L.A. STILL THE STEPCHILD THEATER IS CONCERNED.Byline: Evan Henerson Theater Critic In 2001, we had ``Contact.'' Finally. And on tour. If Broadway is still a cultural barometer, theatrically speaking, then L.A. is destined des·tine tr.v. des·tined, des·tin·ing, des·tines 1. To determine beforehand; preordain: a foolish scheme destined to fail; a film destined to become a classic. 2. to lag. We'll get the hit musicals and plays, but we'll get them late. Want ``Proof''? Well, so do we, but we'll have to wait until June 2002 to see David Auburn's Pulitzer- and Tony Award-winning drama about a math professor and his troubled daughter. The national tour arrives at the Wilshire Theater next June as part of Broadway L.A.'s season. ``Proof,'' the most critically acclaimed play of 2001 will arrive after visiting Pittsburgh and Sacramento. It will be at the Wilshire for a whopping two weeks. As of this writing, Mel Brooks' musical version of ``The Producers'' won't get to the West Coast until next New Year's Eve - and in San Diego! Fortunately, producers of live theater in this supposed ``nontheater town'' don't sit around waiting for imports. They build and create, often developing plays that are uniquely L.A. and that invariably in·var·i·a·ble adj. Not changing or subject to change; constant. in·var  i·a·bil have an afterlife. We make news here, and we send plays
east and overseas.
2001 was no exception. ``Mrs. Feuerstein'' was the third in a season of plays by Murray Mednick of reopened Padua Playwrights Productions season. That play is now in New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of , with Mednick's ``Joe and Betty'' - also seen at 2100 Square Feet - likely to follow. ``QED QED abbr. Latin quod erat demonstrandum (which was to be demonstrated) QED which was to be shown or proved [Latin quod erat demonstrandum] Noun 1. ,'' with Alan Alda playing Richard Feynmen, is having a limited run at Lincoln Center Theater. The production, directed by Gordon Davidson, originated in April at Davidson's Mark Taper Forum The Mark Taper Forum is a small thrust stage with 745 seats at the Los Angeles Music Center built by Welton Beckett and Associates. It has presented innovative plays since 1967. The world premiere of Angels In America was produced here. . ``Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks'' brought David Hyde Pierce David Hyde Pierce (born April 3, 1959) is a Screen Actors Guild, Tony and Emmy Award-winning American actor, best known for his co-starring role as psychiatrist Dr. Niles Crane on the NBC sitcom Frasier alongside Kelsey Grammer. and stage legend Uta Hagen to the Geffen Playhouse. Containing acting that outshines a predictable plot, it's also Broadway-bound. ``Flower Drum Song,'' Rodgers and Hammerstein made relevant and easily the year's best musical, is also at the Taper. Other highlights from the year just concluded: Classics with an international flair came from Georges Bigot whose version of Chekhov's ``The Seagull'' will reopen in January at the Actors' Gang, and from Gulu Monteiro, who gave us a side-splitting version of Feydeaux's ``A Flea in her Ear'' at Stages. Burbank's Colony Theatre cemented its reputation as the Valley's strongest and largest professional theater, giving us first-rate revivals of ``The Man Who Came to Dinner'' and ``The Last Night of Ballyhoo'' and an uneven production of Helen Edmundson's ``The Clearing.'' Next up: the offbeat musical ``Side Show'' in February. In 2001, we lost the Shubert and gained the Kodak. NoHo's El Portal Center El Portal Center is a regional 385,000 square foot indoor mall located in the north Rio Grande bank in downtown Laredo, Texas[1]. It was previously known as the River Drive Mall until 2003 when Morgan Stern Realty bought it and renovated it. for the Arts began its second season with new artistic director Jim Brochu and a lack of cash. Now on sabbatical, Brochu isn't taking a salary but the company's debt is still mounting. Here's hoping full seasons for both the Mainstage and the Actors Alley company come to fruition in 2002. Top 10 productions from the year just concluded, in alphabetical order: 1. ``Big River,'' Deaf West Theatre Founded in 1991, Deaf West Theatre Company has become a cultural institution serving as a model for deaf theatre worldwide. It is noted for being the first professional resident Sign Language Theatre in the western half of the United States. . A small company that dreams big and nearly always delivers, especially when musical theater expert Jeff Calhoun directs. Still playing. 2. ``The Birthday Party,'' Matrix Theater Company. A dark but riveting look at Harold Pinter's moral lowlifes, chillingly directed by Andrew J. Robinson. 3. ``Charlie Victor Romeo Charlie Victor Romeo is a 1999 play whose script consists of almost-verbatim transcripts from six real-life air disasters. "Charlie Victor Romeo," or CVR, derived from the NATO phonetic alphabet, is aviation lingo for cockpit voice recorder. ,'' Collective: Unconscious at UCLA UCLA University of California at Los Angeles UCLA University Center for Learning Assistance (Illinois State University) UCLA University of Carrollton, TX and Lower Addison, TX . Another uncomfortable evening, as any drama collected from the black box transcripts of plane crashes is likely to be. No telling how this show, which visited in June, would play post-Sept. 11. 4. ``Copenhagen,'' Wilshire Theater. At least this national tour started in L.A. A cerebral play, definitely not to all tastes. Still playing. 5. ``Do I Hear a Waltz?'' Pasadena Playhouse. In a strong season of Stephen Sondheim, director David Lee served up the oddball: the rarely staged collaboration between Sondheim and Richard Rodgers about a woman looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. love in Italy. A sour apple, but a nourishing one. 6. ``A Flea in Her Ear A Flea in Her Ear is a 1907 play by Georges Feydeau written at the height of the Belle Époque. A bedroom farce, its plot is a series of misunderstandings, clandestine assignations, misplaced jealousies, and frantic chases. ,'' Stages. Intimate and irreverent, a clever use of two venues, outside and inside. No laugh was too lowbrow. 7. ``Flower Drum Song,'' Mark Taper Forum. Adapter David Henry Hwang David Henry Hwang (born August 11, 1957) is a contemporary American playwright who has risen to prominence as the preeminent Asian American dramatist in the U.S. He was born in Los Angeles, California and was educated at Stanford University and the Yale School of Drama. made a clunky book surprisingly topical. The music ain't bad either. Still playing. 8. ``Pericles,'' A Noise Within. Companies don't do this Shakespearean romance often. When they do, they should attack it with the intelligence that director Art Manke brings to the dance. 9. ``3hree,'' Ahmanson Theatre. A trio of mini musicals pulled together by the legendary Harold Prince. 10. ``The Weir,'' Geffen Playhouse. Leave it to Chicago's Steppenwolf alumni, director Randall Arney, John Mahoney and Frances Guinan (with a big assist from Lindsay Crouse) to tell a no-plot tale about ghost stories with this kind of finesse. CAPTION(S): 3 photos Photo: (1) Rachel Ulanet in ``3hree.'' (2) Patrick Daniels, left, Audrey Crabtree and Irving Gregory in ``Charlie Victor Romeo.'' (3) Anthony Crivello and Alyson Reed in ``Do I Hear a Waltz?'' |
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