Gil Kaan - Page 48

Ruskin Group Theatre's Los Angeles premiere of Gary McNair's A GAMBLER'S GUIDE TO DYING winningly delivers a mesmerizing, quick-paced 65-minutes of vividly descriptive storytelling. The combination of McNair's extremely illustrative narrative, directed quite proficiently by Paul Linke, and totally embodied by the charismatic Maury Sterling make for a stellar jackpot of entertainment.

Dan Frischman quite ably directs his witty script of SEX, FAITH AND JASON WEXLER keeping his likeable cast and plot moving at a snappy pace. Robert Werner and Lira Kellerman have cute, flirty, credible chemistry as Jason and Faith.

TEMPEST REDUX's certainly an welcomed addition to John Farmanesh-Bocca's resume of his visceral, modern re-workings of Shakespeare classics. Farmanesh-Bocca's trademark physicality shines in the inspired pairing of Dash Pepin and Willem Long, both portraying Prospero's slave Caliban in tandem. Their heightened primal antics, acrobatic lifts, frog-leaping and finishing each other's sentences command the stage.

The world premiere of playwright Stefanie Zadravec's entrancing COLONY COLLAPSE receives an ingenious audience-immersive staging as the 50th mainstage production of The Theatre @ Boston Court. Jessica Kubzansky firm-handedly directs her cast of ten stellar acting talents in the hold-your-breath interlinking stories of the surviving parents of children gone missing.

The East West Players' latest, the world premiere of Giovanni Ortega's CRIERS FOR HIRE, most entertainingly introduces a wonderful injection of Filipino culture in early 1990's Los Angeles via a fusion of laugh-inducing situations and tear-duct-emptying relationships. Jon Lawrence Rivera quite ably directs his talented ensemble in Ortega's depiction of a group of professional funeral criers.

Actor/playwright John Posey charismatically performs his one-man show FATHER, SON & HOLY COACH providing multi-faceted, well-rounded performances of multiple, distinct characters. Writer Posey has written the leading role of John (the Son) that fits like a glove for actor Posey, both in the physicality and the deep emotional exposures that the main character John experiences.

In THE COMPLETE HISTORY OF AMERICA (ABRIDGED), the history of the United States receives an incredibly well-scripted, hysterically reenactment in just under two hours of simply inspired theatre. Jerry Kernion quite ably directs his very talented cast of three at a swift pace with just seconds enough for all the audience laughter to subside before the next funny bit follows- and they do keep coming!

Those fascinated in viewing the everyday life of a Courtney Love-esque rock star might find Echo Theatre Company's world premiere of playwright Sheila Callaghan's BED captivating and involving. Those interested in sympathetic characters to spend an hour and a half with might have their patience/attention more tested.

With some judicious editing, this Austin Pendleton-directed 95-minute solo SHARON TATE IN HEAVEN (actually Part One in a trilogy) would make a stunning stand-alone one act. Jen Danby has written this fictional interview of an already deceased Sharon Tate chockfull of very interesting celluloid facts and tidbits. Onstage as Tate, Danby has captured the vocal qualities and essence of Ms. Tate very nicely.

Director/producer/actor Charles Haid's latest theatrical directorial project ALTMAN'S LAST STAND opens February 6 at the Zephyr Theatre. In this one-man show, Michael Laskin portrays the Viennese-born Franz Altman who refused to sell his mid-town Manhattan second hand shop to corporate developers.

The world premiere of playwright Stephen Sach's DREAM CATCHER receives a strong mounting at the Fountain Theatre powered by the intensity of its two strong performers Brian Tichnell and Elizabeth Frances. Cameron Watson ably directs this one continuous eighty-minute confrontation  between Roy and his girlfriend Opal.

Nice workshop presentation of the world premiere of Diana Amsterdam's THE DODGERS. Maybe, joints should have been passed out along with the programs, so that the audience could be on the same plane as the characters in the opening scenes - as Dave Solomon directed - in a most relaxed, lethargic state of being high.  

Celebration Theatre solidly mounts (as they're always known to do) a stunning production of the Los Angeles premiere of DREAM BOY. All the acting and tech elements flawlessly gel in this intriguing drama, firm-handedly and smoothly directed by Michael Matthews, mesmerizingly guiding you through the everyday life of Nathan (the Dream Boy), even with the foreboding sense of some inevitable heartrending events to come.

This Skylight Theatre Company's production of playwright Tony Abatemarco's world premiere of FOREVER HOUSE will be the play I compare/measure all other plays I see this year -- and this is only January! Elizabeth Swain deftly directs her talented cast with never a lag or dull moment; with only time enough for the audience to laugh or shed a tear.

Playwright Janet Schlapkohl's MY SISTER has the good fortune of having two fine actresses, identical twins Elizabeth Hinkler and Emily Hinkler, in her two-character play. Easy to see why these two won the Hollywood Fringe Festival's Best Acting award in these same roles last year.

2Cents Theatre mounts a tight, thoroughly entertaining DEN OF THIEVES smartly written by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Stephen Adly Guirgis. Eric Augusztiny deftly directs his very talented cast of seven in a machine gun pace. What starts off as a realistic encounter of two members of a kleptomaniacs anonymous meeting morphs into an over-the-top burglary gone beyond bad.

The US premiere of ACT 3...  features the smart, witty writing of David Ambrose and Claudia Nellens performed with the assured talents of Rita Rudner and Charles Shaughnessy. Martin Bergman (Rudner's husband) smoothly directs these two performing veterans as they quite believably essay a modernistic couple not quite in sync with each other's needs.

In FELIZ NAVIDIVA, Kay Sedia (the self-proclaimed size 2, 18-year-old alter ego of Oscar Quintero) - hysterically regales her attentive audience in a quick one-hour set with her recent childhood stories of Christmases growing up in Tijuana. Kay Sedia's solid vocal pipes get properly utilized and surprisingly revealed to all listeners. Who knew she could really sing underneath all that big hair and hairspray!!!

The Red Cup Theatre Company's debut production of playwright Dennis Kelly's DNA unfortunately does not gel as a satisfying story. A group of teenage mean girls and bullies cover up a murder of a fellow student to no apparent consequence or laughs. Hard to believe the playwright who wrote the book for the award-winning Matilda The Musical created these skin-deep, totally unsympathetic characters devoid of any compassion.

The amazingly talented performers of THE BLACK VERSION - HOLIDAY SPECIAL rocked the audience at Largo @ The Coronet with their lightning quick improv wit, some incredible vocals and ridiculously sharp rapping. Karen Maruyama directed her six-member cast in a racehorse pacing with just enough time for hearty laughs between hilarious lines after hilarious reactions after hilarious comebacks.