Theatre Reviews

How does one even possibly sum up a lifetime of rebelliousness, happiness, savoir fare fashion sense and all around joie de vivre? Well, apparently Leslie Jordan (The Help, Will and Grace, Ugly Betty) does it quite devilishly and most properly in his own unique story-telling style – and, might I add, a style that any true Southern debutante would envy (“But then I just simply can’t think about that now, I’ll go crazy if I do. I’ll think about it tomorrow...

Baby Doll, now playing at the Lillian Theatre, is a play based on a movie based on a play. Tennessee Williams adapted his one-act 27 Wagons Full of Cotton (with the help of Elia Kazan) for the 1956 movie Baby Doll, directed by Kazan and starring Karl Malden, Caroll Baker and Eli Wallach.

The screenplay has now been adapted back into a stage play by director Joel Daavid, better known for his set and lighting designs...

Dance duo Liz Casebolt and Joel Smith meld deconstructed modern dance and narrative storytelling in the premier of O(h), a provocative and witty commentary that confronts gender and sexuality politics while poking fun at the overly self-important world of modern dance.

Founded in 2006, the dance company duo of Casebolt & Smith recently wrapped up a buzz-worthy inaugural tour of O(h) in 2011, returning to Los Angeles with new vigor and hell bent on bringing their amalgamated version of expressive...

A moonlight serenade turns into a visitation from the angel of death, times three.

It’s not often that a play creates a kind of intimacy that makes you feel like you are standing in the room with it, or rather hanging out like a “buddy” with it. As it happens, Bridge, at Ruby Theatre at The Complex, showing it’s last several performances this week, forgoes the voyeurism of audience vs stage and invites you right into it’s heart and soul.

Bridge is not a quiet desperation by any means...

In a brand new social drama, filled with darkness and humor, Innocent Flesh, a one act play written and directed by NAACP winner Kenyetta Lethridge, exposes the realities of the sexual exploitation, teen prostitution and domestic trafficking of children in America. Innocent Flesh is loosely based on the real stories of four young girls and the hardships they face as underage prostitutes.

“Young American girls are being raped daily for profit in communities we call home...

The Elephant Theatre has “re-opened” its production of Love Sick, a brand new play by first-time playwright Kristina Poe, following a successful first run. Don’t get fooled by its teen-flick title. It is not a romantic comedy. It’s a dark, surreal treatment of real issues suffused with bits of humor, disturbing undertones and surprising insight.

The plays opens in what appears to be a public sewer or underground restroom...

Oswald, now making its West Coast premiere at the Write Act Repertory Theater, dramatizes the interrogation of Lee Harvey Oswald by Dallas Police Captain William Fritz during the chaotic 48 hours following the assassination of President Kennedy. LA playwright Dennis Richard has used publicly recorded statements (such as Oswald’s meeting with reporters) as well as Fritz’s handwritten notes of the interrogation, to present this behind-the-scenes view in as straightforward manner as possible.

T...

He has pulled off a coup by attracting humor legend Lee Evans from while watching him on point is pretty special, this selection of plays net together in a cohesive production which is likely to cause you to think of the things and people you might have missed.

We start with Landscape, that will be Pinter in his most subjective...

What was scandalous in the 60s is slightly less scandalous now. Casual attitudes toward homosexuality, infidelity, corrupt politicians and medical professionals, all presented in the guise of a light-hearted, door-slamming farce, were concepts that were shocking to audiences then. Now they seem almost quaint.

Joe Orton wrote What the Butler Saw, his final play, just before his murder in 1967 and it wasn’t first produced until two years after he died...

For the first time at the Pinter in the Pinter Year, Jamie Lloyd hands on the reins Completely since he entrusts Lyndsey Turner and Ed Stambollouian Using Pinter’s Brief plays Moonlight and Night School.

Moonlight is most likely among the toughest plays at the Pinter year up to now. He wishes to know when his kids and grandchildren will see his demeanor, while recalling adulterous romps with Maria.

Andy’s wannabe-mafia sons flit in and out of their action since they operate lines to get a meetin...