Comedy-drama ‘Tribes’ communicates dysfunction of British-Jewish family

By Naomi Pfefferman
Published on March 13, 2013

Rothko’s passion, tragedy galvanize Molina’s portrayal in ‘Red’

By Naomi Pfefferman
Published on August 8, 2012

Rothko’s passion, tragedy galvanize Molina’s portrayal in ‘Red’

By Naomi Pfefferman
Published on August 8, 2012

John Logan’s two-person play, “Red,” which spotlights the legendary Abstract Expressionist Mark Rothko, is set a decade before the notoriously prickly painter committed suicide in 1970. The drama, which opens at the Mark Taper Forum on Aug. 12, begins as Rothko (Alfred Molina) has accepted a hefty commission to create a series of murals for the swanky Four Seasons restaurant in New York’s iconic Seagram Building. He intends his luminous, contemplative paintings to transform the space into a “temple,” while his initially timid new assistant, Ken (Jonathan Groff), grows bolder and insists that the work will merely serve as décor for pricey boozing and dining.

Starring in ‘Godot’ ... and Remembering Beckett

By Naomi Pfefferman
Published on March 29, 2012

Downtown’s Jewish L.A.ndmarks

Published on August 9, 2011

“When I came, Los Angeles was a sleepy, ambitionless adobe village with very little promise for the future...

‘Parade’ Takes a Second Turn

By Naomi Pfefferman
Published on September 2, 2009

When the Donmar Warehouse production of “Parade” opens at the Mark Taper Forum on Oct. 4, starring T.R. Knight, it will mark the musical’s triumphant return to this country since a disastrous original version failed on Broadway more than a decade ago.

Will ‘13’ Be Lucky?

By Naomi Pfefferman
Published on January 4, 2007

In Jason Robert Brown's new rock musical, "13," the 13-year-old characters stand in a semicircle, staring bewilderedly at scraps of parchment.The teenagers in this show, which has its world premiere Jan. 7 at the Mark Taper Forum downtown, are non-Jewish students at a middle school in the fictional Appleton, Ind., and the "mysterious" documents are invitations to a bar mitzvah, courtesy of the Jewish new-kid-in-town, Evan Goldman.This funny-poignant piece is the brainchild of 36-year-old composer-lyricist Brown -- who is often described as a successor to Stephen Sondheim -- and among the smartest and most sophisticated talents in today's musical theater.

Mamet Serves Feast of Foul Language

By Gaby Friedman
Published on September 29, 2005

When actor Steven Goldstein started reading David Mamet's new play, "Romance," he was thrown by the relentlessly foul language.

Reviews of the play, which ran in New York for two and a half months, generally appreciated the humor in the obscenity and racial-epithet laden play. And many in the audience laughed raucously, although others exited the theater by the second act.

Now, L.A. theater patrons will be able to judge for themselves. The play opened this week at the Mark Taper Forum.

History Happens

By Tom Teicholz
Published on July 7, 2005

In the June 26 Los Angeles Times' Art Notes, Don Shirley reported that this speech draws the most intense reactions -- applause and boos -- of any scene in "Stuff Happens," David Hare's play at the Mark Taper Forum about President Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair's path to war in Iraq. (The title comes from Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's explanation of why looting occurred after the conquest of Baghdad.)

‘Lolita’ Revisited

By Diane Arieff
Published on March 4, 1999

Paula Vogel's "How I Learned to Drive" has come to the Mark Taper Forum, and one wonders if it has lost something in its trip across country. Despite an arresting performance by Brian Kerwin, its male lead, this Los Angeles production doesn't live up to the high expectations that preceded its arrival. The play received critical acclaim during its New York run, culminating in the 1998 Pulitzer Prize. (Vogel is wowing New York critics once again this season with the debut of her latest play, "The Mineola Twins.")

Updating the Marx Brothers

By Tom Tugend
Published on December 4, 1997

Left to right, Michael Preston, Paul Magid and Howard JayPatterson of The Flying Karamazov Brothers.
As a reward to all of us lowbrows for sitting through any numberof very serious, avant-garde dramas and trying to figure out thepsychological motivations of the characters, the Mark Taper Forum hasrelented and given us "Room Service."