The Great Depression

Theater to See in L.A. This Week

Adapter-performer Brian T. Finney has adapted Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness in what Paul Birchall describes as "hypnotic." It's this week's pick of the week. Neal Weaver found charm and passion in Actors' Co-op's revival of The Miracle Worker. See below for all the latest new theater reviews. ... More >>

Theater to See in L.A. This Week, Including Garry Marshall Directing a Play About the Making of Double Indemnity

Lost Moon Radio did another bang-up job hosting the 34th annual L.A. Weekly Theater Awards Monday night. (See the full list of L.A. Weekly Theater Award winners here.) Thanks to Lauren Ludwig, Trish Hadley and the LMR troupe for their talent, and thanks for all the kind missives from people who had ... More >>

Theater to See in L.A. This Week, Including a Pycho-Sexual Boxing Match

Pycho-sexual spectacles got nods from our critics this week, including Illyrian Players' Lord Blackberry's Apocalypse and our Pick of the Week, Tender Napalm. Nice reviews also for Doma Theatre Company's Dreamgirls at the MET, Sarah Ruhl's Eurydice at A Noise Within, Latino Theatre Company's Melacho ... More >>

Koreatown: America's Hippest Neighborhood

Reality show K-Town unmasks the liquid rituals fueling Los Angeles' Koreatown neighborhood

Tony Kushner Explains How He Adapted Lincoln for the Age of Obama

Tony Kushner isn't shy about politics. He's opinionated, and he stirs up controversy. In his own words, he's a "man of the left." His 1992 Tony Award-winning play Angels in America tackled AIDS at the height of its epidemic. In 2005, he co-wrote Steven Spielberg's Munich, which took heat for its po ... More >>

Best L.A. Novel Ever: Michael Connelly's The Black Echo vs. Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep, Round 1

L.A. Weekly is determining the best L.A. novel ever by holding a tournament featuring 32 of our favorites in head-to-head matchups, until there's only one novel standing. For further reading check out: *Best L.A. Novel Ever: The Tournament Brackets *Best L.A. Novel Ever: More Matchups If detective ... More >>

Scotty Bowers' Full Service Claims Old Hollywood Was Seriously Kinky -- Our Investigation Suggests It's All True

It was a real-life Perry Mason moment in the public trial of Scotty Bowers' credibility. In his sensational memoir, Full Service: My Adventures in Hollywood and the Secret Sex Lives of the Stars, Bowers claims he procured female lovers for Katharine Hepburn and had threesomes with Cary Grant and hi ... More >>

Sacramento Press Joins Washington on Love Train for L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (Barf)

Well, it looks like L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa will get what he wanted all along: a ticket out of this place. Everyone seems to love this guy but the people who elected him (and who've been dealing with that decision for the past half-decade). The New York Times ran a glowing piece last month ... More >>

Obama's Speech at Holmby Hills Mansion: President Admits 'It's Not Quite as Cool to Be on the Obama Bandwagon' as in 2008

While Occupy 90210 protested along Sunset Boulevard, Obama wooed a crowd of celebs and big Hollywood money at a $40K-per-plate fundraiser last night, hosted by some soap opera producer at his gorgeous mansion in the Holmby Hills. And, though we're generally on Occupy's side -- re: this whole corpor ... More >>

Victoria Jackson's Excellent Tea Party Adventure

Flappers Comedy Club: How Did a New Standup Venue Take Off Despite Down Economy?

Barbara Holliday​"In a city that is mostly 'showcase' clubs, it's a nice change of pace to be able to do a full hour-long headline set in front of good, appreciative crowds." So says comedian and podcaster Jimmy Pardo. He was talking to us about Flappers, a nightclub that opened in September ... More >>

LACMA Film: Remembering Ian Birnie

Stage Raw: LA Weekly Fringe Award Winner

COMPREHENSIVE THEATER LISTINGSNEW THEATER REVIEWSStage FEATURE on Salome and J.M. Barrie at PRTCuriousjosh.comThe Burning Opera​The Burning Opera: How to Survive the Apocalypse, created by Mark Nicols and Erik Davis, and being performed at Syrup Loft downtown, is among the productions being revie ... More >>

Charles Phoenix Gets Tied Up in Knott's (Berry Farm)

J. Eric LynxwilerCharles Phoenix with Handsome Brady and Whiskey Bill at Knott's Berry Farm​ California native and self-defined "histo-tainer" Charles Phoenix has built an empire on nostalgia, delighting audiences with amateur slides, snapshots and other bits of amusing ephemera from the past ... More >>

Stage Raw: Aaron Sorkin's First Stage Play

COMPREHENSIVE THEATER LISTINGS NEW THEATER REVIEWS Stage FEATURE on The Chinese Massacre and House of the Rising Son ​Maia MadisonAaron Sorkin's first stage play, Hidden in This Picture, is reviewed by Amy Nicholson; Neal Weaver was taken with the collection of theater-celeb-scribed gay-theme ... More >>

Thornton Wilder's Our Town and Norm Foster's The Motor Trade

Innocence and damnation

Todd Haynes' Mildred Pierce Review

Top 5 Matzo Ball Soups in Los Angeles

J. RitzNate 'n Al​ Matzo ball soup is a comfort food with a relatively simple taxonomy. Camps are mostly divided along the lines of sinkers vs. floaters, clean broth vs. noodles/crackers/carrots/etc. Opinions range and styles vary, and a perusal of the literature by authorities such as Claudia ... More >>

Stage Raw: Theatrification and Broadway 100

COMPREHENSVIE THEATER LISTINGSNEW THEATER REVIEWSSTAGE FEATURE on Tim Crouch's The Author, and the Belarus Free Theatre L.A. WEEKLY THEATER AWARDS NOMINEESTHEATRIFICATION AND BROADWAY 100 ​Broadway and the Vaudeville circuit began in Los Angeles 100 years ago, in the downtown Historical Theater Di ... More >>

Stage Raw: Camino Real

COMPREHENSIVE THEATER LISTINGSNEW THEATER REVIEWSSTAGE FEATURE ON THE BREAK OF NOON, AND CRACK WHORE GALORE -- LIVE!NEW PARTNERS ​CalArts teams up with the Theater @ Boston Court to present CAMINO REAL  (reviewed here on Tuesday) at the Pasadena theater. Photo by Ed Krieger. Another new pa ... More >>

Stage Raw: Furious Theatre Company and Pasadena Playhouse part ways

COMPREHENSIVE THEATER LISTINGSNEW THEATER REVIEWSSTAGE FEATURE ON SPIDER-MAN, ON BROADWAYFURIOUS AND PASADENA PLAYHOUSE PART WAYSFor reasons having to do with Pasadena Playhouse's needs to lease its second space, The Carrie Hamilton Theater, and the need of Furious Theatre Company for a space with h ... More >>

PaDraic Duffy's Puzzler and Joshua Schmidt and Jason Loewith's Adding Machine: A Musical

The sum of life's parts

Stage Raw: Loveland

COMPREHENSIVE THEATER LISTINGSNEW THEATER REVIEWSTheater Feature on La Razon Blindada and A Wolf Inside the Fence and NEW REVIEW GO LOVELAND ​Photo by Leland Auslender What a rare experience it is, when a character that's as maniacal, sexually overheated and as transparently off the rails as a ... More >>

Theater Reviews: Of Grapes and Nuts, Paradise Park, The Web

City of Airheads: Villaraigosa Dismantles L.A.'s Vaunted Library System

Mayor mirrors Detroit's disastrous choice

One Foot Out the Door

Grandpa John Steppling comes home, for a while

The Family Prostitute

As the recession continues, more and more women are turning to the world's oldest profession to support their loved ones

Stage Raw: Summer Festivities

COMPREHENSIVE THEATER LISTINGSNEW THEATER REVIEWSSTAGE FEATURE on [title of show] and Dani GirlSUMMER FESTIVITIES Open Fist Theater Company launches its annual Fist Look Festival this weekend, with The Existents, a rock musical by Douglas Crawford and Jason Wooten, music and lyrics by Ty Taylor. T ... More >>

Stage Raw: Bedroom Farce

COMPREHENSIVE THEATER LISTINGSNEW THEATER REVIEWSSTAGE FEATURE ON LINDA PURL'S FESTIVALNEW REVIEW GO  BEDROOM FARCE ​Photo by Ron Sossi The title is apt, since the action occurs in three radically different bedrooms in a 1975 English suburb. Kate (blond and taffy-voiced Kate Hollinshead) an ... More >>

Stage Raw: Unknown Future, Theater on Seward Closes Its Doors

COMPREHENSIVE THEATER LISTINGSNEW THEATER REVIEWSSTAGE FEATURE on Lieutenant of Inishmore and A Tale Told by an IdiotAN UNKNOWN FUTURE: Theater on Seward Closes its Doors John Fleck performs tonight (Thursday), 8 p.m. with his sardonic one-man comedy about Trader Joe's (and points beyond), Side E ... More >>

Stage Raw: Pasadena Playhouse Emerges from Bankruptcy

COMPREHENSIVE THEATER LISTINGSNEW THEATER REVIEWSCURRENT STAGE FEATURE on KING LEARCAPTURED AURAL PHANTASY THEATER ​CAPT presents a special event tonight (Friday) night, Hooray for Hollywood Extravaganza, celebrating the legends of Our Fair City, In a style mixing radio and vaudeville. The Galler ... More >>

Ernst Lubitsch: Sweet Smell of Excess

Escape the New Depression doldrums with LACMA's tribute to the past master of classy Hollywood comedy

Theater Reviews: In a Garden, Through the Night, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum

Also, Playing Jordan Goldman, The Diviners and more

Stage Raw: In a Garden

COMPREHENSIVE THEATER LISTINGSNEW REVIEWSSTAGE FEATURE on gay politics in Halam Iran and Salam Shalom THE 31ST ANNUAL L.A. WEEKLY THEATER AWARDSNEW REVIEW GO IN A GARDEN ​Photo by Henry DiRocco/SCR In 1989, a foreign bureaucrat (Mark Harelik), representing the Ministry of Culture in some (ficti ... More >>

Redemption Songs: Mose Allison Live @ Largo at the Coronet (1/17)

Mose Allison has always been a misfit. Not a misfit in the sense of a James Dean or even a Chet Baker (I mean, if Bruce Weber does a documentary on your meaningful junkie wrinkles, you've found some kind of "fit"), but a true unclassifiable. After all, the blues are rumored to be something the devil ... More >>

Stage Raw: The Future Belongs to Us?

COMPREHENSIVE THEATER LISTINGS NEW THEATER REVIEWS This week's stage features on Ben Bradley's Murder and The Princess and the FrogTHEATRE OF NOTE MARATHON ​ Fire-eater Julia Prud'homme Photo by Kiff Scholl Theatre of NOTE presents its 15th annual Performance Marathon this coming Saturday, Jan. ... More >>

Stage Raw: Outrageous Fortune

COMPREHENSIVE THEATER LISTINGSThis week's stage features on The Best of '09 and The Best of the Decade.OUTRAGEOUS FORTUNE Theatre Development Fund has just published its findings on "the life and times of the American play" in a comprehensive analysis (by Todd London with Ben Pesner, and Zannie Gir ... More >>

Best of L.A.: Shopping

Capitalism: A Love Story's Awful Truth

Michael Moore sells the same old shtick

Jordan Belfort: The Wounded Wolf of Wall Street

Still howling

Louis & Keely Live at the Sahara

Renaissance in the Barrio

Will mixed-income housing revitalize Boyle Heights? Or just chase out the poor?