PARFUMERIE (WALLIS ANNENBERG CENTER): 80% – SWEET
SWEET That said, the crisply assured performances, and Brokaw’s clockwork pacing, give the text its best possible production, though we sometimes sense we’re seeing a show that doesn’t have much faith...
View ArticleTHE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO THOMAS JEFFERSON, CHARLES DICKENS AND COUNT LEO...
SWEET Carefully compiled references and biographical details whiz by in Matt August’s finely tuned staging, with superb performances illuminating the clashing personalities that drive three discordant...
View ArticlePASSION PLAY (ODYSSEY/EVIDENCE ROOM): 79% – SWEET
BITTERSWEET If, like me, you’re a fan of the Evidence Room, go to enjoy the familiar faces. Otherwise enjoy the small stuff and forgive the production for not tying everything up. Anthony Byrnes – KCRW...
View ArticleVANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE: 84% – SWEET
SWEET The show, directed by David Hyde Pierce following Nicholas Martin’s Broadway staging, opened at the Mark Taper Forum on Sunday in tiptop shape. Indeed, you can mark this down as a shimmering...
View ArticleThe Saturday Saying
“I’ve found that at least once a year there is a show that is loved and lauded by public and critics alike, a play that garners awards and big box office, and yet bafflingly leaves me completely cold....
View ArticleBRIEF ENCOUNTER (THE WALLIS): 90% – SWEET
SWEET It’s an absolutely beguiling production, psychologically simple but stylistically as rich as a tapestry. Steven Leigh Morris – LA Weekly SWEET If you love the movie (and what emotionally sentient...
View ArticleTOP GIRLS (ANTAEUS): 100% – SWEET
SWEET Eventually there was a revelation on many levels making this one of the most unique theatrical experiences in my more than half century of theatrical experiences. Go and watch this show. You will...
View ArticleGOD ONLY KNOWS (THEATRE 40): 63% – BITTERSWEET
SWEET If you enjoy a mystery, you will enjoy the United States Premiere of a mystery thriller at Theatre 40 in Beverly Hills. Whether you are a believer or not, you will enjoy God Only Knows, written...
View ArticleCLASSIC COUPLES COUNSELING: 57% – BITTERSWEET
SWEET So…what if Lady MacBeth had been diagnosed with OCD, manifest through excessive hand washing? What if The Taming of the Shrew’s Petruchio was discovered to have been bipolar in his treatment,...
View ArticleRECALL (VISCERAL COMPANY): 85% – SWEET
SWEET Clark is smart to envision a near-future, fear-based world that’s taken its cue from the chilling rash of school shootings that have occurred over the past decade or so—even if Quinn, the loner...
View ArticleA MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM (BROAD STAGE): 82% – SWEET
BITTERSWEET Still, the production, by War Horse director Tom Morris, is surprisingly uninvolving. The main quartet of lovers and their foibles feel too separate from the puppet business, a big reason...
View ArticleTHE VORTEX (MATRIX RE-MOUNT): 71% – BITTERSWEET
BITTER Judging by the pervasive silence during the performance, the rest of the audience apparently didn’t get what was being said, either. Whether it was the accents or the acoustics or the rushed,...
View ArticleTASTE: 87% – SWEET
SWEET It’s hard to imagine what would ever drive someone to the point where they would want to be consumed by another human being but Taste treats this bizarre scenario with an unflinching honesty and...
View ArticleA DELICATE BALANCE (ODYSSEY THEATRE): 96% – SWEET
SWEET In her emotionally astute staging, director Robin Larsen sets her dream cast loose upon Albee’s fascinating, frustrating material, which ranges from the boozily meandering to the brilliant. F....
View ArticleDEATH OF THE AUTHOR: 75% – BITTERSWEET
SWEET It is smart, suspenseful, surprising, downright sensational writing, and with DeLorenzo in the director’s chair and a superb cast giving it added layers and depth, it makes for a play and...
View ArticleDORIAN’S DESCENT (DOMA): 38% – BITTER
BITTER A quartet of stellar performers, a gifted composer/musical director, and L.A.’s costume designer du jour at his most over-the-top fabulous can’t, unfortunately, save the Oscar Wilde-based World...
View ArticleTHE CURSE OF OEDIPUS (ANTAEUS): 93% – SWEET
SWEET This is a show that deals squarely with many of the darkest human issues as well as the unique qualities of the ancient Greek Gods. It is absolutely not a musical nor a comedy, it is a rich and...
View ArticleA STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE (GROUP REP): 100% – SWEET
SWEET Now onstage at the group rep in NoHo, Streetcar may be a daring choice for this company, but under L. Flint Esquerra’s caring and detailed direction and with four actors perfectly cast in the...
View ArticleIN A DARK DARK HOUSE (MATRIX THEATRE): 60% – BITTERSWEET
SWEET This production of In a Dark Dark House is theatre at its best! Gil Kaan – BroadwayWorld SWEET “Dark House”‘s gripping two hours at the Matrix benefits from clear visual realization and the...
View ArticleREASONS TO BE PRETTY (GEFFEN PLAYHOUSE): 75% – BITTERSWEET
SWEET Director Randall Arney deftly captures every nuance in the relationships and their unfolding. He keeps the comedy flowing, the realizations only gradually emerging. And he has assembled a...
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