#skipitla

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#SkipItLA

While I enjoyed Richard Abraham’s portrayal of Oscar Wilde, that wasn’t enough for me to enjoy the show as a whole. The Importance of Being Oscar presents Oscar Wilde post-jail in three vignettes where he meets with a colleague, his estranged wife and his fictional character Dorian Gray. These encounters occur in three different years according to the program. However, the direction doesn’t make this clear, leaving the play to feel as if Wilde has one really long emotionally packed afternoon. There are also no breaks for Wilde or the audience. Bad news and poor tidings pile one on top of the other with nothing lighthearted to break them up for even a moment, leaving a depressive cloud over the whole affair. 

Wilde’s characteristic wit and biting sarcasm are no where to be found. I think the addition of Wilde’s quotes was supposed to provide this side of his character, but there were so many - oh so many - thrown in, that the novelty was lost by the end of the first vignette. I love Oscar Wilde and his quotes, but this was overkill and left me wondering why no one called him out on his conceitedness for constantly quoting himself. Especially since they discussed his writing, so his visitors were clearly familiar with his work.

The danger of exploring historical topics and personages, is that there will be people in the audience who are very familiar with the subject matter. This was not the Oscar Wilde that I’ve studied - the Irish poet who lambasted the English upper-crust through his satirical plays and kept his acerbic wit until the very end. This was a maudlin facsimile. 

For more info or tickets visit the HFF website.

Review by Kat Michels

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Ghosts Review

Ghosts: A Whole New Immersive Theatre based on Henrik Ibsen’s work

Skip It LA

Putting aside Ghosts: A Whole New Immersive Theatre’s misleading title, and approaching this review as if it were a non-immersive play; the conclusion draws to be the same thing: Skip It LA.

This production needs work, for example:

It ran too long, with the expectation for the audience to stand, not walk around, but stand (as the few people I saw try to move, were stopped) for 90 minutes without an intermission.

Besides forcing most people to stand (there were a few chairs), there was a complete disrespect for the audience members’ personal boundaries; which I personally experienced, and also witnessed, during the performance.

Finally, the production had too many concepts, which resulted in an unclear direction and message. A couple of examples are:

Though there were beautifully performed dream-like dance sequences, it appeared they were included for no other reason than the fact that they could be added.

The audience members that were sitting at the table, were given food and drink without guidance when to consume it (though I will note that one audience member did drink four glasses of wine), and towards the end of the show everyone at the table had to move glasses and wine bottles on and off the table as the actors walked across it. This added an unintentional layer of comedy to the show.

Overall, this felt like a museum piece that didn’t know how to resonate with a modern audience, so it added unnecessary and ineffective gimmicks to try and hide itself.

More info about this production can be found at the Hollywood Fringe site.

Review by Madeline Rosenstein

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Blackballed by Matthew Robinson

#SkipItLA

Walking into this production I thought I knew about the Negro League. I took a course in college called American History Through Baseball (coolest class ever), so I figured I was good. Turns out, my knowledge was woefully inadequate. This show assumes a pre-knowledge of the inner workings of the management and owners of the Negro Leagues. The script jumps right into an office of two people. Later they revealed to be owners, talking about someone(s) - I think a player trade and a guy to possibly invest in the league - and the fast-paced dialogue continued from there. As much as I hate a bunch of exposition right up front, this play needed some exposition right up front.

By the time I figured out who was on first, the story line was well into the rise of the Negro League, followed immediately by the fall of the league, with no time to enjoy the league itself. the problem was that the whole story was told from the standpoint of the owners. Which involved watching them make business deals, and occasionally watching them watch baseball. No matter how good your actors are, baseball negotiations between little known players and teams are only so entertaining.

Luckily the actors in this production were good. Asia Lynn Pitts, as Effa Manley, brought a spunk and much needed energy to her character that was a breath of fresh air. She was also able to hang on to her East Coast accent flawlessly. Robby Devillez, as John Fletcher, brought an urgency and excitement to his part that was a nice change of pace.

There are moments in this play that work, but as a whole the script approaches the topic from an awkward angle and tries to take on too much for an hour long play.

For tickets or more information visit the HFF website. 

Review by Kat Michels

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Guess Who(m) Review

Guess Who(m) by Various Writers

#ChanceItLA (on the verge of a #SkipItLA)

This production has been mislabeled and is not a cabaret, but rather a monologue showcase.

Honestly, the actors in this production are very talented performers, and if someone is looking for an actor showcase - this is exactly that.

Sadly, where the actors excelled in performing; the writing lacked to match. There were some funny moments, but most of the time the punchlines came from low hanging fruit - which grew tiresome and predictable during the hour.

This is definitely not a show for everyone: for those who want to see a cabaret, or a variety of skills, instead of stream of monologues, this isn’t the show to go to.

On the other hand, for those that enjoy monologues, sketch comedy, or looking for actors to cast: this is for you.

For more tickets and information go to the Hollywood Fringe site.

Review by: Madeline Rosenstein

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#SkipItLa

The Yellow Wallpaper was the first piece of feminist literature I ever read, and certainly the first story I ever read that took a stark look at mental illness. Through Jane’s journal entries, reader’s get to see her descent into madness in her own voice, as well as the ludicrous treatments that she receives. Everyone else in the story is secondary, including her husband who also serves as her doctor. This play reverses that, and thus loses the brilliance of the short story.

The actors did an admirable job with the script they were given. Tatum Langton, as Jane, was brilliant. Especially since the majority of her part required her to react to what was happening around her. Matt Hudacs, as John, walked the line between caring/condescending husband perfectly. 

The biggest issue of this productions was the script. Instead of the story being driven by Jane’s journal entries, it is driven by the entrances and exits of John, her husband. The audience doesn’t get to hear Jane’s thoughts of madness until the very end, which is what makes the end of the piece the best. 

In lieu of Jane’s journal entires describing the wall paper coming to life, the audience, as well as Jane, watches an animated wall paper. At first, this was a cool effect and very cleverly done. However, as Jane slips further into madness the animation loses its novelty, as the audience spends a good bit of time watching a character, watch an animated wall. The laughter of the girls in the paper - which is provided by actresses in the wings - further deteriorates the effect as it comes across false and incredibly forced. The pacing is also painfully slow made even slower by laborious transitions that took as long as some of the shorter scenes.

The acting skill was there, but the script and direction needed work.

For tickets and more info visit the HFF website.

Review by Kat Michels

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Spaceman makes great use of their space and the actors do well with the material that they are given. The problem was with the script. The man from the future was the most believable part of this play. The three women characters – daughter, mother, grandmother – are all written in such a way that if feels like they all have something really important to say, but they have no idea how or why they want to say it. Because of this, the dialogue often became repetitive and stilted. There was so much back-story and bad-blood between these woman that most of their conversations revolve around some nugget of their past being dropped into conversation followed by them being nasty to each other. This leaves the audience to piece together the convoluted history of the trio.

The only genuine, heartfelt conversations were when one of the women was alone with the spaceman. However, because of how muddled the women were, their actions around him were often non-sensical. One minute everyone was terrified of him and the next they were all sneaking downstairs for one-on-one chats. There was simply too much going on for a one-act show, and the prologue and the epilogue did little to help bookend the story.

That being said, there is a kernel of something great in there that if properly excavated could easily be polished. If this were a workshop production, I would say that it has potential. As a fully realized script, it fails flat.

For tickets or more information visit the HFF site here.

Review by Kat Michels

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From Toilet to Tinseltown by Maddie Patrick

#SkipItLA

From Toilet to Tinseltown has a clever premise in theory. In practice, it is 30 minutes of Moaning Mrytle whining, with the occasional one-liner thrown in. Her journey to and around Hollywood is a scathing indictment of the city and all of its inhabitants. This was clever and witty for a joke or two, but it failed to lend any substance or growth to the character. As half of the play revolved around this, it got old fast. I’m a huge Harry Potter fan, but I can’t jump on board with this fanfic.

For tickets or more information visit the HFF website here.

Review by Kat Michels

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Meanwhile Back at the Super Lair by Greg Kalleres

#SkipItLA

Meanwhile Back at the Super Lair has some good one-liners and some witty banter, but as whole it doesn’t have feet to stand on. This play relies on dated stereotypes - there are so many thrown into this show that some characters had to double-up - in lieu of actual character development.

- Beleaguered and harangued shrink? Check!

- Ironically named incompetent bad guys? Check!

- Hard-nosed government employee who is won over by the plucky leads? Check!

- Well-off racist white characters who are unaware they are racist and incapable of learning any better? Check!

- Token black guy to point out the racism so its “socially acceptable” to laugh? Check!

- Angry white guy who turns violent when he loses the girl? Check!

With the exception of the government employee/token black guy, every main character does or reveals something awful about themselves with no redeeming act to follow. Rhinoman shows remorse, which is more than the rest, but there’s no indication that the remorse will lead to change. By the end, it doesn’t seem like any of them have learned anything.

This play has taken the worst parts of 60s superhero cartoons, and tried to use them to comment on our problems of today. It didn’t work.

For tickets or more information visit the HFF website. 

Review by Kat Michels