WHAT DO YOU DO WITH A BAD MOM? Chalk Repertory Theatre continues presenting non-traditional, site-specific theatre with the world premiere of Dorothy Fortenberry's newest work, Mommune. "Mom…
A DEATH IN THE UNION Hershey Felder has already regaled audiences at the Royal George Theatre with his uncanny and heartfelt recreations of George Gershwin, George M. Cohan, Frederic Chopin,…
THE TROUBLE WITH THE TROUBLE WITH WORDS In 2011, I stumbled upon a refreshing new composer at the Hollywood Fringe Festival. The extraordinarily encouraging work in Gregory Nabours' song cyc…
SALVATION IN A STORM Who is the titular Flying Dutchman? Is he a mythological figure, a type of the wandering Jew bound to traverse the earth in travail until his day of salvation comes? Is …
NO RESURRECTION HERE While the snow is thawing and the flowers are getting ready to shoot out of the soil, the August Strindberg Repertory Theatre, a newly-formed company that’s dedica…
WRITHING INTO REVELATION Alas, it's over " and way too soon. Luna Negra Dance Theater's 2013 spring program celebrated works by two contemporary Spanish choreographers: guest artist Ferna…
GRIEF TURNS TO POETRY AND MUSIC Composer and poet Ricky Ian Gordon’s partner, Jeffrey Michael Grossi, died of AIDS in 1996, at the age of 32. In response, Gordon created, among his man…
HOWLER Steve Yockey’s new play isn’t new, and it isn’t a play. The first contention first: Part of a new promotional concept of "rolling world premieres" designed specifica…
GAY ABSTRACTION For years, Ken Roht has proved himself to be one of the most inventive theater practitioners in Los Angeles. His avant garde works include the renown 99 Cent Only shows, whic…
A TRUE SPRING FLING Returning to new glory and restoring golden memories after many happy visits to Chicago, Alvin Ailey Dance Theater just unleashed an unprecedented two-week, three-program…
SMILE, AND SMILE, AND BE A VILLAIN Since civilization stopped executing them outright, the notorious have always had the fallback of a second act as freakshow attractions. From 1883 well…
WHAT WERE JEW THINKING? Baby boomers should recall the time when a great comedy album could be played with regularity. Some of my favorites were Bill Cosby Is a Very Funny Fellow…Right…
THE PLAY ABOUT A TRIAL ULTIMATELY BECOMES A TRIAL TO WATCH Stephen Adley Guirgis' The Last Days of Judas Iscariot is a courtroom drama set in Purgatory where the guilty or not guilty verdict…
A PERFECT CHILDREN’S STORY FOR OPERA, BEAUTIFULLY STAGED…BUT IS IT READY FOR CHILDREN? I confess to being passionately attached to the score for the successful stage musical, The…
THE PRINCE OF PEARL Through ribald jokes and fiery speeches, spit flies during The Pearl’s solid and satisfying production of Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part 1. The second part in a…
GO TO THE DEVIL With his lanky limbs draped over a rocking chair, the Devil has an undeniable magnetism. This storyteller exudes a Southern, gentlemanly charm " but dark motives lurk behind …
CALCULATING, BLUNT, DISTURBING AND INTENSE The name Amy Herzog seems to be on the tip of every theatergoer’s tongue lately. Hot on the heels of The Great God Pan, 4000 Miles and After …
AÂ RESTRICTED BUTÂ RIVETING ROOM Novelist Ira Levin may be best-known for Rosemary's Baby and Stepford Wives, both made even more popular by their film adaptations, but as a playwright, …
A TALE OF TWO CITIES THAT BLENDS SCI FI AND MYSTERY China Miéville’s novels are dense works of science fiction, and sometimes deciphering them feels more like work than entertainment.…
RIGO-LENTO After a season chock full of successes, Lyric's momentum slows with a dull production of Verdi's Rigoletto. Not even Evan Rogister's expert conducting nor the orchestra's triumph …
BEHOLD THE BREATHTAKING BEAUTY OF CAVALIA'S ODYSSEO In 2003, Normand Latourelle, one of the co-founders of Cirque du Soleil, was ready to up the entertainment ante when he introduced his equ…
A TISSUE OF SONGS An ambitious and sporadically powerful entry in Steppenwolf Theatre Company's fourth annual "Garage Rep," this 2005 musical by John LaChiusa is a Rashomon-like puzzle whose…
SOME THINGS, BUT NOT EVERYTHING, IS ILLUMINATED "With writing, we have second chances," declares Jonathan Safran Foer in Everything Is Illuminated, his well-received and dauntingly complex f…
GO GET LOST IN AUSTEN I drove to Jane Austen UnScripted directly from a production of Oklahoma! as grand and empty as the wind sweepin' down the plains. With a quarter of the cast of …
A COMPLETE WASTE OF WORDS If you hold a doctorate in linguistics then you might (and that's a very questionable "might") find some interesting banter in Complete, the alleged comedy written …