THEATRE REVIEWS
Bill’s 2021 Theatre List: A Top Seven Plus Some Honorable Mentions
I couldn’t come up with a “top ten” this year, but I’ve got seven…listed chronologically.
Read MoreNew Village Arts Closes an Era with its ‘Black Family Christmas’
1222 Oceanfront may be a fictional Carlsbad address, but 1222 Oceanfront: A Black Family Christmas provides an excellent way of saying “hasta luego” to a company whose facility begins a major renovation after its December 26 closing…
Read MoreDiversionary’s ‘Azul’ is Fascinating and Somewhat Ethereal
Like the blue sky that the title references, the play seems more fit to be experienced than described…
Read MoreBackyard Renaissance’s ‘Witchland’ an Effective Example of a Rare Theatre Genre
I admired the skill and technical ability it took to produce ‘Witchland’, the Backyard Renaissance production currently “haunting” the Tenth Avenue Arts Center…
Read MoreA “My Fair Lady” that Draws Gender Battle Lines
Dripping with sexism and class snobbery, “My Fair Lady” is one of those musicals so grating to 21st century sensibilities, one might feel it should remain on the shelf. Ah, but the Lerner-Loewe tunes are magnificent. And any tale that’s persisted from Greek mythology to Shaw’s “Pygmalion” to “Pretty Woman” clearly touches deep psychological chords.
Enter Bartlett Sher, whose “My Fair Lady” shifts the story’s focus from its Pygmalion, the arrogant Henry Higgins, to Eliza Doolittle as a smart, scrappy woman who insists on dictating the terms of her own life.
Read MoreLa Jolla Playhouse’s ‘to the yellow house’ Fascinating, Long
worthy subject, worthy play, worthy production. Like most world premieres, it still needs work…
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