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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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The Colored Museum Reviewed by Martίn HernándezLoft EnsembleThrough July 25RECOMMENDED George C. Wolfe’s 1986 satiric take on Black American culture still packs a wallop, a testament to the durability of this classic and that for Black people things have gotten worse since the play’s premiere.Wolfe’s panoply offers eleven “exhibits,” poking acerbic fun at cultural tropes, […]

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The Birthday PartyReviewed by Deborah KlugmanCity Garage TheatreThru July 23RECOMMENDED The Birthday Party, Harold Pinter’s first full length play, opened in London in May 1958. Reviews were grim. Most critics, accustomed to the kitchen sink realism of writers like Sillitoe, Braine and Osborne, were incensed and/or bewildered by the non-sequiturs, contradictions and pauses in Pinter’s […]

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RoeReviewed by Taylor KassThe Fountain TheatreThrough July 10RECOMMENDEDRoe at The Fountain Theatre is an obituary. Like any good funeral, it is passionately felt and imbued with the appropriate gravity. It has moments of humor and levity. One may laugh, one may cry. Hearing “Roe was here,” freshly past tense, is devastating. The Fountain’s “hyper-staged reading” […]

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Guess Who’s Coming to DinnerReviewed by Iris MannThe Ruskin Group Theatre Through July 17RECOMMENDED:This play is adapted by Todd Kreidler from the 1967 Stanley Kramer film of the same title, written by William Rose, who won the Oscar for best original screenplay. The movie starred Spencer Tracy, in his last screen appearance, Katherine Hepburn and […]

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  InterstateReviewed by Socks WhitmoreEast West PlayersThrough June 26RECOMMENDED“What do I give up to become who I am?”This is just one of the many questions that Interstate, a new full-length musical by Melissa Li and Kit Yan asks of its central characters as they travel across the United States on missions of the heart. Based on […]

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Pretty Woman: The MusicalReviewed by Ryan M. LuévanoDolby Theatre, Hollywood & HighlandThrough July 4RECOMMENDEDWhat do the romantic comedy films, The Wedding Singer, Waitress, Tootsie, Sleepless in Seattle, Honeymoon in Vegas, and Amélie all have in common? They have all been turned into musicals. And of that list, only one garnered critical acclaim, and a healthy […]

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ARENA: A House MUSC-alReviewed by Martίn HernándezCASA 0101Through July 17RECOMMENDEDIf you were in Los Angeles in the 70s and 80s, Circus was THE place to party. In 1975, Gene La Pietra and his Latino partner Ermilio “Ed” Lemos transformed a Hollywood warehouse into the hottest disco in L.A., open to all orientations but catering to […]

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