So Cal Arts & Entertainment
The making of Billy Wilder’s “Double Indemnity”
Blake Ellis & Nick Searcy in “Billy & Ray.” Photo by Ed Krieger. What would it be like if you could go back in time and watch Billy Wilder’s classic seriocomic film noir, “Double Indemnity,” in the making? Not on the set, mind you, but in the director’s office at...
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“Seminar” at Anaheim’s Chance, “Monique” at Fullerton’s Stages
Karen Jean Olds and Ned Liebl in “Seminar.” What does a writer do when she has something outrageous to say? If she’s Theresa Rebeck, she might put it in somebody else’s mouth and put that somebody center stage. As in “Seminar,” now careening across the Cripe Stage of...
read more“Red Scare on Sunset” at Costa Mesa Playhouse
Charles Busch’s “Red Scare on Sunset” (at the Costa Mesa Playhouse through Oct. 2) tackles what seems like a odd subject for a comedy—the “gray, horrifying period” in Hollywood history known as the blacklist era. The playwright no doubt figured if Mel Brooks could use...
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“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” at the Mark Taper Forum
The cast of Ma Rainey; photo by Craig Schwartz. “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” by August Wilson (at the Mark Taper Forum in L.A. through Oct. 16) is ostensibly about the titular personality known as “the mother of the blues” and the small group of jazz musicians who...
read more“As You Like It” at New Swan Shakespeare Festival
No bald sopranos or rhinoceroses in sight, but “As You Like It” is evidence the Bard indulged in theatre of the absurd long before Ionesco. This just might be the most convoluted, improbable rom-com ever written, but New Swan Shakespeare Festival makes sense of the...
read more“The Grapes of Wrath” at Costa Mesa Playhouse
It should come as no surprise that the guy who wrote The Great American Novel, “The Grapes of Wrath” (at least in my opinion), also wrote a play that ranks alongside Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman” in its merit and timelessness. The guy is John Steinbeck, of...
read more“Hamlet” at Shakespeare/Summerfest Orange County
Shakespeare/Summerfest Orange County’s “The Tragedy of Hamlet” (through Jul. 23 in Garden Grove) has its strengths and weaknesses, not unlike the play itself. David Denman anchors the play with a strong performance in the lead, though he seems physically wrong for the...
read moreSwedish “Juliet” at SCFTA, “Marat/Sade” in Long Beach, Feydeau in Fullerton
The surprise highlight of a busy theatre weekend was courtesy of a choreographer who’s not afraid to break with convention and do the unpredictable—namely Mats Ek of the Royal Swedish Ballet. His “Juliet & Romeo” (at Segerstrom Center for the Arts) delivered the...
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Cinecon classic filmfest, restored film noirs, new documentaries
Ann Sheridan in “Woman on the Run” (1950) There’s been some concern about the annual Cinecon Classic Film Festival —the wonderful conclave of rare early cinema held Labor Day Weekend in Hollywood—with the untimely passing this week of its president, film historian Bob...
read moreBeckett’s “Endgame,” “Currency” on LA stages, “Doc Martin 7” on DVD
Samuel Beckett’s best friend in So Cal continues to be the Center Theatre Group. Their latest coup: reteaming Alan Mandell and Barry McGovern—who displayed such great chemistry together in CTG’s “Waiting for Godot” at the Mark Taper Forum in 2012—in Beckett’s...
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