All stories by Tony Frankel on BroadwayStars

Saturday, February 22, 2014

Los Angeles Dance Review: 3 EXCEPTIONAL PERFORMANCES (L.A. Dance Project at The Theatre at Ace Hotel) by Tony Frankel

REFLECTIONS ON L.A. DANCE PROJECT The uneven and uninspiring effort presented by L.A. Dance Project last night isn’t bad news; it just means that this nascent company needs to hone its vis…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 12:30AM
Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Los Angeles Opera Preview: BILLY BUDD (LA Opera) by Tony Frankel

THE BLOOMING OF A BUDD IN L.A. Based on Herman Melville’s classic American tale, adapted into a libretto by English novelist E.M. Forster and writer Eric Crozier, Billy Budd tells the st…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 07:12PM

Los Angeles Theater Review: LOVE, NOËL: THE LETTERS AND SONGS OF NOËL COWARD (The Wallis) by Tony Frankel

LOVE WITHOUT THE TRIMMINGS My darling, dearest Noël: It only just occurred to me that I haven’t written you since I saw your play Peace in our Time. Do forgive me, lamb chop. Let me cut t…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 02:54AM
Sunday, February 16, 2014

Los Angeles Theater Preview: THE MUSIC MAN (Musical Theatre West in Long Beach) by Tony Frankel

THE MUSIC MAN BEHIND THE MUSIC MAN When Musical Theatre West announced their production of The Music Man, which opens tonight at the Carpenter Center in Long Beach, I actually got excited. I…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 02:59AM
Saturday, February 15, 2014

Los Angeles Dance Review: JAMES BROWN: GET ON THE GOOD FOOT, A CELEBRATION IN DANCE (Ahmanson Theatre) by Tony Frankel

FUNK ME Director and choreographer Otis Sallid wants to illuminate how James Brown’s funky music and original dance styling has influenced contemporary culture. He engaged PHILADANCO (Phil…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 03:52PM
Friday, February 14, 2014

Los Angeles Theater Review: VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE (Mark Taper Forum) by Tony Frankel

LASAGNA AND MOANERS AND KASHA AND TRIPE The comical but frothy Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike arrives at the Taper this week, but instead of a delectable meal, Christopher Durang’s pl…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 06:12PM
Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Los Angeles Theater Review: DEATH TAKES A HOLIDAY (Musical Theatre Guild in Santa Monica) by Tony Frankel

MTG DEFIBRILLATES DOA MUSICAL Sheaths can be written about how deadly the musical Death Takes a Holiday is, and where the creators went wrong. What’s more important is that director Calvin…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 04:42PM
Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Los Angeles Theater Review: MIKE DAISEY: AMERICAN UTOPIAS (Royce Hall at UCLA) by Tony Frankel

DAISEY: I LOVE HIM, I LOVE HIM NOT I’m jealous of Mike Daisey. In American Utopias at Royce Hall, the infamous monologist fulminated and commentated about three interpolated subjects near …

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 05:48PM
Sunday, February 9, 2014

Los Angeles / Regional Dance Review: LILIOM (Hamburg Ballett at Segerstrom Hall in Costa Mesa) by Tony Frankel

IF I LOVED YOU At a time when many ballet companies are commissioning short dance pieces, it’s refreshing that John Neumeier—since 1973, when he became Artistic Director and chief choreo…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 02:11AM
Monday, February 3, 2014

Los Angeles Theater Review: A CAT NAMED MERCY (Casa 0101 Theater) by Tony Frankel

KILLER PUSSY Suicide! Euthanasia! Incest! Health Care! Racism! Old age! Corporate America! Spirits! The afterlife! Prison! Duplicity! Playwright Josefina López (Real Women Have Curves) is t…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 09:58PM
Saturday, February 1, 2014

Los Angeles / Tour Dance Review: GISELLE (Royal New Zealand Ballet at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion) by Tony Frankel

GISELLE’S GAZELLES First staged in 1841, Giselle is one of the oldest surviving ballets still in the international repertory, especially because the lead role is a showcase for the world�…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 07:02PM

Los Angeles Theater Review: LET’S MISBEHAVE (International City Theatre in Long Beach) by Tony Frankel

MAKE IT ANOTHER OLD-FASHIONED PLEASE It’s something of a shocker, really. I had a great time watching Let’s Misbehave, a jukebox musical slim on both premise and reality. It’s actually…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 03:52PM
Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Los Angeles Opera Review: QUEENIE PIE (Long Beach Opera in San Pedro) by Tony Frankel

QUEENIE WHY? When George C. Wolfe first tried adapting Duke Ellington’s unfinished work Queenie Pie in 1986 it was subtitled “A Jazz Operetta in the Key of Make Believe.” Ellington cal…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 10:04PM
Saturday, January 25, 2014

Los Angeles Dance Review: FAR (Wayne McGregor | Random Dance at Royce Hall) by Tony Frankel

FAR OUT The Los Angeles premiere of British choreographer Wayne McGregor’s FAR opened at Royce Hall last night, and you are advised to cancel all plans and catch the last performance tonig…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 03:05PM
Friday, January 24, 2014

Los Angeles Theater Review: A WORD OR TWO (Ahmanson Theatre) by Tony Frankel

WHEN A WORD OR TWO WILL NOT DO A Word or Two is an apt title for Christopher Plummer’s solo show about Christopher Plummer and Christopher Plummer’s love of language. He wants to celebra…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 07:22PM
Monday, January 20, 2014

Los Angeles Theater Review: NIGHTMARES (Zombie Joe’s Underground Theatre Group) by Tony Frankel

THAT AIN’T THE WAY TO HAVE FUN, SON One of the most exciting events to come out of Los Angeles theater in the last few years was Zombie Joe’s Urban Death, a naturalistic horror show…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 03:55PM
Saturday, January 11, 2014

Los Angeles Dance Review: LES BALLETS JAZZ DE MONTRÉAL (The Wallis in Beverly Hills) by Tony Frankel

MORE JAZZ, PLEASE Interestingly, the work that opened Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal’s program last night at the Bram Goldsmith Theater in the brand new Wallis Annenberg Center for the Perf…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 01:11PM
Thursday, January 9, 2014

Cabaret Review: LAURA BENANTI: IN CONSTANT SEARCH OF THE RIGHT KIND OF ATTENTION (Catalina Bar & Grill in Hollywood) by Tony Frankel

ATTENTION MUST BE PAID The two most important aspects of the right kind of cabaret act are the singer and the songs. But when you go to see Laura Benanti’s new cabaret In Constant Search o…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 06:46PM
Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Los Angeles/Regional Theater Preview: CHANCE THEATER’S 2014 SEASON (Chance Theater in Anaheim) by Tony Frankel

TAKE A CHANCE Merrily We Roll Along is a notoriously difficult musical to get right. Even with Sondheim’s magnificent score, the nature of the show—its lopsided cynicism and moving-back-…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 03:29PM
Thursday, January 2, 2014

Regional Theater Preview: TRUDY AND MAX IN LOVE (South Coast Rep in Costa Mesa) by Tony Frankel

AN UNCONVENTIONAL ROMANCE Meet Max, a celebrity novelist who is single, and Trudy, a happily married woman who is working on a new novel. They meet in a writer’s room and form a fast frien…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 08:13PM
Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Los Angeles Theater Preview: ONE STARRY NIGHT (Pasadena Playhouse) by Tony Frankel

MORE LIKE ONE STARRY STARRY STARRY NIGHT If anybody knows how to put together a night of eclectic songs and singers, it’s Bruce Kimmel. While he has created some terrific revues, this prol…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 06:29PM
Monday, December 30, 2013

Los Angeles Theater Review: SUNNY AFTERNOON (Theatre Asylum) by Tony Frankel

CONSPIRACY THEORISTS AND THEATER LOVERS, UNITE! Remember E. Howard Hunt? This intelligence officer was one of Nixon’s White House Plumbers, that clandestine band of operatives who were ass…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 04:20PM

CD Review/Original Cast: I AM HARVEY MILK (San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus) by Tony Frankel

I AM EXHILARATED In 1978, on the night of Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone’s assassinations, an unprecedented candlelight march brought mourners to San Francisco’s City Hall. The new…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 12:48AM
Sunday, December 29, 2013

CD Review/Cabaret: IN CONSTANT SEARCH OF THE RIGHT KIND OF ATTENTION: LIVE AT 54 BELOW (Laura Benanti) by Tony Frankel

CABARET SAUVIGNON She received a Tony nomination for both the Broadway revue Swing! and for playing Cinderella in the revival of Into the Woods. She won a Tony for portraying Louise in the P…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 06:48PM
Friday, December 27, 2013

Chicago Theater Remount: THE MOTHER (Oracle) by Tony Frankel

ORACLE’S THE MOTHER GETS A WELL-DESERVED REMOUNT My annual theater sojourn to the Windy City this year was a bit of a let down. Spoiled by previous pilgrimages, in which no less than 5…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 03:02PM
Sunday, December 22, 2013

San Francisco Theater Preview: AMERICA’S NEXT TOP BACHELOR HOUSEWIFE CELEBRITY HOARDER MAKEOVER STAR GONE WILD! (The Kinsey Sicks) by Tony Frankel

DRAGULOUS I love The Kinsey Sicks. Is it because I love barbershop quartets? Is it because I love drag queens? Is it because I love community activists? Is it because I love irreverent, chee…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 02:58AM
Friday, December 20, 2013

Los Angeles Theater Review: STOMP (North American Tour at the Saban in Beverly Hills) by Tony Frankel

PLEASE MAKE IT STOMP When I first saw the Blue Man Group at the Astor Place Theatre in 1991, it was performance art nirvana. Sadly, what started as a sweet and satisfying event became a corp…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 11:20AM
Tuesday, December 17, 2013

London Theater / Film Preview: RICHARD II (Crest Theater in Westwood) by Tony Frankel

ROYAL SHAKESPEARE’S RICHARD II COMES TO WESTWOOD Brits had already heard about Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of Richard II, directed by Gregory Doran and starring former Doc…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 08:59PM
Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Los Angeles Theater Review: THE QUEEN FAMILY’S VERY SPECIAL HOLIDAY SPECIAL (The Actors’ Gang) by Tony Frankel

A HIT-AND-MISS HOLIDAY HYBRID IS AT LEAST MORE HO HO THAN HO HUM Silliness and charm reign supreme in The Actors’ Gang’s original Christmas show, The Queen Family’s Very Special Ho…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 11:17PM
Monday, December 9, 2013

Los Angeles Theater Preview: LESLIE JORDAN: SHOW PONY (L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center’s Renberg Theatre) by Tony Frankel

JOCKEY-SIZED JORDAN REMAINS A COMICAL CLYDESDALE Have you ever been to a sultry party that has the oppressive feel of a languid, humid day in the Deep South, only to have the energy shift dr…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 08:35PM
Friday, December 6, 2013

Los Angeles Theater Review: DALLAS NON-STOP (Playwrights’ Arena at Atwater Village Theater) by Tony Frankel

WOULD YOU LIKE COFFEE, TEA OR THE AMERICAN DREAM? Sometimes we take a short vacation just to get away from it all. A few days. No big tourist attractions or monumental natural sites are nece…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 05:16PM