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A Wicked Soul in Cherry HillReviewed by Deborah KlugmanGeffen PlayhouseThru July 24There are many things to like about A Wicked Soul in Cherry Hill, a musical by composer/lyricist Matt Schatz that was developed in a writers’ workshop at Geffen Playhouse, where the production now runs through July 24. A lively upbeat score (performed on stage […]
CompanyReviewed by Steven Leigh MorrisLong Beach PlayhouseThrough August 7Despite the actors’ 21st century haircuts and designer Christina Bayer’s era-fluid costumes, Sean Gray’s production of the Stephen Sondheim/George Furth 1970 musical, Company, is a vestibule of the 20th century, more by omitting the gender issues that evolved over the past half century in faithfulness to the […]
PODCAST: Stages of Our City: Episode 19: Socks Whitmore on “Dear Evan Hansen” at the Ahmanson, and a retrospective look at “To T or Not to T” at the Kirk Douglas Produced by Julia Stier In Issue 19, Socks Whitmore takes a deep dive into the waters of “Dear Even Hansen” (currently at the Ahmanson), […]
ClownfishReviewed by Deborah KlugmanTheatre of NOTEThru August 6In comedy, silly plots are easily forgiven if the writing is witty or insightful, or if one or more performers is so engaging that other shortcomings can be overlooked. With Clownfish, Theatre of NOTE’s premiere production following the hiatus of the pandemic, none of this is so Written by […]
Moulin Rouge! The MusicalReviewed by Terry MorganHollywood Pantages TheatreThrough September 4The dumbing down of American musical theater continues apace with Moulin Rouge! The Musical, which throws the past 50 years of popular music into a moronic Mixmaster and performs the stitched-together “songs” with the regrettable aesthetic of a cut-rate Vegas revue or a taste-free ‘70s […]
A Midsummer’s Night Dream Reviewed by Martίn HernándezOpen Fist Theatre Through Aug. 13RECOMMENDEDWilliam Shakespeare meets Margaret Mitchell in director James Fowler’s marvelous and thought-provoking take on this classic comedy. It is still set in Athens, but in Athens, Georgia of 1855, where the fairies and “mechanicals” are slaves, and the nobles their masters. In Fowler’s […]
Queen of Fishtown Reviewed by Deborah KlugmanHollywood Fringe Encore Performance at Namba ArtsThru July 9RECOMMENDED“Few neighborhoods have changed as quickly and dynamically as Fishtown,” proclaims the website visitphilly.com, a promotional site for the City of Brotherly Love. The text goes on to explain how this once rundown working class neighborhood in the northeast part of […]
Dear Evan HansenReviewed by Socks WhitmoreAhmanson TheatreThrough July 30, 2022RECOMMENDED After almost four years away from Los Angeles, the North American tour of Dear Evan Hansen has once again landed at Center Theatre Group’s Ahmanson Theatre, but though the story hasn’t changed, the world around it has. Even before the infamously flopped release of the […]
