All stories by F. Kathleen Foley on BroadwayStars

Friday, February 16, 2018

Shakespeare purists may flinch, but this shortened 'Henry V' is a rousing ride by F. Kathleen Foley

A Noise Within has taken some liberties with the text, and if you can get past that, you'll find a breathless theatrical experience full of thrills and chills.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 09:00AM
Friday, February 2, 2018

The 99-Seat Beat: Jeanine Tesori, Culture Clash and more on L.A. stages by F. Kathleen Foley

Our weekly theater recommendations include Jeanine Tesori's "Violet" at the Chance Theater in Anaheim, the premiere of "Two Fisted Love" at the Odyssey, the Culture Clash-Buyepongo show "Sap…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 09:00AM

Can government overreach be funny? Antaeus looks for laughs in 'The Hothouse' by F. Kathleen Foley

Harold Pinter wrote “The Hothouse” in the 1950s, then buried it in a drawer before resurrecting it in 1980 for a production that he himself directed. During the interim, what Pinter init…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 09:00AM
Friday, December 15, 2017

The 99-Seat Beat: A theater in fire-scarred Ventura makes its holiday wish by F. Kathleen Foley

Our weekly report on the small-theater scene starts at the Rubicon in Ventura, which escaped the Thomas fire but was forced to cancel previews and opening weekend performances of "A Christma…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 09:00AM
Friday, November 17, 2017

The 99-Seat Beat: Federico García Lorca, a riff on Mozart and some Sherlock Holmes by F. Kathleen Foley

This week in L.A.'s small-theater scene: "Magic Fruit" from Cornerstone Theater Company, "Yerma in the Desert" from Greenway Arts Alliance and Urban Theatre Movement, "Sherlock Holmes and th…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 09:00AM
Friday, October 20, 2017

The 99-Seat Beat: Ibsen's 'Enemy of the People' from a Chicana point of view by F. Kathleen Foley

Our weekly look at L.A.'s small-theater scene opens with a modern "eco-feminist" adaptation of "An Enemy of the People," Ibsen's classic about government corruption retold as the story of a …

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 09:00AM
Friday, September 22, 2017

The 99-Seat Beat: Sexual confusion, a Sharr White premiere and Marissa Jaret Winokur by F. Kathleen Foley

The most promising shows in L.A.'s small-theater scene include new work from some big names.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 08:00AM
Friday, September 15, 2017

Three clashing sisters, one dying mother: A family's search for common ground in 'Marion Bridge' by F. Kathleen Foley

As anyone from a large family can attest, it’s a wonder how so many wildly different individuals can spring from the same genetic pool. In Daniel MacIvor’s “Marion Bridge,” a guest p…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 04:05PM
Friday, August 18, 2017

'Honky Tonk Laundry': A country-flavored jukebox musical, set to spin by F. Kathleen Foley

Playwright Roger Bean has based his career on jukebox musicals like “Life Could Be a Dream” and “The Marvelous Wonderettes,” durable crowd-pleasers that have been widely produced thr…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 03:55PM
Monday, July 31, 2017

'King of the Yees': Questions of identity, family and Shrimp Boy brought to surreal life onstage by F. Kathleen Foley

Lauren Yee’s play starts out straightforwardly enough: An actress playing Yee (Stephenie Soohyun Park) is rehearsing the play with an actor portraying the playwright’s father, Larry Yee …

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 07:40PM
Thursday, June 8, 2017

Before 'La La Land' and 'Dear Evan Hansen' there was 'Dogfight' by F. Kathleen Foley

The music and lyrics from "Dogfight," now at the Hudson Mainstage, are by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, the "Dear Evan Hansen" songwriting team. It's a consummate production of a not-perfect s…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 04:25PM
Friday, May 26, 2017

1950s tales of loneliness and redemption told with conviction in 'Separate Tables' by F. Kathleen Foley

Terence Rattigan’s “Separate Tables,” two one-acts cobbled into one evening at Theatre 40, is a prime example of 1950s theater at its most retro: chatty, discursive and often busy to a…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 03:00PM
Monday, December 19, 2016

Get out the hankies for a sumptuous, touching 'King and I' at the Pantages by F. Kathleen Foley

Twentieth-century French literary maven François Mauriac once observed, “If you would tell me the heart of a man, tell me not what he reads, but what he rereads.” That epigram could be …

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 05:05PM
Saturday, December 17, 2016

'Little Drummer Bowie' injects some Ziggy Stardust into the holidays by F. Kathleen Foley

Twenty years old and counting, the Troubadour Theater Company has been celebrated for its blend of rock music, commedia-based clowning and improvisational flair, building an audience compos…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 12:10PM
Thursday, October 13, 2016

What happens when Hollywood gets a good story? One writer's take in 'Portman Delusions' by F. Kathleen Foley

When playwrights have experienced firsthand the dog-eat-dog Hollywood system, it must be satisfying to return to the theater, where they have the kind of power and respect that can be hard t…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 02:35PM
Wednesday, September 21, 2016

Spirit of Edward Albee endures in a new staging of 'The Play About the Baby' by F. Kathleen Foley

Edward Albee defied the downward trajectory of an aging genius. Lauded in his youth and then critically reviled in middle age, Albee disarmed detractors in his later years with “Three Tall…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 08:45PM
Wednesday, July 27, 2016

Not-so-nice corporate shenanigans in Echo Theater's 'One of the Nice Ones' by F. Kathleen Foley

Veteran theater provocateur Erik Patterson stings once again in “One of the Nice Ones,” his new play presented by Echo Theater Company at the Atwater Village Theatre. The title is a poin…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 10:42AM
Sunday, July 10, 2016

Gun control takes center stage in new L.A. play 'Church & State' by F. Kathleen Foley

Proudly propagandistic, “Church & State,” a new play at the Skylight that runs in tandem with “Obama-ology,” another premiere, offers a didactic political message in the theatrical t…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 07:18PM
Wednesday, June 29, 2016

'Streetcar' as improv? It could be in 'Tennessee Williams Unscripted' by F. Kathleen Foley

If you think improvisational theater is a freewheeling genre that’s strictly for laughs, you haven’t experienced an Impro Theatre show. The seasoned team at Impro raises the stakes of im…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 07:33PM
Wednesday, June 8, 2016

Emotional heft and humor at the heart of Rajiv Joseph's 'Gruesome Playground Injuries' by F. Kathleen Foley

Playwright Rajiv Joseph defies categorization. His most famous work, “Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo,” is an absurd anthropomorphic romp that blurs the line between animals and humans, …

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 10:59PM
Wednesday, May 25, 2016

Fatherhood is tested in 'Foreclosure' at Greenway Court by F. Kathleen Foley

Playwright Raymond J. Barry straddles the naturalistic and the mannered in “Foreclosure or Yelling at Women Walking Their Dogs,” a new play closing this week at the Greenway Court Theatr…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 08:02PM
Thursday, May 19, 2016

Faith and fanaticism collide in 'The End Times' at Skylight Theatre by F. Kathleen Foley

Suspend individual judgment in the blind service of an ideology, and the result is evil. That’s the underlying theme of Jesse Mu-En Shao’s “The End Times,” now premiering at the Skyl…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 02:28PM
Tuesday, April 12, 2016

Ted Lange takes the helm of an 'Othello' prequel at the Odyssey by F. Kathleen Foley

Watching “The Cause, My Soul,” a world-premiere visiting production at the Odyssey, can be an exasperating experience — not because the play is bad or even middling, but because it so …

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 11:33PM
Thursday, April 7, 2016

A mesmerizing Iago drives Independent Shakespeare's scaled-down 'Othello' by F. Kathleen Foley

Don’t look for ambiguously tortured protagonists or tedious plot developments in “Othello.” Arguably one of Shakespeare’s most simply structured tragedies, it offers as straightforwa…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 03:54PM
Sunday, March 13, 2016

Meet the most unexpected messiah: 'The Mongoose' at the Road on Magnolia theater by F. Kathleen Foley

To call Will Arbery’s “The Mongoose” an oddity would be an understatement. Now in its world premiere at the Road on Magnolia, the play is an engagingly nonsensical, frustratingly ellip…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 06:34PM

'Thicker Than Water,' a sitcom with a side of spaghetti at Theatre West by F. Kathleen Foley

Fifteen years ago, Roy Battocchio’s “Thicker Than Water” had its world premiere at Theatre West and quickly became one of the most popular offerings in the now-53-year-old theater’s …

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 06:10PM
Sunday, January 31, 2016

At Skylight Theatre, a gay couple's quest for their 'Forever House' by F. Kathleen Foley

Tony Abatemarco’s “Forever House,” now in its world premiere at the Skylight Theatre in L.A., offers plenty of charm, vividly comic characters and gut-busting one-liners. That said, a …

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 09:11PM
Tuesday, January 5, 2016

'That Lovin' Feelin' ': Jukebox musical plays like a love song to the Righteous Brothers by F. Kathleen Foley

When they first burst onto the scene in the 1960s, Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield, a.k.a. the Righteous Brothers, faced an unusual problem: White radio stations boycotted their brand of blue…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 03:35PM
Tuesday, December 15, 2015

'Santa Claus Is Comin' to Motown' finds its groove in Burbank by F. Kathleen Foley

It’s hard to believe, but the Troubadour Theater Company has been around for more than 20 years, doing turn-away business at venues around Southern California. The group’s productions i…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 10:14PM
Saturday, December 12, 2015

South Coast Rep's Ebenezer Scrooge is back for 'A Christmas Carol' for 36th year by F. Kathleen Foley

Reviewing an established hit that has been running for decades seems a tad presumptuous -- sort of like criticizing the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade for an off-key marching band. After all…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 12:35PM
Friday, November 13, 2015

'Strange Eventful History," as explained by the Bard, from Independent Shakespeare Co. by F. Kathleen Foley

Shakespeare’s histories can prove baffling, particularly in the aggregate. England’s monarchical succession is tough to grasp for all but the most dedicated scholars. However, those who …

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 08:01PM

All that Chat

2024-2025 BROADWAY SEASON
Jun 05, 2024: Home - Todd Haimes Theatre
Jul 11, 2024: Oh, Mary! - Lyceum Theatre
Jul 30, 2024: Job - Hayes Theater
Sep 12, 2024: The Roommate - Booth Theatre
Nov 14, 2024: Tammy Faye - Palace Theatre
Dec 12, 2024: Cult of Love - Hayes Theater
Dec 19, 2024: Gypsy - Majestic Theatre
Mar 17, 2025: Purpose - Hayes Theater
Apr 01, 2025: Glengarry Glen Ross
Apr 10, 2025: Smash - Imperial Theatre
TBA: Titanic