[Editor's Note: Since reviewing this production at the All For One Festival in New York in 2013, the show has gone on to play over 300 performances in 28 US states and 8 countries. The Other…
YOU GOTTA HAVE HEART Here's the thing: This solo show written and performed by John Lithgow, the endlessly talented star of more movies, TV shows, and plays than there are stars in the heave…
NOT JUST HORSING AROUND After watching Paul Calderon's quite gripping tale of thugs and scammers trying to grift a deal whatever way they can, you'll start to wonder, "Um, wouldn't it be eas…
WHAT WON’T YOU DOÂ FOR A CHELSEA SUBLET? Ambiguity and nuance are qualities in a play to be greatly desired and lauded " and yet, if you do not go "ick" at least four times while wat…
DAMAGED GOODS Playwright Phillip Kan Gotanda's elegiac drama is a powerful piece that encompasses many themes in a surprisingly tight and concise package; it's about aging, it's about the co…
A FINE PRODUCTION OF A MINORÂ ORGAN Midway through playwright Julia Lederer's feather-light, yet rather droning romantic comedy, a character literally reaches into her own chest and pulls …
UNBOUND FOR GLORY It takes talent to juggle political activism, sexual tension, and a highly suspenseful thriller plot, but playwright D.G. Watson has done it. His compelling drama hits an a…
ANYTHING BUT DISGRACEFUL Sometimes plays that win the Pulitzer Prize do so less for their content and more for the ideas they embody and the zeitgeist of their time. It's just an added bonus…
A FRIEND OF DOROTHY’S What makes this boisterous jukebox musical about the life of late music and stage legend Peter Allen (whose songs make up the show's core) so winning, is the comb…
BOOTS GOT MY KINKS OUT Another bus-and-truck tour of Harvey Fierstein and Cyndi Lauper's Tony Award-festooned musical has "sashayed and shanted" its way back into Los Angeles at the Ho…
NO ONE ELSE IS THAT GIRL Marlo Thomas may not have the iconic stature of one of those luminous performers like, say, Meryl Streep or Cher or Judy Garland, but akin to these illustrious…
HARD TO CARE First of all, I think it's important to state that I adore The Flea, the fiercely creative performance and theater collective down in Soho. More often than not, they do amazing,…
TMI I'm a librarian during the day, and one thing I remember from back in Library School (because you have to go to Library School to become a librarian, you know) is that there are many dis…
HOME AND HEART When you go to Pacific Resident Theatre in Venice, one of the great pleasures is seeing performers Orson Bean and his wife Alley Mills hanging out in the lobby either manning …
BETTER ON THE MARIMBA Such is the life of a theater critic. On Friday, you might find yourself in a dusty living room in a seedier area of mid-town, seeing a salon-scale show in some hal…
FINDING JUST A BIT In his solo show, playwright Nicholas Guest describes his life and travels around the world. He's accompanied by Hillary Smith on the cello and by Tony Carafone on the…
ALL IS REALLY WELL In playwright Stephen Karam's touching and funny drama, characters are frequently spotted quoting the great Lebanese poet-philosopher Khalil Gabran. "All is well," the…
UNTO US A CHILDÂ IS MADE This fascinating drama by playwright Zayd Dohrn is set in the bizarre subculture of women who buy dolls that eerily resemble actual babies. Can this possibly be en…
MUTANT — AS IN FREAK OF NATURE After watching the roaring, sputtering, and cursing along with regretful descriptions of drug use and parental abuse back in the "bad old days," I had to…
JANE AND HER PUPPETS The works of Jane Austen are delightful " and so are puppets. So, when you hear that this adaptation of Austen's classic satire of gothic literature, Northanger Abbe…
STAY FOR DINNER, WON’T YOU? She's an ancient crone who lives in a tiny cottage deep in the forest, feared by those near and far. She brews strange elixirs and ointments, and is rum…
BITCHY, BITCHY If you like your camp served by the bucket, then this outlandish tour de farce is steaming with it. Imagine if you will one of those appalling movies from the 1990s in which a…
COLD DEAD HANDS America's bittersweet love-and-hate affair with guns is the target of playwright Victor Kaufold's thought-provoking but lopsided satirical revue, which premiered in 2000 at t…
DARE NOT SPEAK ITS NAME Ah Hollywood. Â How it glitters. Â How it glistens. Â How true it is that when you scrape off the layers of tinsel, you find, well, more tinsel. Â This musica…
THEATER AS A TEMPLE The Flea Theater commissioned 48 different playwrights to contribute short dramatic pieces to this tremendous production, which basically recounts all the narratives in t…