The production's singing, while generally good, is often overwhelmed by froth and exaggerated charm.
Karen WeinsteinMusicLos Angeles,
"The Barber of Seville" has been seen somewhere every year since its initial production almost 200 years ago. A light spirit and beautiful music that wafts through your mind long after you have left the theater make it easy to ...
Hang in there: This drama of marital and family friction comes to life in the second act.
Karen WeinsteinTheaterLos Angeles,
How often have you thought a second act was the meat of a play? Not very, I would guess. Arthur Miller's 1968 family saga, "The Price," is one of those rare instances where this is the case.
The wealthy ...
Andrew OsborneEtcLos Angeles,
5:44 PM - Amy's currently predicting that Marion Cotillard will win the Red Carpet...and she also thinks Anna Kendrick's already out of the competition with her pretty dress...pretty boring.
6:15 PM - While we're waiting for the Red Carpet to really start ...
This much-heralded Irish drama ends up an uneasy mix of "rescue fantasy" meets "no good deed goes unpunished."
Karen WeinsteinTheaterLos Angeles,
Alas, dear reader, once again I am stuck in a tale of good-news/bad-news. Being a glass-half-full kind of a gal, I figure why not try to start with the good? "The Night Alive" is the much-awaited winner of the New ...
A creepy premise, a great cast, and deft direction cannot redeem this drama from its own shortfalls.
Karen WeinsteinTheaterLos Angeles,
"Reborning." The meaning is as crazy as it sounds. Reborning is the act of creating an individual infant doll in the precise image of a child whom a parent has lost. People (mostly women) pay mucho dinero for these creepy ...
A social satire about the building of Dodger Stadium.
Karen WeinsteinTheaterLos Angeles,
The question is "Can you tell the players without a scorecard?" No, I do not mean the one player on the field. Vin Scully, the voice of the Dodgers since long before they arrived in Los Angeles, cheerfully gives the ...
The only thing that doesn't creak in this touring production is the charming, unstoppable Angela Lansbury.
Karen WeinsteinTheaterLos Angeles,
Here is the perfect Christmas gift for the "Downton Abbey"/"Upstairs Downstairs"/antimacassar set. Anglophiles will probably thrill to the (sometimes hard to catch) British accents, Designer Simon Higlett's perfect English drawing room, and Noël Coward's ever-so-tasteful, black-tie double entendres. Angela Lansbury ...
Despite a listenable score, the simple story line never fully engages in this loose homage to García Márquez.
Karen WeinsteinMusicLos Angeles,
Reader beware. This is not a review for the opera cognoscenti whose weary ears may be seeking newer, less familiar fodder. You know who you are. This is a review for the reader who may be a touch tired of ...
This new production from the Oregon Shakespeare Festival has made the transition to the hills of Beverly with all its provocative elements intact.
Karen WeinsteinTheaterLos Angeles,
Trip thee lightly into the woods my darlings but beware the eternal dangers lurking there. Thus it is and thus it shall always be. The woods are full of wolves, giants, controlling mothers, faithless spouses, impossible dreams ... all manner ...
The cast peels off zingers (and clothes) in this ribald farce, but the power it packed in the 1960s has faded.
Karen WeinsteinTheaterLos Angeles,
What is naughty or nice is often a matter of when the question is asked. In 1967 when it debuted, "What the Butler Saw" was not only naughty, it was downright scandalous. In 2014? Not so much. Still witty, ...
