Posts Tagged ‘Los Angeles Theater Review’

LOOK HOMEWARD, ANGEL


No intimate theater company in L.A. has produced more—or more consistently excellent—intimate revivals of contemporary Broadway classics over the past half-dozen years than August Viverito and TL Kolman’s The Production Company. Now, following in the illustrious footsteps of The ProdCo’s M Butterfly, Equus, Copenhagen, Amadeus, and The Beauty Queen Of Leenane, comes Viverito and Kolman’s latest (and one of their best), Ketti Frings’ 1957 Pulitzer Prize-winning adaptation of Thomas Wolfe’s Look Homeward, Angel.
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THE NISEI WIDOWS CLUB: How Tomi Got Her Groove Back


The Japanese-American Golden Girls who call themselves The Nisei Widows are back at East West Players, and if those who caught the first installment Nisei Widows Club in 2003 can ignore the knee-jerk reaction, “Never again!”, this return visit ten years later, while still pure sitcom, proves considerably more entertaining, and ultimately quite touching once (as the play’s title gives away) Tomi’s got her groove back.
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12 ANGRY MEN


A black-and-white cast adds provocative new shadings to 12 Angry Men as the Pasadena Playhouse revives the 20th Century jury room drama for a 21st Century audience, and though director Sheldon Epps’ re-envisioning of Reginald Rose’s now iconic play proves problematic, there’s no denying the power of the dynamic dozen actors onstage at the Playhouse or of Rose’s ingeniously constructeds, beautifully written classic.
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MIRACLE ON SOUTH DIVISION STREET


Playwright Tom Dudzick, whose Over The Tavern and Greetings! have racked up more than three hundred productions between then, is back, and Los Angeles audiences are the lucky beneficiaries of the latest comedic confection from America’s “Catholic Neil Simon” as Burbank’s Colony Theatre presents the West Coast Premiere of Miracle On South Division Street (The Holiday Version).
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THE MUSICAL OF MUSICALS (THE MUSICAL!)


How would you like to relive every single musical ever written by Rodgers & Hammerstein, Stephen Sondheim, Jerry Herman, Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber, and Kander & Ebb … all in under two hours and performed by a cast, not of thousands or hundreds (or even dozens) but a mere four terrifically talented triple-threats?
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SAVE ME


Dynasty’s Alexis Carrington, All About Eve’s Eve Harrington, Mean Girls’ Regina George, Melrose Place’s Amanda Woodward, Days Of Our Lives’ Sami Brady … All these movie and TV bad girls owe a debt of gratitude to the brazen hussy that started it all way back in 1890, the one-and-only Hedda Gabler, brought up to 21st Century life in Save Me, Valerie Rachelle’s modern interpretation of Henrik Ibsen’s late 19th-Century classic, directed with style and flair by Rachelle and featuring a sensational Shannon Nelson as Her Majesty, Queen Bitch Hedda.
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THE POKÉMUSICAL

RECOMMENDED
A second extension of the Hollywood Fringe Festival hit The Pokémusical made it possible for this reviewer to catch the much talked-about musical spoof of the animated Pokénon TV series and films, one which features quite a few laughs and some terrific performances. Despite those pluses, however, I must confess to having ended up a good deal less a fan of The Pokémusical than its rave reviews had led me to expect. (read more)

FALLING


The challenges of caring for a fully-grown, severely autistic adult child are dealt with powerfully, insightfully, and with occasional refreshing bursts of humor in Deanna Jent’s Falling, now getting a Grade-A West Coast Premiere at Rogue Machine Theatre.
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