"Fish stories," we call them " those times when truth gets embellished in a bid to make the ordinary seem more important or exciting. "Big Fish" " the 1998 novel, 2003 movie and 2013 stage m…
Shakespeare specialist, musical theater star, minor Broadway deity. These are just a few of the attributes we might ascribe to Len Cariou. These days, the 78-year-old, Canada-born actor is a…
Your attention probably has turned to the almost-summer outdoors, but L.A. theater is doing its best to get you off of the sand and into a seat. Consider: the Hollywood Fringe Festival at fu…
Like its title character, the small-scale musical "Violet" wishes merely to be seen, whole and true. Set in September 1964, the story follows Violet " in her late 20s, her face disfigured by…
Racism, gun violence and rebellion are themes in the L.A. small-theater offerings "The Ballad of Bimini Baths," "Ripe Frenzy" and "Antigone, or We Are Rebels Asking for the Storm."
Social justice is a topic in L.A. smaller-theater productions of "Key Change" by Collective Studio: Los Angeles, "Native Son" by Antaeus, "The Immigrant" by Sierra Madre Playhouse and "Enriq…
Most any week the theater provides a college seminar's worth of social-justice studies, but the conversations are particularly prevalent now in L.A.'s smaller theaters. This week they look a…
You would think that Christine Daaé might have learned by now to avoid rooms with full-length mirrors in them, because a certain masked face is bound to materialize in the looking glass, he…
Evil can look benign. It can appear official. It can masquerade as kind. It can show up at the door in the form of a boy you watched grow up, now wearing a crisply pressed military uniform a…
Applaud strong, resourceful, vital women as depicted in "Of Government" by Son of Semele, a festival of plays by Latinas at Casa 0101, "Through the Eye of a Needle" by the Road Theatre Compa…
Amy Freed sensed the guy could use some help. He'd written a knockabout comedy but got sloppy with details and seemed to have run short of ideas, especially in segments involving the rough w…
"Allegiance" is a musical about the incarceration of Japanese Americans after Pearl Harbor. In mass-market, story-and-song form, it encourages audiences to think deeply about a time when Ame…
Somewhere in Los Angeles, a Jo-Ann fabrics and a 99 Cents Only store must be seriously depleted. Their stock seemingly can be found onstage at the Lex Theatre, where the Celebration company'…
Spotlight on Los Angeles theater: Justin Tanner's "El Nino," the new drama "An Illegal Start" at the Santa Monica Pier carousel, the new comedy "Wicked Pagan Gays" at the Zephyr and Olivia D…
It seems appropriate that a musical about miracles is itself a bit of a wonder. Introduced off-Broadway in 1997 and produced on Broadway in 2014, "Violet" has secured a cadre of fans but no …
New York artist Louise Nevelson is best remembered for sculptures constructed of cast-aside wood, the pieces aligned vertically as if reaching for the sky. "Occupant," a play about her life,…
If you've read Chaim Potok's "The Chosen," you know this story, but it bears repeating. Two teen boys live not quite five blocks apart in 1940s Brooklyn, but they've never met because they m…
Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Quiara AlegrÃa Hudes learned storytelling among a sprawl of aunts, uncles and cousins. When her mother's talkative Puerto Rican American family got toget…
What's happening on L.A.'s smaller stages? "Alright Then" by Orson Bean at Pacific Resident Theatre; "The Hothouse" by Antaeus; "The Chinese Wall" at Group Rep; "The Enchanted Nightingale" a…
The Green One meets the Purple One, resulting in a swap of fur colors, in "How the Princh Stole Christmas!" This Grinch/Prince mash-up is the latest holiday show from the Troubadour Theater …
Technology flexes its muscles in the latest Cirque du Soleil show to visit Southern California. We know Cirque as a showcase for the limits to which humankind can push itself, but this time,…
Los Angeles-area theater recommendations for Dec. 8, 2017: "Beauty and the Beast" at Casa 0101, "Santasia" at the Whitefire, "Wake" at City Garage and "The Man Who Came to Dinner" at Actors …
A spotlight on Los Angeles theater productions of "Rotterdam," "This Land," "deLEARious" and "Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown."
You've read the New Yorker article. You've heard all of your artist friends talk about him. Now you can hear Chinese dissident artist Lin Bo speak at a downtown L.A. art gallery about the wo…
Henrik Ibsen: Ahead of his time. Father of modern drama. Often considered an early male feminist for confronting the constraints on women in the 19th century. The title character of one of h…