Theater Review: A WEEKEND WITH PABLO PICASSO (L.A. " Downtown) by Tony Frankel

THE ACTOR AND THE ARTIST: TWO MASTERS AT WORK AND PLAY What a joy it is to watch the Los Angeles Theatre Center roar back to life. Once considered a dodgy neighborhood, the Historic Core has…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 1:58am on April 24, 2011☆⚑

Los Angeles Theater Review: THE CHAIRS, ENDGAME, Existentialism, and the Theater of the Absurd by Tony Frankel

WHAT AN ABSURD WEEKEND: EXISTENTIALISM 101 You're watching a play but you have no idea what's happening. There is no plot, the dialogue is gobbledygook, and characters are filled with despai…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 8:40pm on April 21, 2011☆⚑

Theater Review: THE TEMPERAMENTALS by Jon Marans (Hollywood) by Tony Frankel

NOT SO WILD ABOUT HARRY Real-life gay activist Harry Hay and the West Coast Premiere of The Temperamentals — a play based on his story — have much in common: fascinating but pecu…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 2:46pm on April 21, 2011☆⚑

Theater Review: THE MERCHANT OF VENICE (L.A. " Santa Monica) by Tony Frankel

THE PLAY'S NOT THE ONLY THING Reinterpreting the setting of Shakespeare's plays for modern audiences will always be a subject for debate: purists believe that a play's relevance lies in the …

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 12:45pm on April 20, 2011☆⚑

Theater Review: STANDING ON CEREMONY: THE GAY MARRIAGE PLAYS (L.A. " Hollywood) by Tony Frankel

AN EVENING OF DIVERSITY AND INCLUSIVENESS It was one of those magical nights in the theatre: a confluence of activism, sterling talent, and magnificent playwriting, made all the more joyous …

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 12:49am on April 20, 2011☆⚑

Theater Review: THE ALL NIGHT STRUT (L.A.: North Hollywood) by Tony Frankel

SHOO SHOO BABY "How do you review The All Night Strut?" my theatre companion asked as we left The Colony Theatre. Well, you don't. This short Cabaret-style evening of songs (culled from the …

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 1:07am on April 17, 2011☆⚑

Theater Review: A RAISIN IN THE SUN by Lorraine Hansberry, directed by Phylicia Rashad (Los Angeles) by Tony Frankel

UNCOMMON GRACE In order to validate his experience of a play, a reviewer should dissect and probe the components of a production, but once in a while a show comes along which catapults the h…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 1:05am on April 14, 2011☆⚑

Theater Review: SUMMER OF LOVE by Roger Bean (Long Beach) by Tony Frankel

TAKING JUKEBOX MUSICALS TO TASK Grab those love beads and tie-dye shirts, smoke a bowl, and head down to Long Beach to hear kick-ass songs from the 60s and 70s delivered with professional gu…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 12:28pm on April 9, 2011☆⚑

Theater Review: BONDED by Donald Jolly (Los Angeles) by Tony Frankel

THE BOYS IN THE BOND Regarding his play bonded, black playwright Donald Jolly has said that he is trying to lay claim to his own place in this world by using tales of his enslaved ancestors …

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 3:27am on April 3, 2011☆⚑

Theater Review: RE-ANIMATORâ„¢ THE MUSICAL (Hollywood) by Tony Frankel

SON OF A HORROR FLICK How lucky we Angelenos are that Re-Animatorâ„¢ The Musical a funny, campy, thoroughly entertaining gore-fest, opened here before splattering itself on legions of cu…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 8:36pm on April 2, 2011☆⚑

Theater Review: PRIVATE LIVES by Noel Coward (Laguna Beach) by Tony Frankel

COWARD ON THE BEACH Noël Coward's oft-produced classic Private Lives is indeed, as one of his characters states, jagged with sophistication. The story is of a divorced, fiercely contentio…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 7:52pm on March 29, 2011☆⚑

'TIL DEATH DO US PART: LATE NIGHT CATECHISM 3 by Maripat Donovan " Carrie Hamilton Theatre at The Pasadena Playhouse " Los Angeles (Pasadena) Theater Review by Tony Frankel

AND THEN THERE WAS NUN 'Til Death Do Us Part: Late Night Catechism 3 is actually the fourth installment of Maripat Donovan's phenomenally successful series of one-woman shows (a fifth is due…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 8:36pm on March 12, 2011☆⚑