Craig Schwartz

10 Political Things to Do in L.A. Before (and After) the Election

This year's election has the public voting for everyone from Roseanne Barr to Hello Kitty, with Mitt Romney's Binders of Women the projected costume-winner for Halloween. While the 2012 presidential election is the biggest reason people are hitting the polls, we all know that local campaigns can be ... More >>

Theater to See in L.A. This Week, Including Jeff Goldblum as a Writing Teacher

Starting this week, we will now include our listings of all ongoing shows, below the new reviews, to help make it easier for you to decide which shows to see this week.The writing of neurologist Oliver Sacks has inspired a new work at Theatre @ Boston Court in Pasadena -- Kathryn Walat's Creation. S ... More >>

Why Is Martin McDonagh So Captivated By Villains Who Love Their Pets?

Vito Corleone has his cat. Dr. Evil has Mr. Bigglesworth. Jabba the Hut has whatever this thing is. Even Hitler had a German Shepard named Blondi. Villains throughout history have had pets. It's an easy way to humanize them, so that they're not just mustache-twisting caricatures. Sometimes they're ... More >>

Begley/Huffman in November, Roger Robinson in Fraternity, Brushing up Our Shakespeare, Plus All the Latest New Theater Reviews

Our critics were brushing up their Shakespeare over the weekend, with reviews of CymbelineJulius Caeser and Henry VI, Part I Jeff Stetson's 1987 retrospective drama on the effects of church Bombing in Birmingham, Alabama is this week's Pick of the Week. For all the Latest New Theater Reviews, go to ... More >>

Fluffy Bunnies, Santa Ynez Wine Country in Sideways: The Play and More New Theater Reviews

Rex Pickett's stage adaptation, Sideways: the Play (over at Ruskin Theatre Group) of his own novel about life in the Santa Inez Valley wine country, gets this week's Pick. Also admired is Matt Chafee's comedy, Fluffy Bunnies in a Field of Daisies, over at Hollywood's Arena Stage.Click here for this ... More >>

Antaeus Company double dips The Seagull, and more New Theater Reviews . . .

​Antaeus Company's double-cast production of Chekhov's The Seagull scored this week's Pick of the Week.​ Click here for all of this week's New Theater Reviews, or after the jump. Also, check this week's Stage feature on a mixed reaction to Hollywood's A-List (Clooney, Pitt, Bacon, Sheen) taking ... More >>

Bring It On: The Musical Director Andy Blankenbuehler's Crash Course in Cheerleading

Craig Schwartz​When director-choreographer Andy Blankenbuehler signed on to turn the movie Bring It On into a big, splashy musical-theater event, now premiering at the Ahmanson Theatre, he knew he was in for an education but didn't realize just how massive the world of competitive cheerleading ... More >>

Alan Alda's Radiance: The Passion of Marie Curie, Christmas 4 Bukowski, and other new reviews. . .

Michael LamontAlan Alda's "Radiance. . . " at the Geffen Playhouse​ Alan Adla's play, Radiance: The Passion of Marie Curie is this week's Pick of the Week, running alongside a recommended review ​ of Christmas 4 Bukowski presented by Zombie Joe's Underground in North Hollywood.For all the l ... More >>

Gil Cates dies at 77

Craig SchwartzA Noise Within cuts open a new path in Pasadena​GIL CATES DIES: The Geffen Playhouse's artistic director, and Academy Awards producer, was found in a UCLA parking lot Monday night, having died of natural causes. More on this story to come. A Noise Within opened it's new Pasadena digs ... More >>

Orson Welles' Moby Dick, a Beatles Cabaret and Romeo and Juliet: Monsters in Love

Craig SchwartzThis​ The Playwrights Horizons production of Melissa James Gibson's domestic comedy, This, opened on Sunday at the Kirk Douglas Theatre (presented by Center Theatre Group). In an excellent production, it's an absorbing soap opera with a metaphysical reach it can't quite grasp. See ex ... More >>

Stage Raw: It's Official, Rada to replace Dillingham at CTG

COMPREHENSIVE THEATER LISTINGSNEW THEATER REVIEWS   Stage FEATURE on Rajiv Joseph's The Monster at the Door Craig SchwartzEdward L. Rada to replace Charles Dillingham at CTG​An unconfirmed tip reported to the Weekly a couple of weeks ago that Edward L. Rada would be taking over the reti ... More >>

Stage Raw: The Chairs and the Hamptons

THEATER NEW REVIEWS (and this week's openings)Theater Awards ReportTheater Awards Slide-Show by Timothy NorrisTHE CHAIRS​Eugene Ionesco's tragic farce about an elderly couple preparing for a visit by invisible guests opens this weekend at A Noise Within. 234 S. Brand Blvd., Glendale, (818) 240-0 ... More >>

Stage Raw: Eccentricites of a Nightingale

COMPREHENSIVE THEATER LISTINGSNEW THEATER REVIEWSSTAGE FEATURE on Free $$$ and TrioL.A. WEEKLY THEATER AWARDS NOMINEESNEW REVIEW GO THE ECCENTRICITIES OF A NIGHTINGALE ​Photo by Craig Schwartz It's New Year's Eve in Tennessee Williams' drama, and Alma Winemiller is enchanted by the crisp snaps ... More >>

Stage Raw: Comedy of Errors

COMPREHENSIVE THEATER LISTINGSNEW THEATER REVIEWSStage FEATURE on Oedipus the Tyrant and King LearL.A. WEEKLY THEATER AWARDS NOMINEESNEW REVIEW GO COMEDY OF ERRORS ​Photo by Craig Schwartz A strongman, a ventriloquist, three showgirls and a mimic with 1,000 voices make up just half of the Bu ... More >>

Stage Raw: The Train Driver

NEW THEATER REVIEWSSTAGE FEATURE on Leap of Faith and God's FavoriteNEW REVIEW GO THE TRAIN DRIVER ​ Photo by Ed Krieger South African playwright Athol Fugard's plays have dealt with the havoc wrought in his country by Apartheid, but his more recent works also often possess the feel of a ghos ... More >>

Stage Raw: Hamlet, Prince of Puddles

COMPREHENSIVE THEATER LISTINGSNEW THEATER REVIEWSTheater Feature on La Razon Blindada and A Wolf Inside the Fence and NEW REVIEW GO HAMLET, PRINCE OF PUDDLES ​ Photo by Justin Zsebe Scholars have teased out new layers in Shakespeare's tragedy for 400 years. A new company, L'Enfant Terrible, co ... More >>

Stage Raw: Bones

COMPREHENSIVE THEATER LISTINGSNEW THEATER REVIEWSSTAGE FEATURE on [title of show] and Dani GirlNEW REVIEW GO BONES ​Photo by Craig Schwartz Childhood sexual abuse may no longer be the unmentionable topic it once was, but that hasn't lessened its horror or salved the terrible scars borne by its v ... More >>

Stage Raw: Two Plays by Yukio Mishima

COMPREHENSIVE THEATER LISTINGSNEW THEATER REVIEWSCURRENT STAGE FEATURE on KING LEAR​NEW REVIEW GO TWO PLAYS BY YUKIO MISHIMA ​Photo by Yukata Takeuchi Perhaps most notorious in the West for his sensational, 1970 suicide by seppuku, controversial poet-novelist Yukio Mishima was also a pl ... More >>

Stage Raw: Palestine, New Mexico

COMPREHENSIVE THEATER LISTINGSNEW THEATER REVIEWSTHIS WEEK'S STAGE FEATURE on Accomplice: Hollywood and Molly SweeneyNEW REVIEW PALESTINE, NEW MEXICO ​Photo by Craig Schwartz When U.S. Army Captain Catherine Siler (Kirsten Potter) stumbles into "Bumfuck" -- a New Mexico Indian reservation -- she ... More >>

Stage Raw: Opera Buffing

The latest NEW THEATER REVIEWS are embedded in this coming week's COMPREHENSIVE THEATER LISTINGS; Also, see this week's  THEATER FEATURE on Oleanna at the TaperNEW REVIEW THEATER PICK: LA DIDONEPhoto by Paula CourtOPERA BUFFINGThe Wooster Group's La DidoneNYC's The Wooster Group, in partnersh ... More >>

Stage Raw: Harassment

This week's NEW THEATER REVIEWS are embedded within the current COMPREHENSIVE THEATER LISTINGS; Also,  see last week's THEATER FEATURE on Elephant Man at Andak Stage CompanyOLEANNA David Mamet's Oleanna opens to the press on Friday night at the Taper. This is not the theater's first at ... More >>

Stage Raw: The Rehearsal

AT YOUR FINGERTIPS, THIS COMING WEEK'S COMPREHENSIVE THEATER LISTINGSAlso, this week's INTERVIEW with playwright Richard GreenbergTHE REHEARSAL is this week's Theater PickThe Rehearsal Photo by Craig SchwartzNEW REVIEW THEATER PICK In French dramatist Jean Anouilh's scintillating 1958 play, The Re ... More >>

Stage Raw: Ain't Misbehavin'

AT YOUR FINGERTIPS, THIS WEEK'S COMPREHENSIVE THEATER LISTINGS(THE LATEST NEW REVIEWS ARE EMBEDDED WITHIN THE LISTINGS)Also, this week's INTERVIEW with playwright Richard GreenbergAIN'T MISBEHAVIN'Debra Walton and Eugene Barry-Hill in Ain't Misbehavin' Photo by Craig SchwartzGO NEW REVIEW AIN'T MI ... More >>

Stage Raw: Land of the Tigers

CLICK HERE FOR COMPREHENSIVE THEATER LISTINGSLAND OF THE TIGERS IS THIS WEEK'S PICKLand of the Tigers Photo by Jon Beauregard Noises OnCool Cats and Hot ActorsAct 1 of the Burglars of Hamm's hilarious and thought provoking comedy, Land of the Tigers, outlandishly crosses Cats with Planet of the Ape ... More >>

Stage Raw: Photograph 51

THE 30TH ANNUAL L.A. WEEKLY AWARDS, HOSTED BY JAKE BRODER AND VANESSA CLAIRE SMITH (OF LOUIS & KEELY: LIVE AT THE SAHARA) IS HAPPENING  AT THE EL REY ONE WEEK FROM TODAY, MONDAY NIGHT MARCH 30. DOORS OPEN AT 6:30 P.M.,  AND NO IT'S NOT TOO LATE TO RSVP OR BUY TICKETS.BRODER AND SMITH ... More >>

Theater Reviews: Assassins, The Comedy of Errors

Also, Looped, Of Equal Measure, and more

Theater Reviews: Hillary Agonistes, Of Mice and Men, Flora the Red Menace

Also Indecent Acts, I'd Rather Be Right and more

Nilaja Sun tells tales out of school in No Child . . .

Class actors

Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson

Wrecking Ball Blues

August Wilson’s Radio Golf

Our Gangsters

David Hare’s sneer tactics play to the converted

Beastly Men

The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia? and Love Tapes

Homo Repair

Jon Robin Baitz’s new play about a gay man, cured and pickled

Chattering Class

A scandalous school’s new session

Sewing Circle

Lust, cash and Intimate Apparel

Parasite Lost

Excess of Evil

Bloody couples and their fatal visions

From Rags to Ritchie

The man taking over for Gordon Davidson

Familiarity and Contempt

Lisa Loomer's new play about nannies, and the people who hire them

Old Yellers

Paul Osborn's rocking-chair comedy

Tree Hugger

The Cherry Orchard at A Noise Within

Man Without a Country

Athol Fugard in past tense

French Toast

A pretty, soggy night of Molière

G.I. Blues

Marc Wolf outs the uniform community

In the Land of the Living Dead

The American musical strikes again

Heil! Heil! The Gang’s All Here

Theater’s hate crimes of the heart

Fathers, Sons and Holy Ghosts

August Wilson and David Henry Hwang survey the family

Baby Killers

Hedda Gabler in Westwood, and Wesley Walker's new play in Silver Lake

Bleak Houses

David Mamet gets in the family