A band is in the studio recording a new album in 1976. There are two happy couples in the band. Everyone is drinking, snorting cocaine, and smoking weed. It’s all going great… at first.
For a play about a band, there isn’t much music. Also, the pacing is very slow. There is a lot of time where nothing is happening. While this may be realistic, it is quite boring for the audience. This production is 2 hours and 50 minutes including an intermission. The original version was 3 hours and 15 minutes.
Will Butler (Arcade Fire) has written some great songs. Also, the band does sound really good in the few songs that they play.
David Adjimi has written some great scenes, but they are quite spaced out. The cast is excellent in those scenes and will likely remind you of Fleetwood Mac.
Cost of a ticket: $106
PlaylistHQ Economic Rating: Discounted –
Rating Scale: Exceptional > Good Value > Discounted > Go for Free > Don’t Bother
Get tickets now for Stereophonicthrough February 8th.
A daughter visits her father every fall. Together, they bird watch from the deck and talk about life. They discuss careers, family, birds, and climate change. As the years pass, it gets warmer and warmer and the topics of conversation evolve.
Anna Ouyang Moench (In Quietness, Severance) has written a very funny and touching play that will have you calling your father afterwards. The characters are very well developed.
The sound design by Ethan Korvne is very impressive. It feels like birds are flying right by you!
Photos by Evan Hanover
At 90 minutes, it would be nice to have an intermission. There are plenty of scene changes where it can be easily added. Join the Pro-Intermission movement here.
Cassidy Slaughter-Mason (KISS) is superb as the daughter, who is doing her best to make a living and start a family. John Judd (The Cave, A View From the Bridge) is excellent as the father, who is better with facts than emotions. He always wants the best for his daughter.
Humans are living on Roma Prime, an Earthlike planet orbiting a dying star. Many of them have moved to the Flotilla, a large group of starships that form a nation. One of these starships is forced to land on a foreign planet during a mission. A former member of this starship that was exiled already lives on this planet and is working on wormhole technology to reclaim everything she lost.
Tiffany Keane Schaefer has written a very creative retelling of The Tempest. Half of this play is very dense with Sci-Fi jargon that is hard to follow. The other half uses less jargon and focuses on the relationships between the characters, which is when the play is at its best.
The great cast includes Stacey Lind, Izzi King, Blake Hood, Jacob Watson, P-Jay Adams, Hayden Lane-Davis, Janice Rumshlag, Hilary Sanzel, and Sydney Ginter. This performance featured three understudies: Charles Brailovsky as Dax, Erin Bonham as Ariel, and Hayden Lane-Davies as Kai-Lune.
Cost of a ticket: $30
PlaylistHQ Economic Rating: Good Value –
Rating Scale: Exceptional > Good Value > Discounted > Go for Free > Don’t Bother
There is a mumps outbreak at Eureka Day, an elementary school in Berkely, California. The Executive Committee is trying to decide if they want to change the policy about requiring vaccines. Two of the members have unvaccinated children. They are all trying to be politically correct while looking for the best solution.
Jonathan Spector has written a very funny and topical play. The pacing is excellent and the laughs and the drama just kept coming.
At 105 minutes, it would be nice to have an intermission. There are plenty of scene changes where it can be easily added. Join the Pro-Intermission movement here.
PJ Powers (Lifespan of a Fact) is hilarious as the leader, who tries his best to make everyone happy. Rebekah Ward is excellent as the anti-vaxxer, who wants her opinion respected. Gabrielle Lott-Rogers (Boulevard of Bold Dreams) is outstanding as the newcomer, who catches on to the group dynamics quickly. Jurgen Hooper is great as the guy who wants to add Trans Racially Adopted to the race drop down in the school’s admission form. Aurora Adachi-Winter is superb as the mother who has some surprises to reveal.
Cost of a ticket: $144 (Front Center Section) to $39 (Value Seats)
PlaylistHQ Economic Rating: Exceptional (Go with the Value Seats in this small theatre)
Rating Scale: Exceptional > Good Value > Discounted > Go for Free > Don’t Bother
Get tickets now for Eureka Day through February 22nd!
Welcome to the World Famous Comedy Store on Sunset in Hollywood, CA! Tonight’s show is called Keys to the Store. It is hosted by Avery Pearson. It features him playing comedic songs on the keyboards (aka, keys) and key comedians from the LA scene.
His father is a cardiologist who creates artificial hearts and nearly won a Nobel Peace Prize. But if you talk to his mother, you’d think he’s an idiot!
Kate is in southern Germany visiting her Opa, which is the informal German word for grandfather. During her visit, she asks him a lot of questions about his time as half-Jewish man during World War Two. These scenes are intertwined with flashbacks to Opa as a man in his thirties with his wife and child avoiding the Nazis.
Photographer: Demian Tejeda-Benitez
Christopher Franciosa has written a very compelling and gripping play based loosely on his grandparents’ lives during the holocaust. It explores what someone would do to survive in very extreme circumstances.
Meghan Lewis is solid as Kate who is determined to discover what her father did during the war. Allan Wasserman (Nobody Wants This) is excellent as Opa, who would much rather forget those times than talk about them. Jeremy Schaye is superb as the young Opa who is doing everything he can for his family. Lilli Passero is splendid as the wife navigating what life throws at her. Lastly, Victor Montez is great as the young SS soldier, whose intentions are well hidden.
Cost of a ticket: $38.75
PlaylistHQ Economic Rating: Exceptional Value –
Rating Scale: Exceptional > Good Value > Discounted > Go for Free > Don’t Bother
A police inspector comes to the mansion to interview the family about the suicide of a young woman. She first talks to the father and he confirms that the young woman used to work for him, but he fired her after she insisted on getting a raise. She goes on to interview everyone in the family revealing many long-held secrets as she tries to uncover the truth.
Photographer: Gabriel Tejeda-Benitez
J.B. Priestly has written a thrilling play that is full of twists and mystery. This play from 1946 has truly stood the test of time.
David Hunt Stafford is superb as the father who is very concerned about his reputation. Katyana Rocker-Cook is excellent as the daughter, who is embarrassed by her actions. Isaac W Jay (Lessons in Chemistry) is fantastic as the daughter’s boyfriend, who does his best to keep secrets. Diana Angelina is great as the mother, who can’t believe the truth that is being revealed. Monty Renfrow is so emotional as the son, who reveals his secrets easily. Lastly, Mouchette van Helsdingen is outstanding as the inspector, who cleverly asks all the right questions at the right time.
Cost of a ticket: $75
PlaylistHQ Economic Rating: Good Value
Rating Scale: Exceptional > Good Value > Discounted > Go for Free > Don’t Bother
The guest host is very funny and does a great job as the glue between the acts.
Dancing
Just like at the Moulin Rouge and La Nouvelle Eve (See our review here), and there is a lot of great sexy topless dancing with an excellent soundtrack (AWOLNATION, Gnarls Barkley, etc.). The dancing by Isabella Guinevere is especially impressive.
Andrii Kalashnyk and Bogdan Kalashnyk – Hand to Hand Acrobats
These two men perform some very impressive formations. It begins with one standing right behind the other. They man in front proceeds to lift the other directly above his head using only his hands. This is an amazing feat. Later on, one of the men places one hand on the other’s head and is lifted up. What an amazing display of strength and control!
Richard Del Canto and Maryi Del Canto
On about a 4 foot wide circular platform, the performers spin up to 45 mph on roller skates. The man picks up the woman and spins her around just by her legs. Then, to increase the intensity, they use a figure 8 device that puts a loop over each of their heads. He then proceeds to spin her around without using his hand in a fantastic finale. The crowd gave them a standing ovation!
This man can juggle. I mean, really juggle. He juggles about 4 ping pong balls using his mouth to launch the balls up. It’s insane. Later in the show, he brings out a piano that plays a note whenever he drops a ball onto it. He very impressively plays “Fur Elise” by Beethoven using about 6 balls. It is truly incredible.
Iouri & Gabor – Ultimate Balancing Act
This impressive duo features a lot of incredible balancing positions. In one of them, the man on top uses just one hand on the other’s head to balance himself. The grandest one was when the man on the bottom held the other one upside down with their heads back-to-back, just using their shoulders. It was unbelievable!
Lioz – Comedy Magic Parody
Lioz tells the audience that he is going to turn a latex glove that has been blown up into Pikachu. He concentrates on it very hard and then just squeezes it in a way that looks just like Pikachu. He then does the same to a turtle and a baby. It’s oh so funny. Later on, he has an audience member pick a gigantic card, then he puts it inside a normal sized card deck. After shuffling the deck, he removes the large card. He then confesses that he cheated, because the card is marked. The audience erupts in laughter as he is clearly making fun of magicians. His full show follows at 830.
Russ Merlin begins his show by trying to find four men that are the same height by looking at the seated audience. He successfully finds 3 and the 4th is 6’3”. Not too shabby. He then invites them all on stage. He goes on to put very funny masks on all them and teach them some basic actions to do when he taps them on the shoulder. In essence, he turns them into his puppets and it makes for a very funny show.
Cost of a ticket: $82 (VIP Middle)
PlaylistHQ Economic Rating: Good Value (Go with the side rear tickets for this small theatre)
Rating Scale: Exceptional > Good Value > Discounted > Go for Free > Don’t Bother
PlaylistHQ 