OVER THE DARK HARBOR WATER Walking a cold, mostly deserted Santa Monica Pier on the way to this show, I passed a photographer’s booth blaring the Azealia Banks song about "cunt getting…
JOFFREY’S JOYOUS JEWEL Now in its 26th annual presentation, the late Robert Joffrey's evergreen staging of Peter IlyichTchaikovsky's beloved Christmas ballet blesses both the Auditoriu…
EXPENSIVE VANILLA-SCENTED PERFUME For its inaugural stage dramatic production at the glittering new Bram Goldsmith Theater, the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts is presenting …
A LOVELY INNOVATIVE STAGING OF AN OLD FAVORITE Theater artistry overcomes budgetary constraints in Jessica Burr's delightful, poignant and absorbing staging of A Christmas Carol, from an adm…
A GAY CHRISTMAS ALL OVER CHICAGOLAND In a major first, the Chicago Gay Men's Chorus just performed its Christmas concert at the prestigious Harris Theatre at Millennium Park in downtown Chic…
THANK YOU FOR BEING A DRAG QUEEN Now at the Victoria Theatre, Trannyshack's drag version of classic holiday-themed The Golden Girls episodes seems to grow in popularity every year. Since its…
WOULD YOU LIKE COFFEE, TEA OR THE AMERICAN DREAM? Sometimes we take a short vacation just to get away from it all. A few days. No big tourist attractions or monumental natural sites are nece…
SOME SOULS THWART SAVING We Three Lizas, last year's in-your-face gay holiday hit, is back with a purportedly new book and an expanded score. Relocated from the Steppenwolf Garage to Stage 7…
TO KNOW, KNOW, KNOW HER… Singer, comedienne and anti-glam diva Sandra Bernhard thrives on delightfully toying with her adoring throngs. I remember the first time I saw her on the David Let…
A BEAUTIFUL SHELL WITHOUT A NUT A show can be forgiven many things when its characters are compelling and its dramatics are solid; if the audience is emotionally involved in the fate of the …
BURNING THE YULE LOG AT BOTH ENDS Striking a comfortable balance between sticky and sentimental, schmaltz and cynicism, five short plays by as many Chicago writers (and directed by another s…
FRANKINCENSE, MYRRH AND A FEW LUMPS OF COAL Exchanging gifts with relatives you don’t know well is always a bit disappointing. Sometimes that aunt or cousin will give you something you…
A CATTY YULETIDE LAUGH RIOT Following the well-earned 15-year run of Rudolph the Red-Hosed Reindeer, Hell in a Handbag Productions replaces it with a worthy winner. David Cerda's wicked holi…
YOUNG, BEAUTIFUL, TALENTED AND NAKED Directed by Russell Dobular and written by him and the Naked Holiday Ensemble, with additional material by Stacy Lane, Endtimes Productions' annual Chris…
A CHORUS FELINE A prolific author and auteur, Rainer Werner Fassbinder exulted in display of the seamy and hypocritical side of the post-war German bourgeoisie. He directed forty films, wrot…
TO BE! (TRAPPED INSIDE YOUR OWN PRODUCTION) The explosion of solo performance pieces in the 1970s and 80s extended the creative lives of fine artists like Lily Tomlin and made stars of socia…
A TRIUMPH OF IMAGINATIVE STORYTELLING Monty Python meets Shakespeare meets Cirque du Soleil in Tristan & Yseult at Berkeley Rep. A universal love story with roots in classic times at the…
YOU CAN'T TWIN THEM ALL There is nothing more fascinating for this Broadway musical aficionado than a flop"but not for gloating purposes. It's natural to wonder "What were they thinking?" wi…
WHIPPED INTO A FRENZY If I had any doubts prior to attending San Diego REP's production of Venus in Fur (an on-again, off-again playwright; two characters; two directors), they were vanqu…
A BRIGHT NEW PRODUCTION Salvation can't come soon enough when you're a long-term, low-wage slave worker at the local Hobby Lobby. Samuel D. Hunter's tragicomic look at life within the cultur…
UPDATING THE OLD, PRESENTING THE NEW As part of the North American tour celebrating its 45th season, the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company arrived at Valley Performing Arts Center last Saturday wi…
I KNOW WHY THE CAGED BIRD SINGS San Francisco's Magic Theatre prides itself on cultivating new plays and giving up-and-coming playwrights the opportunity to produce new and thought provoking…
THE GOOD WASPS There's nothing especially remarkable about A.R. Gurney's latest offering Family Furniture, a play that investigates a family of 1950s WASPs spending the summer at their Lake …
JUST IN TIME FOR THE HOLIDAYS:Â A DARK CARNIVAL OF DEATH AND TERROR! This tour de force of trickery from creators Todd Robbins and the magician Teller (the traditionally silent half of th…
ASHES TO THEATER Now moving from Andersonville to Lakeview, the best production of 2011 is back to rival any currently playing: No longer sprawling the width of the Neo Futurarium's stretche…