THE MUSIC CENTER'S MARK TAPER FORUM

by Amanda Callas - November 20, 2024

Written by acclaimed actress and playwright June Carryl and produced by Imagine Theatre, this light-hearted, fantastical voyage through the savanna is inspired by folktales and origin stories from South Africa.  There is a charming Wizard of Oz, Alice in Wonderland feeling of whimsy and adventure af...

by Evan Henerson - November 19, 2024

As embodied by Rainn Wilson and Aasif Mandvi in the revival of GODOT at the Geffen Playhouse, Vladimir and Estragon are a formidable pair. Beckett’s play about the unknowable darkness of the human condition has - go figure! - long been catnip for comedians, and you get why Wilson and Mandvi would wa...

by Andrew Child - November 18, 2024

Pinkleton has thrown every prop gimmick and novel idea in the book at the show, and in the process has disrupted the stuff that simply works about the piece....

by Michael Quintos - November 15, 2024

Led by a brilliant performance by Jason Alexander, this lively, emotionally-grounded, classic-leaning staging still somehow manages to feel fresh, reinvigorated, and much more searing than prior iterations.This latest SoCal-area revival of the landmark 1964 musical—here directed by Lonny Price—is, a...

by Harker Jones - November 13, 2024

NIGHTINGALE is by turns stark, humorous, shocking, and devastating, revealing truths and realities obliquely but with the power of blunt force....

by Evan Henerson - November 12, 2024

Is there some sort of formula for roping in both fans of a hit movie and stage hounds, to catch lightning in a new medium? Judging by what the musical's book writer Bob Gale, director John Rando and the musical team must have been thinking, the answer is you slavishly remake the movie on stage....

by Tracey Paleo - November 13, 2024

Before seeing this show, I knew nothing of it besides a quite comedically tantalizing Instagram promo video and a snazzy 60’s referencing sci-fi movie poster.  The script and plot however was as elusive as even the idea of a commonly puerile film executive attempting to write an exploitable and prof...

by Michael Quintos - November 11, 2024

Featuring a remarkable, gutsy performance by Tessa Auberjonois as the legendary comedienne, JOAN is an absorbing and hilarious new work that also feels like an on-going work-in-progress. The world premiere production continues performances at South Coast Repertory through November 24, 2024....

by Amanda Callas - November 05, 2024

This production feels contemporary and fresh, with an edgy, f-you, punk rock rebelliousness.  Yet it also feels profoundly truthful to the original grittiness of A Streetcar Named Desire, how it was received when it premiered — its New Orleans funk and grime, its rough, perverse sexiness and sweatin...

by Melissa Heckscher - October 31, 2024

In the end, the show is all about seduction, and it has all the dark, gritty sex appeal of a dingy French Quarter speakeasy. That is to say: It’s got the sultry rhythm and blues to sweep you into the fun even if you don’t know exactly why you’re there....