Andrew Child - Page 2

Zoe Sarnak’s score rocks. It sounds at times like Blondie or the B-52s (I like the B-52s so that comparison is not a dig here), but is so intrinsically connected to the emotional arch of the story being told that it soars like a musical theatre score should.

Deser responded to the text using all of the tools at her disposal. The show, in her opinion, calls for lyrical moments of choreography, instances of grittiness that evoke the works of Edward Albee or John Cassavetes, and the overall flexing of “intellectual muscles” to engage with the mysteries and metaphors laid out in the text.

The music takes as a jumping off point the personalities and varied interests of each of the sisters, and we hear trite lyrics explain to us Jo’s love of writing and Amy’s love of painting, but somewhere amidst cutesy rhymes about daisies, butterflies, and taking flight, we lose the distinct dignity of each of these characters.

Every time I enter Skylight Theatre, I am completely blown away by the radical transformations designers are able to handle in the space. Stephen Gifford has crafted worlds which elevate the text of the play, the performances of the two actors, and the perception of the evening as a whole.

Director Alina Phelan is a master of visual comedy and everything you see has a punchline if you are willing to look for it. Vangsness’ impersonation is a biting satire that far supersedes anything Lorne Michaels’ could get away with putting on TV.

When the show opened on Broadway in 1991, it made history as the first major musical with an almost exclusively-female creative team. In the current production presented by Center Theatre Group,  whether caused by the lack of women on the creative team or not, the show is certainly missing a lot of its heart and is in need of a lot of polishing.

Though familiar in LA’s theatre scene as a champion of inventive, intimate theatre (he currently serves as co-artistic director for Rogue Machine Theatre and credits work like his production of Shakespeare’s Henry V staged in a 34 seat theatre with putting him on the map), Cienfuegos says he feels honored to tackle Much Ado as part of ANW’s season.

“There’s a bit of the feeling of that famous kiss in Times Square at the beginning of the play—- a feeling of infinite possibility at the end of the war, which is a version of America we all know. Many people don’t realize how harshly the pendulum swung back after that.”

It is difficult to imagine a better team than conductor Gustavo Dudamel and director Peter Sellars to allow Wagner’s score to freely and mystically float through the Walt Disney Concert Hall uninhibited by stage mechanics and repurpose every inch of the space to paint reverberating aural images.

BBMT is currently delivering a treat for all ages with their spunky rendition of Tchaikovsky’s popular Christmas ballet, complete with a team of evil mice, gracefully dancing sugarplum fairies, a growing Christmas tree, and all manner of delightful surprises.

Vinny DePonto is an extraordinarily engaging performer who, in front of a simple white backdrop, captivates the crowd like a bonafide vaudevillian.

Rather than paint a mural of multicultural children holding hands around the globe or undertake some other trite pass at celebrating diversity with young people, Imagine Theatre's artistic director, Armina LaManna chooses to prioritize stories from the intricate 'cultural fabric of LA', working equitably with local artists to share the narratives through new adaptations fused with music, dance, and puppetry. In 2019, the group premiered a new production of The Tale of Turandot which celebrated LA's rich Chinese culture. Their upcoming Warrior Queen: Anahit the Brave honors the 'large Armenian diaspora in Southern California'. I chatted with LaManna about her fundamental beliefs about theatre and her desires to infuse Los Angeles' theatre scene with a deeper respect and appreciation for children's theatre.

The performance at hand has its moments, and they are all while Patrick Warburton is on stage. He is a funny actor performing funny roles in funny scripts. I wish this group had just performed the texts as written. There are sound cues, animations, deadly pauses, and unexplainable impersonations which weigh down the tempos of the plays.

Especially thanks to Spencer Liff’s inventive staging and punchy choreography, the show is either a riotous musical bursting out of the seams of the intimate Bourbon Room or a drag revue elevated with a solid narrative, pristinely-timed punchlines, and innovative novelty routines.

I was not going to pass up an opportunity to see Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap in October—- a time when we’d all like to be a little frightened by our entertainment—- and seeing it on the seventieth anniversary of its London premiere was a delightful bonus.

The best way to describe my experience at A Noise Within’s production of Peter Hall, Adrian Mitchell, and Richard Peaslee’s 1984 musical version of Animal Farm is that when the ensemble came out to bow and I only counted 11 actors, my jaw dropped.

Though fused with the pop sounds of the latest Broadway grab toward tween-friendly franchises, Matthew Sklar and Chad Beguelin’s score has a heart that leans more toward the unabashed sincerity of The Pajama Game or The Music Man than the more saccharine offerings from the current scene.

Mike Birbiglia is an undoubtedly remarkable storyteller. The way his latest solo show, The Old Man and the Pool, which is playing now at CTG’s Mark Taper Forum, is structured is clean, snappy, clear, and concise.

King Liz is the premise for a television show at best, and, despite the noble work of those who are trying to pass it off as a piece of live theatre, its plot points, the characters’ relationships, and the narrative are only strong enough to grab our interest through the next commercial break.

Writer and performer D’Lo exudes coolness in his purple print button down and Lakers cap, and from his first entrance, it is evident that we are present for a fully polished, fully fleshed-out tour de force evening of theatre.