THIS MAGIC FLUTE IS ALL TOO ORDINARY South Africa's Isango Ensemble is undoubtedly full of talented actors, singers, and musicians, but doesn't quite have the specialized skills required to …
MAD ABOUT JOHN DOE Trap Door Theatre is entered via a long narrow gap between two Bucktown restaurants. Upon arrival, Artistic Director Beata Pilch assigns audience members a number and Mike…
REASONS TO BE CRITICAL Neil LaBute seems to have a penchant for ironic titles. His 2002 play The Mercy Seat was anything but merciful; LaBute described it as a "kind of emotional terrorism."…
THIS SHOW’S ON FIRE "Ich bin ein Biedermann" isn't what President Kennedy famously said in Berlin in 1963, but it's something playwright Max Frisch might have said while writing Herr B…
A TRAGEDY OF EPIC PROPORTIONS Writing a play of more than 800 pages that takes twelve hours to perform is both an act of hubris and an act of genius. Written and directed by The Hypocrites' …
A BUTTERFLY WITHOUT WINGS Madama Butterfly (1904) is understandably one of the most popular operas in the world. Not only does it boast a tragic story that is incredibly moving, but the dram…
BAROQUE AND LOVING IT It begins innocently enough with two nymphs singing, swinging and blowing bubbles"until the gods intervene and mayhem ensues. There are transvestites, lusty satyrs, and…
A NAIL IN OPERA'S COFFIN As the opera's West Coast premiere, A Coffin in Egypt is frankly disappointing. As the first opera production at the new Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing A…
SAN DIEGO OPERA’S SWAN SONG SPEAKS TO DREAMING IMPOSSIBLE DREAMS Don Quixote ("Don Quichotte" in its original French spelling) serves as a fitting final production with which to close …
A FISHY MONSTROSITY What is it about the story of Jonah that has so captured the world's imagination? Is it the stupidity of a man trying to run away from God, as if that were even possible?…
ORANGE COUNTY GOES GREEN, I.E. VERDI Opera is alive and well in Orange County! Since the demise of Opera Pacific (1985-2008), Pacific Symphony, aided by Pacific Chorale, has emerged as the c…
THIS ELIXIR IS A TONIC FOR WHAT AILS YOU Some artistic works are such a product of their time that it is difficult for later generations to understand them without spending a considerable am…
ONE STEP FORWARD, TWO STEPS BACK To open their second season, the Independent Opera Company (IOC) is performing Franz Lehar's 1905 operetta The Merry Widow. It appears to be a scaling back a…
A TURN FOR THE BETTER A Henry James novella first published in 1898, The Turn of the Screw tells one of the most ambiguous ghost stories ever written. It involves a brother and sister (Flora…
VERDI ON THE VERGE Hearing Giuseppe Verdi's Macbeth is a rather disorienting experience, at least at the beginning. The difference is that we're used to Shakespeare's English, even if it is …
FALLING FOR DONIZETTI'S VALLEY GIRL Opera in Los Angeles seems to be thriving these days. In addition to established companies like LA Opera and Long Beach Opera, there are smaller companies…
OFFENBACH'S REQUIEM Just as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart died in the middle of writing his famous Requiem so did Jacques Offenbach die composing his fantastical opera Tales of Hoffmann. Both work…
BOTTOM IS TOPS Unlike Shakespeare's tragedies and histories, which are mostly named for their main character, his comedies have rather different kinds of titles. These differing titles alert…
A MARRIAGE MADE IN HEAVEN Less than a month after its pop-up production of The Barber of Seville, Pacific Opera Project (POP) continues Beaumarchais' trilogy with Mozart's The Marriage of Fi…
SCHOOLED BY CALLAS If you've ever been to a master class, then Terrence McNally's Tony Award-winning play Master Class (1995) will seem very familiar. If you haven't, then you're in for a re…
A MATCH MADE IN HOLLYWOOD Last year, the Pacific Opera Project (POP) put on a show about a serial killer who also happened to be a barber: Sweeney Todd. This year, they have staged a product…
SALVATION IN A STORM Who is the titular Flying Dutchman? Is he a mythological figure, a type of the wandering Jew bound to traverse the earth in travail until his day of salvation comes? Is …
AÂ RESTRICTED BUTÂ RIVETING ROOM Novelist Ira Levin may be best-known for Rosemary's Baby and Stepford Wives, both made even more popular by their film adaptations, but as a playwright, …
THE GHOSTS OF CHRISTMAS PRESENT Race and immigration are popular topics on the LA stage, at least when it comes to more serious theatre. And there is good reason for this. LA is an incredibl…
WHERE’S THE SCANDAL? When I first drove past the Zephyr Theatre looking for parking, I saw what appeared to be anti-pornographic picketers on the sidewalk in front of the building. I w…