Stories | Theater Reviews
Misplaced Menagerie
Published April 30, 2008
The Old Globe Theatre’s “Classics Up Close” series presents some of the great works of American theater on the small Cassius Carter Centre Stage. The theater-in-the-round offers an intimate look at plays usually seen many rows ...
33 Variations
Published April 23, 2008
Music is time-bound. It must move forward or cease to be. A few hundred years from now, most likely music will leave linear progression and become vertical as well as horizontal. It may even move ...
Theater of Real Life
Published April 16, 2008
The “Father of Modern Drama” wasn’t Ibsen, or August Strindberg. He was Andre Antoine (1858…1943), a clerk for the Paris Gas Company and an amateur actor. Cercle Gaulois, for whom he played bit parts, performed ...
Realism Dethroned Published April 9, 2008
When first produced in 1889, August Strindberg’s “naturalistic tragedy,” Miss Julie, was a shocker: not just for its stark class conflicts, herky-jerky dialogue, and “multiplicity ... More Post a comment
Inaugural Ball Published April 2, 2008
Cygnet Theatre has already extended A Little Night Music, with good reason. They’re offering a wonderful production of Stephen Sondheim’s kaleidoscopic inspection of love’s many ... More Post a comment
Odious, but Inevitable Published March 19, 2008
Stephen Sondheim was so proud to have a musical on Broadway — West Side Story, for which he wrote the lyrics — he went back ... More Post a comment
On the Brink Published March 12, 2008
In UCSD Theatre’s recent staging of The Physicists, Michelle Diaz played Sister Boll, a monobrowed, lock-stepping head nurse at a sanitarium. Diaz made bold physical ... More Post a comment
Plan Well Acted Published March 5, 2008
Maybe things’re different across the lake, where vacationers play nonstrenuous games and pound down chow on the American Plan: three squares, plus tea, coffee, and ... More Post a comment
Lost Pain Published Feb. 27, 2008
‘That cat Oedipus is a bad mother-…” “Shut-cho mouth!” “But I’m talkin’ ’bout Oedipus.” In Will Power’s often blazing, at times reductive hip-hop take on ... More Post a comment
Requisite Chops Published Feb. 20, 2008
Jerry Herman and Michael Stewart’s Hello, Dolly! had the requisite chops for a long Broadway run. Add in the Hall of Famers who eventually played ... More Comments (2)
Sacred and Profane Published Feb. 6, 2008
The great boxer Joe Louis and baseball immortal Josh Gibson were contemporaries who thrived in the 1930s. The Old Globe Theatre’s In This Corner tells ... More Post a comment
Art on Trial Published Jan. 30, 2008
A woman walked into Ion Theatre’s intimate space, glanced at the set, and froze. The stage is an interrogation room: institutional gray, cinderblock walls, a ... More Post a comment
Who They Weren't Published Jan. 23, 2008
Right place, wrong timing: In 1938, a friend of mine’s great-uncle saved his shekels and went to the, at that time, Fight of the Century ... More Post a comment
Blared and Brayed and Tweaked Published Jan. 9, 2008
THE YEAR IN REVIEW: PLAYS AND PRODUCTIONS. Last year, several shows arrived ballyhoo-first. Pre–opening-night accolades promised “Broadway bound” quality and SRO houses both here and ... More Post a comment
A Good Place Published Jan. 2, 2008
THE YEAR IN REVIEW. A woman at a local mall, recently interviewed on TV, summed up 2007 with one look. Asked why Christmas shopping was ... More Post a comment
Wicked Grasp Published Dec. 27, 2007
If I could host a dinner for five "unforgettable" San Diegans from long ago, one guest would have to be Apolinaria Lorenzana. Called "La Beata" ... More Post a comment
Truth Attack Published Dec. 13, 2007
Off the Ground, by Amy Chini and Tom Zohar New Village Arts Theatre Christmas Is Comin' Uptown, Common Ground Theatre, WorldBeat Center Kristianne Kurner's set ... More Post a comment
Feisty As Ever Published Dec. 6, 2007
Sweet 15 (Quinceañera), by Rick Najera San Diego Repertory Theatre, 79 Horton Plaza, downtown Directed by Sam Woodhouse; cast: Rick Najera, Alma Martinez, Nina Brissey, ... More Post a comment
Hipsters Overnight Published Nov. 29, 2007
Cry-Baby, book by Mark O'Donnell and Thomas Meehan, songs by David Javerbaum and Adam Schlesinger, based on the John Waters movie La Jolla Playhouse, 2910 ... More Post a comment
Theater of War Published Nov. 15, 2007
'I always had a passion for play-making," says Robert Landis, co-founder of the legendary Footlights Theatre of San Diego (1947) and equally legendary Scripteasers (1948). ... More Post a comment
Super Seducer Published Nov. 8, 2007
Dracula, by Stephen Dietz, adapted from the Bram Stoker novel North Coast Repertory Theatre, 987 Lomas Santa Fe Drive, Solana Beach Directed by Christopher Vened; ... More Post a comment
Morality Mania Published Oct. 25, 2007
Oscar Wilde loved to spin platitudes on their ear. "Fathers should be neither seen nor heard," says Lord Goring in An Ideal Husband. "My Reginald ... More Post a comment
Time and Space Manipulated Published Oct. 18, 2007
Humble Boy, by Charlotte Jones New Village Arts Theatre, 2787 State Street, Carlsbad Directed by Kristianne Kurner; cast: Rosina Reynolds, Daren Scott, Jessica John, Jim ... More Post a comment
Look Inside Published Oct. 11, 2007
Harvey Fierstein's musical remake of A Catered Affair begins like a pebble tossed in a pond. Janey and Ralph are getting married. They don't want ... More Post a comment
Reality Inside-Out Published Sept. 27, 2007
Before anyone speaks at the La Jolla Playhouse, we could be watching a scene from the TV show All in the Family: balding Archie Bunker ... More Post a comment
Ragged Ragtime Published Sept. 20, 2007
If E.L. Doctorow had written Ragtime as a musical in 1975, instead of a novel, I wonder if Broadway would have staged it. Set in ... More Post a comment
Done by Deadline Published Sept. 13, 2007
Some writers thrive on deadlines, with the egg-timer ticking or a nine-milly pointed at their brain. Noel Coward penned Private Lives in three days, in ... More Post a comment
Life By Candlelight Published Aug. 30, 2007
'We'd do backflips to recreate that feeling," says lighting designer Eric Lotze, as we head upstairs at the Whaley House, "but you can't have it ... More Post a comment
Hushed House Published Aug. 22, 2007
I have always wanted to turn the eyes of local theater artists outward: have them look at examples of their craft in San Diego at ... More Post a comment
Mystery in The Mundane Published Aug. 9, 2007
On January 17, 1995, a 7.2 earthquake struck just north of Kobe, Japan, at dawn. Between 6500 and 7000 people lost their lives. Twenty-six thousand ... More Post a comment
Love Spy Published Aug. 2, 2007
On the Old Globe stage this summer, Shakespeare's Two Gents has a disguised woman, Measure for Measure a Duke disguised as a priest, and you ... More Post a comment
Spare, Well-Spoken Published July 26, 2007
You learn a lot about a director's concept of Hamlet the instant the guards appear. I've seen everything from German storm-troopers to surreptitious CIA types ... More Post a comment
Crowd Pleaser Published July 19, 2007
Looking for an undemanding summer bagatelle? Go see the Old Globe's Measure for Measure. It's a real crowd-pleaser. Of course, if you want an earnest ... More Post a comment
Raging Romance Published July 12, 2007
By the end of Shakespeare's romance The Two Gentlemen of Verona, you wonder when the title characters will show up. Valentine and Proteus begin as ... More Post a comment
Now and Then Published July 5, 2007
I hope they never make a movie of Tom Stoppard's Arcadia. The chances are unlikely, since the play's set in two different eras (1809-1812 and ... More Post a comment
Soldiers, Bullfighters, Cigar Rollers Published June 28, 2007
After a number ended, late in the La Jolla Playhouse's Carmen, five or so dancers stood in a circle, illumined in red. Then four left ... More Post a comment
She Talks Horse Published June 21, 2007
Equine karma? It's too bad Devon Tramore couldn't interview Street Sense, Curlin, and Rags to Riches, this year's Triple Crown winners. Devon, a female jockey ... More Post a comment
Metaphors and Technicolor Published June 6, 2007
The lights come up. We're in a room under repair: boards tilt against bare walls; faux blue marble fireplace. In the center's a silver tarp ... More Post a comment
The George and Martha Show Published May 31, 2007
George and Martha can't live with, or without, each other. At the end of Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? two questions surface: Can ... More Post a comment
Undercurrents Published May 24, 2007
Awhile back, I wrote a feature about D.J. Sullivan, who has taught acting in San Diego for 40 years. I couldn't let her get away ... More Post a comment
O'Neill in Bondage Published May 10, 2007
On paper it looked like a lock. The same Cygnet Theatre team that did award-winning work with Tennessee Williams's Cat on a Hot Tin Roof ... More Post a comment
Breathing Room Published May 3, 2007
Lee's home-style diner's at 1621 Wylie Avenue, in Pittsburgh's Hill District. Across the street, the Prophet Samuel, bejeweled with rings, lies in an open casket ... More Post a comment
The Soul of Wit Published April 26, 2007
In his youth, John Donne (1572-1631) was a hot Metaphysical poet who wrote salacious verses and thought Shakespeare, his elder by eight years, a doddering ... More Post a comment
As Enchanting As You Want Published April 19, 2007
Warning: mysql_num_rows(): supplied argument is not a valid MySQL result resource in /mnt/disk1/sdreader/php/smith_show.php on line 87 Flawed scripts, polished productions. The long, sketchy first act ... More Post a comment
Entry-Level Feminists Published April 12, 2007
Depending on who does the defining, Erika and Jessica are either semi-permanent or entry-level clerical workers at Solomon, Greenspan, Sachs. In their mid-twenties, they see ... More Post a comment
Just Call Me D.J. Published April 5, 2007
One actor speaks. The other listens. They talk back and forth through a scene. But D.J. Sullivan's teaching a class on "overlapping dialogue," where the ... More Post a comment
Let It Fall Published March 29, 2007
Who cares for the caregiver? Adriana Sevan assumed that when her best friend Rhonda was seriously injured, Sevan would stay by her side, see to ... More Post a comment
Unrestrained Published March 15, 2007
In Amy Freed's Restoration Comedy, Amanda's married to a philanderer named, appropriately, Loveless. He ran off to the Continent and, for a decade, celebrated "the ... More Post a comment
Don't Confuse Desire with Discipline Published March 8, 2007
Two of the most useful books I've read about theater: Moss Hart's Act One and Michael Shurtleff's Audition. Hart's concerns playwriting, not the craft so ... More Post a comment
Sisters and Salesmen Published Feb. 22, 2007
In Beth Henley's Crimes of the Heart, Doc's young son Scott is going to the dentist for the first time. And just about everyone else ... More Post a comment
Books Inspire Them Published Feb. 15, 2007
David and Ben, aspiring writers in their mid 20s, meet at a restaurant for a victory celebration. One just broke through. Now you'd think it'd ... More Post a comment
Economical, and No Bad Acting Published Feb. 8, 2007
Around the turn of the century, a theatrical movement spread through San Diego that's still growing. Every company in the county, it seems, is doing ... More Post a comment
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