“IRIS” BY CIRQUE DU SOLEIL (KODAK THEATRE): 92% – SWEET
SWEET While I’m no connoisseur of Cirque du Soleil, which made its U.S. debut downtown in Little Tokyo in 1987 and has enjoyed, in the pre-show words of founder Guy Laliberté, “an amazing love affair...
View ArticleTHE SEAGULL (ANTAEUS): 82% – SWEET
SWEET I’ll admit it. When I hear the name Chekhov, the first words that pop into my head are dull, somber, and talky. That’s why it’s such a pleasure to report that the Antaeus Company’s revival of...
View ArticleTHE WOMAN IN THE WALL: 100% – SWEET
SWEET This entrancing performance takes the audience on a spiritual journey that illuminates the power of women despite intensely limiting social circumstances. Sarah Taylor-Ellis – Stage and Cinema...
View ArticleCRESCENT CITY: A HYPEROPERA: 80% – SWEET
BITTERSWEET Welcome to Crescent City, a “hyper-opera” which opened at Atwater Crossing last weekend. Equal parts opera, avant-garde, art installation and phantasmagoria, the result, if you can handle...
View ArticleONASSIS: 67% – BITTERSWEET
SWEET Suave, charming, ego maniac Aristotle Onassis comes to vivid life through the brilliantly modulated, cautiously executed and intensely focused performance of Anthony Skordi on the stage of the...
View ArticleBY THE WAY, MEET VERA STARK: 73% – BITTERSWEET
SWEET “By the Way, Meet Vera Stark” would rather be antic than preachy. This is a reasonable if not an entirely necessary trade-off. But Lathan fills out the human dimension of a character Nottage...
View ArticleYOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU (ANTAEUS): 95% – SWEET
BITTER It’s the kooky mayhem that’s this production’s undoing. There’s not enough space on Tom Buderwitz’s crowded set for all the horseplay. But the bigger problem is that the lunacy has no liftoff....
View ArticleVINCENT (VS THEATRE): 100% – SWEET
SWEET As performed by French-born actor Jean-Michel Richaud, this insightful and often moving 1981 solo show penned by Leonard Nimoy transcends the usual clichés surrounding the high-maintenance artist...
View ArticleTHE GRAPES OF WRATH (A NOISE WITHIN): 86% – SWEET
SWEET A Noise Within’s stellar production of Frank Galati’s 1990 Tony Award–winning stage adaptation honors the novel’s messages, bringing the work to the stage in a way that is sincere, memorable, and...
View ArticleTHE CRUCIBLE (ANTAEUS): 97% – SWEET
BITTERSWEET As for the differing styles of delivery, it’s a brave theatrical device, but it was used for one of the few plays I know that doesn’t need deconstructionist staging. It’s like chipping away...
View ArticleTHE BURNT PART BOYS (THIRD STREET THEATRE): 69% – BITTERSWEET
BITTERSWEET Within the heavy-handed framework, the cast acquits itself sincerely and honorably, though Patten seems to have been glued to Annie Get Your Gun while Pete was over at The Alamo. In her...
View ArticleTHE LIAR (ANTAEUS): 100% – SWEET
SWEET You may not remember the plot very well a few days after you see The Liar, but you’ll remember the exuberance of Dorante and his deceptions, and you’ll laugh. Don Shirley – LA Stage Times SWEET...
View ArticleTHE PAIN AND THE ITCH (ZEPHYR THEATRE): 73% – BITTERSWEET
BITTERSWEET Initially provocative, the tart humor grows rancid, the plotting feels heavy-handed and the characters are eviscerated so balefully that you may, defiantly, start to sympathize with them....
View ArticleCritique of the Week – Runner Runner Runner Up
This is a good review, but it aches with so much internal conflict that David almost seems to be battling with his own internal demons, the love of the aesthetic and his own habitual ideology. It was...
View ArticleVILLON: 70% – BITTERSWEET
BITTER A play about a murderous French poet, told by a troupe of vaudevillian-style actors, seems it would be enough to spark some interest in an audience, but unfortunately Murray Mednick’s “Villon”...
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 ArticleFAT PIG (HUDSON MAINSTAGE): 93% – SWEET
SWEET This unconventional love story about body image and peer pressure is sometimes harsh and brutal but often quite brilliant. Sandro Monetti – Thespian Thoughts SWEET Fat Pig’s fine cast and expert...
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 ArticleTOSCA (PACIFIC OPERA PROJECT): 100% – SWEET
SWEET Opera newbies will find this production effective and thought-provoking, while veterans who think they’ve sat through one too many Toscas should come to see and hear Blackwell and Cheney from a...
View ArticleVOX LUMIERE – THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (LATC): 64% – BITTERSWEET
SWEET Lon Chaney rocks out as this incredibly inventive rock opera experience brings sound to his seminal silent film. Staci Layne Wilson – Dread Central SWEET Vox’s version of the Phantom’s narrative...
View Article
