Theater to See in L.A. This Week, Including a Triumphant Return of a Latter-Day Judy Garland - Los Angeles - Arts - Public Spectacle 4/6/13 1:26 AM Browse Voice Nation Join Log In Blogs Search ARTS HOME ARTS BLOG THEATER THE ADVICE GODDESS ARTS NEWSLETTER GET MOBILE ENTERTAINMENT ADS Best L.A. Novel Ever: Stage Raw Books First Person TOP WhichThe... Is Better: New Play About A Hollywood Yes, You Can Day of the Marilyn Monroe's Novel That Hire a Naked blog Locust or What Bisexuality Doesn't Satirize Maid in L.A. STORIES Makes Sammy Hollywood? By Lisa Horowitz Run? By Steven Leigh Morris By Joseph Lapin By Jeff Maysh Stage Raw Now Trending Theater to See in L.A. This Week, Including a Theater Issue 2013: Why Be a Playwright in L.A.? Triumphant Return of a Latter-Day Judy Garland 5 Awesome Free Things To Do in L.A. This By Steven Leigh Morris Thu., Mar. 28 2013 at 2:04 PM Write Comment Week Categories: Stage Raw, Theater Like 261 Send Tweet 4 StumbleUpon 0 New Play About Marilyn Monroe's Bisexuality http://blogs.laweekly.com/arts/2013/03/end_of_the_rainbow_ahmanson.php#more Page 1 of 7 Theater to See in L.A. This Week, Including a Triumphant Return of a Latter-Day Judy Garland - Los Angeles - Arts - Public Spectacle 4/6/13 1:26 AM From the Vault I Was Sick of L.A. Traffic. So I Took a Plane to Work Public Spectacle - L.A. Weekly Arts & Culture Like 4,492 people like Public Spectacle - L.A. Weekly Arts & Culture. Slideshows Craig Schwartz Tracie Bennett stars as Judy Garland in End of the Rainbow CuriousJosh: L.A. Burning Man Regional Camp Out Tracie Bennett knocked the socks off our critic Tom Provenzano with her impersonation of Judy Garland in End of the Rainbow at the Ahmanson, which he made this week's Pick of the Week. Also Bill Raden had good things to say about S.O.E. -- Jami Brandli's clever, three- Lina In L.A.- Dirty Disco character riff on the venerable West End murder mystery The Mousetrap at Atwater Village Theatre -- and Lovell Estell praised Roger Matthew's revival of Trainspotting at the Elephant Theatre. For all the latest New Theater Reviews, see below. Alkaline Trio @ Hollywood In this week's Theater Feature, Zachary Pincus-Roth gives kudos to Center Theatre Group Tower for premiering a new play by a local scribe, Jennifer Haley's The Nether, though he has mixed feelings about the play itself. It's L.A. Weekly Theater Awards time: Monday evening, April 8, at Avalon More Slideshows >> Hollywood. Doors open 6:30 p.m., show starts at 7:30 p.m., hosted by Lost Moon Radio. Theme: Theater's survival post-apocalypse -- dress accordingly. Post-show reception is hosted by Shamshiri Grill. Nominees please RSVP at (310) 574-7208 before Friday, April 5. Friends, family and others, book tickets here. NEW THEATER REVIEWS, scheduled for pubication March 27, 2013 PICK OF THE WEEK END OF THE RAINBOWJudy Garland's legendary triumphs and tragedies, dish and dirt have been chronicled so often and in so many forms, it would http://blogs.laweekly.com/arts/2013/03/end_of_the_rainbow_ahmanson.php#more Page 2 of 7 Theater to See in L.A. This Week, Including a Triumphant Return of a Latter-Day Judy Garland - Los Angeles - Arts - Public Spectacle 4/6/13 1:26 AM seem no nuance is left to be unearthed. Then there is Tracie Bennett, a performer whose colossal vocal and emotional power in End of the Rainbow pull us eagerly into a known quantity of expected bathos, then without warning sheds sentiment in favor of caustic reality, portraying Garland as less a victim than vicious miscreant. In the last year of her life, broke and desperate, the star leans on her new young fiancé,Mickey Deans (a perfectly tacky Erik Heger), to whom she is simultaneously delightfully brittle, cruel and irresistible as he arranges her last-chance gig -- a five-week concert run in London. At her side also is accompanist Anthony (smartly played by Michael Cumpsty), who represents her enormous gay following. The two men alternately join forces and skirmish, attempting to keep Garland clean, sober and stage-ready. Peter Quilter's lean and piercing script leaves little room for the maudlin, focusing instead on Garland's extremely sharp wit and lifelong addict's tricks to stay one step ahead of her keepers at all times. Masterful director Terry Johnson keeps the cast tightly connected to the material while allowing his star to soar in her myriad musical numbers, both in messy rehearsals with Anthony and during her bright moments in front of packed houses. Music director Jeffrey Saver and his band consummately create those moments through Chris Egan's classic orchestrations and the Services simple brilliance of Bennett's performance. Ahmanson Theatre, 135 N. Grand Ave., Dwntwn: Tues.-Fri., 8 p.m.; Sat., 2 & 8 p.m.; Sun., 1 & 6:30 p.m.; through April 21. (213) Concorde Career College 628-2772, centertheatregroup.org (Tom Provenzno) View Ad | View Site THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST While the latest offering from the Banshees is surely earnest, director Sean Branney and the ensemble don't quite capture Concorde Career College View Ad | View Site the delicate rhythms of Oscar Wilde's language nor the precise comic timing necessary to properly realize Earnest. The conflict between Jack (Cameron J. Oro) and Algernon (Kevin UCLA Extension Stidham) initially misses the mark, as Oro is too congenial to delineate the contrast View Ad | View Site between the bachelors, leading Stidham to overdo the cheek a bit. Their dynamic soon recovers but it never finds Jack's stringent propriety, which provides the necessary foil to UCLA Extension Algernon's antics. Andrew Leman's Lady Bracknell, while quite different from Dame Edith View Ad | View Site Evans' classic portrayal, comes into her own and continues the tradition of male casting for the role. Gwendolen (Sarah van der Pol) and Cecily (Erin Barnes) are pleasant and perky, More >> but their claws aren't razor sharp in their classic tête-à-tête over tea, though Barnes' energy gives Cecily a youthful exuberance. There is brilliance in Branney's "set-change ballet" between Acts II and III, showcasing Arthur MacBride's artfully crafted set, but it's not enough to elevate a merely competent take on the classic. Theatre Banshee, 3435 W. Magnolia Blvd., Burbank; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 2 p.m.; through May 5. (818) 846-5323, theatrebanshee.org. (Mayank Keshaviah) MAD FOREST When Eastern European Communism collapsed, only Romania spilled a lot of blood -- from soldiers firing on citizens to the Christmas Day execution of its husband-and- wife dictators, Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu. When familiar faces quickly regained power, Romanians wondered if the events of late 1989 should have been labeled a revolution at all. Mad Forest delves directly into that abyss, spinning history into parable via playwright Caryl Churchill's canny postmodern aesthetic. Part 1 sets the stage with tableaux of Romanian life http://blogs.laweekly.com/arts/2013/03/end_of_the_rainbow_ahmanson.php#more Page 3 of 7 Theater to See in L.A. This Week, Including a Triumphant Return of a Latter-Day Judy Garland - Los Angeles - Arts - Public Spectacle 4/6/13 1:26 AM under the secret police. Part 2 becomes an oral history of the violence, and Part 3 dramatizes the unraveling of hope, goodwill -- and, to some extent, sanity -- in the messy aftermath. Mad Forest, with its heavily expository nature, may not have stood the test of time as well as some of Churchill's other works, but its engagement with the impotent rage of those whom history treats as pawns remains on point. Director Marya Mazor stylishly wrangles her large cast and multimedia staging. Open Fist Theatre Company, 6209 Santa Monica Blvd., Hlywd.; Fri.-Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 2 p.m.; through May 4. (323) 882- 6912, openfist.org. (Mindy Farabee) MINDSPIN Ehrin Marlow Alec, Jessica Noboa and Ryan Mulkay "Meta" might be a bit of an overused critical term these days, but it's an apt description of this intriguing if ultimately flimsy performance art piece about performance art pieces, from New York City's Ugly Rhino Theater Company. Director Nicole Rosner's site-specific narrative unfolds at a red- painted cinderblock downtown loft, full of edgy art works, where audience members mingle with actors who are portraying artists, bartenders and other guests. Before long, we find ourselves drawn into the story of the party's hostesses, Auden (Lauren Swann) and Tahnee (Tanya Zoeller), who develop a bizarre love triangle with a handsome but mysterious party guest (Zachary Puchtel). It's undeniably charming to wander around the loft during the party scenes, luxuriating in the fact that (for one night Payne only) you are "hipper than Lauren Swann and Tanya Zoeller thou," while interacting with folks who might be either http://blogs.laweekly.com/arts/2013/03/end_of_the_rainbow_ahmanson.php#more Page 4 of 7 Theater to See in L.A. This Week, Including a Triumphant Return of a Latter-Day Judy Garland - Los Angeles - Arts - Public Spectacle 4/6/13 1:26 AM random audience members or disguised actors. It's unfortunate, though, that the show's "plot" is slight to the point of being utterly inconsequential -- divorce it from the engagingly ambiguous context and the play itself is almost nonexistent. The Red Loft, 605 E. Fourth St., dwntwn.; schedule varies, through April 6. uglyrhino.com. (Paul Birchall) GO THE NETHER Jennifer Haley's new virtual reality play at the Kirk Douglas Theatre.