Harker Jones - Page 3

Edward Albee’s Tony Award–winning play about discontent and despair in 1960s academia is brought to blazing, blistering life by director Gordon Greenberg at the Geffen Playhouse, its themes and anxieties as relevant as ever on its 60th anniversary. Read our critic's review.

Read our critic's review. TOOTSIE is a contemporary take on an old trope: a man unconvincingly passes himself off as a woman, everyone in his world buys it, and hilarity tries to ensue. It's been done countless times, going back past Shakespeare to the ancient Greeks. That doesn't mean it always works, however, and TOOTSIE is a mixed bag.

Pulitzer Prize nominee Tanya Barfield’s brilliant BRIGHT HALF LIFE is smartly and artfully realized by director Amy K. Harmon, adding up to another solid project from The Road Theatre, which consistently stages challenging and rewarding productions.

Its warnings of the trappings of materialism and conformity are universal and timeless.

The script is amusing, moving with sparkling briskness. The characters are defined and distinct, and the performers bring them to life in energetic and well-modulated ways. And while the meaning of life isn’t necessarily unveiled, it is sought and the intertwining relationships do find both unique destinations and common ground.

The smash hit LOVE ACTUALLY LIVE sparkles like a tree full of ornaments on Christmas Eve at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts.

Saint Clare of Assisi’s story of devotion, austerity, and understanding, while at first glance not comedic, is brought to vivid and laugh-out-loud life by playwright Chiara Atik.

The show falls somewhat flat despite tight choreography, stunning set design, and some supporting star turns

The costumes are exquisite, the score is as fresh as it was when it first premiered, and the lighting and sound are phenomenal, but there is a muted quality to the production.

Just when it reaches the point where it’s almost unbearable, the show takes a hard turn, cutting to a frustrated office worker named Jeremiah, who is in a psychiatric session trying to process his rage at living in an America where Black lives do not matter to everyone and where being gay is considered a “stain” by many in the Black community.

SOMEONE ELSE’S HOUSE Is Like Paranormal Activity for the Stage

Florian Zeller's brilliant play THE FATHER plumbs the ideas of memory and self, starting off light-hearted and slowly, piece by piece, descending into a harrowing and devastating freefall.

Penelope Lowder's WEST ADAMS is a keenly observed look at race, class, and privilege seen through a magnifying glass that elevates it to an over-the-top state, for both better and worse. The timely show focuses on two interracial married couples: pregnant Caucasian Sarah (Allison Blaize) and Latin Edward (Andrés M. Bagg), and Asian Julie (Jenny Soo) and Caucasian Michael (Clayton Farris). They live in the burgeoning West Adams district of Los Angeles, thrilled to be part of the community's gentrification. But when a very wealthy black family moves in across the street, they struggle to even pretend they can keep up with the Jones', and the pressure devolves them into a spiral of resentment, racism, and, ultimately, revenge.

BWW Review: @ROCKOFAGESHollywood Tries to Rock Hollywood at the Bourbon Room

Country music is known (and often ridiculed) for its soap opera-like lyrics. Its storytelling often takes listeners on journeys of sadness and despair, and redemption. Tim Alderson's SALVAGE, playing at the Lounge Theatre in Hollywood through January 19, follows those tropes with mostly effective results and hits viewers with a cathartic and emotional impact.