Despite flaws, Balm in Gilead remains a fascinating tale
The unconventional plot shines through the less than captivating leads.
Broadway stage brings hippies to life with Hair
The Pantages production delivers a fun performance along with 1960s issues.
Drama and comedy mix in play
In dealing with grief and loss, Rabbit Hole offers a humorous look into how people live their lives to the fullest.
Comedic spin on horror succeeds
Refreshing take on a classic novel mixes Victorian social satire with oddball song and dance numbers.
The Phantom takes his last bow
The famous play maintains its melodrama amid updated elements.
Recent production doesn’t quite capture spirit of the original
A Chorus Line set itself up for easy billboard praise the moment the lyric “one singular sensation” was included in its signature song, and when it opened on Broadway in 1975, that’s exactly what the musical deserved to be called. Picking up nearly every award that mattered, including a Pulitzer Prize and an embarrassment of […]
Females stand out in latest Chicago production
“Hello, suckers!” cries Terra C. MacLeod’s sultry Velma Kelly at the beginning of Chicago’s second act. She’s speaking, of course, to us, the audience, and we chuckle because we know she’s right. Chicago — in ways far slinkier and shadier than we might originally think or expect — makes suckers of us all, and it’s […]
Wagner opera to have West Coast premiere in Bing
Das Liebesverbot will be staged for the second time in North America by USC students.
Colorful musical theater at its most interactive
Theater is immersion. So when some chump a few rows over is making moment-killing noises during a show — whether that’s pneumonic coughs or ill-timed whoops of praise — standard protocol is to give them the stink eye. I have never known an exception to this rule. I like my theaters kept relatively silent, especially […]
Shakespeare’s classic gets better with each line
Performing Shakespeare is notoriously difficult to pull off — even more difficult than listening to it. So when the USC School of Theatre’s Masters of Fine Arts in Acting Program class of 2010 learned that it would be staging Shakespeare’s Pericles, Prince of Tyre as one of a series of three student performances, it must […]