Andrew Child

When director Ron Sossi elected to present Stalin’s Master Class at Odyssey Theatre Ensemble for the second time, he was aware that audiences might respond differently to the production than they did to the previous staging 37 years ago.

The success of Fanny doesn’t lie in the nuance or perspective the straightforward script lends to this historical figure, but rather in the eclectic smattering of talents artfully gathered and showcased by the piece.

In classic ANW style, Rodriguez-Elliott has simplified everything, returning to the text and highlighting elements of the (mercifully and artfully) truncated libretto. Without a drop of stage blood, she has crafted lasting images of violence that grip us and carry the narrative.

The live show, which celebrates ten years of Judge’s popular podcast Criminal,  was appropriately filled with stories whose hook introductions took many unexpected twists and turns before resolving in ways often contradictory to the well-trodden paths of narrative.

Matthew Bourne has certainly crafted a “New Adventure” under the title Romeo and Juliet. Purists may come up empty-handed if they mine the kaleidoscopic geometry of the mesmerizing opening sequence for any semblance of “Two households, both alike in dignity”.

It’s 2024 and theatres shouldn’t be taking anything for granted anymore. No standard of existence or tried and true method should be undertaken without scrutiny. Rogue Artists Ensemble has appropriately blown the lid off the standard fundraising gala event, opting instead for a Carousel of Fools on Santa Monica Pier.

Upon entering the theatre, one is met by Berlant herself engaged in a Yoko Ono-esque performance flanked by an artist’s statement which has appeared verbatim in the program for every show I’ve reviewed in the past year.

It feels like a slight to write about this piece as just another theatrical performance offered this time of year. The community clearly comes out in droves to hear the choral narrations, see the beautiful artistry of Vanessa M. Gomez’ tilmas, and celebrate a treasured story.

I chatted with writer Isaac Gómez about the world premiere of their new play Radical or, are you gonna miss me? at IAMA Theatre Company. The play, which tells the story of two sisters struggling to navigate a relationship despite major political differences, was inspired in part by a shocking discovery Gómez recently had in their own life.

Rachel Chavkin’s staging is resourceful and inventive, packing major punches within Rachel Hauck’s deceptively-simple design. David Neumann’s choreography shines in moments of storytelling, defining locales and making electric the mundane act of sitting in a stool, but flounders during more formal dance breaks.

Director Marissa Chibás encountered Jose Rivera’s Cloud Tectonics when it “first came into the world” 28 years ago, but feels the story about an apocalyptic storm is startlingly prescient for contemporary LA audiences. “The play is about mystery and magic,” she surmises, “how we miss the little moments in life that are actually the big moments.”

The new seat cushions aren’t the only thing regulars of the Getty Villa’s annual theatre production are buzzing about this season (even though they are surprisingly comfortable and make the amphitheater a worthy place to sit for a few hours).

In the ways Angels in America embodies and reflects the zeitgeist of the AIDS epidemic, Our Dear Dead Drug Lord presents a story of four young women with a penchant for summoning spirits that somehow perfectly encapsulates the larger experiences of living in a terror-obsessed, post-9/11 world muddied by senseless shootings.

It is hard to exactly box the show into a genre. The seeds of this show were planted, she recalls, partially in response to an earlier performance about “fallacious senses of intimacy with an audience” in which she and her collaborator “vomited confessions” at an audience in front of paintings.

Bob Baker Marionette Theater couldn’t pick a more accurate title for their current offering than Hooray LA. The show is a celebration of LA’s culture, history, people, landmarks, and traditions that— without shying away from the dark stuff— manages to delight Angelenos across a spectrum of generations.

Although a reflection and a response to his own relationship with the theatre, Bernardo Cubría hopes his newest play, Crabs in a Bucket will reflect “larger themes than what it means to be a theatre person” and laughingly wishes that even people he hasn’t personally invited will come to see its premiere at The Echo Theater Company.

I was appalled to see a fantasy of homeless people and hourly workers city-wide joining together to seek revenge against the rich framed as an inevitable horror. When the throngs of impoverished storm the building toward the end of Act 1, it was uncomfortable to see the ticket holders around me squirm in fear.

The performance itself was a straightforward, text-driven version of Macbeth. Director Ellen Geer has not ignored a word of Shakespeare’s text and has crafted a production which seems obsessed with clarity, but doesn’t present any theatricality or inventiveness beyond relaying the narrative.

Though Michael Michetti’s staging has some extraneous elements, Adrián González and Ed F. Martin shine through in fully-developed performances. They carry dense dialogue through nuances of tension, desire, and discomfort in a journey that belies the tight space of the cell in which the entire discourse takes place.

After the excitement of the participatory pre-show, we are sat down in a hodgepodge of rickety, old chairs and spoon-fed a mediocre staging of The Tempest. The whole evening takes on a feeling that Beil warns against in her program note; the immersive elements become a gimmick, a brief reward for taking our medicine.