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, ...
These strangely paired short operas display the best (and worst) of the director's concepts.
Karen WeinsteinMusicLos Angeles,
Why pair Baroque "Dido and Aeneas" with Bartok's 20th century "Bluebeard's Castle"? According to program notes by director Barrie Kosky of the Komische Oper Berlin they have much in common. His most convincing argument is that they are "two operas ...
So, three guys were sitting around a bar rewriting the Gospels. That's the set-up to this funny, provocative work that is entertaining for all its intellectual heft.
Karen WeinsteinTheaterLos Angeles,
Put off by the weighty title of the Geffen's latest offering on its more innovative stage? Take it from me, there's no need to be. It is OK if you have forgotten all but the barest outline of your literature ...
This one-woman show has moments of revelation but often comes over as one long howl.
Karen WeinsteinTheaterLos Angeles,
In lean times theater directors turn more frequently to one person performances and very small casts. For material, the "written-and-performed-bys" mine the depths of memory. It is so much the easier if the remembered are dead and will never see ...
Modernists should find much to enjoy in this updated variation of the oft-performed classic.
Karen WeinsteinDanceLos Angeles,
Maybe you are one of those folks who looked at the advertisements for the Australian Ballet's "Swan Lake" and said, "I don't need to see another 'Swan Lake' by a company I've never even heard of ... why I've even ...
In a well-performed production, the playwright ponders wealth and what a once-wealthy family does to regain its lost status.
George AlexanderTheaterLos Angeles,
Affluence is a major issue in American society today — a few people have a lot of it while a lot of people have none and probably never will — so it’s not surprising that some playwrights are drawn to ...
Despite the brevity of the scenes and the number of undeveloped sub-plots, the vitality of this drama's performers rings true.
Karen WeinsteinTheaterLos Angeles,
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to win a MacArthur genius grant? I mean, aside from the fact that a sweet stipend would come to you for five years, no questions asked, no forms to be filed, ...
Cicely Tyson gives a luminous performance in this old-fashioned drama.
Karen WeinsteinTheaterLos Angeles,
"The Trip to Bountiful" is an old-fashioned story mounted with old-fashioned style. Not that that is all bad. It is what passes as a classic in the 21st century. Horton Foote's first iteration of this memory tale was as a ...
Despite the impressive bios of the creative team, this excessively wordy drama never comes to life onstage.
Karen WeinsteinTheaterLos Angeles,
"If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all" was the mantra of my youth, but that mantra does not serve a critic well. Looking forward to the opening night of "Marjorie Prime," I thought, "At last Michael ...
