Curtain Call

RLn’s Curtain Call is dedicated to covering theater in the Los Angeles Harbor Area. Whether it Long Beach’s ICT, Garage Theatre, Little Fish Theatre, TE San Pedro Rep you can find it here.

“Cyrano de Bergerac” with a side of meta: A fresh take on an old chestnut

Is Long Beach Shakespeare Company having an identity crisis? This year, five of their 12 offerings are live radio shows,…

6 days ago

“A Doll’s House, Part 2” is…well, you know what they say about sequels

In 2017, when I first saw a production of A Doll’s House, Part 2, it might have been, I dunno,…

1 month ago

A “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” that works for an Andrew Lloyd Webber hater

A Bible story — ho-hum. Andrew Lloyd Webber & Tim Rice — clunky and populist. “A contemporary twist inspired by…

1 month ago

Long Beach Shakespeare Co. camps up “The Importance of Being Earnest” to great effect

In my early 20s — a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away — I counted The Importance…

1 month ago

“Macbeth” by the sea a tale of two halves

Macbeth was never one of my faves. Despite spurts of spectacular (“Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow” — yeah), a lot…

2 months ago

A postmodern “Godspell” that’s a complete triumph

Prior to my seeing the production that is the subject of this review, my entire knowledge of Godspell was that…

2 months ago

“Elves 1989” Will Tickle Only a Specific Sort of Funny Bone

Kirsten (Rease Thresher) knows that she doesn’t like Christmas. What she doesn’t know is that her grandfather was Nazi scientist…

2 months ago

LB Playhouse cast capably handles Wildesque repartee of “The Lion in Winter”

Having not seen either a staged version of The Lion in Winter or the 1968 film adaptation (for which Katherine…

3 months ago

Community theatre take on “Side by Side by Sondheim” successfully communicates his genius

Part of the genius of Stephen Sondheim lies in the complexity of his music and lyrics. Often technically demanding, always…

3 months ago

“Seven Days to Mexican”: Whose culture is it, anyway?

Ostensibly, the main purpose of a theatre review is to provide intel for those who might be interested in a…

4 months ago