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 …
A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC; A VERY SHORT RUN; A MOST ACCOMPLISHED CAST Get ready for the wit, sophistication, and gentle eroticism of this most worldly and elegant of American musicals. The story …
FLYING WITH BROKEN WINGS It’s amazing. Thousands of billions of electronic messages are delivered every month globally, but it doesn’t feel like a small world after all. For many…
FOOTLOOSE AND FANCY FREE Based on the 1984 film Footloose, this eponymous musical opened on Broadway in 1998. Both adaptation and jukebox musical, in which songs sometimes land willy-nilly w…
ALONG CAME THIS SPIDER Defying torture and humiliation in a Latin American prison, two cellmates—seeming enemies—build a passionate friendship and a larger loyalty. Hollywood vis…
AULIS WELL AT THE GETTY Check out the production of Euripides' Iphigenia in Aulis by Chicago's Court Theatre, and you'll see why I rave about theater in the Windy City. Guided by the scholar…
HE WHO LAUGHS AT LAST LAUGHS BEST Barney Cashman is a neurotic, shlubby, well-intentioned if somewhat misguided seafood restaurateur who feels his life and marriage have become too predictab…
IN HARLEM'S WAY "One never knows, do one?" That's the favorite catchphrase of Fats Waller (1904-1943), an irrepressible master of music. The 285-pound, cherubic-cheeked jokester genius is th…
WHERE DO YOU GET ORFF..? There are some entertainments that bear repeating: Los Angeles Master Chorale has visited Carl Orff's pagan-fest, Carmina Burana, under each of their music …
LIFE IS AN ABSURD BUSINESS It’s an absurdist masterwork, yet it is rarely produced in the States. A disquieting parable which warns against the herd mentality, Eugène Ionesco's three-…