Archives for May 24, 2012

Time: Mid-afternoon. Place: A car en route from Costa Mesa to Hollywood via the freeway. The Rite of Spring is playing loudly on the radio.

HE Does Stravinsky rule, or what? This is just the kind of piece you want to hear while driving on the Los Angeles freeway. (Taking one hand off the wheel to point at the GPS perched on the dashboard) See the Diebenkorn unfolding on the GPS screen? Isn’t it pretty?

The car swerves wildly.

SHE Jesus, Mary, and Joseph! Slow DOWN!

HE (genially) What’s the matter? Don’t you like sailing down the car-pool lane at eighty miles an hour?

SHE (in a still, small voice, covering her face with her hands to ward off shards of flying glass) No.

Here’s my list of recommended Broadway, off-Broadway, and out-of-town shows, updated weekly. In all cases, I gave these shows favorable reviews (if sometimes qualifiedly so) in The Wall Street Journal when they opened. For more information, click on the title.

BROADWAY:

• Anything Goes (musical, G/PG-13, mildly adult subject matter that will be unintelligible to children, closes Sept. 9, reviewed here)

• The Best Man (drama, PG-13, extended through Sept. 9, some performances sold out last week, reviewed here)

• The Columnist (drama, PG-13/R, extended through July 1, many performances sold out last week, reviewed here)

• Evita (musical, PG-13, nearly all performances sold out last week, reviewed here)

• Godspell (musical, G, suitable for children, reviewed here)

• Once (musical, G/PG-13, nearly all performances sold out last week, reviewed here)

• Other Desert Cities (drama, PG-13, adult subject matter, closes June 17, reviewed here)

• Venus in Fur (serious comedy, R, adult subject matter, closes June 17, reviewed here)

OFF BROADWAY:

• Avenue Q (musical, R, adult subject matter and one show-stopping scene of puppet-on-puppet sex, reviewed here)

• The Fantasticks (musical, G, suitable for children capable of enjoying a love story, reviewed here)

• 4000 Miles (drama, PG-13, extended through July 1, reviewed here)

• Man and Superman (serious comedy, G, far too long and complex for children of any age, closes June 17, reviewed here)

• Million Dollar Quartet (jukebox musical, G, off-Broadway remounting of Broadway production, closes June 24, original run reviewed here)

• Tribes (drama, PG-13, closes Sept. 2, reviewed here)

IN CHICAGO:

• The Iceman Cometh (drama, PG-13, closes June 17, reviewed here)

CLOSING SOON IN CHICAGO:

• Timon of Athens (Shakespeare, PG-13, closes June 10, reviewed here)

CLOSING SOON IN LOS ANGELES:

• Follies (musical, PG-13, adult subject matter, transfer of Kennedy Center/Broadway revival, closes June 9, original run reviewed here)

CLOSING NEXT WEEK ON BROADWAY:

• Death of a Salesman (drama, PG-13, unsuitable for children, all performances sold out last week, closes June 2, reviewed here)

CLOSING NEXT WEEK IN CHICAGO:

• Angels in America (drama, PG-13/R, closes June 3, reviewed here)

“An improper mind is a perpetual feast.”
Logan Pearsall Smith, Afterthoughts