Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Music transcends darkest hours in ‘Willesden Lane’
By Tom Tugend
Malka and Abraham Jura faced a Solomonic decision in late 1938, as the Nazis were tightening the vise on the Jews of Vienna. The couple hoped to send. . .
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Culture with a side of popcorn
By Tom Teicholz
When the hit comedy “One Man, Two Guvnors” comes to Broadway this spring, I’ll be able to say I saw the London production. I also saw the. . .
Thursday, March 15, 2012
At home, on stage and screen
by Evan Henderson
Somewhere in Creede, Colo., en route to a mountain cabin in Santa Fe, N.M., Mandy Patinkin is above 10,000 feet. “If I sound stupid, it’s because. . .
Thursday, February 23, 2012
In bed with Roy Cohn
by Iris Mann, Contributing Writer
The notorious attorney Roy Cohn (Barry Pearl), onetime counsel for Sen. Joseph McCarthy, deals with his demons in Joan Beber’s surreal play,. . .
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Jewish theater: From Yiddish to multiculturalism
by Iris Mann
What defines “Jewish” theater? David Chack, a playwright and president of the Association for Jewish Theatre, promises that question will be. . .
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Theater as deception
by Iris Mann
“The theatre has the power to both reveal the truth and hide the truth,” according to Spanish playwright Juan Mayorga, whose internationally. . .
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Elfman circles back to the circus
by Jonathan Maseng, Contributing Writer
Danny Elfman is a huge success, but he doesn't want you to know it. Humility is a hard thing to hang your hat on when you've accumulated four. . .
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Two Yiddishe Boys and a Bissel of Berlin
By Tom Tugend
About a dozen years ago, actor Mike Burstyn auditioned in New York for the role of Al Jolson in the national touring company of the musical. . .
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
C’mon, Amanda Green, ‘Bring It On’
By Naomi Pfefferman
At one point in “Bring It On: The Musical,” inspired by the rival cheerleading film of the same name, Bridget, the team’s chubby mascot, gets. . .
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Performance series pays tribute to Boyle Heights’ cultural, artistic legacy
By Jonathan Maseng
When Canter’s Deli first opened in Los Angeles, it was not at its now-famous location on Fairfax Avenue, but in Boyle Heights. And though. . .
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Family history informs justice, guilt in ‘Wiesenthal’
by iris mann
He was often called “the Jewish James Bond” and “the Conscience of the Holocaust” for his activities in the pursuit of Nazis. It was a. . .
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
‘LUV’ Endures
By Tom Tugend
Murray Schisgal’s comedy “LUV” is, as the alert reader might suspect, about love, even passionate love, but don’t expect any moon in June or. . .
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
The passion of David Lang
By Rick Schultz
It may seem a sign of overconfidence for someone to tell you he’s rewriting a major work by Beethoven, but for David Lang, who reconceived Bach’s. . .
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
A touch of George in Alexander’s ‘Prisoner’
By Ryan Torok
Jason Alexander immediately apologizes for his voice when he comes to the phone. He’s hoarse because he’s been yelling nonstop for his current. . .
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Acting from the heart
by daniel gelman
USC freshman Shayna Turk, a 2010 graduate and former class president of New Community Jewish High School in West Hills, didn’t expect a nice. . .
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
‘Brooklyn’ mines pathos, humor of 1st-gen journey
By Tom Tugend
The original title of Jake Ehrenreich’s show-in-the-making was a rather bland “Growing Up in America,” but, fortunately, it will open Feb. 16. . .
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Valley arts fans get sparkling new venue, shorter shlep
by Ryan e. smith, Contributing Writer
It wasn’t the fact that stars like Andy Garcia and Calista Flockhart were walking the red carpet that had people buzzing on Jan. 29. It was where. . .
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
With ‘33 Variations,’ perennial outsider Moises Kaufman can finally relate
By Naomi Pfefferman
In a rehearsal room of the Ahmanson Theatre, Moises Kaufman recounts a story about Ludwig van Beethoven, a central figure in his new play, “33. . .
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Theater Group Celebrates Women Rabbis
by IRIS MANN, Contributing Writer
We all know the clichés that characterize the usual depiction of Jewish women — the overbearing Jewish mother, the yenta, the Jewish princess. To. . .
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Winning, losing, laughing
By Tom Tugend
Sam Bobrick is an anomaly — a happy, cheerful writer. After 30 plays, six books, and innumerable TV skits and songs, Bobrick maintains, “I’m a. . .
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Hamilton music magnet opens to auditions
by Ryan E. Smith, Contributing Writer
The prestigious Academy of Music magnet program at Hamilton High School, a LAUSD school on South Robertson Boulevard in West Los Angeles, has for the. . .
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
All-women ‘Joseph’ a dream come true
By Orit Arfa
At a recent dress rehearsal at Temple Beth Am for the Jewish Women’s Repertory Company’s (JWRC) November production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s. . .
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
‘Fiddler on the Roof’ writer Joseph Stein dies at 98
JTA
Joseph Stein, the Tony Award-winning writer of "Fiddler on the Roof," has died. Stein died Sunday in Manhattan after fracturing his skull in a fall.. . .
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
‘Via Dolorosa’ travels a modern path
By Tom Tugend
When Philip Roth met with David Hare in the mid-1990s, the American novelist urged the British playwright to visit Israel, Gaza and the West Bank.. . .
