A Closer Look at…Los Angeles

It boggles one’s mind when people who are new to L.A. state, with an air of haughty authority, that this land of celluloid dreams is “not a theater town.” If your definition of a viable theater mecca is one dominated by locally mounted, multi-million dollar productions and star
vehicles, then no — L.A. doesn’t fit that mold. But those who check out the scene prior to spouting ill-informed presumptions will discover that the quality is as prevalent as the quantity.

There are so many committed and artistically successful producing groups in L.A. — with or without their own performing spaces — that identifying all of them is beyond the scope of a single article. Following are some highlights, with an emphasis on upcoming productions. We apologize to those worthwhile companies that are not mentioned herein and we promise to make an effort to provide due recognition in future updates. Also, note that the focus here is on L.A. County and its immediate vicinity; there’s lots of exciting theater in Orange County, Ventura County, San Diego, La Jolla, and other Southern California areas but those are whole different stories of their own.

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The Big Guns

In terms of mass-audience popularity, few companies can match the prestigious Center Theatre Group in downtown L.A., established in 1967. The bill of fare for the 2071-seat Ahmanson emphasizes local debuts of eagerly anticipated Broadway musicals, though home-grown productions and hit plays are included. The current season concludes with the 2002 Tony-winning Best Musical, Thoroughly Modern Millie (opening May 21) and the Broadway revival of Little Shop of Horrors (opening Aug. 29). On tap for next season, beginning in October, are the musicals Wonderful Town and Anything Goes, Matthew Bourne’s dance-drama Play Without Words, and Shakespeare’s As You Like It. Directly across from the Taper at the luxurious Music Center plaza, the 752-seat Mark Taper Forum emphasizes edgier work, led by world premieres, West Coast premieres, and occasional revivals. Currently running through May 23 is the The Talking Cure, a drama about Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung, which has received mostly unfavorable reviews. Next up is Stones in His Pockets by Marie Jones (opening June 10), a fanciful play about two Irish lads hired as extras on a Hollywood epic.

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Say It With Music

As in most cities, musical theater in L.A. is hugely popular. That appetite is satisfied by touring productions of major hits like The Producers and by a healthy contingent of civic light opera companies, most of them located on the outskirts of the city. There are also two acclaimed groups performing rarely revived musicals, similar to New York’s Encores! series of staged concerts, though L.A. Reprise! Broadway’s Best now offers full productions and requires its performers to memorize the material. The Musical Theatre Guild’s productions are presented in Glendale’s Alex Theatre and/or at the Thousand Oaks Performing Arts Center; the next offering is I Can Get It For You Wholesale (opening May 17). Upcoming for Reprise! is Stephen Sondheim’s Company (opening May 19) starring Christopher Sieber and Judith Light.

The local light opera troupes include CLO of South Bay Cities in Redondo Beach (next: Jekyll & Hyde, opening May 1), Fullerton CLO (next: Annie Get Your Gun, opening May 14), Performance Riverside (next: Company, opening June 4), Cabrillo Music Theatre in Thousand Oaks (next: West Side Story, opening July 23), Downey CLO (next: Cabaret, opening May 27), Musical Theatre West in Long Beach (next: Kiss Me, Kate, opening July 10), and Saddleback CLO in Mission Viejo (next: Singin’ in the Rain, opening July 1).

Last but far from least are the blockbusters in their first L.A. appearances. The aforementioned Millie and Little Shop will soon be joined by Urinetown: The Musical (Wilshire Theatre, opening May 11) and Hairspray, starring Bruce Vilanch (Pantages Theatre, opening July 2). Sondheim’s Saturday Night will have its first fully staged L.A. production, courtesy of a new group called Chromolume Theatre Company (Stella Adler Theatre, opening May 14). Small-scale musicals such as this pop up regularly at various L.A. venues, both world premieres and revivals: bare (which just recently opened in New York), Bat Boy: The Musical, and Reefer Madness all originated in intimate L.A. theatres.

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On the Edge

The city has an amazing number of groups that love to push the envelope, eschewing conventionally popular fare for plays with a cutting edge. Where do we begin?

The award-winning Theatre of NOTE in Hollywood, founded in 1981, fosters original work and educational outreach programs. Next up there (opening May 28) is Red Light, Green Light, the second entry in Erik Patterson’s American Family Trilogy, an epic about a remarkably twisted family. The revered Cornerstone Theatre, currently presenting a multi-year series of plays called “Faith-Based Theatre Project,” specializes in site-specific productions in which members of various urban subcultures become directly involved in the theatrical adventure.

Ensemble Studio Theatre — The L.A. Project (EST-LA), an outgrowth of New York’s EST, is dedicated to nurturing new works. The recent Stage Directions by L. Trey Wilson earned unanimously ecstatic reviews at EST-LA; now playing is the West Coast Marathon of New One-Act Plays (through May 23). The Actors Gang in Hollywood, founded by actor Tim Robbins in 1981, has an illustrious history but has undergone notorious power struggles in recent years and nowadays offers hit-and-miss productions; next up, opening May 28, is Angela Berliner’s Little, starring the playwright and her identical twin sister.

Some groups are devoted to the artistic voice of a particular subculture. The lauded 38-year-old East West Players is Asian American-focused; opening June 9 at downtown’s Union Center for the Arts is David Henry Hwang’s modern classic M. Butterfly, directed by Chay Yew and starring Arye Gross and Alec Mapa. The company received high praise for its 2003 L.A. premiere staging of Sondheim’s Passion.

The 22-year-old, gay-focused Celebration Theatre in Hollywood has been brought to new artistic heights during the four-year tenure of Derek Charles Livingston. Among other treasures, Livingston premiered Mark Savage’s subtly subversive Gilbert and Sullivan parody Pinafore!, which ran for a year. The Celebration just opened a brilliant revival of Hedwig and the Angry Inch, scheduled to run through May 23 but likely to continue ad infinitum. Odalys Nanin’s new lesbian-focused company Macha Theatre has staged a mesmerizing adaptation of Lorca’s Blood Wedding and the delightful Garbo’s Cuban Lover but had less success last year with The Nun and the Countess. LGBT fare is also offered in superb productions by the Lily Tomlin/Jane Wagner Cultural Arts Program at the Gay and Lesbian Center.

The Deaf West Theatre has made miracles in its vehicles tailored for deaf and hard-of-hearing artists, garnering innumerable accolades over the years but none quite as rapturous as those for its version of the Roger Miller musical Big River. This exuberant show went beyond the company’s modest North Hollywood abode to wider success at the Mark Taper Forum, on Broadway, and now in a national tour.

There’s a long list of other groups that are acknowledged for their brave and provocative efforts. Among the most noteworthy are the Circle X Company (offering Shakespeare’s King Henry IV, Part One beginning May 21), the Powerhouse Theatre, and the fast-rising Theatre Tribe of North Hollywood (with a critically canonized production of Lanford Wilson’s Book of Days continuing through May 23). But wait, there’s more: the Sacred Fools Theatre, the Zoo District, the Open Fist, Ron Sossi’s durable Odyssey Theatre Ensemble, the Evidence Room, Daniel Henning’s Blank Theatre, City Garage (noted for its penchant for on-stage nudity), and the MET. Some newer kids on the block that are making their marks are Buffalo Nights, MetaTheatre Company, the Furious Theatre, Write Act (with a highly praised dramatization of Franz Kafka’s The Trial through May 1), and Ziggurat Theatre Company.

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Tried and True

Several fine L.A. companies tend to cater to more traditional audience tastes. The Colony in Burbank is perhaps the leader of the pack, considering that it elevated itself from Equity-Waiver status to become a fully professional company in 2002 and subsequently offered sensational productions of the musical Side Show and Moises Kaufman’s The Laramie Project. Last year, the theater slummed a bit in presenting Larry Shue’s vapid The Nerd but it promises a great lineup for the new season, beginning August 18: Ladies of the Camellias, Grand Hotel, and Accomplice.

Three local groups specialize in the classics, with impeccable results: Glendale’s A Noise Within (offering a delightful production of Thornton Wilder’s The Matchmaker though May 13), the Antaeus Company (staging the acclaimed Chekhov anthology Chekov x 4 through May 2), and Jack Stehlin’s Circus Theatricals.

The popular Geffen Playhouse will soon close its sprightly hit production of Steve Martin’s farce The Underpants and then will temporarily present its shows at the Brentwood Theatre during a major renovation of its Westwood abode, set to reopen in fall 2005. The historic Pasadena Playhouse is offering Enchanted April, starring Mariette Hartley, through May 23, and in June will stage the Harvey Schmidt-Tom Jones tuner 110 in the Shade. There continue to be aesthetic ups and downs at Gary Marshall’s Falcon Theatre in Burbank, which seems to be searching for an identity.

The jury is still divided on the luxurious new Theatre @Boston Court in Pasadena: It received generally good reviews for its debut show, a New Orleans-set Romeo and Juliet, and mixed notices for its current world premiere production of Cold/Tender (closing May 2). Some other venerable companies that do consistently fine work include the Road Theatre in North Hollywood, the relocated Attic in Culver City, the Interact in North Hollywood, the Fountain in Hollywood (also known for its acclaimed dance productions), Pacific Resident Theatre in Venice, Theatre 40 in Beverly Hills, Actors Co-op in Hollywood, and International City Theatre in Long Beach (which is presenting the musical bio-drama Dinah Was through May 23). Theatre West, established in 1962, has produced shows of widely varying quality in recent years; its latest offering, the solo drama James Maitland Stewart — An Evening With Jimmy Stewart, was not very well received by the critics.

In addition to all of the above, there are many rental facilities that frequently offer interesting fare to L.A. audiences; some key venues are the city-owned Madrid Theatre; the Hudson, Lillian, and Elephant theatres on Hollywood’s Theatre Row; and the El Portal in North Hollywood.

Perhaps a good way to wind up this article is to mention a unique production that garnered reviews less favorable than expected at the ACME Comedy Theatre: the New York Fringe Festival hit Matt & Ben. The show has audiences laughing hysterically yet most of the critics had a ho-hum response to it. Well, fare for diverse tastes is a key factor in keeping theater alive and vibrant in L.A. In the end, your personal thumbs-up or thumbs-down is the one that counts.