Looped

Allen, Harper Photo by Craig Schwartz

By Debbi K. Swanson
*Critic's Choice*

In On It

Gordon,Anthony

By Melinda Schupmann

This production is a working actor’s dream. Its multiple characterizations and fast pacing keep both actors and audience on its collective toes. It requires only two actors, two chairs, and a communal jacket to translate Daniel MacIvor’s Glaad and Obie-winning play. It is a risky adventure, though, because it takes a bit of work to follow the inter-connecting stories.

The Drowsy Chaperone

Jonathan Crombie Photo by Craig Schwartz

By Melinda Schupmann

The Drowsy Chaperone is just what it intends to be--infectiously funny, lively, and a couple of hours of pure pleasure watching energetic performers mug it up for the best of reasons. This set of touring players may not be quite as dynamic as the group who introduced this show in L.A. prior to its leap to Broadway (see expanded review in Theater Archives 2005), but they have all the right stuff to engage audiences who are getting their first look at Bob Martin and Don McKellar’s lovefest to Broadway musicals.

. Jersey Boys

Bergen, Faugno, Kushnier, Leibow Photo by Joan Marcus

By Ben Miles

Some pop-culturalists maintain that a dead spot lingers between the early, rebellious days of rock 'n roll and the uplifting, shape-shifting British Invasion of a decade later. The earliest period in rock 'n roll offered players in their raw, creative élan, as exemplified in the outrageous performances of Little Richard, the tune-changing innovations of Bo Diddley, and the king-making sounds of Elvis Presley. But, by time the Invasion landed on America's shores in the mid-1960s, groups such as The Beatles and The Rolling Stones had already, through harmonic riffs and lyrical themes, elevated this homegrown musical style... FULL STORY

All's Well That Ends Well
By January Riddle

All’s Well That Ends Well, which opened the Old Globe Theatre’s summer Shakespeare Festival 2008, is often labeled a “problem play.” Academics debate whether it is a comedy or a tragedy, saying, like Hamlet—written several years earlier, in 1601— it doesn’t fit neatly into either genre.

Defending the Caveman

Burke

By Ben Miles

Written over a three-year period (between 1988 and 1991), Rob Becker's Defending The Caveman wormed its way across the nation, and in March of 1995 made it to the Big Apple. On July 17, 1996, after 399 performances on The Great White Way, Caveman surpassed Lilly Tomlin's Search For Intelligent Life In The Universe to become the longest-running solo show in Broadway history. In honor of this dramatic benchmark, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani designated July 18, 1996, as Caveman Day... FULL STORY

Susannah

Armstrong Photo by Opera Pacific

By Michael Van Duzer

After Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, Carlisle Floyd’s Susannah is certainly the most performed full-length American opera. (Menotti’s one-act Amahl and the Night Visitors, no doubt, trumps them both.) Its concise storytelling and attractive folk-inspired melodies make it extremely accessible-- even divorced from the McCarthy Era politics surrounding its 1955 premiere. Student productions and regional opera companies have produced the work repeatedly while major houses, aside from New York City Opera... FULL STORY

` Hot and Ready

Williams Photo by WAITING ON THE NAME

By Mary E. Montoro

Is it hot all here or is it the dynamic, potent, sexual energy of actresses Juliette Jeffers and Vanessa Williams making it sizzle? The NAACP Image Award nominee and recipient, respectively, have combined their artistic efforts in acting, writing, and producing individual one-woman shows. In this case, Looking 4 a Chocolate Match.com is presented by Jeffers, and and Feet On The Ceiling... FULL STORY

Rising Water

Rick, Veda Franklin

By Ben Miles

In August 2005, Hurricane Katrina side-swiped the fragile, decrepit city of New Orleans. In the aftermath of nature's indifferent fury, the historic municipality's aged and insufficient infrastructure broke apart and floated away like a Legos Erector-Set dismantling under a fast-flowing bathtub faucet. Eighty percent of the Big N.O. was flooded; fifty-three levees were breached; over twelve-hundred people died, either from drowning or dehydration and exposure. The estimated cost of this calamity is estimated at eighty-six billion dollars. Katrina is currently considered as the worst engineering disaster FULL STORY

Keep Your Pantheon and The Duck Variations

Lerner, Gould Photo by Craig Schwartz

By Melinda Schupmann

The news that a new David Mamet play is having its world premiere in Los Angeles brings out the troops. Considered one of the leading contemporary dramatists and writers, along with a raft of other talents, Mamet's Glengarry Glen Ross and Speed-the-Plow both won Tony nominations, and his films The Verdict and Wag the Dog were critically acclaimed. In this duo, Mamet seems to be taking a breather from intense intellectual dialogue and having fun with a pair of low key, amusing trifles. Sure, he hits some of his own personal favorite topics... FULL STORY

Tosca

Photo by Robert Millard

By Michael Van Duzer

Puccini’s Tosca remains a perennial audience pleaser despite the fact that many critics remain immune to the opera’s charms (Shaw called it a “shabby little shocker”). But audiences adore its pungent blend of romance and melodrama set to one of Puccini’s most flavorful scores.

Park Your Car in Harvard Yard

Schultz, Ruskin Photo by Shashin Desai

By Ben Miles

Acclaimed dramatist Israel Horovitz has scripted more than 50 staged plays. Horovitz's Line still endures in its fourth decade of production at off-Broadway's 13th Street Repertory Theater. And long before the blessings of The Godfather were bestowed on Al Pacino, the young actor created an off-Broadway buzz--and was honored with an Obie Award as Best Actor--for his work in Horovitz's intense tale of brutality... FULL STORY

The Injured Party

Rogers Photo by Henry DiRocco

By Ben Miles

It depends (pun intended) on a person's individual constitution, but an hour and forty-five minutes--without an intermission!--is an uncomfortable amount of time for this presumably healthy critic to sit in a theater. Drama presented without an interval appears to be a growing trend in various productions of late. This unfortunate tendency, to push a theatergoer to his or her physiological capacity, is perpetuated... FULL STORY

Jesus Christ Superstar

Blake, Charles before disciples Photo by John Szura

By Ben Miles

Though the gospels tell us of the apostle doubting Thomas; for the sake of drama, it is actually more interesting to contemplate Judas, not so much as a betrayer of Jesus than as a person who also had doubts about the divinity of Christ as well as the inchoate Christian movement. What's more, it is a challenge to the conscience to be asked to re-consider Judas as a sympathetic... FULL STORY

Mask

Glendening, Read Photo by Ed Krieger

By Joseph N. Feinstein

The book by Anna Hamilton Phelan, music by Barry Mann, lyrics by Cynthia Weil, and the direction of Richard Maltby, Jr. all work together beautifully to create a world premiere musical, Mask, that will knock your socks off. Stirring music, clever lyrics and vibrant performances by a young, energetic cast of twenty make the former Universal hit movie, Mask, into an engaging, live-wire musical... FULL STORY

Culture Clash in AmeriCCa

Salinas, Montoya, Siguenza Photo by Henry DiRocco

By Ben Miles

Culture Clash has returned to The OC. This statement isn't an assessment of social tensions behind the Orange Curtain. Rather, Culture Clash is the name of the three-man performance troupe that specializes in so-called site-specific theater. For 15-years the trio--Richard Montoya, Ric Salinas, and Herbert Siguenza--has been generating performances powered by the local ethos, ethnicities, and idiosyncrasies of various American population centers... FULL STORY

No Child...

Sun Photo by Craig Schwartz

By Ben Miles

No Child… is Nilaja Sun's awarding-winning, solo show. Written and performed by Sun, this multi-character monodrama is a theatrical account of Sun's experience as a "teaching artist." T.A. status is an actual payroll designation made by the New York City schools. Teaching artists are brought into classes to directly convey their creative skills to students. The extensive learning interaction typically culminates... FULL STORY

In the Wings

Sroka, Reid, Hartley, Schaub, Hager Photo by Ed Krieger

By Joseph N. Feinstein

Using the play-within-a-play technique, Jerry Sroka's In The Wings opened to a packed crowd at the Whitefire Theater on April 4 for a five week run. Stars Annette Reid as Julie and Daniel Hagan as Sam, the director, carry the imprint of the semi-autobiographical play's infertility theme to its logical conclusion... FULL STORY

Dancing in the Dark

Leavel, Heller Photo by Craig Schwartz

By January Riddle

You know it’s going to be a good night when the overture makes you think of Fred Astaire, and you squirm in your seat for wanting to leap up and dance in the aisles. And so it was. The pit orchestra, directed by Don York, was enthusiastic and engaging. Scenic Designer John Lee Beatty’s gauzy, brightly-hued curtains alternated easily with simple furniture to facilitate an easy mood and quick set changes. David Woolard’s clever costumes included the realistic, the amusing, and the hilarious. Gary Griffin’s skilled direction brought out the best of a wonderful cast, and Warren Carlyle’s choreography made dancers... FULL STORY