Host of Theatre Talk
James is a contributor to the Los Angeles Times and www.andante.com. He has written for Total Film, The Opera Journal, New Times Los Angeles and other publications. James studied Theater, English and Film at the University of Southern California.
In January, 2007, he was featured in the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts' Wave Reviews.
Pysch-o Awards It’s no surprise that awards—and awards shows—are more arbitrary and less official than they would have you believe, but this year’s two biggest theater awards have shown just how imperfect and devalued these awards can be.
HD or Not HD: That Is the Future? Today we're going to talk about the future of theater — and how you may be watching it at movie theaters or even on your laptop...
L.A.'s Ears Are Ringing Last week and this week have been a festival of riches for fans of big, innovative operatic work. The main event that kicked off one week ago was Los Angeles Opera's Ring Festival LA. The centerpiece of this two-and-a-half month celebration is of course is the four part, 17-hour tetrology, The Ring of Nibelung, Wagner's epic work about Gods, mortals and a new world rising out of the ashes of the old. The festival lasts through the end of June and features all sorts of performances, lectures and other events that are all connected to Wagner, The Ring, and the Norse myths that serve as the basis for the four operas....
Love and Forgiveness One of the best Off-Broadway plays of last year — one that hasn't made it to Los Angeles yet — was titled Becky Shaw. Written by veteran Law & Order writer Gina Gionfriddo, Becky Shaw was shortlisted for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and it offered a wonderful, dark look at modern love and relationships.
American Masters In the world of theatrical American music two men stand out. In musicals, it's Stephen Sondheim and in opera, it's John Adams. This week, here in Los Angeles, both men are receiving faithful and lively revivals of the first works they composed in these forms they are most famous for...
Scottsboro Boys and Detroit Dreamgirls There are some subjects that just feel right for musicals — a singing family in the Alps, for example, or a backstage look at dancer's audition. And then there are subjects that don't feel so right for musicals — like lynch mobs or electric chairs. Los Angeles saw one such musical last year: Jason Robert Brown's Parade, a dark show about anti-Semitism in the south during the early 20th century...
Bridge Project, Globe Project? Okay, we have to talk about Shakespeare. Last week I was in New York to see this year's installment of the Bridge Project, an ambitious, imperfect but exciting endeavor that attempts to stage repertory theater at a high, international level of quality...
Heartayck Two small, but incredibly well-acted revivals of British plays are currently making Los Angeles audiences laugh and squirm. The first is Alan Ayckbourn's 1974 comedy, Confusions. Written just after the playwright's epic trilogy of romantic triangles, The Norman Conquests, Confusions consists of six short scenes of frustrated love...
Junkers The lives of artists, especially painters, are very tempting to put on stage. Not only do you have the inherent conflict that comes with tempestuous artistic personalities, but you also have a singular visual element to give the show...
To the Lighthouse Theatergoers today are living through the downsizing of the American musical. When Rodgers & Hammerstein's Carousel premiered on Broadway in 1945 it boasted over 60 actors, singers and dancers on the stage of the Majestic Theatre; the recent Reprise Theatre Company production in Westwood, had only a cast of 24. When Lerner & Lowe's Camelot opened on Broadway in 1960 (also at the Majestic) it had a cast of 56; compare that to the recent Pasadena Playhouse production that had a total of eight, yes, eight actors in the whole show...
Camelot Is Over Those are the triumphant opening bars of Lerner and Loewe's musical Camelot — a show that opened less than a month after JFK was elected president. To hear its music today (even in the tasteful, scaled-down version recently heard at the Pasadena Playhouse) is to think back to the mythical American Camelot of the1960's, a time (we are told) when life seemed simple...
Pee-Wee 2.0 Each week in this town, brave performers mount tiny shows in tiny theaters hoping that someone will spot their talent. In 1980, Paul Reubens was one of those brave souls. He gathered some friends and used as much money as he could muster to stage something at the Roxy Theatre called The Pee-Wee Herman Show
Reading Theater Last week, the New Year kicked in with almost different 30 productions opening in Southern California. Sadly, I didn't see a single one of them, as I've been on assignment in New York, interviewing the actor/comedian Eddie Izzard who performs his stand up show next weekend at the Nokia Theatre downtown. But traveling to New York — and traveling over the holidays — gave me a good deal of time on airplanes to read so this week I'd like to tell you about two fascinating, recently been published books about theater...
Premiere Fatigue Hosting the world premiere of a new work is a big deal for a theater. It gives the company a boost of publicity plus lasting bona fides if the play goes on to better things—it also helps the theater attract talent, as top actors and directors like to be able to say they were there first...
Good Food’s Thanksgiving tips Evan Kleiman and Dorie Greenspan answer your questions about making a memorable Thanksgiving meal. Culinary technologist Dave Arnold is bringing his Thanksgiving hacks to the potluck, too. There’s a new film in theaters about a chef prodigy named Flynn McGarry. Plus: Los Angeles pie queen Nicole Rucker dishes on her holiday treats.
Rep. Schiff’s priorities for the House Intelligence Committee In January, Burbank Congressman Adam Schiff is expected to be chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. We ask what investigations he will open, and what recourse there will be if Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker shuts down Mueller’s Russia probe.