A TWENTY-YEAR ALIEN INVASION The azure takeover began in 1991. Six years later, Blue Man Group—the company that is a show—debuted in Chicago's Lakeview neighborhood. 20 …
THORNTON WILDER'S SURVIVAL SAGA It's a play for all seasons and all sorrows: Writing during the uncertainty of a world war, Thornton Wilder intended The Skin of Our Teeth to be a three…
FULL MEASURE More often than not, stagings of Shakespeare plays turn into dull, tedious exercises. The reasons for this vary but the one problem that always seems present is the lack of an a…
A FINE PRODUCTION OF A MINORÂ ORGAN Midway through playwright Julia Lederer's feather-light, yet rather droning romantic comedy, a character literally reaches into her own chest and pulls …
THE ULTIMATE FRENCH KISS It was a one-off last night at the Athenaeum Theatre. But a long run on the road continues to beckon to Awesome Company's bravura showcase Piaf! The Show (whic…
FEAR FACTOR: 1692 = 2017 325 years ago, a witchhunt gave this continent one of its most chilling and cautionary cases of panic-peddling and persecution: In assorted "witch trials" the suppos…
HE STILL GOT THAT SWING In his 75 years of marvelous music-making, Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington really was American nobility if not royalty. The sultan of swing was alsoy the jazz king, a…
SINGING, SURVIVING, AND SPIRIT It's a fine fit: As much as molding character is the goal of the imaginary Charles R. Drew Prep School for Boys in Choir Boy, it's also the purpose of Chica…
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…
THE UNBEARABLE CURSE OF BEING I remember reading Rebecca Mead's New Yorker review of Gypsy when Tyne Daly first starred as Mama Rose. She described the experience of not being sure beforehan…
A HERO’S JOURNEY FROM 1862 SPEAKS VOLUMES FOR OUR TIMES Father Comes Home from the Wars, Parts 1, 2 & 3 first played in 2014 at NYC's Public Theater, yet Suzan-Lori Parks' play pre…
MORE “FUN” THAN THE FIRST TIME AROUND Wise and warm, the 100-minute family memoir Fun Home charts the twisted courses of two generations of the Bechdels—a self-shamin…
GOD THE FATHER AND THE MOTHER OF ALL GODS I will remember Phylicia Rashad's performance in Head of Passes until the day I die. She is an emotional hurricane, often still, even funny"while in…
MISERY LOVES COMPANY In referring to August Strindberg's 1900 play The Dance of Death as a foreshadowing of Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, director Ron Sossi is on firm groun…
TOO BIG FOR ITS BRITCHES With his touching screenplay as a basis, Lee Hall adapted the 2000 indie Billy Elliot for the stage, setting his moving lyrics to Elton John’s music. There&…
WORLD PREMIERE MUSICAL ADAPTATION MADE EVEN BETTER BY BRYCE PINKHAM It’s tricky turning a movie into a play, given that without the auteur’s camera gimmicks and edits, it can be …
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…
MORE PLAYS ON THE PIER Tuesday night's "consecration of the house," attended by Chicago's Mayor Emmanuel, was a celebration that this care-ridden city badly needed. The big news is the gr…
UNSTOPPABLE AND UNSPARING This week Goodman Theater's season-opener, a landmark drama from 1955, exploded into relevance. A rarity worth a return, Arthur Miller's original 120-minute, one-ac…
A PAINTING IS A PORTAL Art is never still, not just still lifes but landscapes, genre scenes, even abstract configurations and, especially, portraits. Every painting is a time capsule that a…
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…
A STAR IS BORN Paul Rudnick's bright new comedy takes place on Oscar night. Michael (Brian Hutchison) is a journeyman actor with a career and life-changing Best Supporting Actor nomination. …
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 …
'SELF DEPORTATION' OR SIX STAGES OF AMERICAN GRIEF Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. In life, death, and in playwright Tom Jacobson's world view, these familiar five sta…
ORWELLIAN OR TRUMPIAN?:Â 1984Â MEETS 2017 Everything evil is new again: What George Orwell wrote 69 years ago still remains ahead of our time—but, with a President in power who pur…