016 at 1:30 PM by Steven Stanley

Cousins clash over religion, their heritage, and a precious family heirloom in Joshua Harmon’s equal parts side-splitting, button-pushing, discussion-provoking Bad Jews, back in L.A. as a mostly quite successful guest production at Hollywood’s Theatre Of NOTE.
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posted in Comedy, Hollywood/West Hollywood, Theater Review, WOW!

THE ARMADILLO NECKTIE

posted on June 27th, 2016 at 5:58 PM by Steven Stanley

From the moment the lights go up on a mobile command center somewhere in the Iraqi desert where a hooded man finds himself strapped to a chair, a pair of jumper cables attached to his nuts by a military officer whose first words are “Whatsup, mothafucka?” you know you’re no longer at your grandparents’ Lonny Chapman Theatre as The Group Rep debuts Gus Krieger’s outrageously dark, outrageously foul-mouthed, outrageously funny The Armadillo Necktie.
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posted in Comedy, North Hollywood, Theater Review, World Premiere, WOW!

THE ECCENTRICITIES OF A NIGHTINGALE

posted on June 26th, 2016 at 11:09 AM by Steven Stanley

Ginna Carter gives quite possibly the year’s most brilliant dramatic performance as Alma Winemiller in Pacific Resident Theatre’s absolutely superb revival of Tennessee Williams’ The Eccentricities Of A Nightingale, impeccably directed by Dana Jackson.
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posted in Drama, Theater Review, West Side/Beverly HIlls, WOW!

MAJOR BARBARA

posted on June 25th, 2016 at 1:37 PM by Steven Stanley

Terrific performances spark Infinite Jest Theatre Company’s revival of George Bernard Shaw’s Major Barbara under Branda Lock’s assured direction. Sets and lighting may give the production a rather low-end look, but some particularly fine work by Samantha Barrios, William Reinbold, and Graciela Valderama (among others) make it worth your while to catch Shaw’s bitingly comedic, still relevant look at religion and war and wealth and poverty and morality in all their shades of gray.
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posted in Comedy, Los Angeles, Theater Review, WOW!

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