CORN-FED HUMOR LEAVES A SWEET TASTE I entered the Civic Theatre braced for a two-hour version of Hee Haw (not a compliment) and wondered if I'd be checking my watch by halfway through Act I …
EVERYONE WILL LIKE IT HOT It wouldn't be a valid review to simply write, "I loved it!" a hundred times and ship it off to my editor. However, if you're looking for a bottom line or a simple …
BEFORE HANSEL, THERE WAS, HELL YEAH, GRETEL! Witches. Talking dolls. Folk and rock music. Chicken-legged houses. If that doesn't get your attention, then you may already be inside Baba Yaga'…
THE MAGNOLIAS MAY BE STEELY, BUT THEY STILL SMELL PRETTY SWEET For over 80 years, Lamplighters Community Theatre has been providing an important role in San Diego's theatre scene: creating a…
A GREAT 70s TRIBUTE HAS VINYL-LY ARRIVED Normally, calling a show predictable isn't a compliment. But when I heard that director Kerry Meads and musical director Vanda Eggington were once ag…
STILL PLENTY TO DESIRE A Streetcar Named Desire was one of the greatest hits for playwright Tennessee Williams. Born in 1911, he didn't have any major successes until The Glass Menagerie pre…
OKLAHOMA! RIDES AGAIN" THIS TIME WITH DEPTH IN THE SADDLE When gay playwright Lynn Riggs wrote the rather dark Green Grow the Lilacs, his eighth play, and saw it produced in 1931, it's likel…
A MUSICAL SALTIER THAN SALT LAKE ITSELF Let's start the actual religious text called The Book of Mormon, published in 1830. Without going into all its details about other planets, Jesus visi…
UNNECESSARY, PERHAPS, BUT DELICIOUS! Wikipedia defines farce as "a comedy that seeks to entertain an audience through situations that are highly exaggerated, extravagant, ridiculous, absurd,…
FORGET THE USUAL " MOXIE IS SERVING A TENDER STORY WITH A SIDE OF TRUTH Not every good story needs to take you around the world in eighty days or off to a magical land with wizards; sometime…
COMFORTABLE HOMEY FOLK SHARE A SWEET STORY Book and music creators Steve Martin (yes, THAT Steve Martin) and Edie Brickell heard a true story from 1902 and became somewhat obsessed with it. …
NOT YOUR GRANDMA'S 1776 Until Hamilton, if you'd asked me if I liked rap music, you'd have gotten a pretty quick, "No." And I still do cringe at the memories of cars driving up my street wit…
MUSICAL ROM-COM PROM IS DA BOMB! Oh, the high school prom! Has any event, short of one's wedding perhaps, ever been given more stress-inducing over-attention? Who to bring, what to wear, how…
SWEETLY PLAYFUL TREATMENT OF A COMPLICATED PLOT The prolific author Agatha Christie (1890-1976) was the creator of 66 novels, 14 volumes of short stories and 20 plays, ten of which have been…
WHAT'S IN A NAME? A LOT WHEN IT'S "CLINTON" "Feelings are a terrible way to make decisions, Bill." "Yes, but people don't think you have any." Reviewing this show is almost like reviewing tw…
THESE WINGS ARE FLAMING IN MORE WAYS THAN ONE In our divided nation, there are still a few universals that bring us together. Puppies. Mother's Day. Pizza. And, tagging close behind on the p…
I had a blind date. I waited two hours on the corner. A girl walked by. I said, "Are you Louise?'" She said, "Are you Rodney?" I said, "Yeah." She said, 'I'm not Louise." Â Â " Rodney …
TRUE ZEST IN TRUE WEST As my sixtieth year on earth winds down, I'd like to believe those years have seasoned me with a strong degree of wisdom, patience, and finesse. As I said, I'd like to…
WE, THE THEATRE, IN ORDER TO FORM A MORE PERFECT UNION Heidi Schreck wrote this mostly-autobiographical play and starred in it when it played on Broadway, where it was Tony-nominated for Bes…
GANESHA GRANTS GRACE IN A GLORIOUSLY GRITTY JOURNEY The Hindu religion has multiple gods. Ganesha, also called Ganesh, is revered as the god of wisdom, luck, and beginnings. His beloved spir…
THIS WILD RIDE SHOULD BE DOOLEY NOTED Francis Gercke"both the playwright and Backyard Renaissance Theatre Company's artistic director"welcomed the audience prior to the matinee. During his g…
CONTINUOUSLY ENTERTAINING What's most striking about the excellent we are continuous by Harrison David Rivers (The Bandaged Place, This Bitter Earth) is that it doesn't just break the …
GOOD GOLLY, MISS DOLLY! Under Randy Slovacek's direction for San Diego Musical Theatre, Hello, Dolly! festoons the theater with a cumulatively enchanting restoration of this infectious delig…
NEIL SIMON IN PALM SPRINGS WITH AN AGENDA Jon Robin Baitz' Broadway drama Other Desert Cities "which opens this week at Cygnet Theatre"depicts a crisis of apparent betrayal and imminent expo…
EVERYONE WILL LIKE IT HOT It wouldn't be a valid review to simply write, "I loved it!" a hundred times and ship it off to my editor. However, if you're looking for a bottom line or a simple …