All Entries Tagged With: "amy nicholson"
BECOMING NORMAN: 100% – Sweet
BITTERSWEET It’s an evident labor of love, and more power to Dixon for sharing it. Whether this virtual memoir achieves a broader reach is another matter. There are missed opportunities, as when Dixon remembers childhood dress-up without donning the skirt hanging upstage, and the literal recounting of conversations is at times like a self-realization exercise. [...]
SHAKE: 67% – Sweet – UPDATED
SWEET The mystery comes in the reverse momentum. Told forward, it’s a soap opera — going back, a parlor game. We know this drama traces back to the fall of the towers, but when we get there, we realize Bill and Peggy’s relationship was already headed to destruction — 9/11 simply changed the route. More [...]
MASTER CLASS: 100% – Sweet
SWEET Ellen Geer has mastered wide-ranging roles during her decades as artistic director and frequent actor at this charming hillside venue. Yet, in her portrayal of Maria Callas (1923–77) during the retirement years of the egocentric Greek opera diva, the term “chameleon” has never seemed a more apt summation of Geer’s talents. Inhabiting this challenging [...]
THE GIRL WHO WOULD BE KING: 100% – Sweet
SWEET In fact, the entire presentation has subtle jabs at some of today’s often narrow views on sexuality and relationships. Richard Tatum directs with bouncy aplomb and his actors react with equal enthusiasm, placing this show high up on anybody’s “must see” list. The sets are great, the costumes are – well, they are there [...]
SUPERNOVA: 100% – Sweet
SWEET Director Lindsay Allbaugh’s fantastic ensemble sells us on each individual scene, even if the play as a whole doesn’t add up to more then some well-acted catharses. Kelly Elizabeth and Joe Wiebe join in for the furious climax as two fellow high schoolers who bear witness to what even the adamantly optimistic Mabel admits [...]
LANGSTON & NICOLAS: 75% – Sweet – UPDATED
SWEET A gripping and historical true story, a huge and colorful multi-racial cast, hot blooded music, dance and poetry, and lots of heartfelt emotion… This is a fabulous and exciting journey! In development for many years by the dedicated Towne Street Theatre folks, they hope to eventually produce it in a larger Equity theatre (…and [...]
THE BLVD.: 67% Sweet
SWEET The Blvd can easily be called a guilty pleasure. It’s camp at its best and this full-length play that combines two iconic films of yesteryear would feel right at home in a late-night slot at any of the smaller theatres in L.A. with the capacity to elevate high camp into a work of art. [...]
THE PSYCHIC: 100% Sweet – UPDATED
BITTERSWEET Bobrick’s latest farce seems a perfect complement to roast beef or lasagna, perhaps followed by a slice of cheesecake topped with berries. Offering a hint of whodunit halfway through, then abandoning that gambit in favor of predictable sitcom banter, Bobrick feeds us mildly entertaining fodder—nothing to challenge the mental digestive process. Les Spindle – [...]
THE STORY OF MY LIFE: 100% Sweet – UPDATED
SWEET Neil Bartram and Brian Hill’s 2009 chamber musical is a poignant two-hander exploring the joys and disappointments of a long-term friendship. Simplicity is the hallmark of this delicate gem, which premiered last year on Broadway. Director Nick DeGruccio and gifted actor-singers Robert J. Townsend and Chad Borden tap into the understated emotional power of [...]
CAVE QUEST: 100% Sweet
SWEET Diane Rodriguez’s direction is enhancing yet controlled, allowing both performances to be interesting while maintaining excellent contact with the main theme—which is enlightenment of a kind and, of course, justifiable excuse for its rather lightweight but fun philosophy. John Iacovelli’s terrific ice cave is the pièce de résistance, with great snowstorm sound swirling around [...]
DITCH: 33% Bitter – UPDATED
BITTER But Coffman breaks our hearts by trying to be something he is not yet, and that is a playwright effectively dealing with searing emotional catharsis. Stories of Will’s best friend and Beth’s brother dying in a car crash or Will’s mother leaving him at an early age for no particular reason do not tonally [...]
DIGGING UP DAD: 100% Sweet – UPDATED
SWEET “Digging Up Dad” may not have much in the way of shock value or serrated-edged satire, still, it has a lot of heart for a ‘tough guy’ who finds that forgiveness can be the toughest thing of all. Cris D’Annunzio was well advised by Kevin Spacey to see his monologue through and introduce us [...]
PROJECT WONDERLAND: 100% Sweet – UPDATED
SWEET The stars here are Teresa Shea’s costumes and sets and Lynn Jeffries’ puppets, a whirlwind of giant lobster claws and waves of parachute silk and 15-foot flower hats and packs of angry cards buzzing about the stage. Amidst the chaos, standouts include Bonnabel’s Caterpillar, Jabez Zuniga’s Queen of Hearts, Matthew Patrick Davis’ Mad Hatter, [...]
BLOOD AND THUNDER: 100% Sweet – UPDATED
BITTERSWEET Anthony’s script is tautly written, his characters are finely drawn, and the actors give solid performances, but the production is marred by an awkward and confusing nonlinear structure. Though the action seems continuous, it’s interspersed with flashbacks and a fantasy sequence, so that it takes far too long to puzzle out the sequence of [...]
MOLLY SWEENEY: 67% Sweet
SWEET Randee Trabitz directs her excellent ensemble on a stage divided by two translucent scrims. As Molly retreats into “her world” — the one Friel validates for the audience (during his first draft of the play, he also underwent cataract surgery) — she slips behind them until, toward the end, we can scarcely see her [...]
BABY, IT’S YOU!: 57% Bittersweet
BITTER Serious book problems hamper a strong catalog of early 1960s tunes and the efforts of a talented cast in Baby It’s You!, now at the Pasadena Playhouse. The result is a surprisingly uninvolving biography of Florence Greenberg, the Jewish housewife who discovered and fostered the doo-wop group The Shirelles. Jonas Schwartz – Theatremania BITTER [...]
“Dirty Dancing”: 67% Sweet
BITTERSWEET We’re all here to see Baby come into her own, but it sure takes a while. The producers could easily cut 20 minutes off the evening without losing the heart of the story. As is, the endless parade of camp activities and general stage busyness takes the air out of a storyline ultimately intimate [...]
“Rantoul and Die”: 100% Sweet – UPDATED
SWEET Best of all is the cast, which tears into the material with canine ferocity. Watching them attack the play is energizing and a little bit disconcerting. Their plunge into the abyss is so complete that by the end, you can only fear for their sanity. David Ng – LA Times SWEET Rantoul Illinois is [...]
“A Number”: 80% Sweet – UPDATED
BITTER If there is one truth under his lies, it’d be the play’s only singularity: While the clones share a disgust for him, it springs from different reasons. “You don’t look at me the same way,” the widower says of how he tells them apart. But unlike him, we never see the clones or their [...]
“The Real Thing”: 50% Bitter
BITTER However, to breathe, these observations need a light, deft touch. Instead, director Allen Barton cranks up the emotionalism, even ending several scenes in a deafening climax of screams and music. Whatever Huguley is bellowing at the ceiling is drowned out in the fury, a misstep for a play that worships the power of words. [...]