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The RomanticsReviewed by Joseph KlinkCity of West Hollywood and Classical Theatre Lab – Kings Road ParkThru September 25RECOMMENDEDAfter a summer of staying indoors to escape insufferable heat, there is a unique opportunity to be found in a welcoming, shaded park in West Hollywood. For over 15 years, the City has partnered with Classical Theatre Lab […]
Silent SkyReviewed by Taylor KassSierra Madre PlayhouseThrough October 9RECOMMENDEDIt might be a man’s world, but the stars belong to everyone. Lauren Gunderson’s 2011 Silent Sky follows the true story of 20th-century astronomer Henrietta Leavitt (Ann Marie Wilding), whose work on the brightness of stars revolutionized the field, despite her not being allowed to touch a […]
13Reviewed by Steven Leigh MorrisSimi Valley Performing Arts CenterThru Sept. 18RECOMMENDEDThis 2008 musical (with music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown, book by Dan Eilish and Robert Horn) is aimed at 13-year-olds and performed almost entirely by teens. (Netflix has just released a movie adaptation). The tropes within its theme of pre-adolescent angst — including […]
GhostsReviewed by Deborah KlugmanOdyssey Theatre EnsembleThru October 23Plays we now regard as classics aren’t always well-received when they debut. Like The Birthday Party (reviewed on this site in June), Henrik Ibsen’s Ghosts was much disparaged when it appeared in 1881— not for being too cryptic, which was the complaint lodged against Pinter, but for being […]
Animal Farm Reviewed by Deborah KlugmanA Noise WithinThru October 2RECOMMENDEDGeorge Orwell began writing Animal Farm in the waning months of 1943. The book was conceived in response to the evils of Stalinist Russia and the disturbing tendency of many left-leaning British intellectuals to excuse the regime’s murderous excesses and cruelties. Never an officially declared socialist […]
MacbethReviewed by Taylor KassIndependent Shakespeare Co.Through September 4RECOMMENDEDMacbeth is Shakespeare’s eternal jewel – one of his most gutsy, vivid, and well-paced plays. But rarely is it as scary as it deserves to be. David Melville’s production for the Independent Shakespeare Company’s outdoor stage at Griffith Park cuts straight to the heart of what makes Macbeth […]
Valley SongReviewed by Dana MartinInternational City TheatreThrough September 11th RECOMMENDEDInternational City Theatre’s latest production of South African playwright Athol Fugard’s Valley Song is a welcomed beacon of light. First produced in 1995, Valley Song is Fugard’s first work post-apartheid. He searches for hope through the messiness and confusion of a rapidly shifting world and finds it […]
MUDReviewed by Martίn HernándezLoft Ensemble Through Sept. 11In a post-apocalypse of the not-too-distant future, a small cadre of survivors has organized a somewhat stable New York City-adjacent community committed to avoiding the devastating mistakes of the past. But will this effort succeed or create structures even more perilous than the ones the group rejects? Despite […]
