Has L.A. got religion? There seems to be a recent mini-bumper crop of shows that don’t just treat the topic of religion but give it a kind of earnest, un-cynical reckoning, whether their creators’ intention is to satirize its absurdity, interrogate its purpose, even simply celebrate it.
To me this approach couldn’t be more welcome; as a lifelong Lutheran who went to a Jesuit high school—in other words, as someone who was raised in two of the more benign, un-stark Christian traditions, in my view—I’ve always taken religion, and the case for and against it, more seriously than many of my educated friends, while at the same trying to recognize that for many of them religion looks like mania at best, fascism at worst. Many folks I know either have reasonably rebelled against a harsher tradition than the one I’ve known, or have simply taken at face value the uglier aspects of ascendant fundamentalism. To me, the latter is just a lamentable sign that in the battle to define religious observance, the hard-liners always win in popular perception as the most devout, the most representative of the “true” core of the faith, with the rest of us mainliners being somehow lapsed or watered-down from the “real” thing. Bruce Bawer has an excellent, justifiably shrill book on this, Stealing Jesus; for him as for me, it’s nails on a chalkboard to hear the Christian right and its political agenda called simply “Christian.” Whatever you think of that so-called “family values” platform, it’s simply not true that it represents any monolithic “Christian” worldview. (This would be news, for instance, to Martin Marty, Peter Gomes, or Huston Smith, three wise, circumspect old men who don’t lead a movement--though maybe they should.)
Which is why I respect Julia Sweeney’s LETTING GO OF GOD so much, and why it often reduced me to helpless giggles. She takes on the topic from the inside rather than scoffing from the outside; as she says late in the show, as she bids farewell to the deity she’s decided she can no longer believe in: “It’s because I take you so seriously that I can’t bring myself to believe in you. That’s really sort of a compliment, don’t you think?” It is, and it’s a compliment to the audience, too.
This more straight-faced approach is also behind two other much-talked-about new shows, HOLLYWOOD HELL HOUSE and A VERY MERRY UNAUTHORIZED CHILDREN’S SCIENTOLOGY PAGEANT. I wrote an article on these two plays for Weekly Variety, which has not appeared (and may never, apparently), in which the comment of SCIENTOLOGY PAGEANT co-creator/director Alex Timbers seems like these shows’ central principle: “Almost all the information in the show is taken from their own literature. We thought that the best way to satirize the Church of Scientology was to let the Church speak for itself.”
Likewise the creators of HOLLYWOOD HELL HOUSE, Maggie Rowe and Jill Soloway, have used as their raw material actual text from real fundamentalist “hell houses”—Halloween walk-throughs that use blood and guts and special effects to illustrate the wages of such sins as homosexuality, abortion, Harry Potter, raves, or happening to have the wrong religion. Among the leading impresarios of these scarefests is Pastor Keenan Roberts at Destiny Church in Arvada, Colo., from whom Rowe bought a “hell house” kit for a “youth group in West Hollywood.” When I spoke to Pastor Roberts, he was upset that Rowe had misrepresented herself, and he was miffed above all that the HOLLYWOOD version didn’t represent the full production value of his original. He wasn’t particularly bothered by the fact that Rowe and co.’s intention was to satirize his fire-and-brimstone beliefs—indeed, he said he was grateful for the publicity for his own “hell house” kits.
That would seem to be a danger of doing this stuff with a relatively straight face; Rowe told me she’s had Christian fundamentalists attend and not get the joke: “We’ve had a couple of Christain groups come and think it’s a real hell house. We had a woman come up to us and tell us, ‘You are doing such a good thing. Girls need to know what happens if they get an abortion or go to a rave. This is such a great service!’ ” Rowe, herself a more-or-less recovered Baptist, laughs a little uneasily at this, but for Timbers and SCIENTOLOGY PAGEANT co-creator/playwright Kyle Jarrow, this kind of misunderstanding is the highest tribute such a satire can receive. Said Timbers: “The basic principle that guides us is that the ultimate sign of success would be if [the Church] embraces [‘Pageant’] and wants to stage it for themselves.” (That’s unlikely: the Church of Scientology spokeswoman I spoke to, Chel Stith, said dismissively, “This is nothing,” and then delivered the ultimate blow to the credibility of any Scientology critique: “This is not litigation material.”)
Towering above all these critiques and satires with its own extraordinary brand of earnestness is THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, a smashing example of an increasingly rare cultural commodity: unintentional camp on a grand scale. There’s no winking here, no self-conscious acknowledgement of its own cheesiness, which somehow makes it all the more stunning. I went because Weekly Variety was interested in a story from the scene of a purported train wreck—there were reports that its performances had been cut back in response to bad press, and fresh talk that its planned January run at Radio City Music Hall in New York has been “postponed.” (Souvenir item of the year is a $7 totebag, for sale in the Kodak lobby, with the “Val Kilmer IS Moses” artwork and the following optimistic itinerary: “Hollywood New York Chicago Boston Las Vegas.”) Frankly, it doesn’t look like a train wreck; it looks a well-oiled vehicle utterly confident of its destination. It’s a crazy train, surely, but it shows no signs of going off the rails.
That is, except in the lead performance of Val Kilmer, who seems genuinely humbled by the scale of the show. He’s not a natural stage performer; he has a reticence that can draw us in on-screen, and while it’s often weirdly compelling onstage, he seems to be not entirely present but simply lets the show wash over him and take him. At one point on the night I saw it, while the cast was booming a closing number about saying a prayer for the children (favorite lyric, from the just-down-from-Sinai-with-the-tablets Moses: “Beyond right and wrong, we’re all the same”), Kilmer put his head down and stopped singing for about 30 seconds, either in sincere prayer or exhaustion. You just don’t see this on American Idol.
Spotted in the audience, by the way, was hack director Joel Schumacher, no doubt collecting ideas for the next Batman movie (though he bolted at intermission after buying a bag full of souvenir items), and Carson from Queer Eye, surely picking up some fashion don’ts.
And so the stages of L.A.—home of everything from the Kabbalah Center to the Zen Center, from the Lake Shrine to my own spiritual home of choice—is talking the talk, and walking the walk (or catwalk, as the case may be), of the region’s rich spiritual life.
Can I get a witness?
Oct 24, 2004
If God Were Dead, He'd Be Rolling in His Grave
“There’s a shadow on this house
You can turn this thing around.”
“We think his God is real
You better strike a deal.”
“This really ain’t that funny.”
--lyrics from “The Ten Commandments,” a.k.a. “Val Kilmer IS Moses”
Coming soon: A real post about a mini-spate of earnest religion-themed shows in L.A.
You can turn this thing around.”
“We think his God is real
You better strike a deal.”
“This really ain’t that funny.”
--lyrics from “The Ten Commandments,” a.k.a. “Val Kilmer IS Moses”
Coming soon: A real post about a mini-spate of earnest religion-themed shows in L.A.
Oct 23, 2004
Ravi Recommends
I don't agree with all his assessments, but the notoriously passionate L.A. theatre maven Ravi Narasimhan is always worth listening to. He's got a recommendation for a show I won't be able to see due to previous commitments, but I thought I'd post his rave for anyone who's up for it:
"I wanted to notify you about a spectacular one-woman performance of Sophocles's ANTIGONE taking place at the International Latino Theatre Festival which opened this weekend at the indoor space of the John Anson Ford Theatre. Teresa Ralli, a legendary actress from Peru, delivers a spellbinding performance in a poetic adaptation of the Greek text by Jose
Watanabe. She assumes and expresses all of the major roles with a
voice alternately booming as Creon and soft as Antigone with
dancelike physicality using only a couple of nondescript props. She
had the full house in her thrall from start to finish. Hers is a
rare gift and one not to be missed. She performs in Spanish with
supertitles projected in English. Ms. Ralli is part of the troupe
Yuyachkani, which has been a leading theatre company in Peru since
the mid-1970s. There are only two performances left, tonight (Saturday) at 8pm and a Sunday matinee at 3pm. Ticket availability may be difficult but it
is eminently worth the effort."
I've seen very few convincingly stirring productions of this play, which is so popular as a sort of "protest" statement (confusedly so, in my opinion), so if any of you go, let me know what you think.
"I wanted to notify you about a spectacular one-woman performance of Sophocles's ANTIGONE taking place at the International Latino Theatre Festival which opened this weekend at the indoor space of the John Anson Ford Theatre. Teresa Ralli, a legendary actress from Peru, delivers a spellbinding performance in a poetic adaptation of the Greek text by Jose
Watanabe. She assumes and expresses all of the major roles with a
voice alternately booming as Creon and soft as Antigone with
dancelike physicality using only a couple of nondescript props. She
had the full house in her thrall from start to finish. Hers is a
rare gift and one not to be missed. She performs in Spanish with
supertitles projected in English. Ms. Ralli is part of the troupe
Yuyachkani, which has been a leading theatre company in Peru since
the mid-1970s. There are only two performances left, tonight (Saturday) at 8pm and a Sunday matinee at 3pm. Ticket availability may be difficult but it
is eminently worth the effort."
I've seen very few convincingly stirring productions of this play, which is so popular as a sort of "protest" statement (confusedly so, in my opinion), so if any of you go, let me know what you think.
Starting at the Top
Believe it or not but I’m usually flummoxed, nonplusssed, and otherwise stupid when people ask me, “So what should I see?” A recommendation is always, or should be, a personal thing; there are some shows I would recommend to one and all, regardless of genre or ticket price, and others I would recommend on a case-by-case basis (like, say, THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, which is a must-see extravaganza for a certain kind of had-to-be-there culture vulture who can swing a comp ticket—namely, folks like me--but is to be avoided like a plague of frogs by most everyone else).
But now, after sputtering a few titles, I can point these on-the-spot questioners to this weblog, where they can sift for themselves (and follow the links for more info) and not take my word for it.
At the Times I have three categories by which I can rank shows: Critic’s Choice, Recommended, and Not Recommended. These rankings determine where in the Thursday and Sunday listings the shows appear (thankfully the “Not Recommended” shows are never stamped with that opprobium; you have to infer it by their not being included in the “Choice” or “Recommended” column). My informal guidepost for these three rough categories is: A “Critic’s Choice” is one of those shows everyone should see, a “Recommended” is for those who like that sort of thing (and one hopes at least a critic’s description of the show, apart from his opinion of it, will clue in like-minded readers), and “Not Recommended” is for family, friends, and other unlucky house-paperers.
As I get caught up with what will be my weekly Review of Reviews feature, I’ve started by summing up currently running shows that have received unanimous accolades in every venue I can find (again, the reviews in Variety still elude me, and I’ll redress that oversight in the future). These are shows which, if you haven’t seen already you should (and, in all too many cases, I must confess, so should I.)
For months running it’s been the must-see show of the year; it opened in May and is running through Dec. 18. Athol Fugard’s EXITS AND ENTRANCES at the Fountain Theatre in Hollywood--a sort of two-person memoir/tribute to a late, great white South African actor who inspired him as a young man—is a Critic’s Choice in The Times, an LA Weekly Pick, and, though the review is no longer available online, a Critic’s Pick in Back Stage West (I know because I was that lucky critic’s non-reviewing “plus one” on opening night).
I was unclear, then, how Morlan Higgins, who gives in E&E the performance of a lifetime, could also appear in DEALING WITH CLAIR last weekend, and through December, at the Matrix. It’s double-cast, certainly, but don’t some of the performances overlap? I asked Fountain publicist Kim Garfield, who reported that Higgins must be appearing in DWC on Sun.-Tues. and in E&E Fri., Sat., and Sun. (a matinee). I’m still confused, since I saw Higgins in DWC on a Saturday night.
I bring all this up only because the Fugard play is not one in which to see an understudy; before you go to the Fountain, make sure that Morlan has not left the building. The play is beautiful but Higgins’ performance is the show here.
Two positive verdicts have come in on HEART OF A DOG at the Lillian Theatre. The Times' Daryl H. Miller pretty much loved Michael Franco's adaptation of Bulgakov's 1925 novella, about a dog with human characteristics, calling it "as funny as it is provocative" and lauding particularly Joe Fria's lead turn as a canine "so eager and feisty that you want to reach out scratch its ears." Back Stage West’s Les Spindle was also impressed, if more reserved, lauding Franco’s ambition and calling the “complex material absorbing” but probably best suited to “those well-versed in Russian culture and political history.”
The tiny Black Dahlia Theatre in midtown L.A. has bloomed into a reliable desination for the sort of plays you’d expect to see at South Coast’s old Second Stage or Off-Broadway. The Dahlia’s newest, the L.A. premiere of David Schulner’s affecting AN INFINITE ACHE, details the rise and fall and gentle denouement of a marriage with deceptively simple stagecraft, and the performances of Steven Klein and Suzy Nakamura are dead-on. The Times’ David C. Nichols called it "a deft populist construct with wisdom at its core”; the LA Weekly’s Lovell Estell III labeled it “a richly dimensional portrait of love in all its emotional, psychological and spiritual layers,” and Back Stage West’s Dink O’Neal praised the actor’s “unhurried choices and some of the best technical wizardry I've ever seen in a venue this intimate,” referring to Christopher Siebels’ extraordinarily versatile set. It may not be a first-date play, but it’s a surefire take-someone-you-love thing.
Believers and non-believers alike should rush to Julia Sweeney’s new one-woman show LETTING GO OF GOD at the Hudson Backstage in Hollywood, in which she recounts her journey from a comfortable Catholic faith to a less comfortable but more honest state of disbelief. I called it "brave, hilarious, and ultimately moving" in my Times review, while Back Stage West's Wenzel Jones pleaded that his "vocabulary is deficient in superlatives" (well, he was able to come up with "the funniest, most insightful show to have played the area in quite some time"). The Weekly's Steven Mikulan, always a cool customer, described the show as "at times... gruesomely funny" (which he means as a compliment, don't you know), and though he found it overstuffed with information, he allowed it this negative virtue: it "avoids the stagy, existential-lite moping associated with such public quests." Well, thank God--or whatever--for that.
The impish Leslie Jordan’s solo show, the colorfully titled LIKE A DOG ON LINOLEUM at the Elephant Asylum Theatre in Hollywood, recounts his growing up gay in the Deep South. Back Stage West’s Paul Birchall, no pushover he, gushed that Jordan “has the audience eating out of his hand from the first to last, and his assured script engrossingly balances revelation with the ability to entertain.” The Weekly's Martín Hernández riffed on Jordan’s title, comparing his “endearing and boundless energy” to a that of a chihauhua. And The Time’s David C. Nichols raved that “this compact dynamo pulls us into his confidence with house-shaking hilarity and heart-tugging candor.”
Glendale’s A Noise Within has apparently found fresh life in Shakespeare’s A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM, according to Back Stage West’s Travis Michael Holder, who praised the production’s “remarkable starkness and a muscular simplicity,” and the Weekly’s Sandra Ross, who called it a "sumptuous, visually arresting production," noting that "Angela Balogh Calin’s whimsical, inventive sprite costumes explode in a riot of Day-Glo colors." Cool.
Among the most intensely discusssed offerings in town is Tom Jacobson’s OUROBOROS at North Hollywood’s Road Theatre. It’s a play about the spiritual quest of two American couples in Italy that runs its scenes in reverse order on alternate weekends to create two separate evenings under the titles, “A Nun’s Tale” and “A Priest’s Tale.” The Times’ erudite Philip Brandes wrote that director Michael Michetti’s “impeccable staging makes it easy to appreciate this new work in all its dazzling ingenuity.” The Weekly’s equally thoughtful Steven Leigh Morris called the play(s) an “enchanting metaphysical etude… a highbrow Twilight Zone and a comedy of opposites ever so carefully and symmetrically balanced.” Back Stage West has it listed as a Critic’s Pick but the review is no longer available online.
Likewise, THE TANGLED SNARL & MURDER ME ONCE, a double bill of film noir spoofs, has unanimous picks and raves but only one review is still available online, the Weekly’s, by Martín Hernández, who calls its “uproarious,” mixing “Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, and Mel Brooks” under James Reynolds’ direction.
Finally, the high-concept satire A VERY MERRY UNAUTHORIZED CHILDREN’S SCIENTOLOGY PAGEANT at Santa Monica’s Powerhouse Theatre has critics buzzing with barely contained glee, as if to say: Someone finally got away with this! The Times’ David C. Nichols pulled out his Roget’s to praise this “mix of pastorale, Dianetics demo and Bill Melendez Peanuts special,” while Back Stage West’s Paul Birchall came up with his own list of comparisons in calling it a “provocative mix of Christmas-pageant sincerity, Christopher Durang-like irony, and unexpected rage.” The LA Weekly’s Steven Mikulan offered his own literary analogy: “The evening plays out like a comedy about mind control as written by Nathanael West.” All the critics raved about the young grade-school troupers who put across the show’s irony with straight faces.
Next update: Such critical “split decisions” as DORIAN, HOLLYWOOD HELL HOUSE, and THE HOMECOMING.
But now, after sputtering a few titles, I can point these on-the-spot questioners to this weblog, where they can sift for themselves (and follow the links for more info) and not take my word for it.
At the Times I have three categories by which I can rank shows: Critic’s Choice, Recommended, and Not Recommended. These rankings determine where in the Thursday and Sunday listings the shows appear (thankfully the “Not Recommended” shows are never stamped with that opprobium; you have to infer it by their not being included in the “Choice” or “Recommended” column). My informal guidepost for these three rough categories is: A “Critic’s Choice” is one of those shows everyone should see, a “Recommended” is for those who like that sort of thing (and one hopes at least a critic’s description of the show, apart from his opinion of it, will clue in like-minded readers), and “Not Recommended” is for family, friends, and other unlucky house-paperers.
As I get caught up with what will be my weekly Review of Reviews feature, I’ve started by summing up currently running shows that have received unanimous accolades in every venue I can find (again, the reviews in Variety still elude me, and I’ll redress that oversight in the future). These are shows which, if you haven’t seen already you should (and, in all too many cases, I must confess, so should I.)
For months running it’s been the must-see show of the year; it opened in May and is running through Dec. 18. Athol Fugard’s EXITS AND ENTRANCES at the Fountain Theatre in Hollywood--a sort of two-person memoir/tribute to a late, great white South African actor who inspired him as a young man—is a Critic’s Choice in The Times, an LA Weekly Pick, and, though the review is no longer available online, a Critic’s Pick in Back Stage West (I know because I was that lucky critic’s non-reviewing “plus one” on opening night).
I was unclear, then, how Morlan Higgins, who gives in E&E the performance of a lifetime, could also appear in DEALING WITH CLAIR last weekend, and through December, at the Matrix. It’s double-cast, certainly, but don’t some of the performances overlap? I asked Fountain publicist Kim Garfield, who reported that Higgins must be appearing in DWC on Sun.-Tues. and in E&E Fri., Sat., and Sun. (a matinee). I’m still confused, since I saw Higgins in DWC on a Saturday night.
I bring all this up only because the Fugard play is not one in which to see an understudy; before you go to the Fountain, make sure that Morlan has not left the building. The play is beautiful but Higgins’ performance is the show here.
Two positive verdicts have come in on HEART OF A DOG at the Lillian Theatre. The Times' Daryl H. Miller pretty much loved Michael Franco's adaptation of Bulgakov's 1925 novella, about a dog with human characteristics, calling it "as funny as it is provocative" and lauding particularly Joe Fria's lead turn as a canine "so eager and feisty that you want to reach out scratch its ears." Back Stage West’s Les Spindle was also impressed, if more reserved, lauding Franco’s ambition and calling the “complex material absorbing” but probably best suited to “those well-versed in Russian culture and political history.”
The tiny Black Dahlia Theatre in midtown L.A. has bloomed into a reliable desination for the sort of plays you’d expect to see at South Coast’s old Second Stage or Off-Broadway. The Dahlia’s newest, the L.A. premiere of David Schulner’s affecting AN INFINITE ACHE, details the rise and fall and gentle denouement of a marriage with deceptively simple stagecraft, and the performances of Steven Klein and Suzy Nakamura are dead-on. The Times’ David C. Nichols called it "a deft populist construct with wisdom at its core”; the LA Weekly’s Lovell Estell III labeled it “a richly dimensional portrait of love in all its emotional, psychological and spiritual layers,” and Back Stage West’s Dink O’Neal praised the actor’s “unhurried choices and some of the best technical wizardry I've ever seen in a venue this intimate,” referring to Christopher Siebels’ extraordinarily versatile set. It may not be a first-date play, but it’s a surefire take-someone-you-love thing.
Believers and non-believers alike should rush to Julia Sweeney’s new one-woman show LETTING GO OF GOD at the Hudson Backstage in Hollywood, in which she recounts her journey from a comfortable Catholic faith to a less comfortable but more honest state of disbelief. I called it "brave, hilarious, and ultimately moving" in my Times review, while Back Stage West's Wenzel Jones pleaded that his "vocabulary is deficient in superlatives" (well, he was able to come up with "the funniest, most insightful show to have played the area in quite some time"). The Weekly's Steven Mikulan, always a cool customer, described the show as "at times... gruesomely funny" (which he means as a compliment, don't you know), and though he found it overstuffed with information, he allowed it this negative virtue: it "avoids the stagy, existential-lite moping associated with such public quests." Well, thank God--or whatever--for that.
The impish Leslie Jordan’s solo show, the colorfully titled LIKE A DOG ON LINOLEUM at the Elephant Asylum Theatre in Hollywood, recounts his growing up gay in the Deep South. Back Stage West’s Paul Birchall, no pushover he, gushed that Jordan “has the audience eating out of his hand from the first to last, and his assured script engrossingly balances revelation with the ability to entertain.” The Weekly's Martín Hernández riffed on Jordan’s title, comparing his “endearing and boundless energy” to a that of a chihauhua. And The Time’s David C. Nichols raved that “this compact dynamo pulls us into his confidence with house-shaking hilarity and heart-tugging candor.”
Glendale’s A Noise Within has apparently found fresh life in Shakespeare’s A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM, according to Back Stage West’s Travis Michael Holder, who praised the production’s “remarkable starkness and a muscular simplicity,” and the Weekly’s Sandra Ross, who called it a "sumptuous, visually arresting production," noting that "Angela Balogh Calin’s whimsical, inventive sprite costumes explode in a riot of Day-Glo colors." Cool.
Among the most intensely discusssed offerings in town is Tom Jacobson’s OUROBOROS at North Hollywood’s Road Theatre. It’s a play about the spiritual quest of two American couples in Italy that runs its scenes in reverse order on alternate weekends to create two separate evenings under the titles, “A Nun’s Tale” and “A Priest’s Tale.” The Times’ erudite Philip Brandes wrote that director Michael Michetti’s “impeccable staging makes it easy to appreciate this new work in all its dazzling ingenuity.” The Weekly’s equally thoughtful Steven Leigh Morris called the play(s) an “enchanting metaphysical etude… a highbrow Twilight Zone and a comedy of opposites ever so carefully and symmetrically balanced.” Back Stage West has it listed as a Critic’s Pick but the review is no longer available online.
Likewise, THE TANGLED SNARL & MURDER ME ONCE, a double bill of film noir spoofs, has unanimous picks and raves but only one review is still available online, the Weekly’s, by Martín Hernández, who calls its “uproarious,” mixing “Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, and Mel Brooks” under James Reynolds’ direction.
Finally, the high-concept satire A VERY MERRY UNAUTHORIZED CHILDREN’S SCIENTOLOGY PAGEANT at Santa Monica’s Powerhouse Theatre has critics buzzing with barely contained glee, as if to say: Someone finally got away with this! The Times’ David C. Nichols pulled out his Roget’s to praise this “mix of pastorale, Dianetics demo and Bill Melendez Peanuts special,” while Back Stage West’s Paul Birchall came up with his own list of comparisons in calling it a “provocative mix of Christmas-pageant sincerity, Christopher Durang-like irony, and unexpected rage.” The LA Weekly’s Steven Mikulan offered his own literary analogy: “The evening plays out like a comedy about mind control as written by Nathanael West.” All the critics raved about the young grade-school troupers who put across the show’s irony with straight faces.
Next update: Such critical “split decisions” as DORIAN, HOLLYWOOD HELL HOUSE, and THE HOMECOMING.
Oct 22, 2004
Sometimes it's a sad little town
Just had my LA Times assignment for tonight changed at the last minute. It looks like I'll be heading off to the Odyssey to see Conquest of the North Pole, directed by Steve Pickering, whose Among the Thugs (scroll down) was a highlight of last year's theatre.
The thing is, when I chatted with Don Shirley, who gives me my assignments, about the play I had originally been assigned and for which I'd reserved tickets, which will now be reviewed by another critic later in the weekend, Don told me that the show's publicist said something like, "Now, hypothetically, a show that's not selling out might try to fill the house on the night the Times critic comes..." In other words, the producers of the show I won't be seeing tonight (which shall remain nameless here) have no doubt been scrambling over the last hour to call their friends and get them to reschedule for the performance at which the Times critic will show.
This can be a cruel business–even, say, a wicked one.
The thing is, when I chatted with Don Shirley, who gives me my assignments, about the play I had originally been assigned and for which I'd reserved tickets, which will now be reviewed by another critic later in the weekend, Don told me that the show's publicist said something like, "Now, hypothetically, a show that's not selling out might try to fill the house on the night the Times critic comes..." In other words, the producers of the show I won't be seeing tonight (which shall remain nameless here) have no doubt been scrambling over the last hour to call their friends and get them to reschedule for the performance at which the Times critic will show.
This can be a cruel business–even, say, a wicked one.
Quote for a Day
I hesitate to say "quote for the day," because that sounds like there will be one every day, and what if I run out of good quotes? I don't want to be a tease.
"Old songs are more than tunes. They are little houses in which our hearts once lived." –Ben Hecht
"Old songs are more than tunes. They are little houses in which our hearts once lived." –Ben Hecht
Making My Entrance Again
A hearty welcome to readers of my new weblog, a long-overdue by-product of my years covering and opinionating about life on and behind the "wicked stage," particularly here in Los Angeles, where good live theatre thrives against steep odds and even deeper indifference.
For this blog, I've revived the title of my old column for Back Stage West, which I started and ran for 10 years (1993-2003), but of course I didn't invent the phrase. I took from the Jerome Kern/Oscar Hammerstein song from "Show Boat," "Life Upon the Wicked Stage," which I had Megan Mullally sing at an awards show in 2001 or so. (Those were the Garlands, by the way--awards which are still bestowed by Back Stage West critics, minus the show.)
My main gig now is reviewing theatre on a freelance basis for the Los Angeles Times and the Downtown News, where I learned the newspaper trade (and covered the '92 riots) back in the days when desktop publishing was new and the dotcom bubble had barely begun to form. I also write about theatre for American Theatre, Variety, and LA Stage. I hope to either link to my reviews and features online or work out an arrangement with my editors by which I can post them for viewing.
I hope this site is a destination for anyone who loves and hates the theatre enough to care, and who, like me, isn't content for theatregoing to be a passive experience. I often enjoy the discussions and dish sessions I have about plays I've seen more than the plays, and on the other hand there's nothing more exciting than to spread the word about a great new show you feel has been overlooked.
Herewith I'll kick off the first regular feature of this weblog: My weekly Review of Reviews, in which I'll sum up all the theatre reviews published this week at major papers in the Los Angeles market, and list them in descending order, with the best-reviewed shows at the top, and on down from there. I've provided links where I can; note that all the LA Times links require registration (a pretty easy process if you're already a daily paper subscriber, or know someone who is), though there are well-substantiated murmurs that calendarlive.com's notorious firewall is not long for this world. Without further ado...
The high-concept satire A VERY MERRY UNAUTHORIZED CHILDREN’S SCIENTOLOGY PAGEANT at Santa Monica’s Powerhouse Theatre has critics buzzing with barely contained glee, as if to say: Someone finally got away with this! The Times’ David C. Nichols pulled out his Roget’s to praise this “mix of pastorale, Dianetics demo and Bill Melendez Peanuts special,” while Back Stage West’s Paul Birchall came up with his own list of comparisons in calling it a “provocative mix of Christmas-pageant sincerity, Christopher Durang-like irony, and unexpected rage.” The LA Weekly’s Steven Mikulan offered his own literary analogy: “The evening plays out like a comedy about mind control as written by Nathanael West.” All the critics raved about the young grade-school troupers who put across the show’s irony with straight faces. (I've got a piece in this coming Sunday's Weekly Variety about how this show and HOLLYWOOD HELL HOUSE represent a new kind of religious satire, and how these shows are being received by the shows' targets.)
GRAND HOTEL at the Colony in Burbank received mostly grand reviews for its silk-purse treatment of a late-’80s tuner more beloved for Tommy Tune’s stylish direction than the show itself. The Daily News’ Evan Henerson admired director Peter Schneider’s scaled-down revival, conceding that the material is less than “a terrific musical. But it's lively, short and—in Schneider's hands—quite vibrant.” The Times’ Daryl H. Miller likewise wrote that “by subtly streamlining the story and gently coaxing forth its emotions, Schneider has uncovered riches heretofore unsuspected in this transparent story and only intermittently infectious music.” Only Back Stage West’s Les Spindle filed a more mixed notice, calling Schneider’s work “irreproachable” but dismissing the show as what we’d see “if Ship of Fools was watered down into a Love Boat episode.” All the critics applauded Jason Graae’s against-type turn as a dying bookkeeper.
Two positive verdicts have come in on HEART OF A DOG at the Lillian Theatre. The Times' Daryl H. Miller pretty much loved Michael Franco's adaptation of Bulgakov's 1925 novella, about a dog with human characteristics, calling it "as funny as it is provocative" and lauding particularly Joe Fria's lead turn as a canine "so eager and feisty that you want to reach out scratch its ears." Back Stage West’s Les Spindle was also impressed, if more reserved, lauding Franco’s ambition and calling the “complex material absorbing” but probably best suited to “those well-versed in Russian culture and political history.”
The Matrix Theatre returns to the scene with the U.S. premiere of Martin Crimp’s DEALING WITH CLAIR, a Pinteresque play about a brisk real-estate agent brokering a house sale, with unexpected personal complications. The Weekly’s Steven Leigh Morris, in a Pick of the Week review, was taken with the show’s “craft and polish,” with its study of “high-toned hypocrisy,” and with Gregory Itzin’s “nuance-laced performance.” I also invoked “nuance” in my review for the Times (scroll down)—in my case, I referred admiringly to the play’s “nuanced suspense”—though I quibbled slightly with director Andrew J. Robinson’s occasionally over-emphatic direction. Back Stage West’s Dany Margolies went to see both casts of this double-cast show, two nights in a row, a luxury I couldn’t afford; we can expect her review next week.
Reviewers have highlighted the relevance of a new revival of Kurt Vonnegut’s 1970 twist on Odysseus, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, WANDA JUNE at the Actors’ Gang in Hollywood. The Times’ David C. Nichols said its anti-war elements give director Greg Reiner’s production a feeling of “déjà vu,” and called the overall result “more crazed cartoon than finished play.” (He meant it as a compliment.) Back Stage West’s Terry Morgan lauded a cast of “terrific actors… who perform their roles just as they would have been performed when the play opened—but with a level of energy that galvanizes the work.” He particularly singled out William Russ’ turn as a gun-toting man’s man as “one of the most assured and entertaining performances of the year.” The Weekly’s Miriam Jacobson noted the production’s “quirkiness” as its most prominent element, writing that “what the production lacks in tension, it makes up for in the eye candy of Sibyl Wickersheimer’s over-the-top taxidermy scenery and Ann Closs-Farley’s perfect swinging-’60s costumes.”
A revival of Wendy Wasserstein’s feminist epic THE HEIDI CHRONICLES at the Long Beach Playhouse got politely mixed reviews, with the Long Beach Press-Telegram’s Alessandra Djurklou lamenting the “talky” script and the lead character, played by Amy Wiese, who “doesn’t come across as interesting enough to really engage the audience.” Back Stage West’s Shirle Gottleib likewise wondered “if this play makes an impact today, even if given a perfect production,” in which category she clearly didn’t place director Phyllis B. Gitlin’s rendition. She did, however, praise Joseph LeMieux’s “superb” turn as Scoop Rosenbaum.
Critics aren’t swooning over THE DAME OF NEW ORLEANS at the Egyptian Arena Theatre in Hollywood, in an adaptation by writer/director Natalija Nogulich of Alexandre Dumas’ Camille. The LA Weekly’s Deborah Klugman said its elements of Victorian melodrama just “seem downright silly,” while Back Stage West’s Madeleine Shaner pulled out the big guns, calling the show “loud, forced, and arch, shrilly derivative, and loaded with stereotypes,” and noting with dismay that “Southern accents are butchered like Thanksgiving turkeys.” Both critics praised Shon LeBlanc’s period costumes, but that’s not exactly news.
NOTE: These have just been summaries of this week’s new reviews, and only of shows with more than one new review this week. (I haven’t included Daily Variety’s reviews because I don’t have a subscription—I’ll be working on a way to summarize those reviews, too.)
I do plan to update these summaries over the coming days and weeks to reflect the critical consensus, or lack thereof, about all shows currently running in L.A. and environs, so keep checking back.
UPDATE: Your comments, on and offline, have been appreciated. My favorite is from a former colleague, the critic Kerry Reid, who reviewed for Back Stage West from San Francisco and is now based in Chicago. She was among the best and liveliest writers I ever had the pleasure to edit, and this may give some idea of what I mean. Kerry wrote:
"I turn 40 on Election Day. If you need ideas for the perfect gift, here's a
hint: My name is on it."
For this blog, I've revived the title of my old column for Back Stage West, which I started and ran for 10 years (1993-2003), but of course I didn't invent the phrase. I took from the Jerome Kern/Oscar Hammerstein song from "Show Boat," "Life Upon the Wicked Stage," which I had Megan Mullally sing at an awards show in 2001 or so. (Those were the Garlands, by the way--awards which are still bestowed by Back Stage West critics, minus the show.)
My main gig now is reviewing theatre on a freelance basis for the Los Angeles Times and the Downtown News, where I learned the newspaper trade (and covered the '92 riots) back in the days when desktop publishing was new and the dotcom bubble had barely begun to form. I also write about theatre for American Theatre, Variety, and LA Stage. I hope to either link to my reviews and features online or work out an arrangement with my editors by which I can post them for viewing.
I hope this site is a destination for anyone who loves and hates the theatre enough to care, and who, like me, isn't content for theatregoing to be a passive experience. I often enjoy the discussions and dish sessions I have about plays I've seen more than the plays, and on the other hand there's nothing more exciting than to spread the word about a great new show you feel has been overlooked.
Herewith I'll kick off the first regular feature of this weblog: My weekly Review of Reviews, in which I'll sum up all the theatre reviews published this week at major papers in the Los Angeles market, and list them in descending order, with the best-reviewed shows at the top, and on down from there. I've provided links where I can; note that all the LA Times links require registration (a pretty easy process if you're already a daily paper subscriber, or know someone who is), though there are well-substantiated murmurs that calendarlive.com's notorious firewall is not long for this world. Without further ado...
The high-concept satire A VERY MERRY UNAUTHORIZED CHILDREN’S SCIENTOLOGY PAGEANT at Santa Monica’s Powerhouse Theatre has critics buzzing with barely contained glee, as if to say: Someone finally got away with this! The Times’ David C. Nichols pulled out his Roget’s to praise this “mix of pastorale, Dianetics demo and Bill Melendez Peanuts special,” while Back Stage West’s Paul Birchall came up with his own list of comparisons in calling it a “provocative mix of Christmas-pageant sincerity, Christopher Durang-like irony, and unexpected rage.” The LA Weekly’s Steven Mikulan offered his own literary analogy: “The evening plays out like a comedy about mind control as written by Nathanael West.” All the critics raved about the young grade-school troupers who put across the show’s irony with straight faces. (I've got a piece in this coming Sunday's Weekly Variety about how this show and HOLLYWOOD HELL HOUSE represent a new kind of religious satire, and how these shows are being received by the shows' targets.)
GRAND HOTEL at the Colony in Burbank received mostly grand reviews for its silk-purse treatment of a late-’80s tuner more beloved for Tommy Tune’s stylish direction than the show itself. The Daily News’ Evan Henerson admired director Peter Schneider’s scaled-down revival, conceding that the material is less than “a terrific musical. But it's lively, short and—in Schneider's hands—quite vibrant.” The Times’ Daryl H. Miller likewise wrote that “by subtly streamlining the story and gently coaxing forth its emotions, Schneider has uncovered riches heretofore unsuspected in this transparent story and only intermittently infectious music.” Only Back Stage West’s Les Spindle filed a more mixed notice, calling Schneider’s work “irreproachable” but dismissing the show as what we’d see “if Ship of Fools was watered down into a Love Boat episode.” All the critics applauded Jason Graae’s against-type turn as a dying bookkeeper.
Two positive verdicts have come in on HEART OF A DOG at the Lillian Theatre. The Times' Daryl H. Miller pretty much loved Michael Franco's adaptation of Bulgakov's 1925 novella, about a dog with human characteristics, calling it "as funny as it is provocative" and lauding particularly Joe Fria's lead turn as a canine "so eager and feisty that you want to reach out scratch its ears." Back Stage West’s Les Spindle was also impressed, if more reserved, lauding Franco’s ambition and calling the “complex material absorbing” but probably best suited to “those well-versed in Russian culture and political history.”
The Matrix Theatre returns to the scene with the U.S. premiere of Martin Crimp’s DEALING WITH CLAIR, a Pinteresque play about a brisk real-estate agent brokering a house sale, with unexpected personal complications. The Weekly’s Steven Leigh Morris, in a Pick of the Week review, was taken with the show’s “craft and polish,” with its study of “high-toned hypocrisy,” and with Gregory Itzin’s “nuance-laced performance.” I also invoked “nuance” in my review for the Times (scroll down)—in my case, I referred admiringly to the play’s “nuanced suspense”—though I quibbled slightly with director Andrew J. Robinson’s occasionally over-emphatic direction. Back Stage West’s Dany Margolies went to see both casts of this double-cast show, two nights in a row, a luxury I couldn’t afford; we can expect her review next week.
Reviewers have highlighted the relevance of a new revival of Kurt Vonnegut’s 1970 twist on Odysseus, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, WANDA JUNE at the Actors’ Gang in Hollywood. The Times’ David C. Nichols said its anti-war elements give director Greg Reiner’s production a feeling of “déjà vu,” and called the overall result “more crazed cartoon than finished play.” (He meant it as a compliment.) Back Stage West’s Terry Morgan lauded a cast of “terrific actors… who perform their roles just as they would have been performed when the play opened—but with a level of energy that galvanizes the work.” He particularly singled out William Russ’ turn as a gun-toting man’s man as “one of the most assured and entertaining performances of the year.” The Weekly’s Miriam Jacobson noted the production’s “quirkiness” as its most prominent element, writing that “what the production lacks in tension, it makes up for in the eye candy of Sibyl Wickersheimer’s over-the-top taxidermy scenery and Ann Closs-Farley’s perfect swinging-’60s costumes.”
A revival of Wendy Wasserstein’s feminist epic THE HEIDI CHRONICLES at the Long Beach Playhouse got politely mixed reviews, with the Long Beach Press-Telegram’s Alessandra Djurklou lamenting the “talky” script and the lead character, played by Amy Wiese, who “doesn’t come across as interesting enough to really engage the audience.” Back Stage West’s Shirle Gottleib likewise wondered “if this play makes an impact today, even if given a perfect production,” in which category she clearly didn’t place director Phyllis B. Gitlin’s rendition. She did, however, praise Joseph LeMieux’s “superb” turn as Scoop Rosenbaum.
Critics aren’t swooning over THE DAME OF NEW ORLEANS at the Egyptian Arena Theatre in Hollywood, in an adaptation by writer/director Natalija Nogulich of Alexandre Dumas’ Camille. The LA Weekly’s Deborah Klugman said its elements of Victorian melodrama just “seem downright silly,” while Back Stage West’s Madeleine Shaner pulled out the big guns, calling the show “loud, forced, and arch, shrilly derivative, and loaded with stereotypes,” and noting with dismay that “Southern accents are butchered like Thanksgiving turkeys.” Both critics praised Shon LeBlanc’s period costumes, but that’s not exactly news.
NOTE: These have just been summaries of this week’s new reviews, and only of shows with more than one new review this week. (I haven’t included Daily Variety’s reviews because I don’t have a subscription—I’ll be working on a way to summarize those reviews, too.)
I do plan to update these summaries over the coming days and weeks to reflect the critical consensus, or lack thereof, about all shows currently running in L.A. and environs, so keep checking back.
UPDATE: Your comments, on and offline, have been appreciated. My favorite is from a former colleague, the critic Kerry Reid, who reviewed for Back Stage West from San Francisco and is now based in Chicago. She was among the best and liveliest writers I ever had the pleasure to edit, and this may give some idea of what I mean. Kerry wrote:
"I turn 40 on Election Day. If you need ideas for the perfect gift, here's a
hint: My name is on it."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)