BITTERSWEET Running somewhere around two and three quarter hours (with intermission), this is an ambitious but uneven effort: perhaps worth a trip for the notable songs and some of the danci…
SOURCE: Bitter Lemons at 04:33PMSWEET Satie, differentiating her characters by their various European accents and slightly exaggerated demeanors, doesn’t bring these women to life much beyond their childhood tales. B…
SOURCE: Bitter Lemons at 04:10PMBITTERSWEET Ransom, Texas is the second production in the past year that the Virago Theatre Company of northern California has brought down for a run at the Asylum on Hollywood’s Theat…
SOURCE: Bitter Lemons at 05:59PMSWEET Despite script issues, Jack Lemmon Returns is a loving but complicated portrait of a revered man told by the son who obviously adored him. Chris Lemmon not only exposes new dimensions …
SOURCE: Bitter Lemons at 04:20PMBITTER Contrasted against Robledo’s 2012 staging of Adam Szymkowicz’s comic-book-inspired satire Hearts Like Fists at Theatre of Note, this second collaboration disappoints. Pauline Adam…
SOURCE: Bitter Lemons at 03:05AMSWEET What’s more shocking than the setup is that Viral largely pulls it off. Playwright Mac Rogers has an ear for the worlds he’s trafficking in and as bizarre as the premise se…
SOURCE: Bitter Lemons at 12:36AMSWEET The Life of the Night engages us with real people caught in the tides of love and need, and the mysteries of the night. It moves us to suffer with them, and it makes us laugh. And all …
SOURCE: Bitter Lemons at 12:58PMSWEET Playwright Gail Louw’s masterpiece drama “Blonde Poison” has its American premiere at Beverly Hills Theatre 40. I was held captive for the entire ninety minutes. The story, based…
SOURCE: Bitter Lemons at 05:26PMBITTERSWEET Although the story starts with a bang, the exposition required to catalog all of the exceptions and coincidences responsible for the incredible scenario soon bogs things down. Di…
SOURCE: Bitter Lemons at 04:08PMBITTERSWEET This is a French farce and requires perfection every minute to keep up the comedy, and director Drina Durazo does a good but less-than-perfect job of keeping everything in order.…
SOURCE: Bitter Lemons at 01:17PMSWEET These engaging two hours should satisfy a niche audience of Coward fans. Coward is too often seen as a minor player in the firmament of artistic excellence, but don’t believe it. He�…
SOURCE: Bitter Lemons at 06:14PMSWEET It wouldn’t be December at the Falcon Theater without the Troubadour Theater Company’s latest holiday treat, and this year’s The Snow QUEEN is not only one of their most entertai…
SOURCE: Bitter Lemons at 05:37PMSWEET Directed by Bonnie Lythgoe, best known for her choreography and involvement in “So You Think You Can Dance,” she creates magic on the stage with actors of all ages who are …
SOURCE: Bitter Lemons at 05:14PMSWEET Coward’s work enables virtuosos who possess technique that’s as polished as it is effortless to reach new heights. Lansbury might as well be flying across the Ahmanson stag…
SOURCE: Bitter Lemons at 04:46PMBITTERSWEET Fofi’s production would be much better if Lopes’s predominately muted, one-dimensional interaction with his colorful amalgam of riders was instilled with more emotion and gre…
SOURCE: Bitter Lemons at 04:12PMBITTER Although it dutifully mirrors Chekhov’s plot in the soaring ambitions and earthbound struggles of present-day artistic types, what dooms this six-character reduction is its systemat…
SOURCE: Bitter Lemons at 03:07PMSWEET Often called a “jewel from Broadway’s Golden Age”, “The Chance’s” inspired revival provides audiences with a sweet little yuletide tale that makes a delightful Valentine to…
SOURCE: Bitter Lemons at 03:30PMSWEET Tom Yewell’s study of the male experience isn’t necessarily the counterpart to Eve Ensler’s “Vagina Monologues” that its obviated title suggests. Less pol…
SOURCE: Bitter Lemons at 02:30PMSWEET And if Morrison Christmas sets out to recapitulate the death-rebirth cycle in its theatrical arc, its more profound achievement is to progressively remove the ironic quotation marks fr…
SOURCE: Bitter Lemons at 05:14PMSWEET Director Papazian serves up a slick and delectable series of comic turns, and he has assembled a cast of 18 accomplished actors for the occasion. All of them acquit themselves with cha…
SOURCE: Bitter Lemons at 03:06PMSWEET This OSF production at the Wallis may not have the star power of the screen version coming out on Christmas Day, but it has the buoyancy and complexity of feeling that have turned Sond…
SOURCE: Bitter Lemons at 05:31PMSWEET But just as the critic Eric Bentley cautioned us when approaching Henrik Ibsen’s plays to “look for the ideas behind the ideas,” it’s important with Gilman to e…
SOURCE: Bitter Lemons at 01:35PMSWEET In a swift hour, a dozen merry pranksters whirl and spin us through the classic tale of ghosts scaring the miser out of Ebenezer Scrooge. Singing and dancing to Denise Devin’s baton,…
SOURCE: Bitter Lemons at 03:29PMSWEET Now the company has opened its final show of the season, “Oedipus,” the classic Greek tragedy by Sophocles, and it is just as imaginative, just as outrageous, just as unusual as it…
SOURCE: Bitter Lemons at 02:02PMSWEET Informative and engaging, this underappreciated chapter of our local history is portrayed with panache and grace. Philip Brandes – LA Times SWEET Under producer Ben Guillory’s …
SOURCE: Bitter Lemons at 01:30PMSWEET A heartening reminder of the human capacity for valor, this beautifully underplayed production is all the more moving for its very ordinariness. F. Kathleen Foley – LA Times SWEE…
SOURCE: Bitter Lemons at 08:21PMSWEET Indeed, the empathy, showmanship and craft on tap may just be the best match of historical figure and performing artist yet in this franchise, wholly attuned to a gratefully participat…
SOURCE: Bitter Lemons at 07:58PMBITTERSWEET The script could stand a vigorous pruning, several performances are still wobbly and the set changes are noticeably time-consuming — yet this production, directed by Gary Imhof…
SOURCE: Bitter Lemons at 02:49PMSWEET This play is a must see though, especially if you’re in the mood for performing arts that breaks the stuffy dramatic mold. “Ubu the Sh*t” creates a casual atmosphere of laughs fo…
SOURCE: Bitter Lemons at 11:23PMSWEET Based on a concept by Sondheim and Julia McKenzie, the result is a clever celebration of the Master-Composer’s most enigmatic works, taking its name from a tune featured in his 1984 …
SOURCE: Bitter Lemons at 07:43PMSWEET “What the Butler Saw” represents Orton at his most sophisticatedly silly. It’s a play bursting with references to other plays, including even one of the greatest trag…
SOURCE: Bitter Lemons at 05:26PM
