ANNA CHRISTIE
Monday, March 19th, 2012There are times when a single performance can either salvage a play or sink it. In the case of The Old Globe’s revival of Eugene O’Neill’s Anna Christie, the latter is unfortunately true.
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CORONADO
Wednesday, March 7th, 2012
Wide shot of dive bar: A young man and woman are seated in a booth. An older couple sits at a nearby table. Two men, one older, one younger, are sitting at another table. An attractive young woman tends bar.
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ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA
Monday, March 5th, 2012Antony and Cleopatra. For anyone around in the 1960s, those two names can’t help but conjure up memories of Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, whose scandalous real-life love story mirrored that of the legendary historical couple they were playing on screen.
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THE FALL TO EARTH
Thursday, March 1st, 2012
There are times when a reviewer must decide that the less said, the better, and in this reviewer’s humble opinion, his colleagues have been giving away far too much about The Fall To Earth (recently opened at the Odyssey). Therefore, if this is the first time you’re reading about Joel Drake Johnson’s richly complex dramedy, read no further than this review. Trust me. This is one play you will want to be surprised by.
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BALM IN GILEAD
Monday, February 20th, 2012Balm In Gilead, Lanford Wilson’s gritty slice of the lives of a couple dozen addicts, hookers, hustlers, pimps, and thieves has been enthusiastically lauded by theater critics since its 1965 premiere and its roles welcomed by actors eager for a walk on the wild side. Having now spent two and a half hours with these largely unsympathetic, offputting folks, however, this reviewer does not particularly share their enthusiasm.
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NEXT FALL
Monday, February 20th, 2012
Geoffrey Nauffts’ Tony, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle Award-nominated Next Fall has arrived at San Diego’s esteemed Diversionary Theatre in an intimate-theater production that actually surpasses its West Coast Premiere at the Geffen Playhouse, and that’s indeed saying something considering how powerful that big-bucks staging was.
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DISSONANCE
Monday, February 13th, 2012
You might expect a look at the behind-the-scenes interactions of a string quartet to provide little food for drama, let alone be the source of not one but two distinct plays world premiering within a year and a half of each other. You’d be wrong.
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OLD WICKED SONGS
Saturday, February 11th, 2012
No L.A.-area theater has a better track record with two-character “odd couple” plays that Burbank’s The Colony, which over the past half decade has won acclaim—along with numerous awards—for its popular two-handers, including Rounding Third, Trying, Educating Rita, Visiting Mr. Green, and Grace And Glorie. To this list can now be added the Colony’s nigh-on perfect revival of Jon Marans’ 1996 Pulitzer Prize-nominated Old Wicked Songs.
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Since 2007, Steven Stanley's StageSceneLA.com has spotlighted the best in Southern California theater via reviews, interviews, and its annual StageSceneLA Awards.
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