THANKFULLY, NOT SO SILENT Based on her three previous theater outings alone, it's fitting that writer/director Marja-Lewis Ryan has recently been tapped to be showrunner and executive produc…
MEMORIES OF MEXICO, LUZIAÂ UNLEASHES A RAIN OF JOY The Cirque du Soleil just made a run for the border " and not the Canadian one — as the Montreal-based human circus lavishes its un…
A PRINCH ASSAULT For 22 years, the Troubadour Theater Company (aka The Troubies) has amalgamated freely altered classics with music of a particular artist, creating riotous sketch/improv/ent…
COME FOR GYLLENHAAL; STAY FOR SONDHEIM Although a hit, the 2017 revival of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's 1984 Pulitzer Prize-winning musical Sunday in the Park with George had a str…
WE GET EVERYTHING BUT THE HEART Certainly one of the most gorgeous lavish sets ever seen at the Wallis, with gorgeous sumptuous costumes, and gorgeous talented athletic actors. With all of t…
PLEASE HELLO! Remarkably, one of the most difficult things about Pacific Overtures is that Harold Prince directed the original production utilizing the ancient Japanese theater-form, Kabuki,…
CAUGHT IN ITS SPELL An onion-skin experience, Christopher Chen’s magnificent Caught is indeed scripted, but you won’t know that when you’re watching it. Part immersive thea…
The Los Angeles Philharmonic's Deck the Hall Holiday Concerts at Disney Hall are just around the corner, and the variety this year is unmatched. I may be enchanted by the ever-popul…
OUR CHORALE’S CHRISTMAS CHORAL CONCERTS AND CAROLS With the indefatigable Energizer Bunny of conducting, Grant Gershon, at the helm, Los Angeles Master Chorale (LAMC) can easily be lab…
SOMETHING SILLY; NOT QUITE ROTTEN BUT HARDLY FRESH What is it about William Shakespeare that inspires lesser authors (namely, everyone else) to try to take him down? George Bernard Shaw spen…
A CONCERT ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN Given the Madrid setting, Hispano characters, and Latin-inspired score, it's possible that the musicalized version of Pedro Almodóvar's film …
ORIGINAL GHOST HOST A COUP FOR CAPT Captured Aural Phantasy Theater (CAPT), the only group authorized to perform EC Comics’ material live, offered a blood-bucket of charm at their rece…
LET THERE BE DARK A group of campers sits around the warm glow of campfire embers and tries to retell a favorite episode of The Simpsons. One man excitedly recalls and performs "Cape Fear…
COME FOR MENDELSSOHN, STAY FOR MÄLKKI There are three things to consider regarding LA Phil’s huge production of Felix Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which …
THE RIDICULOUSNESS OF IT ALL I had a college film-course assignment: Read Joseph Conrad's 1899 novella The Heart of Darkness and then watch Francis Ford Coppola's 1979 film adaptation, Apoca…
A SPLISH SPLASH MISHMASH After a successful out-of-town tryout in Chicago, SpongeBob SquarePants The New Musical is opening on Broadway this November. To whet the public’s appetite Ã�…
GREAT OPERA, GREAT CINEMA, GREAT PARTY! A familiar fairy tale takes on a broader and deeper subject"the transformative power of love and art. Jean Cocteau's stunningly beautiful 1946 cinemat…
BUREAUCRATIC NIGHTMARE; OPERATIC DREAM After witnessing Long Beach Opera's extraordinarily satisfying production of Gian Carlo Menotti’s The Consul, starring the magnificent Patricia R…
SCHOOLED BY CALLAS; ENTERTAINED BY HENNESY If you've ever been to a master class, then Terrence McNally's Master Class will seem very familiar. If you haven't, then you're in for a real eye-…
EXIT TRAGEDY Fierce, funny, and relevant under Deena Selenow’s choreographic direction, Ike Holter’s entertaining but uneven melodrama takes place in a Chicago high school that&#…
SHUFFLE ALONG Is stuff magical only because it can't be explained? Perhaps it's more than just the absence of logic, probability, or reason. There's a presence too: Magic evokes a child-like…
FANTASTIC, FRIGHTENING, FIERCE, FRENCH: THÉÂTRE DE LA VILLE’S STATE OF SIEGE AT UCLA Presented by CAP UCLA, Paris's Théâtre de la Ville returns to Royce Hall with a new pro…
STUPID IS AS STUPID DOES The Road Theatre Company, one of L.A.'s most dependable companies for original material, amazing casting, steadfast directors, and terrific production values, presen…
AN EXTRAORDINARY FIVE-COURSE MEAL Course One (Primer Plato): The Story. Two unnamed political prisoners, languishing in an Argentine maximum security prison, are allowed only one hour each S…
OH, SWEET AND LOVELY Ella Fitzgerald's history with Harlem’s Apollo Theater dates back to the fall of 1934, when she won the opportunity to compete in Amateur Night. The teenager went …