Theatre Talk
In-depth, provocative reviews and commentary on theatre in Southern California and beyond from James C. Taylor. He is an in-demand film/TV editor with a passion for theatre and opera who flies all over the world to see what's happening on stage.
RECENT SHOWS
Playwrights' Verizons
Legacy Player:
No single playwright or actor has affected theatergoing in America over the last ten years as much as the cellular phone. Stage plays have been performed in this country for centuries with the rituals observed between audience and actors remaining pretty much the same; but in the last decade, barely any play or musical can start without a brief prologue or overture reminding people to shut off their cell phones...
NewKlub
Legacy Player:
In some ways, Los Angeles can be thankful that theater here never saw a "Golden Age." This came to mind on the opening night of The Actors' Gang's current revival of Klüb—a backstage farce about a seriously dysfunctional troupe of performers. Written by Mitch Watson and Directed by Michael Schlitt, Klüb is a wicked Valentine to show biz, a sort of Chorus Line of the Damned...
Fair Enough
Legacy Player:
The 20th Century saw the birth of a number of enduring man-made marvels: the jet engine, the microchip, the artificial heart, and My Fair Lady. There may have been musicals more sophisticated or succinct; but few are as durable and delightful as the Lerner-and-Lowe adaptation of George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion...
An e-Mask-ulated Musical
Legacy Player:
The stage has a long tradition of disfigured protagonists. Shakespeare’s Richard III is the embodiment of a character whose hunchback is a metaphor for internal wickedness, whereas Rostand's Cyrano de Bergerac is the model for characters whose unnatural face betrays a heroic soul. This tradition also extends to musical drama (from Rigoletto to Phantom of the Opera) which would seem to suggest that there is historical precedent and even potential for a Broadway-style adaptation of the 1985 film Mask...
Osage: Can You See?
Legacy Player:
On Monday, it was announced: Tracy Letts' August: Osage County won this year's Pulitzer Prize for Drama. August: Osage County is Letts' fourth play after The Man from Nebraska, Killer Joe and Bug. (Letts also wrote the screenplay to the film adaptation of Bug, which starred Ashley Judd.) These three early plays (but especially Killer Joe and Bug) have been widely produced in large part because they offer juicy, even showy, roles for actors...
The Ladies Who Munch Scenery
Legacy Player:
The autobiographical theater piece. It's a frightening phrase to say, and often a frightening thing to behold; but there are occasions when a staged memoir can rise to the level of true theatrical art...
Role Reversals
Legacy Player:
In the year 2008, how important is race and gender? Two new revivals of classic plays both indicate a frustrating answer: absolutely and not so much...
Come Back, William Inge?
Legacy Player:
William Inge was arguably the most successful American dramatist of the 1950's. His play Picnic won the Pulitzer Prize in 1953 and his next two works enjoyed long runs on Broadway, both earning Tony nominations for Best Play. By the time Inge's first screenplay, Splendor in the Grass, won an Oscar -- even Tennessee Williams was jealous of his success...
Rockin' Operas
Legacy Player:
Othello has long been a great vehicle for actors (Emil Jannings, Paul Robeson, Orson Welles, and Lawrence Olivier are just a few of the great actors to play the part) but Shakespeare's tragedy has also inspired a fair number of musicians...
Some Word(s), Some Action(s)
Legacy Player:
In the spirit of this election season, I'd like to draw your attention to a particular stump speech. Like many you've heard, this one has a mix of pragmatism, hope and of course, self-promotion. You won't hear it set to music on YouTube, in fact the only place you can find this speech is in the last issue of L.A. Stage Magazine...
Young Blood
Legacy Player:
Last year it was Ian McKellen's King Lear. Next year it will be Jude Law's Hamlet. But this year, it's Patrick Stewart's Macbeth...
Defeatist Victory
Legacy Player:
It's such a good story it's surprising someone hasn't made a short play out of it. A famous, foreign dramatist living in exile in San Diego hears good things about a small production of one of his old plays. He and a friend drive up to Hollywood and duck into the tiny theater. The playwright, who never watches his own plays -- unless he's the director -- loves the staging and agrees to one day give the theater a brand new play. Five years later, the script arrives -- and it's a smash, running for months and eventually moving to Off-Broadway and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
A Bloody Mess...but a Bloody Good Shot
Legacy Player:
There are scores of problems with Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, the new rock musical receiving its world premiere at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City, but before any talk of its shortcomings, one thing should be made clear...
Reeling Broadway Behemoths
Legacy Player:
Movies adapted into musicals have been Broadway's lifeblood this decade, with shows like The Producers, Hairspray and The Lion King keeping theaters filled year-round. But this season, Broadway's two biggest movie-based musicals have been savaged by critics and haven't lived up to their box office expectations...
Hamlets: Past, Prologue and Post-Modern
Legacy Player:
Last fall, I saw a Barcelona theater company perform a riff on Shakespeare's Hamlet titled European House. About an hour long—with no dialogue—it took place in the home of a wealthy, continental family. As the language-free action unfolded, it became clear that this unspoken drama was a modern-day prologue to Shakespeare's classic tragedy...
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Host
James C. Taylor
James C. Taylor reviews theatre, large and small.
Schedule
Live
Tapes & Transcripts
Click the Full Details link to view the complete transcript. Tapes are not available.
Theatre Talk Calendar
A revival of Tennessee William's last Broadway hit about ex-priest living in exile in Mexico during the in 1940's.
Through May 25: A Noise Within, Glendale
A new one-man show about the legacy of slavery in America. Writer/performer Daniel Beaty plays forty different characters in this West Coast Premiere directed by Charles Randolph-Wright.
Through May 25: Geffen Playhouse, Westwood