Southern Baptist Sissies
Del Shores has made his mark as a Los Angeles playwright and director. His latest drama, Yellow, is playing to sold-out houses at West Hollywood's Celebration Theatre. But in 1996--a year after Shores' own sexual "coming out"--he penned a controversial character-centered "dramady." In 2000, Shores staged that show at the cozy Zephyr Theatre; in L.A. It was called Southern Baptist Sissies and it went on to receive multiple awards and honors. The L.A. Times called Sissies "daring, heroic...No holds-barred hilarious." FULL STORY King Lear
The Bard is back, and his king is governing the Old Globe Theatre's Festival Stage as if he owns it. With this latest production of Shakespeare's ultimate tragedy, King Lear, the Globe's 75th summer festival season takes the boards by storm with superb performances by a dedicated cast with Robert Foxworth in the title role and Adrian Noble in the titular director's chair. Every director needs to put a mark on this play. It begs for interpretations. Assuming most of the audience members have seen it before, a director wants to do something different, personal, and unique. Adrian Noble, in his first production opening since assuming the role of Artistic Director of the 2010 Shakespeare Festival, is no different in that way. Yet, he is unique in the ways he... FULL STORY The Taming of the Shrew
Shakespeare's comedy, The Taming of the Shrew is, on its face, a troublesome play, not suited for our times. Its blatant misogyny is offensive to the relatively recent modern feminism and equality. But this comic "War of the Roses" is one of the Bard's most interesting character studies. The plot is rooted in the ideals of courtly love made fashionable by Sir Thomas Hoby's English translation of Count Baldassare Castiglione's 1528 The Book of the Courtier. Although Shakespeare meant this play as a satire, Hoby's book had become... FULL STORY A Midsummer Night's Dream
Whoever is in love or has ever been in love knows that upside down, disconnected, clouds-are-lower-than-I-am feeling. It doesn't last forever, thank heavens, because life demands conscious participation, and taking care of its business is impossible while riding a roller coaster. But, whoowee! Ain't it grand while it lasts? William Shakespeare knew that, some 400-plus years ago. (Hello! Love wasn't invented by eHarmony.) La Jolla Playhouse Artistic Director Christopher Ashley knows that now. And he has collaborated with Shakespeare's play in creating... FULL STORY The Last Romance
The thing about The Last Romance, currently enjoying its delight-filled West Coast premiere at The Old Globe's Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre, is that it makes you want to shout, "Yahoo! Finally!" Well, maybe that shouting is loudest among those of us who... FULL STORY More Lies About Jerzy
Unscrupulous literary figures have long been present in our world. A few years ago, author James Frey was granted Oprah Winfrey's imprimatur for his so-called memoir, A Million Little Pieces. Soon afterward it was discovered that Frey's work would be more aptly titled A Million Little Falsehoods. Indeed, Pieces was made more of figments of Frey's imagination than anything having to do with the facts of his life. Ms. "O" was so incensed by the disclosure that she called Frey to task on her nationally syndicated television program. But before that Jayson Blair, a reporter for The New York Times, was caught manufacturing his stories from whole-cloth for his prestigious employer. And prior to Blair there was Clifford Irving, who claimed to have letters from the reclusive millionaire, Howard Hughes, proving that the mogul had written an autobiography. The letters were... FULL STORY A Chorus Line
Inspired by tape-recorded workshop sessions with actual Broadway dancers--commonly called the "gypsies" of showbiz-- A Chorus Line was an unprecedented stage sensation, earning critical acclaim as well as hallmark success at the box office (with a profitable 6,137 Broadway performances). In addition, to garnering 1976's Pulitzer Prize for Drama, A Chorus Line also won the Tony Award for... FULL STORY Yellow
Acclaimed Los Angeles dramatist Del Shores has, after more than seven years, created another riveting play, titled simply, Yellow. Like his other smash hits on LA's intimate theater scene (including Sordid Lives and Trials and Tribulations of a Trailer Trash Housewife), Yellow has ample amounts of comedic moments; but, ultimately, the play is what Arthur Miller termed... FULL STORY The Whipping Man
Passover was the day after Lee's surrender at Appomattox. "...as Jews across the nation were celebrating this sacred ritual commemorating their ancestors' freedom from bondage in Egypt, a new kind of exodus was occurring all around them." Matthew Lopez, author of The Whipping Man, in Performances magazine. Even nature is in conflict. Thunder and lightening introduce the Old Globe Theatre's West Coast premier of Matthew Lopez's well-wrought and... FULL STORY The Ballad of Emmett Till
Emmett Till was 14 years old in 1955. That was when he took a fateful trip from his hometown, Chicago, to visit relatives in a rural community on the Mississippi Delta. As a Child, Emmett was afflicted with polio. The disease left him with a limp. Young Till also spoke with a stutter. What’s more, Emmett’s father, Louis Till, was executed after being found guilty of raping two women and murdering another while serving in the U.S. Army in Italy during World War Two. Adding insult to his various injuries, Emmett—in the heat of the summer of ’55—was a Black teenager used to living in Big City, USA; suddenly, however, he’s seen as... FULL STORY Acting: The First Six Lessons
Acting: The First Six Lessons is a classic text on the art and craft of the thespian. Written by Richard Boleslavski, in 1933, Sir Alec Guinness--the acclaimed English star of screen and stage--once proclaimed that "both beginners and established actors will... find stimulation in (reading) The First Six Lessons." Not only did the Boleslavsky handbook gain the understated admiration of the knights of the British Theatre, however; it also caught on among the... FULL STORY Viva Elvis
It's unprece-dented! A seventh in-resident show on the Las Vegas strip is not only unlikely, it's unheard of. But yes, the phantasmagorical circus troupe--Cirque du Soleil--has brought the unparalleled story of Elvis Presley to worshipful heights, and when the hour-and-a-half of showy displays and gravity-sassing leaps, lunges, and death-daring plunges is over, Viva Elvis--playing indefinitely at the Aria Resort and Casino--allows us in the audience of the newly constructed Elvis Presley Theater to be appreciative and thankful for Presley's gifts. At his best and in his prime, Elvis Presley was a... FULL STORY The Stigmatized
It seems extraordinary that though Franz Schreker was considered on a par with Richard Strauss as an operatic composer, he is only now receiving a first production for any of his operas in the Western Hemisphere. And yet, this is how completely and effectively the Third Reich was able to erase the careers of numerous so called "degenerate"artists. We can only count ourselves lucky that James Conlon and LA Opera have continued their commitment to resurrecting the works of these composers in their... FULL STORY Can You Be More Pacific?
"The Big Orange," "The OC," and "Behind the Orange Curtain" are all references to one of California's, and the nation's, geographical sweet-spots. First and foremost, let's be frank, it's the weather that makes Orange County an earthly nirvana for-all-seasons. Lots of sunshine and moderate year-round temperatures have served as population magnets. What was once thought of as a rural and slow-paced sub-entity of state government--as well as a bastion for right-wing extremism, ala the John Birch Society--has been transformed into a hustling and diverse metropolis in its own right, rich in resources and thoroughly multicultural. Years ago, uber-Republican Congressman Robert Dornan was unseated by Loretta Sanchez--a Democrat and a Latina--in a district in the center of... FULL STORY In a Garden
The Middle East has long been a centerpiece of global conflict and confusing socio-economic and cultural impulses as well as a bastion of immense petroleum-based wealth. The theatrical arts have, from time immemorial, been a way of bringing meaning and coherence to the pressing issues and emotions inherent in our lives. Now playwright Howard Korder has, in his latest script, used his formidable skills as a dramatist to lend insight into Middle Eastern diplomacy in a manner that allows us to see that not only is all politics local, but that the political is... FULL STORY Nixon In China
Prior to the premiere of John Adams' NIXON IN CHINA, the work was sometimes derided as "singing headlines" and an unfit topic for an opera. But opera has a long history of espousing a political agenda. The two operatic giants of the 19th century, Verdi and Wagner, were every bit as well-known for their work in the unification of their respective countries as they were for their skills as composers. Of course, government censors forced them to send their message covertly. But there's no doubt that Italians of the Risorgimento period understood that Verdi's Hebrew slaves suffering under the yoke of Babylon had a contemporary counterpart in Italy's struggle against... FULL STORY Backwards in High Heels
Let's be frank. It's a challenge for an actor to embody a charismatic, true-life character. Why would audiences be interested in seeing a thespian of a lower wattage portray the likes of Elvis Presley, Mohammad Ali, or Marilyn Monroe, especially when there's plenty of archival film footage of these supernova talents at, before, and beyond their crescendos as... FULL STORY Dreamgirls
The Ahmanson's current production of the Broadway hit, Dreamgirls, is so spectacularly spectacular that the theater fairly vibrates with the big-voiced, high intensity production. Even with T-shirts in the lobby and enough tech splendor to engage the most on-the-fence audience member, somehow the story doesn't quite sell its message of fame's heartaches for the... FULL STORY The Subject Was Roses
In 1964, Frank D. Gilroy's play, The Subject Was Roses premiered on Broadway at the Royale Theatre. The three-member cast featured a young actor named Martin Sheen. In that production, Sheen's role was that of the 21 year-old army veteran, Timmy Cleary, returning home after a three-year stint of service in World War Two. As plotted by Gilroy, Timmy is the only child born to a neurotic Catholic couple in the Bronx, named... FULL STORY Aurelia's Oratorio
Have you had the one where you know you need to be somewhere, but you cannot get there? What about the one where everything that should be familiar has taken on a life of its own, becoming weird and unrecognizable? Then there's the one that puts a unique spin on everything you thought about that day, mixing up images and people in ways you could never... FULL STORY Gershwin Alone
"Rhapsody in Blue" and "An America in Paris" are exquisite examples of George Gershwin's orchestral compositions, while "Porgy and Bess"--with its use of polytonality and polyrhythmic structures is considered a seminal American opera. Hershey Felder's solo-show, Gershwin Alone--now in production at the Laguna Playhouse, through February 21--is a tribute to this legendary maestro. Through Felder's interpretive prowess and immense musical talent we come to know George Gershwin in a way not typically conveyed in a music appreciation class. And, to know Gershwin is to... FULL STORY One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
The character known as R.P. McMurphy has become an icon of American anti-heroism. Made internationally famous by the Oscar-winning 1975 film, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, starring Jack Nicholson as McMurphy--in one of several of his Academy Awarded screen performances--Cuckoo's Nest began as a novel by counter-culture author Ken Kesey. In 1963, a year subsequent to the book's publication, Dale Wasserman's stage adaptation premiered on Broadway, with Kirk Douglas assaying... FULL STORY |
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