#curtaincall

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…

4 months 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…

4 months 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…

4 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…

4 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…

5 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…

5 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…

6 months ago

LB Playhouse’s latest installment of the Century Cycle: “Gem of the Ocean”

Having just seen my fifth August Wilson play, it’s safe to say that I’m not a fan. Even at his…

8 months ago

“Man of La Mancha” lacks for scale but not talent

Musical Theatre West might be doing Man of La Mancha for the third (or is it the fourth?) time just…

9 months ago

“Crash Out Queens”: LB Opera’s challenging spotlight for Tiffany Townsend

Because this is “a reduced season” for Long Beach Opera, “[...] a chance for us to do some resetting of…

9 months ago