When Brooke Wyeth arrives at her parents’ Palm Springs mansion on Christmas Eve
with the manuscript of her tell-all memoir in tow she unearths a devastating family secret—
throwing her parents into a panic that threatens to rip the clan apart.
With biting wit and razor-sharp insight, Other Desert Cities
“has the appeal of a Broadway hit from another age” (The New York Times).
I’ve been looking forward to this one for awhile. Other Desert Cities debuted Off-Broadway in 2011 & hit the ground running. The play (written by Jon Robin Baitz) earned five 2012 Tony nominations (with Judith Light winning the Award for Best Featured Actress) & was a 2012 Finalist for the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The story is that a woman returns home after writing a tell-all, autobiography; her homecoming is the catalyst for some huge family secret to be exposed & drama ensues. It’s always fun to see a play without knowing the storyline & The Goodman nails those highly dramatic but authentically contemporary scripts exceptionally well.
Runs Until Feb. 27
The Final Balloon @ The Annoyance Theatre
"Welcome to Maggie's Bar, home to a ragtag band of drunks who each year, on the exact same day at the exact same time, are inexplicably tortured by a mysterious visitor known only as "Balloon Boy."
The first thing I thought when I read the description of this production was BAT BOY: The Musical. For those of you who don’t know BAT BOY, it was an awesome musical based off the Weekly World News “character” that opened Off-Broadway in 2001. I saw it & it was on of the Top Ten Best Theatre Experiences of My Life. This similarly satirical musical centers around a man who randomly appears at a bar once a year to hand out balloons. [P.S. The musical debuted in 1992, 19 years before that whole other Balloon Boy situation].
Runs Until Feb. 23
Shaw's classic tale of wiley Cockney flowergirl Eliza Doolittle & her transformation
into a high-society woman at the hands of the arrogant phonetician Henry Higgins. Higgins' takes on a bet to train Eliza to pass for a duchess at an ambassador's garden party
by teaching her to assume a veneer of gentility, the most important element of which,
he believes, is impeccable speech.
The story was adapted into the musical My Fair Lady, but Shaw's original tale
is not one of romance, but of beauty, class, and power. A comedic and satirical today as it was then,
Pygmalion will have you wondering what truly makes a person beautiful.
I am much more familiar with My Fair Lady than Pygmalion & that needs to change. It is the first time BoHo Theatre has teamed up with Stage Left to produce a production & I think this is a match made in Heaven. Stage Left's mission focuses on political issues, so hopefully this version of the staple of a story will incorporate a fresh, contemporary insight while highlighting new thematic applications.
Runs Until Feb. 14
This solo performance & storytelling festival is in its' 16th year
and features the following performers:
and features the following performers:
2nd Story, enSOLO, GayCo, the kate, The Lifeline Storytelling Project, Stir Friday Night, Story Club,
Sweat Girls, Tellin' Tales Theatre (featuring Tekki Lomnicki), Write Club, You're Being Ridiculous
Runs Until Jan. 20
lady M @ the side project
To sleep no more, perchance to dream just once. Ambition begets bloodshed begets mental anguish.
A psychological, disjointed, minimalist re-visioning of Shakespeare's "Macbeth"
in which Lady M. lives and relives the events of that fateful night.
MacBeth is one of my favorite Shakespearean scripts (with Lady MacBeth also serving as one Shakespeare's most intriguing female roles) & this seems like a smart way to re-visit this awesome, ageless story. Plus, the side project theatre looks like a cool & up-&-coming, hole-in-the-wall company.
Runs From Jan. 14-Feb. 6
Hellcab @ Profiles
Hellcab presents a day in the life story of a cab driver in for the longest night of his life
as he transports a bizarre and mysterious collection of customers through the gritty streets of Chicago.
Playwright Will Kern draws from personal experience as a former cab driver to create this
alternately frightening, hilarious and poignant journey. Throughout his long shift,
the eclectic collection of passengers includes a trio of drug-addicts, a smug lawyer, a born-again couple,
and a randy couple on their way to a motel. Set during a bitter cold Christmas Eve,
Hellcab presents a rear-view image mirroring the passing parade of humanity.
I’ve never been let down at Profiles, but some of their shows are a little dark [Bachelorette, A Behanding in Spokane, reasons to be pretty]. The premise is promising for something a little more upbeat. It is also exciting that the show features an ensemble of 34 actors since Profile‘s performance space usually cannot accommodate huge casts. .
Runs Until Jan. 27
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