COMEDY TONIGHT More like side-splitting by side-splitting by Sondheim, Impro Theatre–the masters of long-form improvisations in the style of famous authors and genres–are gearing…
NO MAN IS AN ISLAND Whenever it's revived, it's hard to imagine a more necessary musical than this 1949 Pulitzer Prize winner. Seventy years after the Japanese surrender, it remains a healin…
DISILLUSION ON DEMAND In Rob Mersola’s Luka’s Room, Nick Marini plays a blithe, typical, technology-addicted college sophomore who has a rough summer after his father stops payin…
GREAT, BUT NOT ALWAYS CLASSIC According to TimeOut London, the term "cabaret" represents an overlapping group of constantly mutating forms of performance that can’t be pinned down"an a…
TIS THE SEASONS Not unlike Timothy Leary and LSD, I have been turning people on to ACB for similar reasons. In an increasingly complicated world, one needs a stimulant to reinforce a sense o…
THERE’S NOTHING GOING ON UP HERE It’s an idea whose time has already come this summer, and with far superior results. In fact, the character of Lindsay, a t-shirt designer who ha…
YOU CAN GO HOLMES AGAIN It turns out that you can teach an old dog new tricks, proven by The Old Globe's contemporary stage-spoof treatment of the 1901 Sherlock Holmes classic novel The Houn…
AND NOW, WITH FURTHER ADO… Not only is it one of my favorite Shakespeare plays, but Much Ado About Nothing contains a favorite character: Dogberry. This bumbling constable arrives much lat…
REAL THING I hate it when people talk about the need to "support" a good cause. Guilt is simply bad salesmanship. It kills it for me. It killed Save-the-Whales, and it sure didn’t work…
THE FUTURE LOOKS LIGHT For almost 40 years, The Groundlings has proved itself to be one of the premiere comedy troupes in the nation, creating more stars than the Big Bang. Performers showca…
RISING UP FROM DOWN UNDER 23 years ago, mega-entertainer Peter Allen died of AIDS. But The Boy from Oz is the story of a survivor. The self-made star refused to be stifled by the Australian …
CIRQUE DU FIN DE SIÈCLE This is a snazzy and pizzazz-packed blast from the past: Kurios: Cabinet of Curiosities draws its whimsical magic from the "steampunk" style that melds Victoria…
THE NEW DEAD-END KIDS It’s easy to hate the surly slackers in subUrbia, Eric Bogosian’s slice of strife. In this 1994 play, they infest the parking lot of a 7-Eleven–now ch…
AÂ FINE CLINE Patsy Cline couldn't be more fondly or accurately recalled than by Cori Cable Kidder in Robert Marra's production of Always…Patsy Cline, the oft-produced 1990 paean to the …
THE HOLY GRAIL OF SILLINESS It's been 40 years since the release of the landmark comedy film Monty Python and the Holy Grail and 33 years since the British sketch comedy troupe recorde…
IN GOOD COMPANY In a world of musicals that are filled with catchy harmonies and melodies that stick in your mind, Stephen Sondheim's songs have frequently been the rebels. Sondheim is n…
DACHAU DELIVERANCE TO THE MAX More than six million Jews were slaughtered by Nazis. When Martin Sherman wrote Bent in 1979, the yellow star that emblazoned the clothing of Jews was well-know…
GIRLFRIEND, PLEASE! While it's being sold as a rock musical, Todd Almond's gay two-hander is really a play; the songs from Matthew Sweet's 1991 breakout album Girlfriend are indiscrimi…
STILL BREATHING 15 years ago a new show called First Breath launched the About Face Youth Theatre Ensemble. Appropriately, the current showcase 15 Breaths is presented by the next gene…
SUCCESS You have had at least one dream in which the universe of potential joy is realized in a moment. The moment is ethereal and tangible, in the way of dreams. For me this dream is always…
MÉNAGE À TWADDLE At the conclusion of Yussef El Guindi's new play Threesome it isn't unreasonable to ask oneself the following question: What does the semi-comic attempt of three you…
A FULL-ON KISS Everything is so dang perfect about the construction of Kiss Me, Kate that it's doubly amazing when a revival comes along to match that perfection. With some of the most boffo…
SYNTHETICS AND STRUCTURE Excelling at stage picture, Jaime Robledo sets a lot of toys in motion in Sacred Fools’ latest offering, recently extended into August. Robledo’s dire…
DIVA TO THE TOWEL SET In this summer fluff title tells all–Bette, Live at the Continental Baths (in Chicago, upstairs at Mary's Attic). This uncredited concoction by Hell in a Handbag …
TIME HEALS ALL PLOTS Shakespeare's strange romance, which begins with gratuitous jealousy and ends with gratuitous forgiveness, is best treated as a fairy tale for grownups: A virtuous queen…