Marisa Wegrzyn’s serio-comedy takes a behind-the-scenes look at off-duty “people persons.” The scene, done in vivid, stereotypical detail by Maria Bane, is room 208 of a, let’s be kind, modestly priced hotel next door to …
May 13, 2014
Prosperina
Survival in service
Return to what’s inside
Beginning this Thursday, May 22, and running only through Sunday — that’s all the rent they can afford — The Trip presents the world premiere of Tom Dugdale’s All the Rooms of the House. It’s …
May 20, 2014
Who torched All the Rooms of the House?
Last Call: Tom Dugdale and the Trip’s world premiere must close this weekend. This inventive, intriguing, multi-leveled show is a definite must-see. The stage, part of a barracks at Liberty Station, looks strange. Rectangular cinder …
May 23, 2014
Full, vivid authenticity
It’s a snappy chapeau: reddish with a narrow brim and wide band. The question for Jackie, on parole after 26 months in stir for dealing drugs, is “who’s the motherf--k who owns this motherf--ker?” Jackie …
May 27, 2014
Outside the comfort zone
There should be a law in theater: don’t cubbyhole. Don’t typecast actors; don’t hogtie a company with a reductive label. Call it the Tennessee Williams Statute. Once he became a success, critics and audiences demanded …
May 26, 2014
Abounding mercies
There’s “sadness after intimate sexual intercourse,” Winnie tells Willie in Happy Days. “You would concur with Aristotle there, I fancy.” Samuel Beckett’s been accused of being so bleak he’s the Dracula of world theater. What …
May 28, 2014
Equal opportunity offender and uplifter
First things first. A word to every theater lover in San Diego who can’t afford a full-priced ticket to this truly remarkable event: two-and-a-half hours before every performance of The Book of Mormon, Broadway/San Diego …
May 30, 2014
Odd Couple times 40
Lewis and Clark were trailblazers — the comedy team, that is, of Al Lewis and Willie Clark. Vaudeville headliners back in the 1930s, they were together 43 years and “retired” 11 years ago. Why the …
June 2, 2014
SD Fringe: The Hideout
It’s too bad San Diego can’t just adopt the Haste Theatre. Give them a nice, intimate space and let them showcase their fantastical (sometimes tragical) tales. Not only that, the London-based group would give locals …
July 8, 2014
SD Fringe: Red, White, and Blacklisted
Ever hear of the Weavers? No? Well for over a decade the government wanted to keep it that way. The Weavers were a folk music group long before it became popular. They composed and sang …
July 8, 2014
Last Call: Book of Mormon, Happy Days, Mud Blue Sky
The Book of Mormon Maybe THE most hype-heavy show ever to come to the San Diego Civic lives up to all the accolades. Witten by the creators of South Park, the musical is guaranteed to …
June 5, 2014
Gumption rules
Daren Scott’s directed how many shows? Less than a handful? His staging of Beth Henley’s gonzo comedy feels like the work of a seasoned pro. Not only has he served the play well, his cast …
June 8, 2014
The Old Globe ventures back Into the Woods
The Stephen Sondheim/James Lapine musical Into the Woods world-premiered at the Old Globe in 1986. The set had three structures, fixed, and a “woods” behind. Along with fairy tale characters — Cinderella, Jack (of beanstalk …
July 19, 2014
Twelve days of license
At Lamb’s Players, Mike Buckley’s set hits you first. You’ve come to see Shakespeare’s “festive” comedy, Twelfth Night. It’s set in Illyria. Illyria? Yeah — ancient country on the Adriatic seacoast. But instead, the set’s …
June 11, 2014
Last Call: The Motherfer With the Hat at Cygnet
Cygnet’s excellent production of the Show We Cannot Fully Name, The Motherf--er With the Hat, must close this Sunday, June 22. The title’s both a warning (there will be untoward language) and an assertion: like …
June 17, 2014
Menacing and comical Journey
Memo died five years ago. He wants to visit with his living relatives on “the Day of the Dead.” To do so, he must trek through the Underworld, where Mictlantecuhtil, the cruelest of the Aztec …
June 19, 2014
Life and death in Aztlan City
In Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part one, Prince Hal hangs out with Sir John Falstaff and various lowlifes at the Boar’s Head Tavern in Eastcheap, a street in central London. They swill sack. It is 1399. …
June 26, 2014
Barrymore yanks down the bars
Acting always has a passle of do’s and don’t-you-ever’s. The rules build the cage within which the lion roars. Over the centuries and even over decades, the cage has shrunk. And it must be tempting …
July 1, 2014
SD Fringe: Getting word of mouth out
Some discoveries: 1 — No non-bionic reviewer can cover everything. Maybe not even a team of pundits, since each day has nine time-slots and usually five shows on at once. That’s 45 shows per day, …
July 9, 2014
A beauty contest with a twist
From the fluffy curtains to the large G hovering over the faux marble floor, everything’s an ardent pink — the signature color of Glamouresse, whose beauty products include an aerosol that protects the ozone layer …
July 20, 2014