MURRIETA MESA HIGH SCHOOL DRAMA COMPANY

by Evan Henerson - September 21, 2024

Martin Crimp’s free adaptation – first staged in 2019 with James McAvoy in the title role -  is as urgent and beguiling as it is contemporary, a classic with a fiery heart and not an inch of dustiness or quaintness. In the revival directed by Mike Donahue at the Pasadena Playhouse, CYRANO bursts wit...

by Harker Jones - September 19, 2024

A little more nuance to both the characters and the script would have given the show more weight. As it is, it’s quite broad, which, yes, is part of the point, but that point would be sharper if it were toned down a bit....

by Evan Henerson - September 18, 2024

In its L.A. premiere at the Geffen Playhouse directed by Andrew Russell, DRAGON LADY is every inch an homage to Maria Sr., who died in 2022, but also to resilience. Watching Porkalob crawl inside the skins these two little boys who are playing the part of super heroes ... is to take a wicked cool jo...

by Amanda Callas - September 09, 2024

Pascal & Julien is the US premiere of a magical play about childhood and friendship at the award-winning 24th Street Theatre in West Adams running through October 27th.  Written by Australian playwright Daniel Keene, Pascal & Julien is the tale of two quirky, annoying loners who discover the tender ...

by Amanda Callas - September 11, 2024

TH IR DS is the world premiere of a new dystopian drama, a messy play with a lot of interesting things on its mind. ...

by Amanda Callas - September 08, 2024

Memorable, entertaining and show-stopping, 3 Faces of Steve is a special treat to be savored.  The lavish, luxurious operatic voices and powerhouse emotive performances of Angelina Réaux, Michael Sokol and Bernardo Bermudez shine in the intimate, warm space of the Odyssey....

by Andrew Child - September 07, 2024

Though the language is easy to imagine as the foundation for a more ostentatious spectacle, the sweeping narration is deftly relayed by a mighty fistful of actors and a polished trio of dancers in a way that allows grand battles and weighty sociopolitical musings to service the intrinsic poetry of t...

by Evan Henerson - September 02, 2024

The work’s premiere at the Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum feels like a couple of different narratives – along with a screed or two – stuffed into a single evening. It’s an identity quest! It’s a perilous journey to motherhood! It’s a rumination/condemnation on what it means to be Latino! It’s a…circ...

by Evan Henerson - August 28, 2024

THE BROTHERS SIZE, a heart-rending, music-suffused three-hander exploring the strength and limits of fraternal bonds, is being staged in the Geffen’s smaller Audrey Skirball Kenis Theatre, where it fits beautifully....

by Andrew Child - August 25, 2024

Director Sean Cawelti has crafted a handful of stunning visuals which punctuate the narrative with video projection, meticulously-rendered puppet choreography, and a particularly stunning sequence with pyrotechnics....