THE TORTILLA CURTAIN RISES TO BIG APPLAUSE A frequently-used device in plot is to create two or more distinctively different characters and see how they function once they are thrown togethe…
CORNED BEEF TRASH The Great American Trailer Park Musical has a misleading superlative. The show mirrors A Tuna Christmas and Sordid Lives, in that it takes a humorous look at the goings-on …
SWEET AND WITTY SPOOF IS A CURE-ALL FOR THE BLUES The playbill cover for Coronado Playhouse's highly charming production of The Drowsy Chaperone describes it as “A Musical Within A Com…
CYGNET’S GLASS MENAGERIE SPARKLES It is easy to see why Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie was an immediate hit when it debuted in 1944. In an era of everyone keeping up appea…
MOSTLY EVERYTHING’S COMING UP ROSES FOR ION PRODUCTION For most theater lovers, Gypsy equals Ethel Merman as Mama Rose, even if you never saw her do it. After a single time hearing…
A SWEET TRIP BACK IN TIME Some shows really make you think. Others are designed to move you to tears. And then there’s miXtape, which is pretty much two full hours of cleverly-…
THERE'S TALENT SOMEWHERE IN THIS FAMILY With West Side Story lighting up Broadway only blocks from their home, the Candelarias are inspired that Chita Rivera has cracked open the doors of op…
THE UPS AND DOWNS OF SPENDING TIME WITH STRANGERS It's everyone’s social nightmare brought to life: Â being trapped next to the annoying stranger who won’t shut up. Â But whe…
UNLIKEABLE CHARACTERS STILL LEAVE A RESONATING MESSAGE In Milk Like Sugar, Kirsten Greenidge’s sharply-written world premiere at La Jolla Playhouse, three African-American, inner-city …