A MILD CASE OF THE CREEPS Ah, Halloween " All Hallows' Day, Allhallowtide, Jack-o'-lanterns, the madcap lads of West Hollywood, the troops of pint-sized witches, Iron Men and Disney princess…
A BEAUTIFUL NIGHTMARE IN A HOUSE THAT BLEEDS ART As a fan of the horror genre in every medium, how could I resist the chance to review something as delightfully titled as House of the Exquis…
AN OAK WHOSE ROOTS WON'T LET GO A flashlight illuminating a face from below: what else could follow that image but a ghost story. And what better time for a ghost story than the month that c…
When Time Becomes Music: Heather Christian's Oratorio for Living Things Transcends the Human Scale When the live performance of an artistic work is greater in vision and scope than anything …
OH HAPPY DAY! BRINGS A HAPPY DAY Playwright and actor Jordan E. Cooper's heart-breaking but joyously gospel-inflected New York premiere of Oh Happy Day! is an earned emotional treat. The sho…
A GHOST STORY THAT EXPLAINS ITSELF TO DEATH It's 2012 in Sherman Oaks, CA, when Thai-American life-insurance salesman Max (David Huynh) begins sleepwalking and violently lashes out at his pr…
There was a time when the theater curtain separated the performer from the audience, defining a clear boundary between art and participation. Today, that curtain is gone. In its place stands…
MOVE OVER TYLER PERRY; HERE COMES CHERUBINI'S MEDEA Lyric Opera rarely stages anything written before the nineteenth century, apart from Mozart and the occasional Handel and Gluck, so it is …
NOTHING CAN TAKE YOU FROM JEN TULLOCK'S PERFORMANCE We've all seen the headline flash on TV: "New Book Tells All About Author's Escape from Restrictive Religious Upbringing." It's a story th…
RICHARD BERMUDEZ SLAYS TWICE IN SDMT'S JEKYLL & HYDE San Diego Musical Theatre is presenting a gripping revival of the 1997 Broadway musical adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's 1886 h…
MIND OVER MATTER: IDEAS TAKE CENTER STAGE IN JOHNATHAN SPECTOR'S INTELLECTUALLY COMPELLING THIS MUCH I KNOW When was the last time you made a choice? What went through your mind? Did you kno…
ANDRÉ DE SHIELDS THE REDEEMER André De Shields should be a landmark; for over six decades, he has towered over the worlds of theatre, film, and television with the kind of presence that…
ON THE THIRD RAIL: STRONG ACTORS KEEP THIS DUTCHMAN FLYING The Trap Door Theatre is a quintessential Chicago storefront theatre " it's housed in a converted garage, accessed through a narrow…
DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT SKIPPIN' PIPPIN Pippin offers musical theater lovers the complete package: brilliant performances, terrific directing, a stimulating book by Roger O. Hirson and a chee…
FAITH, FLIGHT, AND THE FIGHT TO ENDURE In our current state of political unrest " with government shutdowns and widespread uncertainty about how to make ends meet " stories about the power o…
RECONCILING WITH SHANLEY'S PAST In Italian American Reconciliation, playwright John Patrick Shanley, best known for Moonstruck and Doubt, returns to the Bronx of his youth where conversation…
THE HILARIOUS NOISES OFF IS ON AT SF PLAYOUSE " OFF YOU GO The huge interior of an imposing English country estate by Heather Kenyon greets visitors to the San Francisco Playhouse, scene of …
JUST HOW I LIKE MY THEATER " HOT, SWEET, AND SAUCY Now playing at New Conservatory Theatre Center, The Hot Wing King is a spicy tale of love, friendship, and a cooking contest gone gloriousl…
TWO LONG HOURS WITH THE FORMER MAN OF THE HOUR There is no question that Churchill was a hero who played a major role in saving the world from Hitler's fascism (though perhaps not as big a r…
A KNOCKOUT OF CONSCIENCE You always "step in," says Jacob " that's what you do when your mates are about to fight. Growing up in The Meadows, Nottingham, that lesson kept him safe (well, saf…
A SUGAR RUSH WITHOUT THE GOLDEN TICKET Palm Canyon Theatre kicks off its 39th season with David Greig's musical adaption of Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, a production that'…
SWEET LIES, STICKY MEMORIES, BITTER GUILT; THE HONEY TRAP STINGS AT IRISH REP In Northern Ireland, The Troubles only ended some 25"30 years ago, though their tensions and legacies reach far …
GRAHAM100 DANCES THE CENTURY AWAKE Every analysis of 20th century American arts puts Martha Graham in a small class of visionaries who changed the world, with several calling her the "Pic…
A KILLER REVIVAL Drury Lane's Dial M for Murder may be set in 1950s London, but under Adam Immerwahr's taut direction, the suspense feels freshly sharpened. Playwright Jeffrey Hatcher's adap…
WHEN GRIEF MEETS THE ALGORITHM The terrible beauty of grief is that it makes us do irrational things with the most rational tools. In Lauren Gunderson's anthropology, now in its North Americ…