A GEM FINDS ITS VOICE A charming, rarely staged Orff opera gets a smart, scrappy revival Did you know that composer Carl Orff wrote more than Carmina Burana? It’s true. While most audience…
EPIC SOURCE, EPIC SCORE, EPIC PRODUCTION An ambitious new opera that struggles to connect its spectacle to a coherent narrative Want to know the quickest way to make me hesitate seeing a new…
CAN ANYONE SAVE THIS MUSICAL? A committed cast and strong vocals can't overcome a rushed, softened adaptation that drains the story's power In their mission statement, Chromolume Theatre is …
BAD MOOD? BALANCHINE WILL FIX THAT American Contemporary Ballet's twin masterpieces turn live strings into a reset button for the soul Two string duos. Two ballets. Both pairs similar in str…
FOR SOME, MAYBE " FOR OTHERS, A CHORE An exhausting exercise in enforced fun and emotional emptiness (Seated) Felix (Jimin Moon), Noah (Matthew Scott Montgomery, (on floor) Kobe (Calvin Seab…
A SELF-INFLICTED WOUND POSING AS THEATER. SAFE WORD: CURTAIN An erotic psychological thriller script without the erotic, psychology, thrill, or script Dear Gay Theater-makers, I am writing t…
SWEENEY TODD SLICES DEEP " EVEN WITH A FEW MISSTEPS Jason Alexander's ambitious concept does not blunt the impact of a blisteringly performed revival McCoy Rigby Entertainment has been doing…
OPERA AMONG THE GHOSTS From playful parlor deaths to a chilling one-act about crime, punishment, and memory, Source/Filter Music Collective made Heritage Square sing. On November 8, Source/F…
ONE MAN, TWO HOURS TOO LONG Ask yourself how much you liked The Play That Goes Wrong series. That's a pretty good indicator as to your enjoyment of Richard Bean's 2011 play, One Man, Two Guv…
TRACES OF POSSIBILITY Premiering Off-Broadway in 1989, Cindy Lou Johnson's Brilliant Traces is one of those plays that can be either mesmerizing or exasperating and tiresome. Lacking a…
Am I Roxie? Am I a Play? Am I at the Wrong Theater? Geffen's Latest Solo Act Feels More Fringe Than Mainstage Within five minutes of "this fiercely funny one-woman tour-de-force" (so says th…
IT MAY BE JUST ANOTHER DAY, BUT THIS ISN'T JUST ANOTHER PLAY If I were to start by telling you what author Dan Lauria's sly new play is about, a great number of you might stop reading in dis…
SEXLESS IN THE CITY Have you ever been with a guy who won't shut up and just enjoy the blow job? That's what it's like to sit through Ashley Griffin's new two-person play, The Opposite of Lo…
THE PICNIC COMES BEFORE PINAFORE, LITERALLY AND FIGURATIVELY. WELL, SHIP HAPPENS. It's best to approach Pacific Opera Project's new production of W. S. Gilbert (libretto) and Arthur Sullivan…
BEAUTY IN STEP: GRACE, MELODIES, AND ACB'S ELEGANT NEW WORKS Few phrases in the world of classical music fill me with as much excitement and dread as "world premiere." This applies even with…
A HELLUVA HELLAS Ancient drama gets short shrift here in Los Angeles. Sure, we get the stories, but the shows are usually adaptations, hardly ever a straight translation, and when we do, the…
Teenagers these days are out of control. They eat like pigs, they are disrespectful of adults, they interrupt and contradict their parents, and they terrorize their teachers. " Aristotle Whe…
BEE MINUS Now playing at Wisteria Theater in North Hollywood is one of the few wonderful musicals from this century so far, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, by William Finn (music…
A PROMISING AND AMBITIOUS THE CAMP Los Angeles has had a flurry of new operas within the past few years. Among the most promising and ambitious I've seen is The Camp, by Lionelle Hamanaka (l…
A SKETCHY, SPREAD OUT SEND-UP SAGS WITH SLUGGISH SATIRE I like to go into shows completely blind. Sometimes that backfires, but usually not before the show even starts. On Thursday, I walked…
IT'S TOUGH TO ADORE ADORATION; BUT WAS IT MEANT TO BE? I always look forward to new operas presented by Los Angeles Opera and Beth Morrison Projects. They are back with another one: Adoratio…
THE WHINE OF THE ANIMALS Long Beach Opera continued its season-long devotion to the work of Pauline Oliveros with El Relicario De Los Animales (The Shrine of the Animals), from 1979, with tw…
EAST WEST PLAYERS PULLS OUT ALL THE SHOGUNS FOR A MUSICAL THAT CALLS FOR INTIMACY On Sunday, East West Players opened their new production of Pacific Overtures by Stephen Sondheim (music and…
BLOOD AND RANCH DRESSING In December of 2020, the world was still in the grip of COVID-19's unpredictable terror. Moderna and Pfizer had just released their vaccines, but supply was scarce a…
YOU COULD HEAR THESE PEOPLE SING, ALL RIGHT First performed in Shanghai in 2013, the Hollywood Bowl hosted a new installment of The Music of Les Misérables, Miss Saigon, and More: Boublil a…