409 stories by "Lemonmeter"
BITTERSWEET The basics of a good story and good drama are here, but Morgan doesn't provide adequate, convincing heft to these characters, or to the structure of her plot. Oddly, she saves he…
SWEET Cate Caplin directs with flair and imagination, with lively assist from Samantha Whidby's choreography. Buoyant musical accompaniment by Jeff Bonhiver on keyboard and Tyler Smith on dr…
SWEET The play is brilliantly staged. Directed by LATC artistic director Jose Luis Valenzuela, it's 1940s noir mixed with Sirk-esque melodrama that plays out like some strange mix of Double …
BITTERSWEET Set in rural Indiana in the early 1930s, Jim Leonard Jr.’s 1980 play, "The Diviners," drips with a period regionalism that is almost folkloric in tone. The play requires ca…
SWEET The direction under Catherine Michaels was light and pure. The staging was that of a seasoned ballet choreographer, beautifully seamless. Cheers are to be given to Catherine for allowi…
SWEET This rarely produced revival delivers a blistering indictment of the South's anti-miscegenation laws against the backdrop of a deeply moving portrait of urban black life in the early 2…
SWEET Perfect for Halloween or for anyone who enjoys taking a journey into the deep dark woods, "Broomstick" offers a frightfully fun time at the theater that might be especially fun at nigh…
SWEET Adding depth and dimension to Didion's script are Juan Sanson's subtle sound effects and spare, softly ethereal music and Francois-Pierre Couture's scenic work and color washes, projec…
BITTERSWEET It’s a great premise, wonderful set, excellent actors but there is something missing. Maybe it’s the timing, perhaps the situation is too convoluted or maybe the dial…
BITTERSWEET The problem with his acting " and this pertains also to Angelo’s " is that it strives for a relaxed naturalness that often seems artificial. Instead of rising to meet Strin…
BITTERSWEET The bad singing is handled better than the good jokes and if all the performers could, in the rest of the run, go as over the top as the funny script seems to calls for, then Glo…
SWEET There's no sugarcoating the relentlessly downbeat mood here. Vivid impressions linger from Frédérique Michel's fierce staging, which underscores the play's austere geometric narrativ…
BITTERSWEET The play runs slightly over two hours with no intermission, an incredibly long time to ask an audience to sit and try to stay motivated watching such as disjointed play. The tale…
SWEET The production is somewhat hampered by acoustical imbalances, a problem that has surfaced in past 3-D productions at Plummer Auditorium. This is generally not the case with the company…
SWEET With wild abandon, slick partnering, and sensitive storytelling, Invertigo Dance Theatre presents After It Happened, a multidisciplinary theatre work of dance, acting, live music and s…
BITTERSWEET From a theatrical perspective, unmodulated rage works best in small doses; too much of it stuns the senses. Subtler moments, as when she confesses her dreams of marrying the Iris…
SWEET The erotic gamesmanship is fascinating to track. But by far the most delicious pleasure of “Venus in Fur” comes from watching two actors dazzle us in a psychosexual pas de …
SWEET It takes a combination of inspiration and chutzpah to reinvent a 58-year-old musical theater classic that's been reinvented time and time again"but director Gary Lamb has done just tha…
BITTERSWEET The production's silliness (in high-octane overdrive) really starts to wear thin by Act 2, though the music and dance routines are a kick, courtesy of Paul Olson's score, Phil Ol…
SWEET It's not an easy place to mount a production. As the last resting place of thousands, the space must be treated with respect. The productions themselves use many of the same corridors,…
BITTERSWEET The result " a blend of an old-fashioned ghost story and a kitchen sink family drama " has moments of real sweetness, intervals of flagrant family dysfunction and a minute or two…
SWEET Overall, “The Importance of Being Earnest” was an absolute delight. The actors suited their respective characters, the scenery was quite beautiful in a simplistic way, and …
BITTER Abley's script and direction are vulgar, obvious, derivative, and misogynistic, but that's apparently a winning combination for his audience, which giggled and guffawed throughout. Ne…
SWEET Amy Herzog's contemporary exploration of kinship, adulthood and self-discovery receives a warm, capable production in its Los Angeles debut at the Sierra Madre Playhouse. Directed by C…
BITTERSWEET Director Elina de Santos turns in a polished production (on Sephanie Kerley Schwartz's sleek, sliding-panel set), but the play's meandering pace and easy affirmations undercut bo…
