6,591 stories from Stage and Cinema
AN ANACHRONISTIC LOOK AT RACE IN AMERICA There’s no doubt that Arthur Miller’s 1947 play All My Sons is an astonishing piece of theatre. Not only is the writing brilliant, but th…
A COWARD IN PEACETIME [Undelivered letter to Noël Coward discovered in North Hollywood:] My Darling Noël: Sir Anthony here, writing to you from the palm-drenched regions of Los Angeles…
ASUNCION DESCENDING Conventional wisdom in Hollywood says that after you get an Oscar nomination, for the next five years everyone will return your phone calls. It seems Jesse Eisenberg …
THIS FAIR IS JUST THAT: FAIR Science Fairs are an opportunity for students to apply scientific methods to an experiment and present them at a competition. The best way to take first prize fr…
THE REALLY BIGGIE TITTY COMMITTEE What's the first thing that comes to mind when you're told that you're going to see a show with two women (Emma Powell and Mandi Lodge) who are going to dis…
AN UNFORGETTABLE FAIRY TALE FOR GROWN-UPS Just in time for Halloween, Marin Theatre Company’s Bellwether takes its audiences into a deliciously spooky fairy tale world they won’t…
A BRIDEGROOM ROBBED OF ITS CHARM Anxiously anticipating The Robber Bridegroom at International City Theatre (ICT), I felt like an excited bride who had already slept with her soon-to-be husb…
WAITING FOR PINTER National Asian American Theater Company (NAATCO) takes a steampunk spin on The Dumb Waiter, Harold Pinter's classic absurdist thriller. Director Andrew Pang makes grea…
'TIS FOLLY TO OVERPRAISE FOLLIES The buzz in the lobby of Chicago Shakespeare Theater (CST) on opening night of Stephen Sondheim's landmark 1971 musical Follies was palpable; people from aro…
LOVE, FONTANA, COMPASSION One of the joys of seeing theatre in New York City Off Broadway is that, every so often, you get to see a special star-of-the-future appear in the firmament and wat…
HIS BRILLIANT CAREER (SO FAR) Still in his twenties, Santino Fontana has performed in quite a respectable number of productions that many actors would hope to accomplish in a life time:Â …
A SWEET TRIP BACK IN TIME Some shows really make you think. Others are designed to move you to tears. And then there’s miXtape, which is pretty much two full hours of cleverly-…
GAYER TUNA In "Bait" " the first of the two interconnected one-acts in Bait n' Swish " we meet Charlie and Justin, best friends looking for Mr. Right at Gay Bait, a gay speed-dating event in…
COUNTRY MUSIC PARODY BETTER THAN COUNTRY MUSIC ITSELF Country music can be whiney, right wing, corny, and macho. In the case of The Doyle and Debbie Show, it is also hilarious. I am no lover…
CHARACTER PORTRAYALS BRING BUS STOP TO LIFE William Inge was a hot American playwright during the 1950's, but in the turbulent 1960's and beyond, his realistic studies of small town Midweste…
INTERN(AL) AFFAIRS We all know that having sexual relations with an intern will get you in a heap of trouble, be it in the Oval Office or at a fictitious regional theatre company. Blame It O…
TWO PLAYS IN ONE What is the purpose of theater? Some say that it is to reflect reality while being entertaining, enlightening, and/or educating. Yet when Shakespeare wrote that theatre is d…
THE SHADOW OF A GREAT PLAY The birth of the Irish Republic occurred around Dublin in 1916. Aiming to end British rule, Irish Volunteers staged an insurrection known as the Easter Rising, a r…
ONCE IN A LIFETIME IS A ROMP FOR AN ERA When the "talkies" trumpeted a new era in American living rooms, a bevy of entertainers stampeded to get in on the ground floor of this opportunity, a…
ACCESS YOUR INNER DINOSAUR The Dinosaur Within digs up some curious storylines, but these fragments fail to cohere into a compelling narrative. In its West Coast premiere at Boston Court, Jo…
A WILD WEST PARTY IN CULVER CITY The Rude Mechs' I've Never Been So Happy works overtime to please. This Western extravaganza spills into the Kirk Douglas Theater's lobby for an interactive …
CIRQUE DU CINEMA When Quebec-based artistic troupe Cirque du Soleil creates a new resident production, they typically design the building to fit the show. Not so with Cirque du Soleil’…
WHO IS TO SAY WHAT IS REAL? Tom Stoppard is the thinking person's playwright. Ever since his breakout hit Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead in 1967, the erudite scribe has been earmarked…
WHAT WE FIND IN THE ATTIC IS A CASE OF THE CUTES It was a privilege to witness Snapshots: A Musical Scrapbook at Northlight Theatre, for this reviewer has never seen anything like it before.…
LITERATURE NOT MEANT TO BE STAGED Halfway through the first act of Brand at Red Tape theatre, it occurred to me that I had no idea what was going on. First of all, it can be argued that Henr…
