Jessica Chastain to star in Liv Ullman's film of 'Miss Julie' by Mike Boehm

Jessica Chastain is currently on Broadway in "The Heiress," playing Catherine Sloper, a rich girl with boyfriend and daddy problems.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 10:27am on February 1, 2013☆⚑

Pasadena Playhouse: Mike Stoller and wife gave crucial $1 million by Mike Boehm

If the Pasadena Playhouse had decided to adopt a theme song when a dire economy and long-standing debts forced it to cease operations for most of 2010 while it tried to claw its way back to …

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 5:01pm on January 23, 2013☆⚑

Report finds fundamental flaws in many nonprofits' fundraising by Mike Boehm

A new national survey of nonprofit executives suggests it isn’t just the uncertain economy that’s making it hard for charities – including arts and culture groups – t…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 10:22am on January 22, 2013☆⚑

Anna Deavere Smith wins $300,000 Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize by Mike Boehm

Anna Deavere Smith, famed for creating one-woman, documentary theater pieces about taut social issues in which she portrays multiple people she’s interviewed, has won the $300,000 Doro…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 11:15am on January 18, 2013☆⚑

Scarlett Johansson in Broadway's 'Cat on a Hot Tin Roof': What did critics think? by Mike Boehm

Scarlett Johansson is the latest star to take a shot at “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” Tennessee Williams’ feverish 1955 classic about a wealthy Southern family with two daughter…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 10:19am on January 18, 2013☆⚑

Pantages tweaks recent box-office record for 'Book of Mormon' by Mike Boehm

The Pantages Theatre has added an asterisk or two to its claim in October that "The Book of Mormon" had set a new record for the biggest single-week box-office take in Los Angeles theater hi…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 4:30pm on January 15, 2013☆⚑

Robert Sean Leonard indulges his first love: Theater by Mike Boehm

'House' made him familiar to TV audiences, but he's always been a man of the theater. He's at the Old Globe now, savoring the words in 'Pygmalion.'As 2013 begins, Robert Sean Leonard is the …

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 3:08pm on January 11, 2013☆⚑

Broadway musical 'Newsies' turns quick profit for Disney by Mike Boehm

In bygone days "extra, extra" is what newspaper hawkers used to shout to sell copies.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 10:00am on December 21, 2012☆⚑

'A Snow White Christmas' puts Southern California imprint on British theater tradition by Mike Boehm

The show at Pasadena Playhouse is based on the holiday family plays known as pantos.Kris Lythgoe had a problem that many a Los Angeles parent might relate to: Christmas was coming, and he wa…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 8:00am on December 11, 2012☆⚑

Nonprofit theaters' fiscal mood improving, national survey shows by Mike Boehm

America's nonprofit theaters are feeling a bit better about their finances these days, according to a recent survey conducted by the sector's main national service organization, Theatre Comm…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 12:00pm on December 7, 2012☆⚑

PBS series 'Shakespeare Uncovered' to dig deep into Bard's plays by Mike Boehm

William Shakespare will get the full PBS treatment in "Shakespeare Uncovered," a six-part series announced this week to be shown on three consecutive Friday evenings starting Jan. 25.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 9:50am on December 7, 2012☆⚑

Two new Tony Kushner books: 'Lincoln' script and revised 'Angels' by Mike Boehm

"Lincoln" has been a big hit in movie theaters, and on Jan. 22 Tony Kushner's screenplay for Steven Spielberg's film will arrive in book form, to be followed in late February by another new …

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 12:07pm on December 5, 2012☆⚑

L.A. area theaters hope to strike holiday gold by Mike Boehm

Center Theatre Group, Geffen Playhouse, Pasadena Playhouse and A Noise Within will stage Christmas shows this year. Such productions can be a good source of revenue."What was merry Christmas…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 9:00am on December 1, 2012☆⚑

Katie Holmes in 'Dead Accounts': What did the critics think? by Mike Boehm

Theresa Rebeck’s "Dead Accounts" is on Broadway, loaded with stars -- including two-time Tony Award winner Norbert Leo Butz in the lead as an unscrupulous Wall Street go-getter who has…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 9:30am on November 30, 2012☆⚑

Latino Theater Company's NEA grant sets stage for theater festival by Mike Boehm

The $50,000 NEA grant will help L.A.'s Latino Theater Company create the National Latino Theater Festival and Conference, set for 2014 at the Los Angeles Theatre Center.Ten new plays produce…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 8:00am on November 28, 2012☆⚑

Taking note of a wave of shorter plays by Mike Boehm

Though Los Angeles-area theater leaders have seen an influx of shorter scripts lately, they're not worried about the future of intermission.As artistic director of L.A.'s Center Theatre Grou…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 9:00am on November 25, 2012☆⚑

Kathie Lee Gifford's 'Scandalous' on Broadway: What did critics think? by Mike Boehm

Theater history has been made at least twice with shows centering on fictitious female evangelists.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 10:17am on November 16, 2012☆⚑

Could 'Angels in America' happen today? by Mike Boehm

Twenty years ago, two California theaters found the money to develop what became a seven-hour play by a then-unknown Tony Kushner. Things have changed, and yet ....Twenty years ago this week…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 5:25pm on November 12, 2012☆⚑

If 'Angels in America' entered the world today by Mike Boehm

Two California theaters moved heaven and earth for Tony Kushner's play. Would it happen now?Show business is ruled by the "elevator pitch" – the need for any project to lend itself to …

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 9:00am on November 10, 2012☆⚑

'Annie' revival on Broadway: What did the critics think? by Mike Boehm

"Annie" first leaped from newspaper comics pages to the Broadway stage in 1977, not pretending to be anything but a cartoon come tunefully to life. Director James Lapine's new revival of the…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 11:00am on November 9, 2012☆⚑

Two stars of L.A. 'Book of Mormon' taking their roles to London by Mike Boehm

Gavin Creel and Jared Gertner, now starring as the lead missionaries in the Los Angeles production of “The Book of Mormon,” will get to hear British laughter come Feb. 25, when t…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 10:01am on November 9, 2012☆⚑

'Glengarry Glen Ross' Broadway opening delayed nearly a month by Mike Boehm

It's well known that real estate closings can take forever, but in the case of the Broadway revival of David Mamet's "Glengarry Glen Ross," starring Al Pacino as a real estate agent in a cut…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 11:05am on November 7, 2012☆⚑

Lobby group highlights how Obama and Romney stand on the arts by Mike Boehm

For voters who think the presidential candidates' agendas for the arts are worth considering along with what they propose for the economy, healthcare, taxes and all the rest, Americans for t…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 2:09pm on November 2, 2012☆⚑

Long-running 'Chicago' nears 3rd place on all-time Broadway list by Mike Boehm

Now that Sandy has ceased storming the Eastern Seaboard, “Chicago” has resumed storming the Broadway record book.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 11:00am on November 2, 2012☆⚑

Jessica Chastain's 'The Heiress' on Broadway: What did critics think? by Mike Boehm

"The Heiress," Ruth and Augustus Goetz's oft-revived 1947 stage adaptation of "Washington Square," Henry James' novel of 1850s New York, is back again -- Thursday was opening night for the l…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 9:27am on November 2, 2012☆⚑