Sunday, January 12, 2014
A SWING AND A MISS Theater, like baseball, is a team sport. To reign triumphant and put a tick in the “W” box, all the players must be at the top of their game. When everyone hits a home…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 03:21PMSunday, November 3, 2013
DREADFUL AT ANY PRICE Back in the1800s, the Industrial revolution was in full swing in merry ole England. The working class was becoming more educated and printing was becoming more affordab…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 12:00PMMonday, October 28, 2013
ROLE REVERSAL For its inaugural production at its new temporary home in Atwater Village, the Celebration Theatre has mounted The Homosexuals (pun intended). As one might glean from the title…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 02:59AMSunday, October 27, 2013
HYDE IN PLAIN SIGHT Actors Co-op does it again! Last year’s re-imagining of The World Goes ‘Round was musical perfection and this year’s Ah, Wilderness! was a sentimental del…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 02:11PMWednesday, October 9, 2013
SAY WATT? While it is probably safe to assume that the NoHo Arts Center Ensemble’s “playwright in residence,” Joshua Ravetch, had some bright idea in mind when writing The Light Bulb, …
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 01:41PMWednesday, September 18, 2013
SHAFTED! There’s a story to be mined in “them thar” hills of West Ver-ginny but unfortunately The Burnt Part Boys, making its west coast premiere at the Third Street Theatre, doesn’t…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 07:48PMTuesday, September 10, 2013
BLUE MAN GROUP GETS BOWLED OVER International phenomenon Blue Man Group (BMG) made their Hollywood Bowl debut on Friday in a wildly uneven yet ultimately entertaining evening ranging from m…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 02:01AMThursday, August 22, 2013
THE GRASS IS ALWAYS GREENER…OR IS IT? Smart, funny and thought-provoking, Rapture, Blister Burn has arrived at the Geffen Playhouse in Westwood with the original New York cast in tow. Writ…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 11:19PMFriday, July 26, 2013
RUPTERED RAPTURE Attending the opening night of a comedy at one of the smaller 99 seat theaters in Los Angeles can be problematic. In addition to a minute smattering of critics and avid thea…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 08:19PMWednesday, July 10, 2013
IT IS WHAT IT IS Set your “expectation meter” in the mid-range and you will probably enjoy The Judy Show: My Life as a Sitcom starring comedienne Judy Gold. However, if you enter the the…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 02:20AMMonday, June 24, 2013
JEKYLL AND HYDE DIRECTION MAKES THE MAGIC DISAPPEAR IN WATSON AND THE DARK ART OF HARRY HOUDINI Writer/Director Jaime Robledo follows up his award-winning smash hit Watson: The Last Great Ta…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 01:02PMMonday, May 20, 2013
ALIVE WITH AMBIGUITY If you require a neat and tidy ending, a feeling of clarity, and a sense of completion to insure your theatrical enjoyment, then Dying City – making its Los Angeles pr…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 01:23PMFriday, May 17, 2013
THE NORTH PLAN STARTS ON COURSE THEN GOES SOUTH A ruthless splinter group has seized power in Washington and a low level bureaucrat who has escaped with the new regime’s “hit list” is …
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 05:59PMThursday, May 16, 2013
THE ROYALE PACKS A PUNCH SLAP There are many things to recommend about The Royale, currently making its World Premiere at the Kirk Douglas Theatre. The staging is brilliant, the fight choreo…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 09:00PMFriday, April 26, 2013
A ROCKY ROCKY MOUNTAIN ROMANCE In mountaineering lingo, “committing” refers to forcing yourself into a place of no return leaving nowhere to go but forward; and so it is with life, loss …
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 07:00PMThursday, March 21, 2013
CHARM GALORE WITH A SIDE OF CHARM THROWN IN FOR GOOD MEASURE A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder is a captivatingly charming affair. Set in Edwardian England, the west coast premiere is…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 02:08PMSaturday, March 16, 2013
TRAINSPOTTING IS ON THE RIGHT TRACK Whether L.A. theatergoers are ready or not, seat of your pants Productions has resurrected it’s much ballyhooed 2002 mounting of Henry Gibson’s Trains…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 12:44AMMonday, March 4, 2013
BEHOLD THE BREATHTAKING BEAUTY OF CAVALIA’S ODYSSEO In 2003, Normand Latourelle, one of the co-founders of Cirque du Soleil, was ready to up the entertainment ante when he introduced his e…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 06:20PMSaturday, March 2, 2013
A COMPLETE WASTE OF WORDS If you hold a doctorate in linguistics then you might (and that’s a very questionable “might”) find some interesting banter in Complete, the alleged comedy wr…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 08:43PMMonday, February 18, 2013
BRAWL IN THE FAMILY It’s a funny thing about families. We didn’t choose them, but they form the most important relationships in our lives. It’s the luck of the draw and some of us get …
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 09:00PMFriday, February 8, 2013
BENCHED SHOULD HAVE BEEN BENCHED A cantankerous senior gets his dander up when he discovers a stranger occupying his favorite Central Park bench in the L.A. premiere of Richard Broadhurst’…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 01:16AMTuesday, January 29, 2013
WALKING THE TIGHTROPE STRIKES A PERFECT BALANCE AND SOARS TO THEATRICAL PERFECTION Lab24, the resident experimental theater company of the 24th STreet Theatre [sic], has scored a stupendous …
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 01:04PMSaturday, January 26, 2013
OPEN THIS SNAKE CAN AND ALL THAT POPS OUT IS WHINE AND CHEESE Three BFFs get together to commiserate over their fates in the world premiere of The Snake Can, Kathryn Grant’s (Hermetically …
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 01:05AMFriday, January 25, 2013
A UNIQUELY ENTERTAINING MISSED OPPORTUNITY The concept of Happy Face Sad Face is an intriguing one that consists of two one act plays; the first a drama, the second a comedy. Now before you …
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 07:46PMMonday, November 26, 2012
SIBLINGS ON A CRASH COURSE IN ONE NOVEMBER YANKEE It’s a no brainer to assume that with two marquee names (Loretta Swit and Harry Hamlin) and the backing of the multi-award winning NoHo Ar…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 07:08PMSLIPPED DISC NEEDS A STRONGER SPINE The mission of Green Card Theatre is to expose Los Angeles audiences to plays and playwrights from around the world. Their inaugural production entitled S…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 06:33PMFriday, October 26, 2012
I OUGHT TO BE IN PICTURES OUGHT TO BE BETTER You would be hard-pressed to find anyone proclaiming I Ought To Be In Pictures to be Neil Simon’s finest hour, but even with its shortcomin…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 05:39PMFriday, October 19, 2012
THEY’RE DROPPING LIKE FLIES AT ACTORS CO-OP Since it was first published in1939, Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None (originally titled Ten Little Niggers and quickly re…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 02:37PMTuesday, October 16, 2012
SASSY SENIORS PROVE THE BEAT GOES ON FOR THE YOUNG AT HEART At 80 years young Jackie Goldberg, a.k.a. The Pink Lady, is on a mission. After becoming a widow at 70 she created a series of sem…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 10:55AMMonday, October 15, 2012
L.A. MASTER CHORALE’S GRANT GERSHON PIPES UP The Los Angeles Master Chorale kicks off its 49th season on Sunday, October 21st at the Walt Disney Concert Hall with an organ and choral e…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 03:38PMWednesday, September 19, 2012
COLLECTED STORIES: A SNOOZE INDUCING ”WRITE” OF PASSAGE As a critic I hope for one of two things: either a production is fantastic or, to be blunt, it sucks. For me at least, a…
SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 06:52PM 
