Posts Tagged ‘les spindle’
THE STORY OF MY LIFE: 100% Sweet
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 [...]
MEN OF TORTUGA: 67% Sweet – UPDATED
BITTER
The loss of its host company with the closing of the Pasadena Playhouse threatened the show’s very opening, let alone Furious’ future, and seems to have cast a listless gloom [...]
BACKWARDS IN HIGH HEELS: 86% Sweet – UPDATED
SWEET
“Backwards in High Heels” has no great plot or momentum, but if you happen to be in the vicinity of Long Beach you might want to give this slight, modestly [...]
DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS: 100% Bittersweet – UPDATED
BITTERSWEET
The company was wise to enlist the direction of the award-winning local director Richard Israel who I think has set out to direct every musical that ever existed since he [...]
BROADS, THE MUSICAL: 50% Bittersweet – UPDATED
BITTER
I loved the four gals playing the Broads – all talented – but the show needs a major overhaul. Too many jokes are tired old cliches – and singing about [...]
THE SUBJECT WAS ROSES: 70% Sweet – UPDATED
BITTERSWEET
All right, given this impressive pedigree, what’s my beef? Well, beyond the play’s passé style, I have trouble with the workmanlike use of the symbolic roses that inspire the title [...]
WHY TORTURE IS WRONG, AND THE PEOPLE WHO LOVE THEM: 100% Sweet – UPDATED
SWEET
Durang is getting a lot off his chest, and off ours. The laughter he generates is from nonsense about nonsense, unnervingly true and cathartic, and beautifully performed.
Steven Leigh [...]
WRECKS: 100% Sweet – UPDATED
SWEET
Yet, thanks to Harris’ Herculean acting feat, the contrived ending almost becomes beside the point. Harris’ portrayal of Edward Carr, a grieving middle-aged Midwestern man at a funeral parlor, sorting [...]
NAKED IN THE TROPICS: 0% Bitter
BITTER
Nanin’s predictable soap-opera script combines countless genres — including lesbian romance, boylesk, after-school special, musical and courtroom drama — to very little purpose, and the author’s slack direction doesn’t help. [...]
SWEENEY TODD: 100% Sweet – UPDATED
SWEET
I have seen this show more than a few times and I have to say I thoroughly enjoy this production. Norman Large comfortably heads a formidable company of talented performers [...]
