THE MUSIC MAN BEHIND THE MUSIC MAN When Moonlight Stage Productions announced their production of The Music Man, which opens this week at the Moonlight Amphitheatre in Vista, I actually got …
SALUTING SONDHEIM IN SOLANA BEACH Stephen Sondheim is so beyond merely good and light years away from conventional that some may view his musicals as pure art and overlook the slathers of so…
IS IT REALLY HUMAN TO FORGIVE? Heidi Schreck's powerfully pleasing play exists for its final moment. So this critique will be strategically selective and shorter than usual. In any case, tha…
TOOTHLESSÂ RUTHLESS Though useful as a showcase for the capable performers and boasting some excellent singing, Joel Paley's revival of his gray farce Ruthless!, a self-referential spoof o…
BLACKBUSTERS A dozen shows in one and a showcase of solos to beat any band, Black Ensemble Theater's summer blockbuster Men of Soul pays kickass tribute to the greatest soul singers–bl…
RHYMES WITH SIEVE In her play Shiv, the third part of an immigrant-experience trilogy first workshopped in 2013, Aditi Brennan Kapil writes of a character (played by Monika Jolly) named afte…
MAY THIS SHOW NEVER BEÂ FROZEN One of the first rules of etiquette I ever learned was: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. Were I inclined to heed that sage advice,…
TIME TRAVEL AS URBAN RENEWAL U.K. playwright Alistair McDowell likes to break the rules to reach a crowd. An intriguing U.S. premiere by Steep Theatre Company, his sardonically titled Brilli…
YOUR PURSUIT IS OVER In writing the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson borrowed a phrase from 17th century English philosopher John Locke, who spoke of "life, liberty and property…
THE DROUGHT ENDS THIS WEEKEND You may know the term "Jukebox Musical" from the ridiculous amount of new Broadway musicals which take previously published songs"most often popular hits that a…
THE AMERICANS Tracy Letts wrote a bleak comedy in 2007 that sold a lot of tickets, won a bunch of prizes and ensured his writing career at least a footnote in the big books. August: Osage Co…
THE WORST OF THE BEST Let me say that I have no idea what I just saw. Clearly, some very clever folk have come up with the very clever idea to spoof a Fringe Festival, which Fringe Festivals…
A DELIVERANCE IN DACHAU Even in the Holocaust’s democracy of death each victim could only die once. But some seem to have died a bit less than others. Remembering the unnumbered thousa…
UNQUIET DESPERATION IN BUCKS COUNTY He's no longer an angry young playwright and gay avenger, the bad-boy Jeremiah who unleashed scorched-earth provocations (Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It…
TWELFTH NIGHT LANDS AT THE OLD GLOBE A comedy’s brewing up in the rehearsal rooms of The Old Globe. Soon, winds will whip, distressed voices will call out and a ship’s timbers wi…
THE HOLLYWOOD HILLS ARE ALIVE WITH THE SOUND OF MAX AND ELSA Greetings my lovelies! Garrulous Greta here with some glorious news. You may remember not long ago I received a letter from a fan…
THESE, OUR PLAYWRIGHTS Kinky Neon Rocker is one of those rally-round-the-flag excuses theater people use to put on shows: A beautiful old curved-wood rocking chair, painted in day-glo motley…
MASTERFRINGE THEATRE When Barnaby Hughes reviewed a previous Magnum Opus production of Surf Dogs Unite for Stage and Cinema, he wrote that the show “will leave you doubled over with…
SHADOW (OF A) PLAY Visually striking and radiating love and sincerity, Manual Cinema's shadow-puppet show Ada/Ava, which attempts to explore septuagenarian Ada's inner turmoil  after the …
A LEVIATHAN BEACHES ON MICHIGAN AVENUE Moby Dick, Herman Melville's whale of a tale (or tale of a whale) from 1851, is as unsinkable as its title cetacean. It's never been more so than in Lo…
THE PHANTOM MENACE Last night's opening of The Phantom of the Opera, a refurbished revival of previous national tours, proves one thing: Since Andrew Lloyd Webber's baby was born almost 30 y…
THE GIFT OF JOY, FROM LONDON TO CHICAGO It's been 37 years–two generations!–since the Royal Ballet visited Chicago and the Auditorium Theatre. They couldn't have come bearing a b…
STAGE NOIR This non-dancing, Tony-winning, cinematic musical by the terrific trio of jazz composer Cy Coleman, bookwriter Larry Gelbart and lyricist David Zippel brilliantly lampoons Hollywo…
MARRIED TO SONDHEIM When I first saw Marry Me A Little in the mid-1980s, it was a revelation. But not because of the story. This revue uses trunk songs of Stephen Sondheim, songs which–…
THEIR PERFECT MINDS Written by director Kathryn Hunter and performers Paul Hunter and Edward Petherbridge, My Perfect Mind begins with Dr. Witznagel (Mr. Hunter) coming out onto Michel Vale'…