All stories by Tony Frankel on BroadwayStars

Saturday, August 4, 2012

Los Angeles Theater Commentary & Review: WEST SIDE STORY (Chance Theater in Anaheim Hills) by Tony Frankel

O.C. STORY First, scroll down to the bottom of this review; there you will find the information you need to buy your tickets to Oanh Nguyen's magnificently re-interpreted production of West …

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 08:39PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Los Angeles Theater Article & Review: REDCAT'S NEW ORIGINAL WORKS FESTIVAL (Disney Hall) by Tony Frankel

BEST BE ON YOUR AVANT-GARDE Understanding the origins of REDCAT, the downtown center for innovative visual, performing, and media arts, will assist the uninitiated in preparation for the ava…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 07:04PM[SHARE]
Saturday, July 28, 2012

Los Angeles Theater Review: STEPHEN SONDHEIM: IN CONVERSATION (Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall in Costa Mesa) by Tony Frankel

IT COULD HAVE BEEN WONDERFUL Attendees who had never seen Stephen Sondheim being interviewed in person must have been licking their chops with every juicy morsel that the legend said about h…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 10:03PM[SHARE]
Friday, July 13, 2012

San Diego Theater Review: HARMONY, KANSAS (Diversionary Theatre) by Tony Frankel

GOLD DISCOVERED IN THE PLAINS I rolled my eyes when I heard about the plot of Harmony, Kansas, a musical having its world premiere at Divisionary Theatre in San Diego. Heath is a gay Kansan …

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 06:27PM[SHARE]
Thursday, July 12, 2012

Los Angeles Theater Review: THE EXORCIST (Geffen Playhouse in Westwood) by Tony Frankel

NO EVIL. NO GOOD. There are few who do not know the story. The devil possesses Regan, the innocent 12-year-old daughter of movie star Chris MacNeil, who is working on a film in Georgetown. A…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 09:51PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Los Angeles Theater "Reviews": PLAYS IN THE PARK (Santa Monica Playhouse) and GRACE NOTES & ANVILS (Odyssey Theatre) by Tony Frankel and Jason Rohrer

TWO CRITICS; TWO STAGED READINGS; BASICALLY ONE OPINION From Jason Rohrer: Plays in the Park, Brian Conners’ collection of one-acts (only one of which is set in a park), intends to sho…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 12:20AM[SHARE]
Friday, July 6, 2012

San Diego Theater Feature: THE OLD GLOBE 2012 SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL (Lowell Davies Festival Theatre) by Tony Frankel

ALL THE WORLD'S A GLOBE After previewing in the month of June, The Old Globe officially opens the 2012 Shakespeare Festival this week. Adrian Noble returns for his third season as the intern…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 10:03PM[SHARE]
Sunday, July 1, 2012

Los Angeles Theater Review: A MISSIONARY POSITION (REDCAT in Los Angeles) by Tony Frankel

LEARNING OF A DEATH PENALTY FOR ONE'S EXISTENCE Uganda has an alarming history when it comes to human rights violations, but recent developments against gay people are horrifying. In 2005, U…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 01:00AM[SHARE]
Friday, June 29, 2012

Off-Broadway Theater Review: 3C (Rattlestick Playwrights Theater) by Tony Frankel

THREE'S COMPANY ON SHROOMS The concept of David Adjmi's flawed but entertaining new play 3C is an intriguing one: to take Three's Company, an iconic, milquetoast ABC sitcom (which starred Jo…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 01:52PM[SHARE]
Thursday, June 28, 2012

Los Angeles Theater Review: FELLOWSHIP! (Steve Allen Theater in Hollywood) by Tony Frankel

RING IT ON! I hadn't read J.R.R. Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring since junior high, and the movie, which is the first installment of Peter Jackson's gorgeous film trilogy The Lord of th…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 03:15PM[SHARE]
Saturday, June 23, 2012

Los Angeles Theater Review: THE BLACK GLASS (Hollywood Fringe Festival) by Tony Frankel

WHAT WE HAVE HERE IS A FAILURE TO COMMUNICATE Somewhere around half-way through Guy Zimmerman's The Black Glass, a "Hollywood Fringe Festival premiere," my mind began to wander. Every opport…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 09:14PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Los Angeles Theater Review: THE SAVANNAH DISPUTATION (The Colony Theatre in Burbank) by Tony Frankel

A MISSIONARY'S POSITION At rise: A critic is writing when the doorbell rings. The critic opens the door and reveals Savannah, a perky, Southern, cheerleader-type with pamphlets in her hand. …

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 02:12AM[SHARE]
Saturday, June 16, 2012

Los Angeles Theater Review: LANGUAGE ROOMS (Los Angeles Theatre Center) by Tony Frankel

ATTEND THIS PLAY Go see Language Rooms now. I bought a ticket with no intention of a review, but Yussef El Guindi is far and away one of the most exciting new playwrights I have heard in yea…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 01:47PM[SHARE]

Los Angeles Theater Review: SHENANDOAH (Alex Theatre and Sherr Forum) by Tony Frankel

A MUSICAL DIVIDED CAN STILL STAND How I adore Musical Theatre Guild, which is presenting a full-out, highly professional concert staging of the 1975 musical Shenandoah. MTG offers the chance…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 12:41AM[SHARE]
Monday, June 11, 2012

Los Angeles Theater Review and Commentary: NO WAY AROUND BUT THROUGH (Falcon Theatre in Burbank) by Tony Frankel

NO WAY The current production of No Way Around But Through, a world premiere play by Scott Caan, contains many ingredients that explain why L.A. has little to no reputation as a fountainh…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 09:00PM[SHARE]

Chicago Theater Review: IMMEDIATE FAMILY (Goodman's Owen Theatre in Chicago) by Tony Frankel

GUESS WHO'S COMING TO THE WEDDING DINNER? Immediate Family, written by Chicago actor and playwright Paul Oakley Stovall, is part sitcom and part dysfunctional family drama, garnished with ra…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 01:13PM[SHARE]
Sunday, June 10, 2012

Los Angeles Theater and Tour Review: THE ADDAMS FAMILY (Pantages Theatre) by Tony Frankel

REAPPLYING MAKE-UP ON THE SAME CORPSE Your enjoyment of The Addams Family, now on its National Tour, will depend largely on your expectations. If you are a discerning musical theater aficion…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 03:59PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Los Angeles Theater Review: LOS OTROS (Mark Taper Forum) by Tony Frankel

¿POR QUÉ? I have been trying to figure out sixty ways from Sunday's opening of Los Otros just exactly how to approach a critique. The new one-act musical by composer Michael John LaCh…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 12:33PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Los Angeles Theater Review: VERY STILL & HARD TO SEE (Lex Theatre in Hollywood) by Tony Frankel

VERY IMPERVIOUS AND HARD TO GET, OR WHAT THE HELL..? I'm debating whether or not to tell you to go to Hell. Should you choose to go, playwright Steve Yockey will take you there in the world …

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 02:41AM[SHARE]
Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Los Angeles Theater Review: SYNESTHESIA (Bootleg Theater) by Tony Frankel

PIECE OF EIGHT Conceived by Ashlin Halfnight and Melanie Sylvan at New York's Electric Pear Productions, Synesthesia can easily be classified in the "Why Didn't I Think of That?" Department.…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 07:40PM[SHARE]
Monday, May 28, 2012

Los Angeles Theater Review: STONEFACE (Sacred Fools in Hollywood) by Tony Frankel

TOO MUCH TRAGEDY SPOILS CLEVER CONCEIT Prior to curtain at Sacred Fools' production of Stoneface, the packed house watched samplings of Buster Keaton's films, projected on a screen center st…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 07:12PM[SHARE]
Saturday, May 26, 2012

Los Angeles Theater Review: IT IS DONE (Pig 'N Whistle in Hollywood) by Tony Frankel

IT IS (BUT SHOULDN'T BE) DONE There was something that felt particularly showcase-y about It Is Done, which can best be described as a 22-minute episode of The Twilight Zone laboriously stre…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 03:27PM[SHARE]
Thursday, May 24, 2012

Regional Theater Review: THE SCOTTSBORO BOYS (Old Globe in San Diego) by Tony Frankel

AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY BECOMES A MUSICAL COMEDY 1931 was a crossroads in American history. With no economic recovery in sight, the Depression had people edgy, and when Americans are edgy, they …

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 06:16PM[SHARE]
Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Los Angeles Theater Review: NOBODY LOVES YOU (Old Globe in San Diego) by Tony Frankel

MUSICAL TAKES ON REALITY TV What better place than the stage to examine the phenomenon of Reality TV? One would hope that by now, Americans would be wise to the fact that these shows, whethe…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 03:23PM[SHARE]
Monday, May 21, 2012

Los Angeles Theater Review: CAMP LOGAN (Los Angeles Theatre Center) by Tony Frankel

BONA FIDE ACTING FUELS DIDACTIC SCRIPT At about the same time that the United States entered WWI, units of the 24th Infantry Regiment, one of the Army's four black regiments, set up camp on …

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 04:13PM[SHARE]
Saturday, May 19, 2012

Los Angeles Theater Review: CHICAGO (Pantages Theatre in Hollywood) by Tony Frankel

WHERE IS MRS. O’LEARY’S COW WHEN YOU NEED HER? Had the inexhaustible 57-year-old Christie Brinkley performed "Roxie" on America's Got Talent, I would have demanded that she make …

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 03:57PM[SHARE]

Los Angeles Theater Review: A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC (East West Players in Los Angeles) by Tony Frankel

IT WOULD HAVE BEEN WONDERFUL East West Players' cross-cultural take on the Stephen Sondheim/Harold Wheeler musical A Little Night Music highlights one of the most shimmering and romantic sco…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 02:12AM[SHARE]
Friday, May 18, 2012

Los Angeles Theater Review: CRESCENT CITY: A HYPEROPERA (Atwater Crossing in Glendale) by Tony Frankel

BETTER BE ON YOUR AVANT-GARDE Have you ever eaten at a new restaurant and summed it up thusly?: "I have no idea what I just ate! It was a little tough to chew and digest, but the presentatio…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 01:33PM[SHARE]
Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Los Angeles Theater Review: THE GIRL MOST LIKELY TO (Los Angeles Theatre Center) by Tony Frankel

A CAPTIVATING GENDER-BENDING STORY In Michael Premsrirat's thoroughly engaging The Girl Most Likely To, an unnamed teenage Boy (a winning Tobit Raphael) is, and always has been, in the wrong…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 08:22PM[SHARE]

Los Angeles Theater Review: HANDS ON A HARDBODY (La Jolla Playhouse) by Tony Frankel

THE PAINT JOB ON THIS PROMISING MUSICAL NEEDS DARKER COLORS NPR's This American Life is where I first heard about the 1997 film Hands on a Hard Body, which documented a 1995 dealership-spons…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 05:33PM[SHARE]

Los Angeles Theater Review: CYRANO (Fountain Theatre in Los Angeles) by Tony Frankel

DEAFTRAP Writer Stephen Sachs and the Fountain Theatre have come up with what would appear to be a fresh approach to Rostand's classic play, Cyrano de Bergerac. In this modern-day version, C…

SOURCE: Stage and Cinema at 12:43PM[SHARE]

All that Chat

2025-2026 BROADWAY SEASON
Jun 12, 2025: Call Me Izzy - Studio 54
Sep 16, 2025: Art - Music Box Theatre
Oct 08, 2025: Beetlejuice - Palace Theatre
Nov 13, 2025: Oedipus - Studio 54
Nov 16, 2025: Chess - Imperial Theatre
Mar 23, 2026: Giant - Music Box Theatre
Apr 06, 2026: Becky Shaw - Hayes Theater
Apr 16, 2026: Proof - Booth Theatre
Apr 26, 2026: Drama Desk Cut-Off