1,382 stories by "Tony Frankel"
WHAT WILL YOU INHERIT? That Matthew Lopez's sprawling near-7-hour 2-part play, with 3 acts in each part, keeps us captivated is quite a feat. Beautifully written, funny, sad, and hopeful, Th…
BOOM BOOM BOOM It's no wonder that Kristoffer Diaz's The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in drama. The veneer is a hip-hop comic entertainment about the d…
FOURGET ABOUT IT While her career may be skyrocketing as a TV writer, Christina Ham has not mastered the art of playwriting. I felt terrible thinking that after seeing the opening of her wor…
WICKED GOOD A fantastic surprise from Open Fist Theatre Company awaits you at Atwater Theatre. A great story, funny stunning dialogue, and terrific performances arrive in a play " an actual …
THIS GUY REALLY DOES DESERVE AN EXCLAMATION POINT What can I say about musical comedy actor and funny man Jason Graae? Well, first, his last name is pronounced "Grah" but his latest one-man …
CRANES HAS A CLIPPED WING Last night at REDCAT in downtown Los Angeles, CalArts presented a new play by Octavio Solis, and the story is magnificent. In East L.A., a teenager named Nico has b…
OUR FUNKY FOUNDING FATHERS A hip-hop Alexander Hamilton? A beat-box Father of His Country? A jumping James Madison and a jiveass Jefferson who disses bigtime in a poetry slam? The ten-dollar…
SPILL YOUR MAGIC BEANS NOW; THIS SPELL ONLY LASTS ONE NIGHT Get all dead-dolled up and get your spook on for Broadway's biggest Halloween event of the year: Jay Armstrong Johnson's annual so…
A BRAINDEAD MUSICAL REANIMATED TO GLORIOUS LIFE In 2007, the Mel Brooks musical Young Frankenstein opened on Broadway to largely dismissive reviews. Some say it opened too close on the heels…
THE FARM-TO-FABLE REVOLUTION IS HERE In what is Los Angeles's best season since well before the pandemic, comes along the best show of the season. Only in New York would one expect the calib…
JAGGED LITTLE SHOW You're going to need more than a pill to relieve your aches after seeing this dreck. From what I'd heard, the Broadway success of Jagged Little Pill, a hyper-woke jukebox …
THE SKY'S THE LIMIT IN THIS LOVELY PRODUCTION Unless you are an astronomer or an astronomy buff, you likely have never heard of Henrietta Swan Leavitt. She was an American woman who made dis…
A BLINDINGLY BRILLIANT PRODUCTION Since its premiere in c. 429 BC, Sophocles' Oedipus the King has been considered the Mount Olympus of Greek Tragedies, largely because it humanizes the them…
SMALLS MAKES A HUGE STORY In January 2017, President Barack Obama issued an executive order establishing Reconstruction Era National Monument in Beaufort County, noting the significance of R…
OKLAHOMA! AS WOKELAHOMA NOT SO OK ON TOUR This ain't your mama's Oklahoma! While Daniel Fish's completely rethought and stripped-down production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's 1943 watershed m…
THE HEAVEN'S BREATH SMELLS WOOINGLY HERE It seems odd to say that I was enchanted and beguiled with Independent Shakespeare Co.'s (ISC's) production of Macbeth, which opened this past weeken…
A SALUTE TO STORYTELLERS Stage and Cinema is grateful to GMCLA Music Director & Conductor Ernest H. Harrison for taking time out of rehearsing to chat a bit about A Salute to Sondheim,Â…
PROM-COM Dust off the Mylar balloons and wrist corsages and head over to The Ahmanson Theatre, where The Prom just landed as part of its national tour. Forget smelly gymnasiums or dated t…
GO TO TOWN I am convinced that me colleague Marc Wheeler nailed the many reasons in his review of Hadestown why you must see this national tour. One of the most original musicals to come out…
IDIOT IS AS IDIOT DOES Inspired by a 2004 rock album by the American pop-punk rock band Green Day, American Idiot has received its share of positive reviews since its premiere in Berkeley, C…
A PLAY OFF A rich, black, ball-busting pro-sports super-agent who has worked her way up from poverty to making partner at a major firm. The white male head of that agency who wants his protÃ…
YES, IT'S THAT GREAT One of my favorite musicals of the year is moving its Off-Broadway production to Broadway, which is right where it belongs. Beginning previews on October 12 and official…
A GRAND NIGHT FOR SINGING Transport Group has announced that Rodgers & Hammerstein: A Broadway Celebration will be the next installment in its Anne L. Bernstein Concert Series on M…
The Fountain Theatre jumps into action with a "hyper-staged" reading of Roe, a powerful, poignant and often humorous play by Lisa Loomer that cuts through the headlines to reveal th…
INTERPLAY In the age of A Strange Loop, the hit Broadway musical about a "Big Black Queer" it seems the time is ripe for more musicals about the gay experience, but one with transgender char…
