Theatre Talk

Theatre Talk has ended its run at KCRW. Get your Theatre reviews from Opening the Curtain with Anthony Byrnes.
Photo credit: Marc Goldstein
RECENT SHOWS
Pysch-o Awards
HD or Not HD: That Is the Future?
L.A.'s Ears Are Ringing
Linguistic Elegies
Love and Forgiveness
American Masters
Scottsboro Boys and Detroit Dreamgirls
Bridge Project, Globe Project?
To the Lighthouse
Camelot Is Over
Pee-Wee 2.0
Reading Theater
Program Details
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.
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THEATRE TALK CALENDAR
The Marriage of Figaro
Beaumarchais’ comedy is known throughout the world thanks to the operatic version (courtesy of Mozart and DaPonte) but rarely is the play performed outside of France sans arias. This comedy was subversive when it premiered in the late 18th century, and one can only imagine what the always-subversive team of Frederique Michel and Charles Duncombe will bring to this romp about who’s really serving whom.
Through May 30: City Garage, Santa Monica
The Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo
LA wuz robbed! That’s the feeling at Center Theatre Group, where Rajiv Joseph’s play was thought to be the front-runner for the Pulitzer Prize. Next to Normal won the award, but LA theatergoers still get to see this interesting (if not quite Pulitzer-caliber) work before anyone else. This encore engagement (at a bigger theater) is a great idea — it should happen more often when a substantial work gets produced here in LA.
April 25-May 30: Mark Taper Forum
The Ballad of Emmett Til
The Fountain Theatre presents the West Coast Premiere of Ifa Bayeza’s five-person theater piece that uses gospel and folk music to dramatize the brief life of Emmett Till. Till was a 14-year old boy killed in 1955 for allegedly whistling at a white woman, and his open-casket funeral became a turning point in the civil rights movement. The facts surrounding the case have been disputed and investigated ever since the incident and Bayeza employs elements of mystery and ghost stories in this 90-minute version reworked specifically for the intimate 78-seat venue.
Through May 30; Fountain Theatre, Hollywood
Known for independent films, Henry Jaglom has also dashed off a few
plays. This world premiere about a family of Jewish
actors stars Tanna Frederick (who's acted in two of Jaglom's
films). The title is a riff on two Broadway shows from years past: 45
Minutes from Broadway, a 1906 George M. Cohen musical and Neil
Simon's 45 Seconds from Broadway.
Extended through July 31; Edgemar Center for the Arts, Santa Monica