Even after a year of indoor theaters being shuttered in Los Angeles, it's hard to imagine a future without the ArcLight Hollywood, the tony 15-screen megaplex that countless Angelenos consid…
Magic never works the same way in movies that it does in person, which is not to say that it doesn't work in movies. It just takes a different kind of finesse, typically relying on editing a…
It started with a hunch. Edith Pretty and her husband bought a house at Sutton Hoo, the estate of which contained several large mounds of earth. For years, there had been theories about what…
A colleague who teaches recently pointed out a surprising insight into the current generation of university-age students: According to an informal show-of-hands poll she conducted, hardly an…
What function do superhero stories play in American society? Are they merely escapist distractions for head-in-the-clouds teens, or could those same formats actually serve a practical functi…
How much can you change "Cinderella" before it is no longer "Cinderella"? In the case of choreography maestro Matthew Bourne " who, it should be said, first unveiled his spin on the classic …
When people say a movie feels like a play, they often mean it as a kind of insult " less showy than talky, self-contained, more concerned with ideas than authenticity " but in the case of "L…
Cooper may have achieved movie star status before getting the chance to direct "Â "luckily, in the end," he says " but that gave the actor time to find his voice before making "A Star Is B…
Anyone who loves musical theater owes it to themselves to see "Bathtubs Over Broadway," a delightful deep-dive documentary into one man's obsession with the obscure world of industrial music…
The question arises every year: When is the right time to toss the fake spider webbing and carved pumpkins in favor of inflatable snowmen and fiberglass reindeer? Must you wait until Thanksg…
The less you know about the Temptations, the more you'll get out of "Ain't Too Proud," a finger-snapping, hand-clapping new jukebox musical passing through Los Angeles' Ahmanson Theatre en r…
It's a credit to Denzel Washington's career choices that he's gone four decades without making a single sequel. That's not to say that breaking the pattern with "The Equalizer 2" means he's …
Before "Big," before "Bachelor Party" "Â heck, before even "Bosom Buddies" " Tom Hanks studied theater at Chabot College and performed three seasons in the Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival…
On Wednesday, director Ridley Scott announced a plan that is virtually unprecedented in the history of Hollywood: With his new film "All the Money in the World" already in the can and less t…
While there are few who would dispute the place Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's "The Red Shoes" holds as the greatest dance film of all time " focusing as it does on the backstage en…
Where to begin with all that's wrong with Paul Rudnick's new play, "Big Night," which takes place in a swanky Hollywood hotel suite before and after the Academy Awards ceremony where a C-lis…
Lin-Manuel Miranda's hip-hop musical finally reaches L.A., celebrating a time when politics was about passion, and everyone was an immigrant.
Jimmy Fowlie imagines the one-woman Emma Stone performs off-screen in 'La La Land,' nailing the narcissism of a certain kind of actress.
Randall Arney Artistic Director Geffen Playhouse 10886 Le Conte Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90024 Dear Sir: First, let me just say that I am a great admirer of your institution, the Geffen Playhous…
How do you make a comedy about the absurdity of modern terrorism? For bold, outside-the-box American playwright Rajiv Joseph ("Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo"), you set the satire a century…
Back in style after 40 years, Luis Valdez's "Zoot Suit" is as custom-tailored a Los Angeles stage experience as they come: Commissioned back in 1977 by Center Theatre Group founding artistic…
Death, heavy as the fog that surrounds the Tyrone family home and somber as the low sea-monster cry of the foghorn echoing across the water, hangs over "Long Day's Journey Into Night."…
In "Singin' in the Rain," Debbie Reynolds plays a reluctant ingénue, drawn into "the pictures" after Gene Kelly, playing a silent-era matinee idol trying to escape a mob of autograph-seekin…
The most adorable character in all of French cinema finds her way to the American stage in the new musical adaptation of "Amélie," and while it's practically impossible not to love a singin…
It has been just over a decade since Bob Iger engineered the deal that brought Steve Jobs' Pixar Animation Studios to Disney, negotiating a $7.4 billion stock purchase that raised eyebrows a…