So Cal Arts & Entertainment

Best new play I’ve seen in a long time? That would be “Strong Arm” by Wyn Moreno (continuing in its world premiere at Grand Central Art Center in Santa Ana through Jul. 28). This riveting drama centers on the world of professional sports, and one promising young...

Audience expectations may be deservedly high for “Ragtime: The Musical” at Chance Theater in Anaheim (through July 28). After all, the Terrence McNally-Stephen Flaherty-Lynn Ahrens adaptation of E. L. Doctorow’s popular novel was nominated for 13 Tony Awards. It’s a...

The long shadow of Abel Gance’s monumental “Napoléon” hangs over everything else the pioneer French filmmaker ever touched, much as it did during his career. The hi-def restoration of his 1919 World War I epic, “J’Accuse” (available in a Blu-ray MOD edition from...

Lauren Yee’s “The Hatmaker's Wife” (through July 6 at Long Beach Playhouse) is that problematic play that wins you over in the end. You want to like a play by a happening young Asian American playwright, inspired by the folktales of Sholem Aleichem—especially after...

They punch holes in walls, set desks on fire, toss shoes out windows, trade insults and joke incessantly when they’re not stuffing themselves with bagels. They’re the anything-for-a-laugh gang of comedy writers who turned out one of the top television shows of the...

Samuel Beckett’s “Happy Days” has to be one of the toughest roles for a woman in modern theatre—it’s not only a virtual monologue (with a handful of interruptions) but the actor in question is limited to her voice, face and upper body in Act I, losing the use of her...

You’ve seen the movie, why bother with the play? In the case of David Henry Hwang’s “M. Butterfly” (through June 8 at South Coast Repertory), you’ll want to make the time to catch this revival—especially if you missed it on Broadway. The play exemplifies what live...

Ever have one of those days where you can’t get started? David Hare apparently had one, and managed to turn it into a hit play called “Skylight” (at Anaheim’s Chance Theater through May 19). The romance between Kyra and Tom depicted in this overly long drama has run...

There can be no argument that “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” was a great achievement for 1937. Without taking anything away from Disney, Lotte Reiniger’s “The Adventures of Prince Achmed” (available on Blu-ray from Milestone Film & Video) must be acknowledged as an...

More than a bit of the blarney in So Cal next week. If the cluster of Irish films at the Newport Beach Film Festival tomorrow aren’t enough—see the previous blog—Dublin’s famed Abbey Theatre touches down May 2 at Chapter One in Santa Ana with a touring show, “Two...