Posts Tagged ‘philip brandes’
MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING: 100% Sweet – UPDATED
SWEET
A Noise Within’s “Much Ado About Nothing” is nothing but well done and well-deserving of praise. See it before it closes on 21 May 2010. The production is family-friendly and [...]
MEN OF TORTUGA: 75% 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 [...]
GEOGRAPHY OF A HORSE DREAMER: 75% Sweet – UPDATED
SWEET
Shepard’s surreal fable is a good fit for the Moth Theatre’s focus on Jungian psychology and dream channeling. Aside from Hoffman’s menacing Doctor, however, the young ensemble lacks the seasoning [...]
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. [...]
A SONG AT TWILIGHT: 100% Sweet – UPDATED
SWEET
In this age of Facebook, Twitter, and texting, where the English language has been reduced to grunts and groans and fractured grammar, Noel Coward has come to the rescue, at [...]
ABSINTHE, OPIUM & MAGIC: 100% Sweet – UPDATED
SWEET
Opium smuggling, gangsters, prostitution and corruption make Shanghai circa 1920 an irresistible vacation spot for the Grand Guignolers, L.A.’s faux ’20s Parisian troupe inspired by the notorious French theater. Creator/director [...]
THE BROWNING VERSION: 100% Sweet – UPDATED
SWEET
The actors give amazing performances, under Marilyn Fox’s elegant direction, including the superb Orson Bean as the unctuous headmaster and Michael Redfield and Caitlin Beitel as the newlywed Gilberts, who [...]
“Big, the Musical”: 100% Sweet
SWEET
Director Richard Israel and his fine cast have a first-rate revival of this 1996 Broadway musical, based on the film that made Tom Hanks a star. And if you’ve seen [...]
“The Crucible”: 67% Sweet
SWEET
But as this illuminating production makes clear, the play remains eloquent and relevant, and director Marianne Savell gives it a sharp new focus. In addition to examining the plight of [...]
“Play with a Knife”: 25% Bitter
BITTER
Hyde’s likable Michael offers the best rebuttal to Evan’s amoral relativism, but more by way of demonstrated decency than argument. For all the earnestness and dramatic sharp edges, “Play With [...]
