All Entries Tagged With: "pat taylor"
TOPDOG/UNDERDOG (FREMONT PRODUCTION): 100% – Sweet
BITTERSWEET As Booth, Rider has an appealing intensity that bounces nicely off of Jed Reynolds’ low-key Lincoln. James Reynolds’ simple staging is clear and clean, and the young actors own the play’s many comic moments. They have more difficulty mining the complexity of the material—reaching the depths it demands—and at times handling the heightened language. [...]
A STRING OF PEARLS: 33% – Bitter
SWEET “A String of Pearls” is an ambitious play, but one the Group Rep at the Lonny Chapman Theatre pulls off beautifully. Jackie Houchin – NoHoArtsDistrict BITTER This one just wasn’t my cup of tea… or favorite style of play. Sorry… non-linear offerings always trip me up a bit, and this one often missed its [...]
EAT THE RUNT (Theatre of NOTE): 80% – Sweet – UPDATED
SWEET Written by Avery Crozier with mind-boggling brilliance… This one will twist your brain! One of the most innovative, funny, wildly creative, ingenious, and theatrically challenging staged concepts I’ve ever seen! Pat Taylor – Tolucan Times SWEET As to whether this reviewer will be back for more runt eating, the answer is yes indeed. Stay [...]
BOY’S LIFE: 75% – Sweet – UPDATED
SWEET Howard Korder writes insightfully—and hilariously—about the male psyche in his 1988 comedy Boys’ Life, smashingly revived (and smoothy updated to the 21st Century) by Crown City Theatre Company. Impeccably acted and directed, this is a production which ought to disprove once and for all any notion of Los Angeles not being the great theater [...]
“A willing participant in the great chicanery that is LA theater criticism” – David Jette
Chicanery: The act of deceiving. This is the sad state within which David Jette, playwright/director and once-critic at LA Theatre Review has found himself. He has come to the conclusion that Los Angeles Theatre Criticism is an “act of deception”. In a recent post entitled Why I Stopped Writing Theatre Reviews David has – with [...]
CIRCLE OF WILL: 33% – Bitter – UPDATED
BITTER A stumbling attempt at satire, the piece portrays Shakespeare as a lesser literary light and Burbage as a cretinous narcissist, fed up with dramas about death and threatening to walk unless he gets to be a hero in a play with a positive ending. The problem lies not in the lampoon of the theater [...]
OKLAHOMA!: 75% – Sweet – UPDATED
BITTERSWEET The eager cast members are generally at their best in bringing out the boisterous humor of the characters without resorting to overkill. Where the production is less successful is unfortunately in its most crucial area. Under Greg Haake’s music direction, the unidentified instrumental sounds emanating from backstage lack the breadth and heft required to [...]
THE SOCIALIZATION OF RUTHIE SHAPIRO: 50% – Bittersweet – UPDATED
SWEET This is an endearingly wonderful and “emotion stirring” play. It will take you back to your own “growing pains” at age 12, time and time again. We enjoy every moment of Ruthie’s search for acceptance! Beautifully written with a feast of “food for thought” by Barbara Nell Beery, it is billed as a memory [...]
SKYLIGHT: 80% – Sweet – UPDATED
BITTER It’s possible that in a few weeks director Ken Meseroll’s stodgy production of the seething drama will gel to reflect the play’s subtle emotional shifts and nuances in a more involving way. At this point, though, Meseroll’s staging is merely workmanlike, with flat line readings and stiff blocking, while also missing the psychological edge [...]
WHITE PEOPLE: 100% – Sweet – UPDATED
SWEET Director Douglas Clayton and his cast elevate Rogers’ words, be they damning or mundane, to perfection. The actors handle Rogers’ format, a 95-minute one-act series of monologues, so expertly that the resulting stories seem to be uttered out loud for the very first time. Doerr’s delivery is astonishing in this regard, as his character [...]
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 [...]
MADAGASCAR: 100% – Sweet
SWEET Playwright JT Rogers begins this piece with a descriptive passage regarding the results of someone vanishing from the life they have been leading until then. What follows is an amazing treatise about the effects of said disappearance on those closest to the missing subject. Melodically constructed, it alternates between a dryly etched wit and [...]
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 [...]
ACTING: THE FIRST SIX LESSONS: 100% Sweet
SWEET The production is dedicated to Betty Garrett, a founding member of Theatre West, whom I was fortunate to sit beside and hear stories of Beau’s early days with the company. Initially, Beau was rejected for membership because he was so young! This, his first effort on the main stage of Theatre West ably directed [...]
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. [...]
TEA AT FIVE: 100% Sweet
SWEET This time, she captures the essence, humor, witty cynicism, heart, and innermost thoughts of the late, great Katharine Hepburn. Written by Matthew Lombardo, this revealing telling has been performed in California by Stephanie Zimbalist and Kate Mulgrew in the past. Lombardo’s currently-running hit Broadway solo show, “Looped,” starring Valerie Harper, continues his legacy. Self-directed, [...]
SWEET SUE: 75% – Sweet – UPDATED
SWEET The quality of the acting is good. The women are pert and spunky, the men are big and obliging. Susan takes pills while Susan Too drinks wine. She’s constantly looking for her kids’ approval. Jake is waffling between romance with Susan and love with an unseen woman his own age. Dichotomy abounds. Susan Too [...]
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 [...]
OLD GLORY: 100% Sweet – UPDATED
SWEET Director Carri Sullens elicits performances that flow with cross-currents of hardship and fury, yet with a delicacy that’s almost amiable. Ormeny and Gardner excel with these gifts. And the latent violence simmering between the soldiers – one a devotee of graphic novels, the other of real novels – speaks head-on to why the United [...]
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 side effects from medications? Audiences do not find that entertaining as many experience these very problems on a daily basis. No one was laughing [...]
THE PRICE: 89% Sweet – UPDATED
BITTER Miller’s characters all seem to struggle with responsibilities and guilt. This play offers the same type of individuals, but because of its long, drawn-out and repetitive dialogue, it is not one of his better plays. None of the characters are too likeable save for Gregory Solomon (performed so well by Kaplan), and the play [...]
SIDHE: 83% Sweet – UPDATED
SWEET Full of dark turns, Noble’s story is so packed with tension and conflict that at times it’s hard to believe only four characters are taking part. Not every twist is credible, even given the play’s supernatural standards. And sometimes the heavy Irish brogue makes essential details difficult to grasp. These qualifications notwithstanding, the production [...]
A PRAYER FOR MY DAUGHTER: 100% Sweet – UPDATED
SWEET Delasante derisively sings “You Are My Sunshine” at various points throughout the play, and that song along with a token prayer at play’s end cast a heavy cloud over our continually failing sense of duty to our fellow man and even worse to ourselves. We tend to take it all for granted, so Babe’s [...]
WISDOM 2116: 100% Sweet
SWEET In fact, some 55 years ago, in honor of his dear friends actors Charles Laughton and wife Elsa Lanchester, he penned the sci-fi piece, now titled, Wisdom 2116 for them to perform on stage. But both passed away before having the opportunity to mount it. Now resurrected after all these years, it echoes a [...]
THE CITY: 33% Bitter – UPDATED
BITTERSWEET Director Stan Mazin’s adaptation and update of Clyde Fitch’s 1909 play has a lot going for it. That said, references to Lady Gaga and Desperate Housewives can’t disguise the fact that it’s an overly talky melodrama. Sandra Ross – LA Weekly BITTERSWEET The holes come in the staging and acting. Hector Hank plays his [...]
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 [...]
THE HOUSE OF BESARB: 100% Sweet
SWEET An excitingly eerie and blood curdling gripping theatrical experience, this is a wonderful production! It was adapted/written with sinfully seductive suspense by Terance Duddy and Theodore Ott, based on Bram Stokers’ novel, “Dracula.” In the year 1895, we wander through the Transylvania castle of Count Dracula. A multi-room adventure, each audience member chooses which [...]
“Fellowship!”: 100% Sweet
SWEET From Thursday’s sellout crowd’s enthusiastic response to every song, joke, and reference, I’d guess that most of them were diehard Lord Of The Ring fans, and doubtless the more you know, the more you’ll “get” the in-jokes. But even non-LOTR aficionados like myself can have an equally fine time with Frodo and his friends. [...]
“Nights of Noir”: 100% Sweet
SWEET There is more style than substance here, but it eventually adds up to an evening of fun and laughs. And for an added bit of spice, Wilson (a.k.a. Honey Ima Home), does a smoking-hot burlesque routine between acts. Lovell Estelle III – LA Weekly BITTERSWEET Screenwriters Jim Abrahams, Jerry Zucker, and David Zucker devised [...]
“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 [...]