Reviews

Antaeus Theatre Company was wise to put award-winning Director Andi Chapman at the helm of the Southern California premiere of Nambi E. Kelley’s Native Son, adapted from Richard Wright’s 1940 novel.  It is a heavy load to bear and Chapman, as she has so often done, took up the work with vision.  Her blending of…

The Mark Taper Forum has much to be proud of as it wraps up its 50th year of excellent theatre in Los Angeles.  From the acclaimed kick-off revival of Zoot Suit, which originated at the Taper in 1978,to the startling mid-season masterpiece, Archduke, toPhylicia Rashad’s once-in-a-lifetime triumph of performance in Head of Passes, it has…

Something delightful is happening at the Ahmanson Theatre.  On the heels of its successful Broadway run, the hilarious Something Rotten hit the road in January and has arrived in L.A. just in time for the season to be jollyat the Ahmanson Theatre.  The opening night audience came with open arms and bellies ready to shake…

There is nothing so rarified within the space of a theatre than the silent acting bursting forth from a company of ballet dancers bringing to life an iconic story.  Such was the air inside the Ahmanson Theatre, as Sir Matthew Bourne’s The Red Shoes opened with a splash.  What a story, what show, what a…

At the intersection of faith and suffering lives Job of the Bible.  There too, resides playwright Tarell Alvin McCraney’s Shelah (Phylicia Rashad), the faithful matriarch of a fractured family living in the family home situated where the waters of Mississippi River diverge, an area known as the Head of Passes.  Like the rushing waters of…

Jersey Boys: The Story of Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons A Review by Keri Tombazian In the summer of 2007, the first national tour of Jersey Boys came to the Ahmanson as a last minute replacement for a show that had run into copyright problems.  What a bit of luck it turned out to…

In live theatre, few things are sweeter than being able to announce on opening night that the run of a show is being extended.  No amount of critical acclaim can push a show into an extended run.  The bottom line is audience response—and oh, how the audience responded to the spectacle of, story, swagger, song,…

The Wholehearted marks the second production featuring the set of a boxing ring in the Center Theatre Group season this year.  Unlike the metaphorical ring in the Mark Taper Forum production of A View From The Bridge in which familial battles were fought, in The Wholehearted, flyweight boxer Dee Crosby (Suli Holum) steps into a…

No matter how many shows we take in, my husband Thom and I arrive at any given opening night of theatre filled with anticipation.  Sunday night we were bursting for August Wilson’s masterpiece of words and music: Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.  The play itself, produced on the formidable Mark Taper stage, endowed with a cast…

Heads up Angelenos – Broadway has sent some of its finest actors to the Ahmanson stage to shine in Grey Gardens: the musical version of the critically acclaimed documentary of the same name.  As neither my trusty friend Elisa Dekay, nor myself had yet seen the documentary, there was no expectation of comparing the musical…

I had the pleasure of the company of my friend of twenty years, actor Bruce Ladd, opening night of Father Comes Home From the Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3) at The Mark Taper Forum.  There is great fellowship in sharing live theater, which by its very nature cannot occur the same way twice no…

How do you solve a problem like a 1959 American musical with a flawed book, the iconic film of which is seared into the hearts and minds of American theatergoers? Unleash the imagination of three-time Tony Award winning director, Jack O’Brien, and stand back as he brings surprising freshness to The Sound of Music.  …

A Review by Keri Tombazian When the curtain came down opening night at the Mark Taper Forum on Branden Jacobs-Jenkins award winning play, Appropriate, I was both enthralled and perplexed.  Enthralled because there is so much to love about this rich play and stunning production, perplexed because with so much talent on and off stage…

Brutal.  Gruesome. Frightening.   Ten minutes into the Mark Taper Forum revival of Martin Sherman’s Bent, I sat frozen in my seat, clutching Thom’s hand beside me as Nazi soldiers burst from the audience and into the action on stage.  By intermission, I had to convince myself to stay for Act II.  Having seen the 1980…