Reviews Categories | Reviews | Page 94

“THE DROWSY CHAPERONE” at San Diego State University

Views:1998

Posted at TimesofSanDiego.com on 3/7/16 RUN DATES: 3/4/16 -3/13/16 VENUE: San Diego State University As the central character, the musical-theater-addicted Man in Chair, explains it, “In a musical, when you have a problem, you sing and dance, which is so much more interesting than whining about it. Musicals take you into another world; they help you escape the dreary horrors of the real world.” I can’t think of a show that more thoroughly, entertainingly delivers on that description than Read More →

“THE LAST MATCH” at The Old Globe

Views:1392

Aired on KSDS-FM on 2/26/16 RUN DATES: 2/13/16 - 3/13/16 VENUE: The Old Globe Bet you didn’t think tennis could be played without a racket, a ball or a net. Well, there’s a pretty compelling court competition going on at The Old Globe, in the world premiere of “The Last Match,” by Anna Ziegler. It’s life or death out there – in more ways than one. At age 33, Tim Porter, winner of six U.S. Open tournaments, might be Read More →

“THE METROMANIACS” at The Old Globe

Views:1850

Aired on KSDS-FM on 2/12/16 RUN DATES: 1/30/16 - 3/6/16 VENUE: The Old Globe The lights come up on a sylvan wood – plopped inside an ornate drawing-room. Servants portray other servants – or their masters – in a play-within-a-play. There’s a dizzying array of noms de plume. Yiddish words mix with French. Britney Spears gets a mention. And in case you think things can’t get worse; the whole thing’s presented in rhyming verse! Welcome to the world of Read More →

“RASHEEDA SPEAKING” at Vantage Theatre

Views:1491

Posted at TimesofSanDiego.com on 3/1/16 RUN DATES: 2/19/16 - 3/6/16 VENUE: Vantage Theatre Race has no place in a surgeon’s office. Or does it? Joel Drake Johnson’s comic drama, “Rasheeda Speaking,” garnered an Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding New Play when it premiered Off Broadway last year. And plucky little Vantage Theatre scored the first production since. Directed by Vantage co-founders (and mates) Dori Salois and Robert Salerno, the provocative office politics piece stars Salois and Milena Phillips as Read More →

“BROWNSVILLE SONG (b-side for Tray) at Moxie Theatre

Views:1442

Posted at TimesofSanDiego.com on 2/8/16 RUN DATES: 2/5/16 - 2/28/16 VENUE: Moxie Theatre Some plays succeed in tapping into the zeitgeist. Playwright Kimber Lee hits raw nerve with “Brownsville Song (b-side for Tray),” an intense, one-act drama that puts a face and a family on all those young African American men who keep getting gunned down in their prime. This time, the murder is from within the community, gang-related. In some senses, 18 year-old Tray is an extraordinary kid Read More →

“GUARDS AT THE TAJ” at the La Jolla Playhouse

Views:2042

AIRED ON KSDS JAZZ 88.3 on 2/19/16 RUN DATES: 2/2/16 - 2/28/16 VENUE: La Jolla Playhouse Playwright Rajiv Joseph goes deep. He doesn’t shy away from history, philosophy, politics – or violence. In his magnificent, Pulitzer Prize finalist, “Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo,” his probing mind and macabre humory were focused on the invasion of Iraq. In “Guards at the Taj,” his most recent creation, he goes further back in time – to 1648, on the morning of Read More →