Antaeus Theatre Company has found treasure in Cicely Hamilton’s 1908 play, Diana of Dobson’s, originally subtitled “A Romantic Comedy in Four Acts.” Some romance, which does not emerge until the second act, is there to be sure, but the overwhelming theme is an exposition of the gross economic and social sexism of the time, with … Continue reading “Diana of Dobson’s” at Antaeus Theatre Company
The off-Broadway, one-act musicals March of the Falsettos (1981) and Falsettoland (1990), created by William Finn and James Lapine, got conjoined in 1992 by Finn and Lapine into the extravagantly creative Broadway musical, Falsettos, which won three Tonys, then went on to national tours, a Broadway revival in 2016, and the current national tour which … Continue reading “Falsettos” at the Ahmanson Theatre
It occurred to me that just walking into the 24th Street Theatre gives me a glow of happiness. It began when I pulled into the parking lot and forked over five bucks to a gracious teenager in a 24th Street Theatre t-shirt. Abundant, genuine, smiling teen staffers similarly garbed greeted us at the door and … Continue reading “The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane” at 24th Street Theatre
Playwright Grant Woods, a man accomplished in multiple ways, came to a fork in the road like Robert Frost. As an Occidental College undergrad he gave himself a choice of careers—law or writing. As a lawyer, he was successful and moved into politics as Arizona’s Attorney General from 1991-1999, served as Chief-of-Staff to Senator John … Continue reading “The Things We Do” at Odyssey Theatre
In this over-wrought moment in American life so full of bushwa about immigrants, it is great to have a playwright like Qui Nguyen (author of the hit play Viet Gone) to entertain audiences with an epic, serio-comic play like Poor Yella Rednecks, all juiced up with great characters and theatrical whizbang. It takes a protean … Continue reading “Poor Yella Rednecks” at South Coast Repertory
Doris Day (née Doris Mary Ann Kappelhoff) turned ninety-seven on April 3. Twenty-First Century people know little about her, but from 1938 into the 1980s she was at the top of the heap as a singer and actress, recording over 650 songs between 1947 and 1967, and starring in thirty-nine films. She worked with the … Continue reading “Doris & Me” at Sierra Madre Playhouse
What do you want from an Agatha Christie play? What are your expectations? First and foremost, one expects a good time at the theatre. You want a cast of interesting, diverse Christie-esque characters who are charming, romantic, and funny, who speak with passable English and/or foreign dialects. If the play is set at a baronial … Continue reading “The Secret of Chimneys ” at The Group Rep
