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Into the BreechesReviewed by Taylor KassInternational City TheatreThrough June 25RECOMMENDEDWhen the men are away, the women will have to play them — Henry V, Falstaff and Hotspur, that is, and every other man in the Henriad. It’s 1942, and Oberon Theatre’s core company of male actors are away fighting the Axis powers. But at home, […]
Missionary PositionsReviewed by Deborah KlugmanThe Zephyr TheatreHFF, June 16 and June 24RECOMMENDED“Religion isn’t really that bad on its own,” observes Dan Prevette in Missionary Positions, his poignant yet entertaining account of growing up first within — and then away from — the strictures of a worldwide evangelical church.A large man in his 30s, wearing jeans […]
A Transparent MusicalReviewed by Socks WhitmoreCenter Theatre Group at the Mark Taper ForumThrough June 25RECOMMENDEDPride Month is upon us, and this year Center Theatre Group is kicking off the celebration with a colorful production from their season of works by gender-marginalized playwrights: A Transparent Musical, written by MJ Kaufman and Joey Soloway with music and […]
Measure4MeasureReviewed by Martίn HernándezCity GarageThrough July 9RECOMMENDEDWith its hashtag retitle alluding to the #MeToo Movement, author/adaptor Charles A. Duncombe’s version of William Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure offers a timely skewering of sexual harassment, religious hypocrisy, and state repression. Rather than a wholesale adaptation, however, Duncombe maintains the original setting and intersperses contemporary banter and narration […]
Back PorchReviewed by Deborah KlugmanBluestem Productions at the Victory Theatre Center Through July 9RECOMMENDEDAn old-timey small town in Kansas. A young person chafing at its limitations and longing to see the world. A handsome stranger of uncertain moral character who appears as a catalyst for change. These plot elements appear front and center in William […]
StarmitesReviewed by Socks WhitmoreOpen Fist Theatre Company @ Atwater Village TheatreThrough July 8 RECOMMENDEDIn 2023, the demand for nostalgia is higher than ever, Over at the Atwater Village Theatre, the 80s are calling — Open Fist Theatre Company’s production of Starmites, the Tony-nominated musical billed as “a comic book come to life,” has taken the stage […]
Twelfth Night (Or What You Will) Reviewed by Martίn HernándezThe Long Beach Shakespeare CompanyThrough June 17That adolescent boys and young men played the female roles in William Shakespeare’s day surely wreaked humorous havoc on the Bard’s gender-bending comedy. Director Ken Knight has gone a step further, casting women in some of the male roles, and […]
CabaretReviewed by Socks WhitmoreAltadena Music TheatreThrough June 4 Whether you’re a passionate fan of post-Golden Age musicals or you binged Season 5 of Schitt’s Creek during the pandemic, there’s a good chance you’ve heard of Kander and Ebb’s 1967 chaotic whirlwind of song, dance, politics and sex known as Cabaret. The story is set in late […]
