Non-Registered Critics: Jordan Young
The Vandal
Hamish Linklater’s “The Vandal” (continuing in its West Coast premiere at the Chance Theater in Anaheim Hills through October 20) is one of those plays that doesn’t spell everything out for the audience, and is the more compelling for it.
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ON BECKETT
Rather than analyze it in the manner of a college professor, the MacArthur-Guggenheim-Fulbright-NEA recipient dissects the writing in a way that makes it as accessible to a mass audience as it’s ever going to get.
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A PLAY IS A POEM
Neil Pepe capably directs a well-chosen ensemble of actors, drawing notably fine performances from Joey Slotnick (in three of the five plays), Saul Rubinek and Michaela Diamond among others. Singer Nellie McKay, who wanders about vocalizing between acts, is largely incomprehensible but offers up a delectable cabaret entertainer a la Marlene Dietrich.
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Ragtime
Though they promised “all the hits,” the Paragon did not simply offer the standard greatest hits program today’s audiences have come to expect; the 11-piece ensemble also played sparkling renditions of everything from an eponymous rag composed for a minstrel show to waltzes from Cohan’s melodrama “The Yankee Prince.”
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Happy Days
This Yale Repertory Theatre production is a must-see for serious theatregoers, so rarely is the piece performed.
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M. Butterfly
You’ve seen the movie, why bother with the play? In the case of David Henry Hwang’s “M. Butterfly” (through June 8 at South Coast Repertory), you’ll want to make the time to catch this revival—especially if you missed it on Broadway. The play exemplifies what live theatre does best, bringing this Tony Award-winning show to vivid life with an electricity the film adaptation—fine as it was—failed to capture.
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Tigers Be Still
Kim Rosenstock's “Tigers Be Still” (in its regional premiere at the Chance through June 2) seems like a garden variety comedy at the outset, but not for long; within minutes it's clear the audience is in for a wild ride. The humor is more than a little outrageous at times but there's a dark side to it as well. All told it's a fast-moving 90 minutes that proves highly satisfying.
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Skylight
However, this is a terrific piece of theatre once it gets moving. There's an outstanding 90- or 100-minute play here centering on the up-and-down relationship between these two very different people, a London teacher who is devoted to the task of helping disadvantaged kids and a restaurateur who is dedicated only to making money; unfortunately, it takes Hare two hours and 20 minutes to tell his story.
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The Chosen
“The Chosen,” based on Chaim Potok's classic novel about two brilliant young men growing up five blocks and worlds apart in World War II Brooklyn, has been transformed into a play that's somehow even more compelling than the book.... The cast of four, fleshed out by fathers David Malter (Jonathan Arkin) and Reb Saunders (Alan Blumenfeld), is uniformly excellent; Blumenfeld's outsized performance almost knocks you out of your seat.
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It's Time
Though you won't sit through it with a dry eye it's an uplifting show that gladdens the heart, amidst the realization the clock is ticking perhaps faster than we admit to ourselves. Linke doesn't try to suppress the emotions or the tears when they come and that's part of the magic he brings to the stage, under the astute direction of his accomplice Edward Edwards—it's one of the most honest and candid performances you'll see all year.
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