Los Angeles Theater Reviews

BWW Reviews: FLASHDANCE Splashes Down on the OC

Despite having a cast of incredible triple threats, overall, FLASHDANCE: THE MUSICAL---the new, Broadway-bound stage musical based on the popular 80's-era movie of the same name---seems like a well-meant endeavor that needs a serious overhaul in its disjointed execution. The national tour company continues its Costa Mesa stop at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts through May 19. (more...)

BWW Reviews: Tony Winner Betty Buckley Brings Her Class Act to Segerstrom's Samueli Theatre

It is easy to understand why Betty Buckley has been called the 'Voice of Broadway'. To begin, she has an astounding instrument with an incredible range. She can belt out the lyrics from 'Come Back to Me' from On a Clear Day You Can See Forever and then in the next breath bring her voice down to almost a whisper, like a prayer, in essaying 'Maria' from West Side Story. Secondly, she is a dynamic actress who feels the story the song is telling. Most of all, through living this material, there's great soul, a deep sense of humanity lurking beneath. I have always said it takes a great actress to be a great singer. Betty Buckley is most definitely among the small group of Broadway divas who consistently hit the mark. Her unique contribution is an unparalleled grace and class which emanate from every phrase she utters. (more...)

BWW Reviews: SPAMALOT Entertains with Killer Rabbits, Taunting Frenchmen and Show-Stopping Musical Numbers

Winner of the 2005 Tony Award for Best Musical, Monty Python's SPAMALOT tells the tale of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table in 932AD as they embark on their quest for the Holy Grail. (more...)

BWW Reviews: Zombie Joe's RICHARD III - Young and Dark

All of its pieces add up to Shakespeare's Richard III but Zombie Joe's version directed by Denise Devin is certainly an oddball mix. Picture a thin, pale Duke of Gloucester (W. Lochridge O'Bryan) with hollow cheekbones and sunken eyes who looks to be barely out of his twenties, a Lady Anne (Anna Gillcrist) with the essence (and visual resemblance) of Julia Stiles, and a wild-eyed Margaret (Tina Preston) with the haunted look of the almost dead, and you get the idea. (more...)

BWW Reviews: DELICIOUS REALITY Shares Tantalizing and Provocative Tales from LA's Restaurant Scene

Everyone loves a good meal, especially when someone else prepares it for you. But at a restaurant, do you ever think about who really cooks your meal and what they go through to prepare it for you? DELICIOUS REALITY gives voice to the underprivileged restaurant workers in a very entertaining and seriously eye-opening performance piece. (more...)

BWW Reviews: MY MOTHER'S KEEPER Shares Memories of Four Generations of Women in a Show Business Family

MY MOTHER'S KEEPER, written by Jane Press and directed by Robin McKee, is a highly autobiographical memory play that moves fluidly back and forth between 1914 when an event involving Press' great-grandmother sets off a cycle of damage and dysfunction, and the present. While the humor of this play may be Jewish, the experience of being part of a big, crazy family is universal. (more...)

BWW Reviews: The Porters of Hellsgate Plummet the Depths of TIMON OF ATHENS

"How this lord is followed!" exclaims a Painter in reference to Timon of Athens early in Act I of the play that bears his name. Director Charles Pasternak interprets the line quite literally by having his throng of greedy hangers-on trail behind Timon as he moves about the stage, billowing en masse like a bridal gown's train that sweeps and glides with every turn. (more...)

BWW Reviews: EXPERIENCE THE BEATLES WITH RAIN Revisits the 1960's World of Peace and Love

EXPERIENCE THE BEATLES WITH RAIN has returned by popular demand to the Pantages for a third engagement, May 7-12, 2013. This adoring tribute will take you back to a time when all you needed was love and a little help from your friends! (more...)

BWW Reviews: The Roar of Kritzerland as They Salute Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse

I can't help but borrow from the genius of Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse when I affirm it was The Roar of Kritzerland, The Smell of the burgers at the Federal on Sunday May 5 - Cinco de Mayo, no less - as Kritzerland presented its 33rd show in its current home at Sterling's Upstairs at the Federal, entitled Once in a Lifetime: The Songs of Anthony Newley & Leslie Bricusse. And it was a lollapalooza of an evening! (more...)

BWW Reviews: Wild, Bawdy and Ferociously Playful British Farce WHAT THE BUTLER SAW will Have You Shaking with Laughter

Psychiatry, religion, marriage, government, definitions of gender and even language are all targets of British playwright Joe Orton's poison pen in his wild and bawdy farce WHAT THE BUTLER SAW. His sly jokes and hilarious slashes at the follies and foibles of human conduct will have you shaking with laughter from start to finish. (more...)

BWW Reviews: Neil LaBute's Riveting Adaptation of MISS JULIE Commands the Geffen

The world premiere adaptation by LaBute of Miss Julie is moment.to.moment chillingly riveting theatre with a brilliant cast of three under the expert direction of Jo Bonney currently at the Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater of the Geffen through June 2. (more...)

BWW Reviews: RUTHLESS! Offers a Musical Parody of The Bad Seed with Tons of Talent and Lots of Fun!

Those of us well versed in Broadway musicals and Hollywood films will certainly catch lots of references in RUTHLESS! And with its off-the-wall, farcical humor and schmaltzy songs, this musical comedy will definitely have you laughing in the aisles! (more...)

BWW Reviews: Delany and Weber Star in SCR's Witty World Premiere of THE PARISIAN WOMAN

In South Coast Repertory's amusingly naughty World Premiere production of Beau Willimon's THE PARISIAN WOMAN (now playing through May 5), 'Body of Proof' star Dana Delany plays Chloe, a morally ambiguous but undeniably tenacious Washington DC housewife with high political aspirations, especially for her husband (Steven Weber) who's seeking to be the next Attorney General. Armed with wit and sexuality, Chloe seduces her way through the intoxicating pursuit of power. (more...)

BWW Reviews: Bewitching But Bothersome FALLING FOR MAKE BELIEVE at Colony Theatre

Currently in its world premiere run at Burbank's Colony Theatre through May 19th, Falling for Make Believe is a 95-minute bio-musical-dramedy chock full Broadway nostalgia, debilitating alcoholism, covert homosexual dalliances and musical fantasy sequences that is often-times bewitching, occasionally bothersome, and at points just downright bewildering. (more...)

BWW Reviews: BRECHT ON BRECHT Reminds Us That When the World was Silent, Brecht Spoke

Directed with a keen vision by Alistair Hunter and featuring talented actors Gil Hagen-Hill, Daniel Houston-Davila, Belinda Howell, Susan Kussman and Gregg Lawrence, BRECHT ON BRECHT will take you on an extraordinary journey via a multimedia revue focusing on the work of the prolific playwright, poet, lyricist, screenwriter, and theatre director Bertolt Brecht. This is thought-provoking theater at its best. (more...)

BWW Reviews: I'M NOT RAPPAPORT Shares the Importance of Laughter and Friendship

The West Coast Jewish Theatre is presenting a comedy not seen in Los Angeles in many years, Herb Gardner's Tony Award-winning Best Play 'I'm Not Rappaport' which was inspired by two elderly men Gardner met in New York City's Central Park, sharing their strength and courage to live life to the fullest. (more...)

BWW Reviews: REAL MEN SING SHOW TUNES… AND PLAY WITH PUPPETS Has Hysterical West Coast Premiere

This new, adult musical comedy about men is a madcap and hilarious romp through all the many stages of manhood, featuring 29 original songs all paying homage to all things male, lampooning such issues as fatherhood, mid-life crisis, dating, marriage, aging, and sex (or the lack of it), giving an inside glimpse of what it takes to be a man in a modern world shared with women, children, and parents. (more...)

BWW Reviews: The New Circle Artists' VENUS AND ADONIS

Misha Bouvion takes on Shakespeare's epic poem Venus and Adonis in a one-woman theatrical production presented by The New Circle Artists, Saturdays through May 11. (more...)

BWW Reviews: Almost Too Good To Be TRU! Coyote Stageworks Production A "Must See" At The Annenberg Theatre

Rumour has it that Coyote Stageworks' current production, which plays through Sunday at The Annenberg Theatre in Palm Springs, is a one of the desert's finest theatrical offerings of the season. I am happy to report - It's all TRU! Coyote Stageworks' founding artistic director, Chuck Yates, stars in this one-man (plus a few voices) tour de force that chronicles a couple of introspective nights in the life of Truman Capote, set in his New York Apartment just before Christmas in 1975, as an excerpt from his unfinished 'tell all' novel Answered Prayers has just been published in Esquire and he has been abandoned by his closest confidantes. TRU is one of the first 'Must See' productions I have endorsed in quite a while - perhaps since last time I attended a Coyote Stageworks production. It is a 'drop everything if you can and buy a ticket' night in the theatre. (more...)

BWW Reviews: IT GOES LIKE THIS Shares the Importance of Love and Acceptance

The Lee Strasberg Center is hosting the world premiere of a very timely new theatrical work by Jack Betts at The Marilyn Monroe Theatre in West Hollywood entitled IT GOES LIKE THIS which has a message that Americans, Congress and the Supreme Court need to hear as the subject of gay marriage is being put to the vote. Most importantly, it brings awareness to the discrimination and hatred faced by so many individuals in the world today. (more...)

BWW Reviews: YEARS TO THE DAY Shares 80 Frenetic Minutes of Conversation Between Two Old Friends

In Allen Barton's world premiere play YEARS TO THE DAY at the Beverly Hills Playhouse, two 40-something men, who have been friends for decades but only cursorily in touch via social media over the past four years, finally get together for coffee. But their long anticipated "face to face" meeting reaps surprising consequences when truthful and dramatic changes in each of their lives are revealed. (more...)

BWW Reviews: Behind the Scenes Play BILLY & RAY Proves a Colorful Exploration

Boasting slick staging by director Garry Marshall and a stalwart ensemble of four, Billy & Ray, to quote a Wilder (Kevin Blake) phrase from the play, sparks and sparkles with entertainment value. (more...)

BWW Reviews: OC Hosts Tony-winning Legend Barbara Cook's 85th Birthday Concert

Billed as Barbara Cook's Special 85th Birthday Concert, the Tony Award-winning soprano's one-woman concert of musical theatre songs, rare selections, and jazz standards at the Renee and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall in Costa Mesa was met with well-earned---and well-deserved---adoring cheers throughout the evening. And if the concert was Cook's master class in musical performance, her latter interview with ASCAP's Michael Kerker was a symposium on how to be the best entertainer one can be. (more...)

BWW Reviews: La Mirada's SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS is Handsome Entertainment

The freshest revival of a classic in years has opened at La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts and this one is most definitely not your grandmother's movie musical. (more...)

BWW Reviews: THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE Offers Audience Members a Chance to Participate

Following the model of the original Broadway production, four people were pulled from the Theatre Palisades audience and asked to participate in the contest. These visiting spellers were thrown into the mix, led into musical numbers by the cast, and asked to spell words until disqualified and sent back to their seats. (more...)