It has been a tradition in my household to start decorating for Christmas on the day after Thanksgiving. My wife likes to put ornaments on the tree to the sound of Christmas music. She also loves classic Christmas movies like Miracle on 34th Street and, especially, It’s a Wonderful Life, the Frank Capra classic that … Continue reading “It’s a Wonderful Life” at Theatre West
Confederates by Suzanne Bradbeer, which won a Silver Medallion in the Moss Hart & Kitty Carlisle Hart New Play Initiative, takes advantage of the current political climate to present an intimate drama set in a presidential campaign. Stephanie (Melissa R. Randel), a hard boiled reporter on the cusp of being encouraged to take an honorable … Continue reading “Confederates” at Grove Theater Center
With the houselights still up, in a theatre with seats configured on a slant, a pleasant, smiling, thirtyish man enters in replete with a MacBook and ear buds, hops into an armchair and types. House lights fade, stage lights come up, and this voluble, energetic man addresses the audience. He says he is the playwright. … Continue reading “Death and Cockroaches” at Chalk Repertory Theatre
I like my comedy black, and the blacker the better. Amy Dellagiarino’s new play, The Value of Moscow, now playing at Sacred Fools, fits my predilection like an Armani suit. The relevance of the title to the action spools out with satisfying coyness, when three sisters enter from the snowy cold to unpack forty or … Continue reading “The Value of Moscow” at Sacred Fools
So far as I know, the Musical Theatre Guild is a totally unique company of extraordinary, thoroughly professional performers unlike anything I have ever seen anywhere. Dedicated to “exploring and preserving works from the musical theatre repertoire that were either forgotten, neglected, or unfairly dismissed,” the Guild works under “a special Actors’ Equity Concert Staged … Continue reading “Zorba!” at Musical Theatre Guild
Nate Rufus Edelman’s Desert Rats, a black comedy thriller is instantly intriguing. Performed in the small industrial Avalos Theatre of the Los Angeles Theatre Center and configured in three-quarter round, the audience is literally within arms reach of the players, at least this audience member was. I could have lit one of the actor’s cigarettes. … Continue reading “Desert Rats” at Latino Theater Company
Larry Shue’s The Foreigner has been convulsing audiences in laughter since it first opened in regional theatre in 1984 and then went on to a 686-performance run off Broadway. The show has become a perennial audience favorite ever since. Set in “the recent past,”a hapless, painfully shy, socially inept Charlie Baker (David Lawrence) gets installed … Continue reading “The Foreigner” at Little Fish Theatre
