louise on the left (coast)

You have a small window of time left to catch some fine acting in a local theater production of "Lost In Yonkers" at the Costa Mesa Playhouse.  And you really do not want to miss this show. It’s a top-notch cast and moving production of Neil Simon’s nostalgic look backwards at a time when some things might be simpler, but others, like family dynamics, can be complicated.  This play offers a meatier balance between Simon's usual comedy and nostalgia. And by the time the show is over it is clear why it earned him a well-deserved Pulitzer Prize. Most of the action, as  in "Brighton Beach Memoirs," is filtered through the eyes of a teenage boy, in this case, 15-year-old Jay (Jude Henderson) and younger brother, Arty (Vincent Pernia) who is 13 and much more of a smart-aleck than his big brother. Jay struggles to make a trying situation bearable by carrying out his responsibilities with as little push-back and as much duty as he can muster, while A

If anyone wanted to send me a British Airways ticket right now, I'd gleefully accept the offer.    Sounds like an interesting production of this Hellman classic. The Children's Hour - review  Comedy Theatre, London Photograph: Tristram Kenton for the Guardian " There's only one question to which everyone wants the answer: can Keira Knightley and Elisabeth Moss cut the mustard? The short answer is that they prove as potent a combination on stage as at the box office." For more of this fine Guardian review, click here...

Recently I was fortunate enough to attend opening night of Adam Gwon ’s new musical “ Ordinary Days ,” currently enjoying its West Coast premiere at South Coast Rep in the Julianne Argyros Stage through January 24 I went with my theater buddy (and blogging guru) Prince Gomolvilas of Bamboo Nation without either of us really knowing too much about the show to start with other than it was a “Chamber Musical” (whatever that meant) about “people from New York.” I was curious how a story about New Yorkers struggling to bring meaning to their lives against a backdrop of the usual pathos and passion in the city that never sleeps could actually be something new, something that we haven’t heard before. Not only has this tale already been examined in other musicals, such as in "Rent" or "Company," I also spent my twenties in Manhattan, and felt pretty confident that this might be a theme I was all too familiar with by now. I was a bit concerned that telling this same story