Review: 'Oklahoma!' at 70? You're doin' fine by David C. Nichols

A bright golden haze of timeless musical theater invention suffuses “Oklahoma!” at the Carpenter Center. It carries Musical Theatre West’s affable, fleet-footed 70th annive…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 1:58pm on February 19, 2013☆⚑

Review: 'A Heap of Livin' is promising, but a certain spark missing by David C. Nichols

In “A Heap of Livin’,” playwright Elliot Shoenman surveys the minefield of family interactions, in this case between a widowed folksinger and his two very different daughte…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 4:05pm on February 14, 2013☆⚑

Review: 'The Snake Can' takes female bonding to the edge by David C. Nichols

“Being newly single in middle age.... It’s like opening one of those child’s toys where the snake pops out of the can.” So goes “The Snake Can” at the Ody…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 12:58pm on January 22, 2013☆⚑

Review: Jokes and songs awake 'A Snow White Christmas' by David C. Nichols

English pantomime comes to Pasadena with a sitcom wink, a Top 40 backbeat and enough topical in-jokes to make Jon Stewart woozy in “A Snow White Christmas.” This larky take on th…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 2:42pm on December 13, 2012☆⚑

Review: Mariette Hartley shines in 'The Morini Strad' at the Colony by David C. Nichols

“When one is young, one hears only the word 'great.' When one is less young, one hears only the word 'next.' ”  So says the spiky centrifuge of “The Morini Strad” …

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 2:00pm on November 27, 2012☆⚑

Review: Kristin Chenoweth in top form at Segerstrom Concert Hall by David C. Nichols

If Kristin Chenoweth’s personal elán and ability to elate an audience could be mass-produced, the quest for global peace would be over, as Monday night’s Segerstrom Concert Ha…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 4:41pm on November 6, 2012☆⚑

Review: Abu Ghraib, the musical, a.k.a. 'Bad Apples' by David C. Nichols

Noteworthy intent permeates “Bad Apples” in its Circle X Theatre Company premiere. Jim Leonard, Rob Cairns and Beth Thornley’s surreal take on Baghdad’s infamous mili…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 5:23pm on October 17, 2012☆⚑

Review: 'Justin Love' a winning musical about love, self-identity by David C. Nichols

Tinseltown tunefully outs itself in “Justin Love,” triumphantly opening the Celebration Theatre’s 30th anniversary season. Though not without its still-gelling aspects, thi…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 4:15pm on September 25, 2012☆⚑

Review: Shaky therapy at work in 'The Bellflower Sessions' by David C. Nichols

“The Bellflower Sessions” refers to therapeutic interviews between a downsized bourgeois and an unhinged shrink. If they represented the sum of Andy Bloch’s black comedy, t…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 2:00pm on September 13, 2012☆⚑

Review: 'Focus Group Play' a darkly comic take on marketing research by David C. Nichols

The working title says it all in “Focus Group Play.” Carrie Barrett’s dark-tinged satire of nutritional marketing research gone awry skewers corporate product testing with …

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 3:10pm on September 5, 2012☆⚑

Review: 'Much Ado About Nothing' in fine form at Shakespeare OC by David C. Nichols

Some odd quirks and remnants of wit adorn “Much Ado About Nothing,” which closes Shakespeare Orange County’s 21st season in beautifully appointed, crowd-pleasing, curiously…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 4:10pm on August 22, 2012☆⚑

Review: 'Farm Boy' at the Matrix Theatre by David C. Nichols

The main question regarding “Farm Boy” is whether the storytelling so sensationally realized in “War Horse” can be evoked without a huge cast, evening-length scope an…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 8:15pm on August 2, 2012☆⚑

Review: A reinvented 'West Side Story' at the Chance Theater by David C. Nichols

It’s not just the exposure to countless editions of “West Side Story” that causes us to stagger dazed and elated from the Chance Theater. Less a revival than a whole-scale …

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 2:35pm on July 18, 2012☆⚑

Review: 'Monty Python's Spamalot' a laugh riot at Carpenter Center by David C. Nichols

With “Monty Python’s Spamalot” now leveling the Carpenter Center with the force of a killer rabbit, Musical Theatre West enters a deliriously demented phase in its 59-year …

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 5:23pm on July 3, 2012☆⚑

Review: Tensions arise, humorously, in 'Long Weekend' at Theatre 40 by David C. Nichols

"This weekend is going to make a colonoscopy look like a treasure hunt,” says the reluctant host of “The Long Weekend” at Theatre 40. However comically overstated, it&rsquo…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 3:00pm on June 14, 2012☆⚑

Review: 'The Addams Family' snaps yet stumbles at the Pantages by David C. Nichols

It’s hard to imagine a more peculiar mix of canny and canned than “The Addams Family,” which opened Tuesday at the Pantages Theatre. Marshall Brickman, Rick Elice and Andre…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 12:35pm on June 6, 2012☆⚑

Elaine Stritch salutes the Stephen Sondheim canon with savvy by David C. Nichols

In her Walt Disney Concert Hall debut, the performer approaches the work of the master of musical theater with moxie and veneration. 

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 3:00am on May 21, 2012☆⚑

Review: 'The Children' an inspired take on Medea myth by David C. Nichols

“To mortal man, how great a scourge is love,” is one of countless ingenious lines that adorn “The Children” at the Theatre @ Boston Court. Michael Elyanow’s stu…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 7:41pm on May 18, 2012☆⚑

Review: An erratic 'A Little Night Music' by East West Players by David C. Nichols

The Stephen Sondheim musical gets a cross-cultural staging at David Henry Hwang Theater.Perpetual anticipation is good for the soul, but it's bad for the art of "A Little Night Music" at the…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 3:00am on May 18, 2012☆⚑

Review: 'Copy' at Theatre of NOTE is a daffy original by David C. Nichols

It’s doubtful that locals will see anything quite like “Copy” at Theatre of NOTE anytime soon. Padraic Duffy’s precocious absurdist exercise is, for much of its lengt…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 2:30pm on May 10, 2012☆⚑

Review: Political, personal foibles propel 'The Fix' at ICT by David C. Nichols

It's understandable that International City Theatre would want to snag the West Coast premiere of "The Fix" in this election year. John Dempsey and Dana P. Rowe's 1997 musical about the back…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 6:25pm on May 3, 2012☆⚑

Review: 'The Pianist of Willesden Lane' a resonant tale of survival by David C. Nichols

In “The Pianist of Willesden Lane,” keyboard virtuoso Mona Golabek essentially channels her mother, pianist Lisa Jura, and strikes musical and emotional notes that transcend tech…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 5:50pm on April 26, 2012☆⚑

Review: 'The Imaginary Life of the Street Sweeper, August G.' by David C. Nichols

Noble social intent accompanies “The Imaginary Life of the Street Sweeper, August G.” at Casa 0101. In its American premiere, Armand Gatti’s surreal fantasia about revoluti…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 4:33pm on April 26, 2012☆⚑

Cabaret review: Andrea Marcovicci at the Gardenia by David C. Nichols

The golden age of the supper club is reborn at the Gardenia, where Andrea Marcovicci is currently holding court in "Smile."The golden age of the supper club is reborn at the Gardenia, where …

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 5:08pm on March 16, 2012☆⚑

Theater review: 'California Dreamin'' at the MET Theatre by David C. Nichols

Although still gelling, Jill Charlotte Thomas' surreal fantasia shows considerable promise in its MET Theatre premiere.Although still gelling, Jill Charlotte Thomas' surreal fantasia shows c…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 2:50pm on February 17, 2012☆⚑