All Entries Tagged With: "sarah taylor ellis"
“Quite simply, medium does not dictate the quality of the message.” – Sarah Taylor Ellis
Sarah Taylor Ellis attended the 2010 ATHE (Association for Theatre in Higher Education) Conference recently and writes an excellent recap on her blog here. And guess what they were talking about? Yup. Theatre Criticism and the New Media. And even more specifically, the Blogger-Critic and the Artist-Critic. Whaddaya know about that? Sarah has an interesting observation [...]
A TALE TOLD BY AN IDIOT: 100% – Sweet
SWEET Then I think of actor-based companies, such as Antaeus, people who do work in TV and film, who are committed to exploring classics; you saw their recent, very strong “King Lear” — not sure you could argue that the director was shunted to the margins. I just saw an adaptation of “Macbeth” by a [...]
A Blogger-Critic Confessional
Sarah Taylor Ellis has a nice piece over at her blog entitled The Blogger-Critic: Or, Why Do I Write?. It’s a nice first person confessional from an excellent, young, curious blogger-critic. An unabashed self-proclaimed hyphenate. The new breed. Here’s a little taste of what Sarah is struggling with: Perhaps the beauty of the blogger-critic is that [...]
A CHORUS LINE: 100% – Sweet
SWEET A few of the characters in this production were not as strong as the role required, but the overall quality of the staging, dancing and direction should put this as one of the shows to see this summer. Hector Guerrero, a faculty member at L.A.’s American Musical and Dramatic Academy, who uses Bennett’s original [...]
![Jason Adams, as Tom, performs during Overtone Industries' Songs and Dances of Imaginary Lands takes place inside of a former car dealership in Culver City. (Christina House / For The Times)]](http://bitter-lemons.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/54793967.jpg.scaled1000-150x150.jpg)
SONGS AND DANCES OF IMAGINARY LANDS: 100% – Sweet
SWEET Of note are the performances of MJ Silva as Curf on Oldie Mountain, Michael Harris as the University of Alaska counselor, and Silvie Zamora, whose intense physicality throughout the show was a pleasure to behold. You will certainly walk out of the show dazed by its transformative ability, with your own precious favorites lingering [...]
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 [...]
What Merits a Bitter Lemons’ “Critique of the Week”?
Many people have asked me this question and the short answer is: I dunno. I just know it when I see it. Yep, there really is no formula. It’s purely subjective. Sometimes it’s the worst review, sometimes it’s the best review, sometimes it’s the most pretentious review, sometimes it’s the most personal review, sometimes it’s [...]
URINETOWN, THE MUSICAL: 100% Sweet – UPDATED
SWEET With a well-performed good-versus-evil story between Bobby Strong (David Laffey), Caldwell B. Cladwell (Michael Heimos) and a solid supporting cast, “Urinetown” will definitely leave its musical savvy audiences tickled with laughter and happiness. Parimal M. Rohit – Campus Circle SWEET Whether the title Urinetown amuses you or disturbs you, it should at least intrigue [...]
The Composer-Critic: A Success Story
Plenty of bandwidth has been used up on the topic of who is a critic, what is a critic, can an actor remain unbiased as a critic, can a writer? What divides the patron review from a bonafide critic’s review? And on and on and on. Lots of excellent points on every side of the [...]
A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM: 100% Sweet – UPDATED
SWEET This presentation may not be a buzz-builder, in the way that the Nathan Lane-led 1996 Broadway revival was, but as directed by David Lee, it is reliably entertaining and is populated with solid singers who, along with conductor Steve Orich and a 22-player orchestra, put the music’s crackling artistry on full display. Daryl H. [...]
DREAMGIRLS: 89% Sweet – UPDATED
BITTERSWEET The all-out attack of Angela’s performance was of a piece with the “American Idol”-ization of this revival, directed by Robert Longbottom with nonstop generic glitz. This is a production that sets out to pummel its audience into smiling submission. The unrelenting dazzle is in fact so exhausting that the producers might want to consider [...]
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 [...]
MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG: 100% Sweet – UPDATED
SWEET With this excellent revival, Oanh Nguyen once again proves himself a master at making the very best of Sondheim. Perhaps what Broadway needs to finally get that hit production of Merrily We Roll Along is the right director. Mr. Sondheim, are you listening? Steven Stanley – StageSceneLA SWEET Given a structure that suggests people [...]
CAROUSEL: 100% Sweet – UPDATED
BITTERSWEET Michetti’s story-theater approach surely will be the most talked-about aspect of this production. The stage directions, meant for the production team’s eyes only, are spoken, “Our Town”-like, by the grandfatherly, bushy-eyebrowed character actor M. Emmet Walsh. When not otherwise needed, actors gather with him along the back wall to watch the story unfolding at [...]
Critique of the Week – Runner Up
CAMELOT by Sarah Taylor Ellis – Compositions on Theatre During my freshman year at Duke, I took a writing seminar entitled “Images of Arthur”; in one of my first academic papers on musical theater, I explored musical renderings of Arthurian legend from A Connecticut Yankee (Rodgers and Hart, 1927) to Camelot (Lerner and Loewe, 1960). [...]
BOBRAUSCHENBERGAMERICA: 78% Sweet – UPDATED
SWEET Bart DeLorenzo’s staging preserves the tone, inherent the text, that’s both wry and frivolous, abstract and pop, with one breakout poetical excursion into Walt Whitmanesque grandeur, delivered by a hobo (Brett Hren) and accompanied by Dvorak’s Symphony from The New World. Steven Leigh Morris – LA Weekly SWEET In viewing the show at Inside [...]
To Review or Not to Review
I’d like to introduce the lovely and talented Kat Primeau and her newish Los Angeles based blog Adventures in La-La Land. Actor, writer and fledgling critic, Kat contacted us recently and guided us to her latest post “To Review or Not to Review” concerning her struggles with venturing into the world of the critic while [...]
WHISPER HOUSE: 83% Sweet – UPDATED
BITTER Composer Duncan Sheik’s voice, which entered the world of stage tuners with a roar in 2004′s “Spring Awakening,” is reduced to a whisper in “Whisper House,” the somnolent chamber musical now world premiering at the Old Globe. Sheik’s sophomore slump doesn’t mean his vastly popular, Tony-winning debut was a fluke. But it does suggest [...]
Critique of the Week – Runner Up
ORDINARY DAYS by Sarah Taylor Ellis – Compositions on Theatre I drove a full two hours to reach South Coast Repertory this past Friday evening. Cast recordings of Floyd Collins and A Little Night Music entertained me in bumper-to-bumper traffic, but it was quite a trek to make for a 90-minute show: I hoped Adam [...]
The Democratization of Theatre Criticism
We received a lovely note from a relatively new Lemon Head named Sarah Taylor Ellis, a UCLA PhD student in Theatre and Performance Studies. She asked us to take a look at her new blog COMPOSITIONS ON THEATRE. I did. And I liked it. I liked it so much I added her to our blogroll. [...]
CAMELOT: 73% Sweet – UPDATED
SWEET In 1960 two legendary tuners bowed in Gotham exactly seven months apart: two-planks-and-a-passion romance “The Fantasticks” (May 3) and lavish spectacle “Camelot” (Dec. 3). Fifty years later at the Pasadena Playhouse, their destinies are again intertwined, after a fashion, as an expurgated “Camelot” receives a “Fantasticks”-like bare-bones staging with a mere eight thesps, minimalist [...]
ORDINARY DAYS: 83% Sweet – UPDATED
SWEET The lesson: Simple joys have a way of secretly expanding. If you go into “Ordinary Days” with reasonable expectations, you’ll likely come out feeling as if you’ve just had an experience that was more than a little special. Charles McNulty – LA Times BITTERSWEET Though meant to be ironic because it is a story [...]