Criticopia

The interrogation of Lee Harvey Oswald is the subject of Christian Levatino's docudrama, Sunny Afternoon, now in a workshop production at the Hollywood Fringe Festival.

Fans of “I Love Lucy” might remember him -- he played the popular character of Bobby the Bellboy. His name was Bobby Jellison, and his bittersweet life has been recalled by his nephew, Bill Ratner, in Bobbywood, now at the 2013 Hollywood Fringe Festival.

Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956) and I are in total agreement that mankind, not us but them (as I like to say to avoid argument), is populated by liars, killers, cheats and self-serving louts. One only need to look around, listen to the daily news, or for that matter attend any one of Brecht’s more popular plays to meet these people. Serving up a dish of rotten folk, with one or two good ones thrown in for good measure, is the Classic Stage Company’s production of Brecht’s The Caucasian Chalk Circle, nicely directed by CSC’s artistic director Brian Kulick.

The Fountain Theater has long been the home, not only of new drama, but of the fiery dance known as flamenco. Since 1990 the Fountain has produced more than 500 flamenco concerts on its intimate stage, plus seven seasons at the 1200-seat Ford Ampitheater. The theater's involvement in flamenco is also highlighted in a new documentary film, “Kumpania,” much of which was shot at the Fountain's continuing “Forever Flamenco” series.

I’m a Stranger Here Myself - Musik from the Weimar and Beyond,written and performed by Mark Nadler and directed by David Schweizer at The York Theater, is a really well-produced show. Fascinating projections illustrate Nadler’s narrative and songs that bring to life the atmosphere of an era of free artistic, sexual and personal expression in Germany’s history between WW I and Hitler.

Ionescopadehad its West Coast premiere at the Odyssey back on August 7, 1982. Now the revue, which is based on bits and pieces of Ionesco's plays, poems and even journal entries, has been revived by the same theater, this time with William Castellino directing and choreographing.

"I don't know who I belong to; I believe I belong to myself, all alone." This message in Friedrich Hollaender’s ironically tender melody weaves through Mark Nadler’s I'm a Stranger Here Myself: Music from the Weimar and Beyond.This musical foray explores the explosive creativity of the Weimar era, the years after WWI and the rise of Hitler in 1933.

Christopher Shinn’s Dying City, now in it L.A. premiere at Rogue Machine, is a kind of ghost story. One of the ghosts in this dark, tautly-written drama is Craig, a young man who volunteered to fight in Iraq because he thought the cause was just, only to become so bedeviled by the brutality of battle that he eventually committed suicide. Iraq -- and by extension 9/11, the root cause of that war -- are additional spectral presences in the play.

The subtitle of Pulse: The Beat of Song and Dance, accurately conveys the heart and soul of Noah Racey’s show. His “Pulse” is mostly rapid, conveyed in motion (mainly tap) and sound backing it or created by it. Musicians upstage support the dancers, who in turn deliver mini-autobiographies pegged to why they love what they perform. All are heart-winning.

A much-heralded, special floor grounds dance and is used in percussion (notably Iving Berlin’s “Drum Crazy” featuring drumsticks down front). The rest of the set is, literally, high-lighting!

Director Diane Paulus (Hair, Porgy and Bess) took a fresh look at Pippin, a 1972 Broadway musical that has never been revived on Broadway, and she jacked it up to not-to-be-missed status. Realizing there’s “Magic To Do,” Pippin,at the Music Box Theater, offers that magic with a circus, a melodic score by Stephen Schwartz, and the chance to witness genuine show-stopping moments.

Thanks to Steven Spielberg’s Oscar-nominated film “Lincoln,” and in no small way to President Obama, who latches onto our 16th president at every political turn (Obama swore his oath of office on Lincoln's bible, gave his State of the Union address on Lincoln's birthday, and frequently reads the handwritten Gettysburg Address that hangs in the Lincoln Bedroom, as he tells us), all things Lincoln, from the issue of slavery and Lincoln’s fight to pass the 13th Amendment, to his troubled relationship with his wife Mary Todd, in book, film, and on the stage, is currently a hot topic.

Geva Theatre Center is ending its 40th season in Rochester, NY with an elaborate, very pleasing production of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.Co-directors Mark Cuddy, Geva’s artistic director, and Skip Greer, artist in residence and director of education, keep the focus clear on the three worlds of the Court: the nobles in the Palace, the Fairy Kingdom in the forest, and the “rude mechanicals” from the town, who rehearse their play in the forest, then perform it for the nobles in the Palace.

The evening of delicious dish is called I’ll Eat You Last: A Chat with Sue Mengers, but the centerpiece is really the Divine Miss M. She plays the late Hollywood super-agent Mengers who dishes about her “twinkies.” If it weren’t for the audience’s love affair with Midler, John Logan’s (Red)one-act memoir at the Booth Theater would fade under its own scantiness and irrelevancy.

August Wilson's 1986 play, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, part of his Century Cycle, has been triumphantly revived at the Taper, thanks to the splendid work of its cast and director. Credit the Center Theater Group, as well, for providing strong production values -- especially John Iacovelli's lavish boardinghouse set and Karen Perry's evocative period costumes.

I like Colm Toibin’s play The Testament of Mary,which has a contemporary Mary reminiscing about the death of her son, Jesus, two thousand years ago. But the evening starts by assaulting us with a disorientating, irritating soundscape that drones on for fifteen minutes as we walk up onto the stage and look at props, a live bird, and the actress Fiona Shaw in a glass booth preparing. As directed by Deborah Warner, Ms Shaw gives us a very strong, active, but quite masculine performance of a woman I had thought of as warm, feminine, maternal.

The current revival of Horton Foote’s wonderful play, The Trip to Bountiful, is a beautiful rendering of the work in all departments. The story of an irrepressible old woman (Cicely Tyson in a powerful, nuanced performance) who wants to see her ancestral home one more time, contrary to the wishes of her staid son (Cuba Gooding Jr) and his shrewish wife (Vanessa Williams), is sensitively directed by Michael Wilson, who allows Foote’s words to flow with a natural grace.

Bette Midler’s portrayal of agent Sue Mengers in John Logan’s I’ll Eat You Last, directed by Joe Mantello, is a vivid portrait of a larger-than-life Hollywood character, performed with a verve and energy that capture us from start to finish. Midler is a great actress, with a sense of timing and nuance stirred into a very large characterization that can remain subtle and broad at the same time.

Uptown Players, Dallas' premier gay-themed theater company, presents writer Jamie Morris' re-imagined parody of the popular 1986-93 TV sitcom, “Designing Women.” The original starred the late Dixie Carter as haughty, sensible, Julia Sugarbaker who, with her ex-beauty-queen sister, Suzanne (Delta Burke), operated an interior design firm, Sugarbakers, from their living room in Atlanta.

The only way to enjoy Charles Ludlam’s The Mystery of Irma Vep is to completely surrender to its insane charm. If this play can’t be called “the kitchen sink,” then no theatrical endeavor could claim it. Irma Vepcontains almost everything imaginable: from aristocrats to servants, mummies, vampires, werewolves, scientists, Egyptian guides and all sorts of wives, both living and dead. Added to this lunacy, the play’s pacing is so fast that the audience’s multiple waves of laughter threaten to drown out some of the funnier bits of dialogue.