In Southern California, the post-pandemic malaise lastly began to carry. And the theater, fairly unexpectedly, turned out to be 2024’s silver lining.
The Mark Taper Discussion board reopened for enterprise within the fall with a pedal-to-the-metal revival of “American Idiot,” a collaboration with Deaf West Theatre that marked Middle Theatre Group creative director Snehal Desai’s directing debut at his new residence. The Tarell Alvin McCraney period started in earnest with a seismic manufacturing of “The Brothers Size,” the play that launched the theater public to his unflinching, lyrical truth-telling.
Probably the most memorable productions could have concerned classics of 1 type or one other, however these works have been reborn in stagings that refused to play it protected. The just-wrapped “Pacific Overtures” and “Waiting for Godot” (working by Dec. 21) reclaimed their timelessness whereas the Previous Globe’s “Henry 6” created what appeared like a Shakespeare historical past play scorching off the press.
Adam Kaokept, left, Brian Kim McCormick, Gedde Watanabe and Kavin Panmeechao in “Pacific Overtures” at East West Gamers.
(Teolindo)
Of the brand new and newish performs I noticed within the area, James Ijames’ “Fat Ham” and Eboni Sales space’s “Primary Trust” proved their award-winning mettle to Southern California audiences. Stephen Sachs’ “Fatherland,” a verbatim drama a few Jan. 6 rebellion case that has the momentous household stakes of a Greek tragedy, had its electrifying world premiere on the Fountain Theatre earlier than heading to New York with its all-too-prescient political warning on this tumultuous election yr.
Talking of New York, the perfect performs I noticed on Broadway have been inseparable from their stupendous productions. Paul Vogel’s “Mother Play,” starring a luminous Jessica Lange and ballasted by the superb supporting performances of Celia Keenan-Bolger and Jim Parsons on the Helen Hayes Theater, introduced breadth and depth to a private household drama enlivened by Tina Landau’s adventurous course.
Brash British playwright Jez Butterworth’s “The Hills of California,” a Chekhovian drama with a contemporary edge in regards to the vigil variously embittered sisters are holding for his or her dying mom, who unsuccessfully groomed them for showbiz glory. It unfolds with novelistic scope in a manufacturing (working on the Broadhurst Theatre by Dec. 22) made theatrically propulsive by a dream ensemble, headed by a blazing Laura Donnelly and impeccably directed by Sam Mendes.
Marcel Spears, left, and Chris Herbie Holland in “Fat Ham” on the Geffen Playhouse.
(Jeff Lorch)
As for star energy, it could be onerous to compete with Nicole Scherzinger’s nuclear radiance in Jamie Lloyd’s present hit Broadway revival of “Sunset Blvd.” on the St. James Theatre or the heaven-made comedian pairing of Mia Farrow and Patti LuPone, who’re ending their run on Dec. 15, in Jen Silverman’s “The Roommate” on the Sales space Theatre. However my most rapturous expertise of the yr got here from director Maria Friedman‘s Tony-winning revival of “Merrily We Roll Along.” The production, which made a believer of me in the greatness of this tricky Stephen Sondheim-George Furth musical when I saw the revival off-Broadway, had me once again basking in Jonathan Groff’s astonishing lead efficiency as Franklin Shepard, the hypotenuse of a friendship triangle completely balanced by Daniel Radcliffe’s Charley Kringas and Lindsay Mendez’s Mary Flynn.
Kenny Leon’s still-running Broadway revival of “Our Town,” an inclusive twenty first century American reboot of Thornton Wilder’s basic, was probably the most therapeutic drama I noticed all yr. Balm for our divided nationwide soul, the manufacturing on the Ethel Barrymore served as a reminder of the theater’s distinctive potential to knit us again right into a collective, even when just for a few hours.
Lists inevitably go away off the worthy, even a prime 10 listing that cheats with 11 gadgets. Echo Theater Firm could not have made the minimize this yr, nevertheless it confirmed why it’s probably the most very important middle for offbeat drama in Los Angeles. Abigail Deser‘s hypnotic production of Abby Rosebrock‘s compellingly strange “Dido of Idaho” and artistic director Chris Fields’ acutely delicate manufacturing of Samuel D. Hunter’s “Clarkston” made me want that different native theaters had Fields’ acumen for defiantly bizarre playwriting.
And whereas I could have taken a dissenting view on Tom Jacobson’s “Crevasse,” discovering the two-hander about Leni Riefenstahl’s assembly with Walt Disney to be considerably confusingly structured, I’ve nothing however reward for director Matthew McCray, his design group and the manufacturing’s superlative solid, Leo Marks and Ann Noble.
Lastly, two irreplaceable creative leaders bade farewell to their longtime posts at corporations they co-founded: Sachs on the Fountain Theatre and John Perrin Flynn at Rogue Machine Theatre. For his or her extraordinary theatrical service, I give my most heartfelt thanks.
Right here, in alphabetical order, are my SoCal theatrical highlights.
“The Birthday Party: A Theatrical Catastrophe,” Henry Murray Stage on the Matrix Theatre. Nick Ullett spilled the tea on the Harold Pinter revival on the Geffen Playhouse that by no means bought out of rehearsal on this rewarding Rogue Machine Theater providing that offered a raconteur grasp class of backstage lunacy, involving director William Friedkin and actor Steven Berkoff and a dream solid caught within the crossfire.
“The Brothers Size,” Geffen Playhouse’s Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater. The intimacy of the Geffen Playhouse’s second stage helped crystallize Tarell Alvin McCraney’s “The Brothers Size,” a part of the playwright’s acclaimed “Brother/Sister” trilogy set within the Louisiana bayou and incorporating West African mythology. Directed by Bijan Sheibani, the manufacturing was set ablaze by the percussive accompaniment of musician Stan Mathabane and the in-sync rhythms of the three-person solid: Sheaun McKinney, Alani iLongwe and Malcolm Mays.
“Company,” Hollywood Pantages Theatre. The touring manufacturing of Marianne Elliott’s touted gender-swapped revival of Stephen Sondheim and George Furth’s “Company” could not have had Patti LuPone, who sang the vodka stinger coronary heart out of “The Ladies Who Lunch” in her Tony-winning efficiency as Joanne. However there was greater than sufficient intoxicating firepower within the resplendent efficiency of Britney Coleman, who performed Bobbie (Bobby within the authentic), the commitment-phobe protagonist questioning if it’s time to get married. Up to date for a brand new period, the present succeeded on its superb rating that Coleman made converse in generally sudden however at all times thrilling methods.
“Fat Ham,” Geffen Playhouse’s Gil Cates Theater. James Ijames’ Pulitzer Prize-winning riff on ”Hamlet,” relocated to a yard barbecue within the South, was as raucously entertaining because it was philosophically reflective. A well-tuned ensemble discovered the comedian pleasure and slathered it round like delicious barbecue sauce as questions on destiny, household responsibility and ethical alternative have been hotly debated.
“Fatherland,” Fountain Theatre. Conceived and directed by Stephen Sachs, this documentary drama a few household divided by the Jan. 6 rebellion had its world premiere in Los Angeles earlier than opening in New York to additional acclaim. The manufacturing, executed to perfection, starred Ron Bottitta and Patrick Keleher because the radicalized father and his conscience-stricken son in a tense dramatic standoff that instructed a narrative about America we’re nonetheless convulsively residing by.
“Funny Girl,” Ahmanson Theatre. The shadow of Barbra Streisand’s immortal efficiency shouldn’t be simple to beat, however Katerina McCrimmon put her personal spin on Fanny Brice, the topic of this 1964 crowd-pleasing musical. Whereas delivering with éclat the jewels of Jule Styne and Bob Merrill‘s rating (“I’m the Greatest Star,” “People” and “Don’t Rain on My Parade”), McCrimmon portrayed the vaudeville star with piercing authenticity within the nationwide tour manufacturing that introduced Broadway’s golden age momentarily again to life.
“Henry 6,” San Diego’s Previous Globe’s Lowell Davies Competition Theatre. With this sensationally entertaining manufacturing of Shakespeare’s early and seldom-revived three-part historical past play, the Previous Globe reached a producing milestone, finishing the Shakespeare canon. Creative director Barry Edelstein ready the accessible and extremely gripping two-part adaptation and directed the manufacturing with a mix of textual care, theatrical boldness and provoking public-mindedness that invited San Diegans into the collaborative course of. That is what Shakespeare for the individuals actually appears like.
“Kimberly Akimbo,” Hollywood Pantages Theatre. Carolee Carmello was heartbreakingly magnificent in David Lindsay-Abaire and Jeanine Tesori’s Tony-winning musical spun from Lindsay-Abaire’s quirky 2000 play, a few New Jersey teenager with a genetic dysfunction that’s turning her into an previous girl in highschool. Carmello’s unsentimental efficiency discovered the humor in addition to the stoic resilience of a personality decided to stay life to the fullest whereas she nonetheless can.
“Pacific Overtures,” David Henry Hwang Theater within the Union Middle of the Arts. Below Tim Dang’s intrepid course, East West Gamers’ revival of Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman’s mind-blowingly formidable 1976 musical went off with pyrotechnic brilliance. This manufacturing of probably the most tough works within the Sondheim canon made an summary musical in regards to the opening up of Japan to Western commerce within the nineteenth century vivid, exuberant and provocatively resonant.
“Primary Trust,” La Jolla Playhouse’s Mandell Weiss Discussion board Theatre. Probably the most affecting latest play I’ve seen all yr, Eboni Sales space’s 2024 Pulitzer Prize winner could be the “Our Town” for the twenty first century. Knud Adams, who directed the New York premiere, re-created the magic within the La Jolla West Coast premiere, which centered on the beautiful efficiency of Caleb Eberhardt as Kenneth, a candy but troubled man recalling how he turned his lonely life round with the assistance of mates, actual and imaginary.
“Waiting for Godot,” Geffen Playhouse’s Gil Cates Theater. The stark fantastic thing about Samuel Beckett’s absurdist basic, half music corridor romp, half summary portray, was woke up in a manufacturing starring two gifted comics who didn’t overplay their slapstick palms, Rainn Wilson and Aasif Mandvi. Judy Hegarty Lovett, from the theater firm Gare St Lazare Eire, directed a solid that included her husband, gifted Beckettian actor Conor Lovett, who performed Pozzo, and Adam Stein, who performed Fortunate. This well-balanced revival emphasised the tender, susceptible, helplessly dependent humanity of the playwright’s uncompromising and indelible imaginative and prescient.