A SWELL WHODUNNIT CREATES ANOTHER MYSTERY: WHY THIS ACTRESS? Part Rear Window, part Gaslight, Night Watch is currently dialing up the suspense at Theatre 40 in Beverly Hills. Â Lucille Fle…
SHANGHAIED A musical featuring three performers and 5,000 years of Chinese history in just 90 minutes sure sounded promising, but the production of China: The Whole Enchilada currently servi…
EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED For over half a century, Rachel Rosenthal has been surprising audiences with her unique take on the theatrical experience. A master of performance art, she was recently…
STRINGS ATTACHED A worldwide pandemic has already claimed the lives of hundreds of millions of humans and the apocalypse is near. An intriguing plot line to be sure but hardly one you wo…
FEAR THE HYPHENATE If a person is lucky enough, they will discover their passion in life and be able to fine tune and truly excel at that skill. Others flounder about, trying a bit if this a…
A SWING AND A MISS Theater, like baseball, is a team sport. To reign triumphant and put a tick in the "W" box, all the players must be at the top of their game. When everyone hits a home run…
DREADFUL AT ANY PRICE Back in the1800s, the Industrial revolution was in full swing in merry ole England. The working class was becoming more educated and printing was becoming more affordab…
ROLE REVERSAL For its inaugural production at its new temporary home in Atwater Village, the Celebration Theatre has mounted The Homosexuals (pun intended). As one might glean from the title…
HYDE IN PLAIN SIGHT Actors Co-op does it again! Last year’s re-imagining of The World Goes ‘Round was musical perfection and this year's Ah, Wilderness! was a sentimental d…
SAY WATT? While it is probably safe to assume that the NoHo Arts Center Ensemble's "playwright in residence," Joshua Ravetch, had some bright idea in mind when writing The Light Bulb, I must…
SHAFTED! There's a story to be mined in "them thar" hills of West Ver-ginny but unfortunately The Burnt Part Boys, making its west coast premiere at the Third Street Theatre, doesn't dig dee…
BLUE MAN GROUP GETS BOWLED OVER International phenomenon Blue Man Group (BMG)Â made their Hollywood Bowl debut on Friday in a wildly uneven yet ultimately entertaining evening ranging from…
THE GRASS IS ALWAYS GREENER…OR IS IT? Smart, funny and thought-provoking, Rapture, Blister Burn has arrived at the Geffen Playhouse in Westwood with the original New York cast in tow. Writ…
RUPTERED RAPTURE Attending the opening night of a comedy at one of the smaller 99 seat theaters in Los Angeles can be problematic. In addition to a minute smattering of critics and avid thea…
IT IS WHAT IT IS Set your "expectation meter" in the mid-range and you will probably enjoy The Judy Show: My Life as a Sitcom starring comedienne Judy Gold. However, if you enter the theater…
JEKYLL AND HYDE DIRECTION MAKES THE MAGIC DISAPPEAR IN WATSON AND THE DARK ART OF HARRY HOUDINI Writer/Director Jaime Robledo follows up his award-winning smash hit Watson: The Last Great Ta…
ALIVE WITH AMBIGUITY If you require a neat and tidy ending, a feeling of clarity, and a sense of completion to insure your theatrical enjoyment, then Dying City " making its Los Angeles prem…
THE NORTH PLAN STARTS ON COURSE THEN GOES SOUTH A ruthless splinter group has seized power in Washington and a low level bureaucrat who has escaped with the new regime's "hit list" is on the…
THE ROYALE PACKS A PUNCH SLAP There are many things to recommend about The Royale, currently making its World Premiere at the Kirk Douglas Theatre. The staging is brilliant, the fight choreo…
A ROCKY ROCKY MOUNTAIN ROMANCE In mountaineering lingo, "committing" refers to forcing yourself into a place of no return leaving nowhere to go but forward; and so it is with life, loss and …
CHARM GALORE WITH A SIDE OF CHARM THROWN IN FOR GOOD MEASURE A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder is a captivatingly charming affair. Set in Edwardian England, the west coast premiere is l…
TRAINSPOTTING IS ON THE RIGHT TRACK Whether L.A. theatergoers are ready or not, seat of your pants Productions has resurrected it's much ballyhooed 2002 mounting of Henry Gibson's Trainspott…
BEHOLD THE BREATHTAKING BEAUTY OF CAVALIA'S ODYSSEO In 2003, Normand Latourelle, one of the co-founders of Cirque du Soleil, was ready to up the entertainment ante when he introduced his equ…
A COMPLETE WASTE OF WORDS If you hold a doctorate in linguistics then you might (and that's a very questionable "might") find some interesting banter in Complete, the alleged comedy written …
BRAWL IN THE FAMILY It's a funny thing about families. We didn't choose them, but they form the most important relationships in our lives. It's the luck of the draw and some of us get dealt …