Tuesday, April 21, 2026
The phrase “for want of a horse” is most commonly attributed to Benjamin Franklin’s Poor Richard’s Almanack from 1758, describing the cascading effect of how the absence of one small…
SOURCE: Arts Beat LA at 09:40PM[SHARE]I am a longtime fan of Tom Jacobson’s theatrical work. I think he’s one of Los Angeles’ best playwrights, and he has been for decades. He’s equally at home with structurally and them…
SOURCE: Arts Beat LA at 04:45PM[SHARE]Monday, April 13, 2026
These days, when I read that a particular play has won the Pulitzer Prize, I unfairly become a bit more dubious of that work's quality. The same applies to the Tony awards " I've just seen s…
SOURCE: Arts Beat LA at 02:03PM[SHARE]Tuesday, April 7, 2026
Some parts of the world seem to provide more fertile soil in which plays can grow. Ireland and New York have been especially fruitful, providing O'Neill, Miller, McPherson and McDonagh with …
SOURCE: Arts Beat LA at 07:24PM[SHARE]Thursday, March 26, 2026
It seems puzzling to me why the Taper is currently housing a musical (Here Lies Love), while the much bigger Ahmanson is showcasing Kim's Convenience, which is essentially a small comedy/dra…
SOURCE: Arts Beat LA at 07:02PM[SHARE]Tuesday, March 10, 2026
Theater encompasses every type of theme, from dealing with any number of adversities to how to sell more meat pies, but here's one you don't encounter very often " how does the brain create …
SOURCE: Arts Beat LA at 07:31PM[SHARE]Monday, March 2, 2026
 Arthur Miller is often described as one of the moral arbiters of twentieth-century American theater, a writer whose works frequently wrestled with how capitalism, corruption and self-de…
SOURCE: Arts Beat LA at 07:18PM[SHARE]Tuesday, February 17, 2026
An ill-shaped wretch no sane person would want to gain power. A habitual liar who will say absolutely anything to get ahead. A monster who uses people to get what he wants and then immediate…
SOURCE: Arts Beat LA at 07:42PM[SHARE]Monday, February 16, 2026
Writing, at the best of times, is a tricky proposition. Some authors claim that they can't stop writing, that it's a function like breathing to them, whereas other scribes do everything in t…
SOURCE: Arts Beat LA at 07:36PM[SHARE]Wednesday, February 4, 2026
Sweeney Todd is my favorite musical. I've seen it onstage several times, watched the film, enjoyed a cast recording (Cerveris/LuPone), and loved the Angela Lansbury/George Hearn version bles…
SOURCE: Arts Beat LA at 02:24PM[SHARE]Tuesday, January 27, 2026
When I first read about the subject of Robert Axelrod's Lifeline, I thought it was going to be about the stress of working at a suicide hotline center and was expecting it to be a very depre…
SOURCE: Arts Beat LA at 05:48PM[SHARE]Monday, January 5, 2026
 Terry Morgan gives a wrap up of the best theatre productions of the past year. There was a nice mix of shows in 2025, from a huge play that ran for months to tiny productions that rewar…
SOURCE: Arts Beat LA at 11:06PM[SHARE]Friday, December 12, 2025
When a play rolls into town promoting itself as the most Tony Award-nominated play in history, and the winner of Best Play and other awards, it creates high expectations. Which is fine, espe…
SOURCE: Arts Beat LA at 06:54PM[SHARE]Tuesday, November 25, 2025
It's a truism that, as one gets older, time seems to move more quickly. One is more aware of the sound of the ticking clock of mortality, and the myriad of possible futures one idly contempl…
SOURCE: Arts Beat LA at 01:06PM[SHARE]Tuesday, November 18, 2025
Here's something I never thought while watching the film Paranormal Activity in 2009: One day I will be writing a review of the theater version of this found-footage movie. I vividly recall …
SOURCE: Arts Beat LA at 03:48PM[SHARE]Tuesday, November 11, 2025
When one is feeling confused or scared, it's human nature to try to find somebody who knows more and be guided by their knowledge. This is great when A) said person actually does know more a…
SOURCE: Arts Beat LA at 06:36PM[SHARE]Wednesday, October 22, 2025
I'm combining two reviews in one article this week, one unique solo show at the Pasadena Playhouse and a sequel to a popular play at East West Players. These productions are not connected in…
SOURCE: Arts Beat LA at 12:18AM[SHARE]Monday, October 6, 2025
What is real? Perhaps more than any time in human history, there is more of an ability to realistically fake anything. Worse, there are any number of people actively trying to use those tech…
SOURCE: Arts Beat LA at 06:32PM[SHARE]Tuesday, September 30, 2025
"Only connect," wrote E. M. Forster in his 1910 novel, Howards End, an epigraph encouraging the merging of the mind and the heart so as to live a fuller life. That doesn't mean it's easy to …
SOURCE: Arts Beat LA at 11:42PM[SHARE]Sunday, September 21, 2025
When one reads the title The Night of the Iguana, one hopes that it will be one of those Fifties flicks about radiation creating a giant iguana terrorizing hapless humans. But, alas, it is n…
SOURCE: Arts Beat LA at 09:02PM[SHARE]Monday, September 8, 2025
 As I trust you all know, back in 1743 an Italian playwright named Carlo Goldoni wrote a play in the commedia dell'arte style called The Servant of Two Masters. It probably swept the Ita…
SOURCE: Arts Beat LA at 08:32PM[SHARE]Monday, August 11, 2025
Gone are the days of yore when sex farces frolicked across the theatrical landscape like so many smarmy bunnies, slamming doors and likely featuring partial nudity, if one lived in a part of…
SOURCE: Arts Beat LA at 07:06PM[SHARE]Monday, July 28, 2025
I've been reviewing theatre for twenty-eight years and writing criticism for thirty-five years in total. Early on I came up with what I think of as "the Critic's Prayer," which is: "Dear God…
SOURCE: Arts Beat LA at 10:42PM[SHARE]Monday, July 14, 2025
One of the most important things that art does is to put a spotlight on or explore topics that would otherwise not get the public notice that they deserve. The primary beauty of art is the o…
SOURCE: Arts Beat LA at 08:03PM[SHARE]Tuesday, July 1, 2025
Patrick Hamilton's 1938 play, Gaslight, is the only theatrical title I can think of that later became a verb, and moreover one that's still in use today. The show was a success, running as A…
SOURCE: Arts Beat LA at 01:48PM[SHARE]Monday, June 9, 2025
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In my most recent review on this site, I discussed my general wariness about imposing new directorial takes or twists on Shakespeare works. Once in a rare while, these changes can illum…
SOURCE: Arts Beat LA at 09:36PM[SHARE]Thursday, May 29, 2025
I usually am somewhat wary of "new takes" or "twists" on classic plays, with cause. Changing the time period of a story or modernizing the text is no guarantee that the play will be any fres…
SOURCE: Arts Beat LA at 02:24PM[SHARE]Monday, May 12, 2025
Sometimes, although not commonly, sheer visual spectacle without significant content is enough to qualify a play as a success. A lot of critics recently have been opining this about the Harr…
SOURCE: Arts Beat LA at 08:02PM[SHARE]Tuesday, May 6, 2025
There's a line in Tom Jacobson's new play, Tasty Little Rabbit, which reads, "Today's blasphemy is tomorrow's orthodoxy." Five words, but they're imbued with so much historical truth. Almost…
SOURCE: Arts Beat LA at 07:02PM[SHARE]Tuesday, April 22, 2025
Morgan's Rule #1 about theater reads thusly: When a play doesn't work, ninety-five percent of the time it's due to the writing. Sure, sometimes an actor doesn't quite connect with a part, or…
SOURCE: Arts Beat LA at 11:48PM[SHARE]Monday, April 7, 2025
As a Literature major in my distant past, I have a shameful confession to make " I've never read Jane Eyre. I've read Ulysses and Absalom, Absalom, Toni Morrison and Annie Proulx, but never …
SOURCE: Arts Beat LA at 07:36PM[SHARE] 
