The original production of The Fantasticks premiered on May 3, 1960, at the Sullivan Street Playhouse in New York’s Greenwich Village. The play ran for forty-two years, logging 17,162 performances, becoming the longest-running off-Broadway musical in […]
“Changing Lives to Save Lives” With the beautiful opening shot of Oakland, California, I had a hunch this was going to be a compelling feature-length documentary, and indeed, director, producer, and cinematographer Mimi Chakarova’s In […]
WAVES:Country: Czech RepublicDirector & Writer: Jirí Mádl Genre: Political ThrillerLanguages: Czech, Slovak, French, Russian, Italian, and othersSubtitles: EnglishRunning time: 130 Minutes Director/writer Jirí Mádl’s Waves, the Czech Republic’s submission for Best International Film, has already won 17 […]
On Stage With… Lady Beverly CohnEditor-at-Large My headline begins with “Audience Pleasing,” and I wrote that for a very specific reason: The 2,691 seats of the Pantages were filled to capacity that night with patrons […]
Center Stage With…Lady Beverly CohnEditor-at-Large Playwright Matt Letscher has a fabulous ear for dialogue and is a skilled storyteller as demonstrated in the World Premiere of his entertaining play Demolition. Masterfully directed by Max Mayer, […]
There is a reason PETER PAN is a theatrical chestnut that has endured over 70 years. It began as a musical based on the play written by Sir J.J. Barrie, with original music by Morris […]
Sheer perfection is what you get when you combine Conor McPherson’s brilliant script and sharp direction with Bob Dylan’s iconic music and lyrics, supported by dazzling dance sequences by a talented ensemble supervised by movement […]
Before I launch into a review of director Michael Mayer’s touring production of Funny Girl, currently on stage at the Ahmanson through Sunday, April 28, here’s a brief history of this, if not the most […]
Capsule Film Reviews While SBIFF ended a few weeks ago, this is the first chance I’ve had to write about it. 200 films and shorts from around the world were premiered and obviously, I cannot […]
FILM REVIEWAmerikatsiUnrated117 MinutesReleased September 8, 2023 A storyline predominantly based on voyeurism is not a new cinematic concept, and here are some examples of films with that overriding theme: Disturbia, Rear Window, The Burbs, American […]