Evan Henerson - Page 3

when you’ve got a guy like Adam Rapp writing a cerebral two-handed dance between a Yale creative writing professor and her enigmatic new student, and you pepper it with scribes ranging from Dostoevsky to  Anne Tyler, and you give the whole shebang to the Pasadena Playhouse and cast Amy Brenneman in the lead role, well, what’s not to like.

A mother-daughter tale that traffics in regrets, dreams deferred, selfishness and the value of all lives human and animal, KILL SHELTER barely elevates the contrivances of its plotting. A larger problem in this four-character world premiere is the casting, which – at least as regards the Blue Cast (the production is double cast) – is lacking.

The L.A. premiere of Will Arbery’s HEROES OF THE FOURTH TURNING is an example of Southland live stage at its finest – an intelligent, slickly-cast think play, compellingly directed by Rogue Theatre Company Artistic Director Guillermo Cienfuegos for a company that rarely misfires.

STEW – a Pulitzer Prize finalist - is a lot more complicated than it presents. You might have questions about what has transpired. But a bit of ambiguity is a good thing especially when you have actors like Roslyn Ruff, Samantha Miller, Jasmine Ashanti and especially LisaGay Hamilton to muddy the creative waters.

Atmosphere, this CAESAR has aplenty. What David Melville’s production does not have this time is particularly strong acting. Players in several key roles felt miscast, out of synch with their own characters, with fellow players or, in some cases, both. As a result, the production is not great at making us emotionally invest.

From the opening storm to the closing musical number, the Kiki & David Gindler Performing Arts Center is awash in buzzes, cries, whooshes, rattles and clangs. What did our critic think of THE TEMPEST at Antaeus Theatre?

the latest Broadway revival of INTO THE WOODS that wraps up its national tour at the Ahmanson Theatre, is fantastic. Director Lear deBessonet’s spin on this tale of wishes granted and their consequences both embraces the spirit of Lapine’s original productions and also sends the material off in a different direction.

In FETCH CLAY, MAKE MAN, Will Power investigates the friendship as a fascinating dual study in individual character and cultural identity. Under Debbie Allen’s rocking direction at the Douglas, the play is as exciting as it is thoughtful.  THE BEAR’s Edwin Lee Gibson and Ray Fisher act the daylights out of it.

As the depiction of a chance encounter between two very different people, THE MOUNTAINTOP has some interesting observations to make. But the second the stakes change and Camae proves to be something other than who she first presented herself to be, the play springs a leak and stumbles to its hagiographic and predictable conclusion.

As creatively at home as Anna Deavere Smith has been delving into multiple perspectives on the Crown Heights riots of 1991 and the fallout from the Rodney King verdicts of 1992, a traditionally-structured play – even one about a figure as arresting as Billie Jean King - may not be in her artistic wheelhouse.

The production that opened June 10 at the outdoor Lowell Davies Festival Theater was consistently enjoyable, but never enchanting. Set in the Regency area and using a mixture of music (here a court violin, there a ukelele) to foreground the play rather than drive it forward, Marshall’s production suffers from inconsistent casting. It also drags.

Gunderson’s storytelling and her love of Shakespeare is another. It’s also icing on a most tasty cake that may not be for all palates. If you get the running gag of a character’s passion for PERICLES, this one’s for you.

The tour of SIX at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre, directed by Lucy Moss and Jamie Armitage, is 90 minutes of partying with performers Khaila Wilcoxon, Storm Lever, Natalie Paris, Olivia Donalson, Courtney Mack and Gabriela Carrillo as killer – or maybe make that killed? - MCs.

WWhat seems like a deceptively simple premise develops several intriguing layers in Alessandro Camon’s SCINTILLA, enjoying its world premiere at the Road Theatre. Equal parts domestic drama and a harrowing investigation into the results of climate change, SCINTILLA is as impactful as it is unrelenting.

Carryl’s play is as tight as it is immediate, an inspired-by-the-headlines jolt of storytelling that cuts across racial unrest, the psyches of our men in blue and even the January 6 insurrection.

What did our critic think of 1776 at Ahmanson Theatre? In contemporary theater - as in life - optics matter. A lot. Given current trends in theatrical programing, the musical 1776 would probably never get staged. Granted, Sherman Edwards and Peter Stone's 1969 take on the sturm and drang surrounding the Second Continental Congress's decision to form a new nation may be a patriotic Tony Award-winner.

This production of Inge’s play (also a 1955 movie) has its moments while consistently delivering the longing, the dissatisfaction and, yes, also the sensuality that PICNIC offers up. ur critic think of PICNIC at Odyssey Theatre Ensemble?

As solidly staged and forcefully acted as this TWILIGHT is, the production is both problematic and comes across feeling like something is missing.

Simon Levy’s production at the Fountain Theatre is a smartly-acted brain-tickler that makes its points and lands its blows with humor and intellect

The Pasadena Playhouse has drawn the curtain on its 2023 Sondheim Celebration with a lush and poignant rendering of SUNDAY. Directed by Sarna Lapine, the production is a west coast remount of her 2017 Broadway revival with an entirely new cast, but with the same technical team.