Month: June 2018

Theater Review: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest at After Hours Theatre Company

June 30, 2018

Before you even enter the building for After Hours Theatre Company’s immersive production of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, the experience begins. As you check in, you are asked to fill out an intake form that asks a few general questions about your health. Has your sleep been disturbed lately? Do you have any … More Theater Review: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest at After Hours Theatre Company

Theater Review: Our Very Own Carlin McCullough at the Geffen Playhouse

June 29, 2018

“Who loves the battle?” “Carlin loves the battle.” This rallying cry is repeated throughout Our Very Own Carlin McCullough, a play written by Amanda Peet currently in its world premiere at the Geffen Playhouse. Carlin, ten years old when the story begins, is a tennis prodigy, and she is everything to both her single mother … More Theater Review: Our Very Own Carlin McCullough at the Geffen Playhouse

Theater Review: Reprise 2.0’s Sweet Charity

June 22, 2018

At one point in the musical Sweet Charity, the main female characters sing “there’s gotta be something better than this.” While they are singing about their disappointing lives, this line also speaks directly to the extremely problematic messages this dated show perpetuates regarding sexual and gender politics. There’s gotta be something better in terms of … More Theater Review: Reprise 2.0’s Sweet Charity

Theater Review: The Humans at the Ahmanson Theatre

June 22, 2018

Despite an impressive pedigree, there is little that’s flashy about The Humans, the 2016 Tony Award winner for Best Play that opened this week at Center Theatre Group’s Ahmanson Theatre. Written by Stephen Karam with the entire original Broadway cast reprising their roles, the one-act play unfolds over the course of Thanksgiving dinner with a … More Theater Review: The Humans at the Ahmanson Theatre

Theater Review: Long Day’s Journey Into Night at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts

June 15, 2018

The aptly named Long Day’s Journey Into Night, which won a posthumous Pulitzer Prize for Drama for playwright Eugene O’Neill in 1957, is an in-depth look at an exhaustingly dysfunctional family over the course of one very long day. The Bristol Old Vic production, directed by Richard Eyre, opened this week at the Wallis Annenberg … More Theater Review: Long Day’s Journey Into Night at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts

Theater Review: Tom Hanks in Henry IV at The Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles

June 14, 2018

There is truly nothing like live theater. At the performance of Henry IV attended for this review, the show was stopped about forty minutes in to act one due to a medical emergency in the audience (according to an announcement made later, the person was ultimately alright). During the fifteen minute pause, as audience members … More Theater Review: Tom Hanks in Henry IV at The Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles

Theater Review: Ripe Frenzy at Greenway Court Theatre

June 9, 2018

With school shootings more prevalent than ever, it is unsurprising that Ripe Frenzy, a new play currently in its west coast premiere at Greenway Court Theatre as part of a National New Play Network rolling world premiere, tackles this difficult subject head on. While 2017 brought what felt like an onslaught of theater commenting on … More Theater Review: Ripe Frenzy at Greenway Court Theatre

Theater Review: Forever Bound at the Atwater Village Theatre

June 5, 2018

If you watched only the opening scenes of Forever Bound, a play written by Steve Apostolina now in its world premiere at the Atwater Village Theatre in Los Angeles, you would likely never guess the turns the story eventually takes. Presented by Sankalpa Productions, it is one of those shows that is difficult to discuss … More Theater Review: Forever Bound at the Atwater Village Theatre