Posts Tagged ‘steven stanley’
WIT: 100% Sweet
SWEET
Edson’s commentary on American medical practice, however salient, merely lays the groundwork for the play’s most compelling and universal theme: the human struggle not only with mortality’s looming oblivion [...]
THE UNEXPECTED MAN: 67% Sweet – 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, [...]
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 [...]
Critique of the Week
CAVE QUEST
by Steven Stanley – StageSceneLA
Did you ever see that Coca Cola commercial from 1970s, the one that had a couple thousand peace-seeking grownups and kids warbling “I’d like [...]
OEDIPUS EL REY: 100% Sweet – UPDATED
SWEET
Alfaro spins much of this in a colloquial lexicon that makes it all the more forceful. Some of his passages — Tiresias’ musings on what a father really is, after [...]
MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG: 100% Sweet
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 [...]
CAVE QUEST: 100% Sweet
SWEET
Diane Rodriguez’s direction is enhancing yet controlled, allowing both performances to be interesting while maintaining excellent contact with the main theme—which is enlightenment of a kind and, of course, justifiable [...]
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 [...]
WIREHEAD: 50% Bitter
BITTER
Audience members more fond than I am of the sci-fi, futuristic fantasy genre may take to Wirehead more than I did. One thing at least is undeniable. Echo Theater [...]
