Mormon Still Funniest F@#king Show Ever.
That Awesome Theatre Blog
by Patrick Hurley
2y ago
It’s been nine years since it first opened on Broadway, and The Book of Mormon is back on tour and just as raunchy and remarkable as ever. Photo by Julieta Cervantes Playing now through March 29 at the Ahmanson Theater, the musical written by South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone alongside EGOT winner Robert Lopez is an irreverent, vulgar, bawdy, and perhaps most surprisingly a sometimes-sweet, formulaic, splashy big-number musical with a giant heart and a foul mouth. This Production, the sixth I’ve seen, has moments that feel slightly less relevant than they may have nine years ago w ..read more
Visit website
Volta is Electrifying New Cirque Show
That Awesome Theatre Blog
by Patrick Hurley
2y ago
By Patrick Hurley Cirque du Soleil returns to Los Angeles with its all new bog top show Volta. The show, which plays into the contemporary fascination our world seems to have for reality shows combined with the brevity of online videos, is quite an impressive spectacle. The show starts closer to an actual narrative than most other Cirque shows featuring a show-within-a-show called The Mr. Wow Show. Mr. Wow (Andrey Kislitsin) is the host of a talent competition show- much in the vein of America’s Got Talent. One of the competitors is a dancer named Waz (Joey Arrigo) who wows the crowd with his ..read more
Visit website
This Flute Has Plenty of Magic
That Awesome Theatre Blog
by Patrick Hurley
2y ago
The Magic Flute, one of the most popular operas of all time, receives a cinematic makeover in the LA Opera’s stunning production, playing now at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. Mozart’s opera, which created its own sort of mythology, gets transported to the silent-film era and utilizes an abundance of animation, cleverly designed by Paul Barritt. The story serves the new interpretation quite well, and while there are a few issues with narrative clarity, the production as a whole is a triumphant spectacle. What was particularly inventive was the use of silent film dialogue projected on the scre ..read more
Visit website
Swan Still Stuns
That Awesome Theatre Blog
by Patrick Hurley
2y ago
When art becomes transcendent, it is unlike anything else. There is something sublime, something transportive, as if one is suddenly and rapturously catapulted into a meditative trance, invited into the imaginative rendering of an auteur and his truth. Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake: The Legend Returns, playing now at the Ahmanson, is a work of such beauty that its exquisiteness lies in the sheer audacity of its own existence. The re-telling of the classic ballet through the ingenious queer lens of a master storyteller is awe-inspiring. Photo by Craig Schwartz Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake is the story ..read more
Visit website
Character
That Awesome Theatre Blog
by Patrick Hurley
2y ago
The best dramatic characters need or want something very badly. A writer should write about characters as they arrive at a turning point in their lives. This is most vital for the Protagonist of the piece. The moment when the protagonist is emotionally prepared or thrust into his/her adventure, is the start of the play. This is known as the Inciting Incident or Point of Attack.   How do we define a protagonist? Literally, at least crudely so, “pro”is a prefix meaning “for” and agonist being derived from the word agony, which means “to suffer,” therefore, a protagonist is one who is willin ..read more
Visit website
Plot
That Awesome Theatre Blog
by Patrick Hurley
2y ago
A well-formed plot must have a beginning, middle, and ending. It should be unified, which means all the elements should tie together. Successful plots should contain surprises or revelations that fit logically into the story. The steps of the plot to a play are as follows: (We’ll use Romeo & Juliet as examples in parentheses) Exposition/Introduction– The opening scene(s) may or may not be an introduction to the world and characters. (Everything in the play up to the moment Romeo and Juliet Meet) Inciting Incident/Point of Attack- The moment the main story begins, it is usually when the pr ..read more
Visit website
Aristotle and His Elements
That Awesome Theatre Blog
by Patrick Hurley
2y ago
In his writings The Poetics, Aristotle essentially broke down what drama is and set a template for anyone who wished to write a play. He comprised a list of only six elements and declared that a play could not be called a play unless it contained these six elements. He also listed them in order of importance. They are: Plot Character Idea Dialogue Song Spectacle This lost was written over two thousand years ago, and the incredible thing is, if we take a modern popular piece of theater, say the musical Wicked, we can see that all of these elements are still present. There is a plot with chara ..read more
Visit website
A Play is a Poem is A Play about America.
That Awesome Theatre Blog
by Patrick Hurley
2y ago
Five short plays, meant to create a pastiche of Americana comprise Ethan Coen’s A Play is a Poem, and it’s having its world premiere at the Mark Taper Forum. Photo by Craig Schwartz Featuring a wonderful ensemble cast, clever Coen-esque dialogue, and a scene-stealing musician, some of the moments find true theatrical footing, while others meander, and stall- enraptured, but static in eloquent language that sometimes overwhelms the dramatic action, even so much as to leave us bereft of conflict or any trackable character arc. The most successful of the five pieces, theatrically, has to be The R ..read more
Visit website
Beckett Appreciation 101
That Awesome Theatre Blog
by Patrick Hurley
2y ago
Few writers are able to capture the imagination through irony, metaphor, and despair as startling or as vividly as Samuel Beckett. His prose has proven as deeply layered and richly textured as a perfectly aged bottle of wine. And much like wine, it is definitely an acquired taste. Photo by Craig Schwartz Bill Irwin, the indelible character actor’s actor presents On Beckett, playing now at the Kirk Douglas, as a kind of love letter to the great Irish/French/existentialist/playwright by examining Beckett’s writing through the lens of an actor, more specifically, the lens of an actor whose lens i ..read more
Visit website
John Leguizamo Gives a Long Overdue, Passionate and often Hilarious History Lesson
That Awesome Theatre Blog
by Patrick Hurley
2y ago
Most American History textbooks are lying to us. The Eurocentric, xenophobic, and excruciatingly myopic view of this land we call America gets a proper re-telling by the hilariously entertaining John Leguizamo in his solo show Latin History for Morons, playing now at the Ahmanson Theatre. Photo by Matthew Murphy. Mr. Leguizamo is such a charismatic performer than he can easily be forgiven for any easy laughs he may go for, in his attempts to edify a mass audience on a history that has been whitewashed to the point of near extinction. This is not to suggest that this show, which is pe ..read more
Visit website

Follow That Awesome Theatre Blog on FeedSpot

Continue with Google
Continue with Apple
OR