Lady Cries Murder, The
Lamplighters Community Theater

 John William See's The Lady Cries Murder, Lamplighter's current offering, was premiered by the San Diego Rep almost 22 years ago, and it has aged well. Placed in 1938, the story is a classic detective tale of the period, cram-packed with twists. See has a special talent for the unique language of the film-noir style. The script is also rich in interesting, almost contemporary, phrases that add extra bite to the dialogue.
 

Robert Hitchcox
Date Reviewed:
April 2002
Lady In The Dark
Prince Music Theater

 This is a sumptuous and beautiful revival of a challenging 1941 play-with-music. The timing couldn't be better, since the script includes references to "these difficult times" and national emergency. Early in the show, the troubled magazine editor, Liza Elliott, says to her psychoanalyst: "I feel ashamed to sit here whining about myself, with the world at war." The show's structure is unusual, starting cold, without music, and the scenes in Liza's office and the psychiatrist's office are straight Moss Hart dialogue.

Steve Cohen
Date Reviewed:
October 2001
Lady Windermere's Fan
Florida State University Center for the Performing Arts - Mertz Theater

 Coming directly from real London theater-going to go to this play set in London but performed in Sarasota seems a trip from the sublime to the ridiculous. Director Eberle Thomas claims to have approached Wilde's comedy of manners straightforwardly, "not overly concerned about what the style of the play should be." As a result, all that seems highlighted is what's melodramatic about the plot. Exaggeration, especially in manners and vocalization, substitutes for stylization.

Marie J. Kilker
Date Reviewed:
March 2006
Lady, Be Good
Broadway Theater Center - Cabot Theater

 Few musicals can match the pedigree of this 1924 classic. It has a number of "firsts," including being the first of 14 musicals written by the legendary team of George and Ira Gershwin. It also established a pair of dancers, Fred and Adele Astaire, as Broadway's leading dance team. Then there are the songs, which have become standards through the years: "Lady, Be Good," "Fascinating Rhythm," "I'd Rather Charleston" and "Nice Work if You Can Get It," among many, many others.

Anne Siegel
Date Reviewed:
March 2002
Language of Their Own, A
Asian American Theater Company

 An elegant John Lee design (recalling the genius of Ming Cho Lee), expertly lit by Rick Martin, sets the scene for the Asian American Theater Center's lyrical A Language Of Their Own. The quartet of this Kushner/Pinter-influenced play search for ways to express them selves by going to the ends of words, hiding within words or silence. Chay Yew's touching, talky drama about love, loss and linguistics finds its structure in solos and duets. Oftentimes circuitous and repetitious, Language reflects the Yin and Yang of life.

Larry Myers
Date Reviewed:
January 1996
Laramie Project, The
Lumia Theater

 The outstanding docu-drama The Laramie Project is getting a first rate in your face production by the New Jersey Repertory Theater. The play -- a series of dramatic interviews that arose from the horrifying events surrounding the fatal 1998 beating of Matthew Shepard, a gay college student in Laramie, Wyoming, is recreated by eight excellent actors, each of whom brings a realistic resonance and stirring emotional truth to the compelling text.

Simon Saltzman
Date Reviewed:
January 2002
Laramie Project, The
Zachary Scott Theater

 The Zachary Scott Theater in Austin, Texas is the hub of where it's happening this spring as they mount two thought-provoking and highly-entertaining productions, Hedwig and the Angry Inch and, on the mainstage, The Laramie Project, helmed by producing artistic director Dave Steakley.

Rita Faye Smith
Date Reviewed:
March 2002
Laramie Project, The
Chapel Theater at Salt Lake Acting Company

 Moises Kaufman and the members of Tectonic Theater Project took Father Roger's advice to heart when they painstakingly constructed The Laramie Project from more than 200 interviews conducted in the year following Shepard's death. They let the words of Laramie's citizens stand on their own in simple eloquence. The commendable and amazing thing about The Laramie Project is what a balanced viewpoint it maintains amidst the conflicting emotions -- anger, grief, blame, self-righteousness, guilt, justification, and denial -- of such a polarizing situation.

Barbara Bannon
Date Reviewed:
August 2001
Las Meninas
Cygnet Theater

 Theater can be so much more than entertainment. Cygnet's current production tells of a mere dot in the history of France. A very interesting dot, at that. In Las Meninas we are in the court of France's Louis XIV with his Spanish Queen Marie-Therese, a marriage of political import. Louis was a womanizer, practically ignoring his queen. Enter Nabo Sensugali, an African dwarf servant to the Queen. He fills a need in her. The result is biracial Louise Marie-Therese, who is quickly dispatched to a Benedictine convent, where she eventually took her vows.

Robert Hitchcox
Date Reviewed:
August 2004
Last Five Years, The
North Coast Repertory Theater

 The Last Five Years, Jason Robert Brown's somewhat autobiographical musical, has been described as a contemporary song-cycle musical. I prefer a more contemporary description: contra-linear musical drama. Cathy Hiatt (Erin Cronican), former wife of Jamie Wellerstein (Jerimiah Lorenz), begins her story starting today and regressing through break-up, marriage, falling in love, and the first meeting. Jamie, in full opposition, prefers to start at the beginning: first sight, first love, marriage, disillusionment and finally, divorce.

Robert Hitchcox
Date Reviewed:
November 2004
Last Five Years, The
Cabot Theater - Broadway Theater Center

 A contemporary romance adds nothing new to theatrical dialogue - unless, of course, there's a twist. The twist in The Last Five Years is a clever one. The musical unfolds as a sequence of songs, with very little dialogue. Two attractive, twentyish actors portray a couple who meet, fall in love, get married and eventually part. What's the twist? The guy's story is told in forward time - meaning that his first songs are about meeting the girl of his dreams. The girl's story is told in reverse. She is saddened by the demise of what once was a promising relationship.

Anne Siegel
Date Reviewed:
March 2005
Last Night Of Ballyhoo, The
Parker Auditorium

 In 1996, five years after Alfred Uhry brought the world Driving Miss Daisy, he was commissioned to write a play to coincide with the Olympic Games being held in Atlanta. The Last Night of Ballyhoo went on to win both a Tony and an Outer Critics Circle Award when it premiered on Broadway. The play's theme deals with Jewish anti-Semitism in Atlanta in 1939 -- that is, anti-Semitism practiced by Jews upon other Jews. The script ranges from subtle remarks, easily missed, to sledgehammer attacks.

Robert Hitchcox
Date Reviewed:
July 2001
Last Night Of Ballyhoo, The
Westport Country Playhouse

 This masterful play, which won the 1997 Tony Award for the best work of that year, deals with exclusion and prejudice within the Jewish community in Atlanta, Georgia in 1939, against the backdrop of the exciting opening of the film, "Gone with the Wind," and Hitler's march on Poland. These are serious cultural and religious issues never discussed outside the inner circle, but Uhry, as he did in Driving Miss Daisy, uses high humor and love of character to bring it all to the forefront.

Rosalind Friedman
Date Reviewed:
August 1999
Last Night Of Ballyhoo, The
Maguire Theater

 It is December, 1939 in Atlanta at the home of Adolph Freitag (George Garfield). The unusual thing is that this Jewish family has a Christmas tree in the living room. The Last Night Of Ballyhoo moves along in the style of a domestic comedy of the '30s, but we will come to discover the tension signified by the display of that tree. In this city that is largely Christian, the Freitags fit into middle class Southern Society well. It takes a rough outsider, a Jew from Brooklyn, to set the family on end.

Mark Donnelly
Date Reviewed:
October 1999
Last Night Of Ballyhoo, The
Contemporary Theater of Dallas

 Alfred Uhry's 1997 Tony-winning play, The Last Night of Ballyhoo, lives up to its reputation in the new production by Contemporary Theater of Dallas. The play was originally commissioned for the cultural Olympiad of the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta and had its world premiere at the Alliance Theater.

Rita Faye Smith
Date Reviewed:
December 2006
Last of the Boys
Off-Broadway Theater

 If you have any doubt regarding the parallels between the Vietnam War in the late 1960s and the current events in Iraq, run - don't walk - to the Next Act Theater production of Last of the Boys. Some of the play's dialogue, taken verbatim from the writings and speeches of Robert S. McNamara, actually draws gasps from the audience. While the play probably won't change anyone's views about Vietnam, it certainly makes the audience think. It also poses interesting questions that go beyond its war theme.

Anne Siegel
Date Reviewed:
October 2006
Last Of The Red Hot Lovers
Golden Apple Dinner Theater

 Even though the windows of his mother's apartment look out on a wall, Barney closes the curtains before he opens his briefcase to pull out Scotch and two glasses. He's preparing, of course, to have an affair. When his sophisticated co-worker Elaine shows up, he's as on-edge as she is. But in her case it's because she's forgotten her cigarettes and would like to move on as quickly as possible to another form of gratification -- the kind she's used to, and family man, fish restaurateur Barney is not.

Marie J. Kilker
Date Reviewed:
April 2000
Last Schwartz, The
Florida Studio Theater - Keating Mainstage

 On the eve of their father's Yarzheit (year after death) when his headstone will be unveiled, a gathering of the Schwartzes at their old home reveals the family disintegrating. Older sister Norma (serious Sheila Stasack) hopes to keep them, the home, and their Jewish heritage going, but personal problems grab each of them much more. Brother Herb (for whom Ron Bagden wins sympathy), whose comfort involves reading the paper with his feet on an old sofa table, much to Norma's chagrin, just wants to get on with his business and life.

Marie J. Kilker
Date Reviewed:
February 2005
Last Train to Nibroc
Florida Studio Theater

 Meets don't get any cuter. Boy: nice, good looking Raleigh, just medically discharged from the service. Girl: pretty, pageboy-neat and proper Amy, an aspiring Christian missionary. Setting: December 27, 1940, an eastbound train from L.A. carrying the bodies of F. Scott Fitzgerald and Nathaniel West, famous writers like Raleigh hopes to go to New York to become. Tired and put out from visiting a "changed" fiance and then having a pushy seat partner on a previous train, Amy's wary of sitting by a soldier. Then they find they're from the same area in Kentucky.

Marie J. Kilker
Date Reviewed:
July 2001
Late Nite Catechism
North Coast Repertory Theater

 The following warnings must be heeded:
Do not come late.
Do not chew gum.
Do not apply anything to your lips.
Do not touch your neighbor, even if you came with them.
Do not talk to your neighbor.
Do not get caught doing anything in class that irritates the good sister.

Robert Hitchcox
Date Reviewed:
July 2005
Late Nite Catechism
Encore Room

 The 125-seat Encore Room at Coconut Grove Playhouse in Miami would seem to be a better fit for the audience-participation of Late Nite Catechism than the larger venue it has played in previous incarrnations in South Florida. But the laughs, as well as the house, are smaller this time. Blame, perhaps, audience familiarity with the well-traveled play's idea of a stern but gentle and fully-habited nun trying to teach the rudiments of Catholic beliefs and practices to a class of adults.

Julie Calsi
Date Reviewed:
November 2004
Late Nite Catechism
Ivanhoe Theater

 Joining the roster of performers in Late Nite Catechism (still going, like the Energizer Bunny, after three years) is Bailiwick's Artistic Director, Cecilie D. Keenan. Director Marc Silvia also makes a brief appearance as Father Gilby, asking the audience for suggestions on how to stage the community production of the Seven Sacraments and how to integrate their favorite musicals as part of it. Silvia even improvs funny repartee with the audience in his priest persona.

Effie Mihopoulos
Date Reviewed:
January 1996
Late Nite Catechism
Ivanhoe Theater

 Maybe it's a matter of ethnicity -- Irish Catholic vs. Italian Catholic -- or maybe one of attitude. But while it was always patently obvious that Lisa Buscani, the most recent portrayer of Late Nite Catechism'sTeaching Nun, was an actress playing a nun, many audience members the night I attended swore Patti Hannon was, or had once been, what she appeared to be onstage.

Mary Shen Barnidge
Date Reviewed:
January 1996
Late Nite Catechism
Le Petit Theatre de Vieux Carre

 As the Holy Roman Catholic Church has spread its gospel throughout the world, so has Maripat Donovan and Vicki Quade's wryly humorous look at the American parochial school experience spawned productions overseas and stateside, with the latter enjoying open runs in such diverse cities as New York, Boston, Los Angeles, New Orleans and, of course, Chicago.

Mary Shen Barnidge
Date Reviewed:
June 2002
Laughing Matters Too
Florida Studio Theater

 Obviously, FST's presentation of satirical skits, mostly featuring parodies of Broadway show tunes, a few years ago had such a success that an encore is in order. Maybe because the objects of satire have multiplied (sadly), maybe because nights of improv (happily) have sharpened Rebecca Langford's conception of what goes over with local audiences, this new revue should enjoy an extended gig at FST.

Marie J. Kilker
Date Reviewed:
March 2007
Laughing Stock
FSU - Mertz Theater

 As Charles Morey lets out of its barn the backstage secrets of an old summer stock theater, the more you've seen like it, the more you know or have experienced of theater itself, the more you'll like his tribute to both. Your enjoyment will be enhanced by familiarity with Hamlet, Charley's Aunt, and Dracula -- the three plays being rotated here by The Players. Correction: Dracula has been newly adapted by artistic director Gordon into "Dracul the Impaler" for budgetary reasons.

Marie J. Kilker
Date Reviewed:
November 2005
Laughing Stock
Off Broadway Theater

 What really shines at the Off Broadway Theater is the improvisational show Quick Wits, which runs Friday and Saturday nights at 10 PM for about an hour and a half. The show, which emcee Bob Bedore tells us is, obviously, never the same twice, is consistently inventive, clever and funny. What makes Quick Witswork is that each skit has an overall structure within which the improvising occurs. Then Bedore solicits suggestions for situations, characters and lines of dialogue that have to be incorporated into the scenes.

Barbara Bannon
Date Reviewed:
October 1999
Persians, The
Studio Theatre at Broadway Theater Center

Renaissance Theaterworks continues to push the boundaries of Milwaukee theater. Here, the company resurrects the oldest surviving play in Western literature, The Persians. The play recently was adapted by noted playwright/actor Ellen McLaughlin. Her prize-winning works have been produced at regional theaters throughout the U.S. However, she is perhaps best-known for originating the part of the Angel in Tony Kushner's play, Angels in America. Given her familiarity with the theater, it is no wonder that she tries to wring every dramatic moment from this ancient Greek play.

Anne Siegel
Date Reviewed:
October 2008
Laughing Stock
Milwaukee Repertory Theater - Quadracci Powerhouse Theater

 December needn't be limited to holiday "classics" such a A Christmas Carol, The Nutcracker or touring productions of "Holiday On Ice." The Milwaukee Repertory Theater demonstrates this with a sprightly examination of summer theater called Laughing Stock. It may seem odd when characters complain of blazing heat and mosquitoes when the real temperature outside is barely above freezing. Aside from that, however, Laughing Stock offers a rare treat for theatergoers of all ages.

Anne Siegel
Date Reviewed:
December 2005
Laughing Wild
Central Avenue Playhouse

 I wasn't looking forward to renewing my acquaintance with Laughing Wild at Carolina Actors Studio Theater. Watching a previous production that starred April Jones and Sidney Horton, two accomplished performers, I'd felt harangued by Durang. But under T.J. Derham's sparkling direction, C.A.S.T. lightens the barrage of verbiage while intensifying visual interest and physical comedy.

Perry Tannenbaum
Date Reviewed:
May 2004
Lend Me A Tenor
Coronado Playhouse

 Comedy tests both director and actor, and when it works, it is a pure pleasure. Lend Me a Tenor, at the Coronado Playhouse, under Bob Christiansen's direction, works. It works because it is well cast and well directed. Convinced that sold-out houses will continue, the show has been extended an additional two weeks from the original May 11 close to May 25, 2003.

Robert Hitchcox
Date Reviewed:
April 2003
Lend Me A Tenor
Cape Playhouse

 A case could be made that, in the past quarter century, two farces stand out among their competitors: Noises Off (1982), by British playwright Michael Frayn, and Lend Me a Tenor (1986), by the American dramatist Ken Ludwig. It is the latter that is closing out the Cape Playhouse's 81st season with plenty of laughter provided by its cast of eight.

Caldwell Titcomb
Date Reviewed:
September 2007
Leonce und Lena
Athenaeum Theater

 Georg Buchner's comedy -- the author's only --- Leonce und Lena, was written for an 1836 writing competition, but Buchner missed the deadline, and the play wouldn't be brought to a stage till 1895, well after the author died from typhus at age 23.

Kevin Henely
Date Reviewed:
July 2004
Les Liaisons Dangereuses
Martin Experimental Theater at Kentucky Center for the Arts

 Bored French aristocrats from the 18th century who cynically manipulate each other and set out to seduce and abandon vulnerable sexual targets for their own depraved amusement are a poisonous breed whose comeuppance is sweet in the Louisville Repertory Company's production of Les Liaisons Dangereuses. Michael J.

Charles Whaley
Date Reviewed:
November 2005
Les Miserables
Ahmanson Theater

 The 1985 musical, back in L.A. for the third time, holds up more than well. Combining spectacle with social consciousness and historical relevance, the show manages to remain a crowd-pleaser by dint of its powerful performances, stirring music and savvy staging (annoying turntable and all). Ivan Rutherford as Valjean and Stephen Bishop as Javert make formidable enemies and handle their respective arias with impressive chops. Joan Almedilla (Fantine) and Aymee Garcia & J. P.

Willard Manus
Date Reviewed:
December 1999
Les Miserables
Prudential Hall

 While it's touted as having a "critically acclaimed" cast of 36, the same Tony-award winning design as the Broadway original, five fog machines, 500 pounds of dry ice, and 1000 costume pieces, the numbers for this Les Miserables just don't add up. It looks and sounds pretty dog-eared and tired despite its recent rave review in the New Jersey Star Ledger (6/11/04). The show is, unfortunately, what one tends to expect of a national touring company of a blockbuster Broadway icon.

Kathryn Wylie-Marques
Date Reviewed:
June 2004
Les Miserables
Marcus Center For The Performing Arts

 Fourteen years after its Broadway opening, Les Miserables still holds the power to enchant us, with its heart-wrenching stories and improbable alliances, intertwined with episodes of cunning, deceit, heroism, virtue, spiritual awakening, love and patriotism. All of this unfolds within the framework of the French Revolution. However, what saves Les Miserables from being a dry history lesson is the quality of the characters who struggle to survive at any cost. Throughout the tale, they are presented with difficult choices.

Anne Siegel
Date Reviewed:
August 2001
Les Miserables
Marcus Center for the Performing Arts

 Les Miserables has become a familiar repeat in Milwaukee, as it played here just four years ago (most Broadway tours are seen perhaps once in a decade). It is indeed a welcome return, as this top-notch cast features many actors who came directly from the Broadway version (which closed about six months ago). Although it is impossible to duplicate a Broadway show on tour, this one comes close. This lavish production sparkles with rich production values and a stellar cast.

Anne Siegel
Date Reviewed:
January 2005
Lesson Before Dying, A
Florida Studio Theater Mainstage

 The exposed brick walls of the Parish Courthouse storeroom in rural Louisiana, where most of the action of A Lesson Before Dying takes place, seem ready to implode. Under the torn-mesh ceiling in a makeshift meeting room, 1948, clash Emma Glenn (spirited Gloria Bailey), her godson Jefferson who's going to be executed, and Grant Wiggins, his former teacher. Neither an exemplary Negro nor a smart one, Jefferson is innocent of the murder a white jury has pinned on him.

Marie J. Kilker
Date Reviewed:
January 2001
Lesson From Aloes, A
Broadway Theater Center - Studio Theater

 Although it would be welcome at any time of year, Athol Fugard's A Lesson from Aloes was particularly appreciated during February's bitter chill. Set in 1963 South Africa, the play explores the emotional and physical effects of apartheid.

Anne Siegel
Date Reviewed:
February 2007

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