San Diego Story

“The Last Five Years” reminds us that love is worth the risk. It tiptoes between a drama and a comedy, and the circular structure is compelling. We can imagine Cathy and Jamie in a sequel, titled “The Next 10 Years.”

Jane Austen’s ‘Pride and Prejudice’ is a timeless classic, but only to a point — its scrums on love and marriage take a back seat to the institutions themselves. In its current turn, Cygnet Theatre transgresses this; the result is a less-than-standard effort.

Songwriting legends Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller almost never saw the light of day together — but the aftermath of a ship disaster eventually made short work of any doubt. Today, we have ‘Smokey Joe’s Cafe: The Music of Leiber and Stoller,’ New Village Arts’ absolutely outstanding account of their careers.

Psychiatrist and author Heinrich Hoffmann never figured on the modern-day backlash from his children’s book, designed to scare the daylights out of errant kids. The response is ‘Shockheaded Peter,’ Cygnet Theatre Company’s uniformly outstanding nod to the victims beneath the stories.

Love and art basically suck, at least when our sensibilities toward each are locked in mortal competition. Anton Chekhov said as much when he wrote ‘The Seagull’ in 1898 — and today, Cygnet Theatre Company is mounting a good treatise to the same effect.

Somebody in rural west Texas thinks somebody Else has it in for him, which is funny enough by itself — but ion theatre company’s take on its current “Jesus Hates Me” sacrifices the script’s rich humor and unsuccessfully tries to put a guilt trip in its place.

Posts Tagged ‘Michael Mizerany’

Falling In and Out of Love with ‘The Last Five Years’ at Cygnet Theatre

Cygnet’s Fair ‘Pride/Prejudice’ Begs the Overarching Question: Why?

Serendipity Is the Key to NVA’s Outstanding ‘Smokey Joe’s Cafe’

The Kids Are All Right in Terrific ‘Shockheaded Peter’

Unrequited Love Smarts In Cygnet’s Good ‘Stupid F**king Bird’

The Joke’s on Well-Intentioned ion in a Misdirected ‘Jesus Hates Me’