All Entries Tagged With: "joel elkins"
MILKMILKLEMONADE: 67% – Sweet
SWEET “MilkMilkLemonade” is a great stage production for those who enjoy letting their imaginations run wild and also for those who need help letting loose. Those feeling will subside, and you’ll be relieved you finished that chapter! Danielle Lee – Campus Circle BITTER The play is nothing if not edgy, perfect for the off-off-Broadway world [...]
PARASITE DRAG: 100% – Sweet
SWEET The final plot turn is raw and dirty. Notwithstanding the play’s bleak tapestry, Roberts instills plenty of comic relief into his writing. The characters are well sketched and without a trace or urbanity. David Fofi delivers spot-on direction and draws very good performances from his cast, particularly Nowicki, who artfully blends Southern charm and [...]
PLAY DATES: 100% – Sweet
SWEET Wolfson’s dialogue is on par with the best sketch and sitcom writing, which means plenty of cozy pop culture references cushioning a Big Lesson. When the subject’s love, no matter how much the ending resembles an episode of Friends, most audiences will relate. Kurt Boetcher’s efficient set deserves mention, a very funny Brian Monahan [...]
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 [...]
Critique of the Week – Runner Up
U.S.S PINAFORE Review by Joel Elkins – LA Theatre Review I was curious to find out if a takeoff on Gilbert & Sullivan set in outer space dubbed U.S.S. Pinafore could ever be as clever as its premise or its title. The adaptation by Jon Mullich (who also directed) is indeed clever, although admittedly, the [...]
U.S.S. PINAFORE: 100% – Sweet
BITTERSWEET The transference of Gilbert and Sullivan’s social satire into a few quips on our pop culture feels like a reduction of scale, but nothing compared to the reduction served up in the tinny soundtrack. Delivering the goods with confident glee, this excellent ensemble deserves better. In fact, this would be a sinking ship were [...]
BEHIND THE GATES: 70% – Sweet – UPDATED
SWEET Played out on Stephanie Kerley Schwartz’s set of stone columns and sheer curtains, David Gautreaux’s staging has a minimalist elegance occasionally at odds with the style of the play, which mixes the tropes of a Lifetime movie with journalistic clarity. What ultimately resonates in this Hatikva Productions drama is the fierce hunger of an [...]
TEMPODYSSEY: 100% – Sweet
SWEET Goofily attracted, Springthorpe and Sidell recall Chaplin and Paulette Godard, adrift in post-Modern Times but longing for connection in director Emily Weisberg’s acute and emotional grounded production. Dietz sometimes lets the play get away from him, but even an incomplete ending can’t blunt the exhilarating punch of this wild and engaging experiment. Charlotte Stoudt [...]
Critique of the Week – Runner Runner Up
THE WOMEN OF BREWSTER PLACE: THE MUSICAL Review by Joel Elkins – LA Theatre Review Johnny comes home from his first day at school, and his mother asks him how it went. “It was a little confusing,” he responds. Quizzical, his mother asks, “Couldn’t you follow what the teacher was saying?” “Sure,” he answers. “Was [...]
THE WOMEN OF BREWSTER PLACE, THE MUSICAL: 88% – Sweet – UPDATED
SWEET Musical director Gregory Nabours works expertly with the strong cast, as he does with his skilled musicians, to create a production of immense scale in this tiny venue. Scenic designer Kurt Boetcher offers just enough set to suggest the slum conditions but stays out of the way of the actorsm and it’s all nicely [...]
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 [...]
DIALOGUE WITH A PROSTITUTE AND HER CLIENT: 100% Sweet
SWEET There is an unexpected twist near the end, but in spite of that, under Mark Kemble’s studied and sensitive direction, the actors convince us that this encounter was an exercise in unfulfilled expectations and that both parties end up as victims with each one experiencing a sense of loss deeper than the uncertainty they [...]
THE UNEXPECTED MAN: 57% Bittersweet – UPDATED
BITTER I wish I could say that the play’s culmination is worth the investment of the slow buildup or that the enjoyment of art, as life, is in the journey, but on this ride, I would have gotten off around Reims. Joel Elkins – LA Theatre Review BITTER If the above sounds hardly the recipe [...]
SEASCAPE WITH SHARKS AND DANCER: 100% Sweet
SWEET Meet Ben and Tracy, the hero and heroine of Seascape With Shark And Dancer, Don Nigro’s unconventional romance, now playing at Studio/Stage. First-rate performances by Matthew Hannon and Christine Weatherup and a fresh directorial take on this regional theater favorite make for an entertaining and touching production. Steven Stanley – StageSceneLA BITTERSWEET In fact, [...]
STAGE DOOR: 67% Sweet – UPDATED
BITTERSWEET So what’s missing here? Not all the actors are up to the challenges of this production’s style, nor any acting style. Too bad this sinks our complete enjoyment here. But credit Open Fist Theatre Company with giving so many actors a chance to ply their skills onstage—an opportunity the devoted women of the Footlights [...]
THAT PERFECT MOMENT: 73% Sweet
SWEET Rave reviews prompted producer Racquel Lehrman to bring back That Perfect Moment following its October-November run at the NoHo Arts Center. The return engagement (at Burbank’s Little Victory Theatre) is welcome news for L.A. theatergoers in search of laughter, nostalgia, and even a tear or two. Directed to perfection by Rick Sparks and featuring [...]
NIBBLER: 0% Bitter
BITTER Although the idea is interesting, the script leaves it unsatisfyingly underdeveloped. The dialogue seems awfully and needlessly contrived, the direction is clumsy and the acting, with one notable exception, does little to make one forget one is just watching a performance of 20-somethings pretending to be teenagers. Joel Elkins – LA Theatre Review BITTER [...]
Critique of the Week
HALF OF PLENTY by Joel Elkins – LA Theatre Review Let’s see … Young couple, wacky neighbors, senile parent, absurd situations. Yep, all the ingredients for madcap comedy and Half of Plenty (now playing at Theatre/Theater) has got ‘em all. One thing it forgot: the humor. It answers the age-old question: What would happen if [...]
“Half of Plenty”: 67% Bittersweet – UPDATED
SWEET These are the Tindall’s, and these are the Zook’s. Confused? You won’t be when you find out the main reason for seeing this comedic gem. Mandan, best known for his role as Chester Tate on “Soap,” gives a commanding performance as the befuddled Jack. The actor is fearless here, from every nuanced look to [...]
“FUBAR”: 67% Sweet
BITTER Despite the accomplishments and lengthy resumés of the playwright, director and cast, the play’s characters, relationships and scenarios just don’t sing, leaving the audience with a cocktail of ideas and images that remains beyond recognition. Mayank Keshaviah – LA Weekly SWEET Director Larissa Kokernot has assembled an exemplary cast and mounted a production that [...]