Ensemble Studio Theatre/LA’s world premiere production of Mlle. God is being billed as a sexual "dark comedy." Unfortunately the play, written by Oscar-nominated writer Nicholas Kazan (Reversal of Fortune, Enough), isn't quite dark or funny enough. And the sex and power struggles that underlie the play are also a little lacking in the oomph department. more ›

Nichelle Hines drives the play in the role of the tragically under-appreciated “Tracey.” Hines is robust and graceful; skillful, yet reassuringly natural; and softly endearing. Her competent stage presence buffers the rough spots of the script and artfully spares the audience the common pandering technicalities of the scorned woman archetype. Hines does not burst haphazardly on to the stage, but instead surrounds her role with a gust of dynamic warmth and believability. more ›

It's the final weeks of Hurricane Season at the Eclectic Company Theatre. The short play competition, now in its seventh season, presents nine short works during the course of six weeks. Three playwriting finalists have been pre-selected by a jury for the competition, and one of these three plays will be presented at each performance. more ›

Bright Eyes Productions pensive staging of Stephan MacDonald’s Not About Heroes is an epigraphic presentation of the friendship and poetry of British World War I poets Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon. more ›

There are two things that the average American audience member might notice about playwright Martin McDonagh’s work. The first is that his characters like to say “feck” a lot--an Irish variation on our much beloved “f-word.” The second is that the people in the plays, from the homicidal brothers of The Lonesome West to the manipulative mother of The Beauty Queen of Leenane, tend to be bastards. All that, however, was just a warm-up for the sanguinary joys of The Lieutenant of Inishmore, a pitch-black comedy that serves up its violence with manic glee. The new production at the Taper is both horrifying and hilarious--not a show for the squeamish--but for the rest of us, it’s a dark delight. more ›

Usually, an abandoned car dealership would be on the list of least likely places to ever see contemporary opera. But in the case of Songs and Dances of Imaginary Lands, it is the only place. Directed by O-Lan Jones, the opera was developed over the course of seven years. It is a large-scale production that showcases the work of 13 composers, 21 librettists, a company of more than 20 actors, an orchestra of seven musicians and a list of collaborators that exceeds 100. No one would argue that it was a big production, but Songs and Dances of Imaginary Lands proved to be an example of artistic quantity over quality. more ›

King Lear, Shakespeare’s play about an old, unfortunately unwise monarch who learns to value the worthwhile people in his life too late, is generally performed as a simple tragedy, squeezing pathos from the disconcerting velocity of the high being brought low. There’s nothing wrong with that approach—it works and has worked for centuries—but the new production by the Antaeus Company offers something different... more ›

We hear a lot of music at LAist, and May was a month for a bumper crop for buzzworthy releases. Here are a few that we recommend: more ›

- by Lyle Zimskind Two plays that just opened in LA are being performed not in typical theater spaces, but rather in fully furnished private homes on quiet streets in unassuming neighborhoods. The Filament Theatre Co. is presenting the west coast premiere of a drama called second in three different rooms of a large house in Echo Park (with spectacular views in two directions from the bedroom, by the way). Full Disclosure, a new work developed by the Chalk Repertory Theatre, is currently playing at a smaller house (but check out the nice-sized swimming pool and putting green in the backyard) near Lake Balboa, way deep in the heart of the San Fernando Valley. more ›

Young Ben is on his way to meet his fiancée Jill’s father Sam, stepmother Penny, and stepsister Jillian for the first time this weekend. As the couple drive down the highway, only a few minutes away from Jill’s childhood home... more ›

When we were sent an early copy of Marisa Matarazzo’s first book Drenched: Stories of Love and Other Deliriums, the title, the naked woman swimming on the cover and the gimmicky Valentine’s Day release date made us a little dubious of its contents. Would it be a Harlequin-eque bodice ripper? Or another innocuous but banal attempt at chick lit? more ›

What's happening over at Yelp? The powerhouse of a community-driven review website made a big local announcement today, but one many users are not happy with. Yelp said they are "parting ways" with their most recent community manager, Dawson S. That comes after the exit of Stephy S. (LAist interview) and a slew of others. "Gosh. It seems hard to imagine how Yelp will maintain any sort of credibility in the community when the local leadership changes more frequently than I change my oil," noted one user. The onslaught and Yelp hating continues on the Yelp's talk thread. Previously: 5-Star Yelp reviews go up before restaurant opens. more ›

Former Top Chef contender Fabio Viviani has left his Moorpark restaurant and moved quickly into a new spot, Firenze Osteria. The eatery has taken over the North Hollywood space formerly occupied by Barsac Brasserie, and underwent a quick turnaround to transform the restaurant. Now in a "soft-open" phase, Firenze Osteria is set to officially open this Saturday, with a public (with RSVP) cocktail reception, and the phone line is up and accepting reservations starting at 7:45 p.m. more ›

The newest edition of Zagat covering Los Angeles and Southern California Restaurants was released today. Zagat 2010 covers 2,034 restaurants as voted on by local amateur foodies. As with anything in today's internet age, the guidebook, ratings and reviews are not only listed on Zagat's website, but they are now available for the first time on mobile platforms, including apps for the iPhone and Android. Oh, and they Twitter (of course). more ›

In a scathing review published today in the LA Times, restaurant critic Leslie Brenner takes on a seafood institution known mostly for it's foil animal-shaped doggie bags and it's Pacific Ocean views, and tries to figure out why Gladstone's in Malibu has earned the title of Southern California's top-grossing restaurant. At what is ostensibly a commercialized mini-chain offering very standard seafood fare (and, in the opinion of Brenner's server on one visit, even some sub-standard fare) you'll get "huge portions of bad food at astoundingly high prices." And while the customers seem to be happily conned, the establishment is laughing its way to the bank. But Brenner isn't laughing; she rates the place "poor" and gives the impression something is fishy with Gladstone's rampant popularity...and it isn't the clam chowder. more ›

Despite the older generation's lingering fear that even stepping outside of your car in Echo Park will somehow get you assaulted or shot or worse (suburban Boomers, I'm looking in your direction!), this increasingly gentrified neighborhood has become a new mecca for intelligent, classy dining. Joining Lot 1 and Masa is Restaurant 15, a hip spot with a cool interior, but also a menu that still seems to be a work in progress. 15's previous claim to fame was its $15 prix fixe menu, featuring house specialties like mac n' cheese and a Kobe burger, but what self-respecting upscale establishment doesn't have both of those items these days? more ›

Below, you'll find some short reviews of three documentary films that will only be in theaters for a couple more days. They each tell very different stories in unique ways and all of them are worth your time and money. I've said it before (and I'll keep saying it until my nemesis, Per Degaton, finally manages to capture and neutralize me): if you go to the theater and buy a ticket for a documentary it is virtually certain that you will enjoy the experience. So many people shy away from seeing docs on the big screen, but when they ultimately try it out they are always glad they did. Okay, enough speechifying--onto the reviews! more ›

Just when you thought stoner doom metal was dead, Austin natives the Sword have stormed onto the scene with some of the darkest riffs and sickest solos since Sabbath. With their sophomore release entitled "Gods of the Earth" in their arsenal of show material, the Sword took the stage at the El Rey and just started destroying ear drums one song at a time. more ›

Colourmusic are the rarest of musical rarities- a band from the isolated hinter portions of America's Heartland (Also known as "The Sticks") that not only doesn't suck, but actually turns out to be pretty great. And not in that sort of special olympics, everyone's a winner, "well, they're good for [insert your tiny state here]" kind of way, but actually, honestly, for realsies good. Kind of like how The Flaming Lips are so good you're kind of surprised to find out they're from Norman, Oklahoma. more ›

, due out March 4th, was recently negatively reviewed in everyone's favorite trucker guy bible, Maxim. This was odd, however, since apparently, no advance copies of the album were given out. As it turns out, the reviewer never heard the album at all. According to The Black Crowes' website, when the band's management complained, the review was explained by Maxim's editors thusly: "Of course, we always prefer to (sic) hearing music, but sometimes there are big albums that we don’t want to ignore that aren’t available to hear, which is what happened with the Crowes. It’s either an educated guess preview or no coverage at all, so in this case we chose the former.” Wow, an educated guess that includes specific statements like "it hasn’t left Chris Robinson and the gang much room for growth"? more ›

Many of LAist's contributors have been checking out L.A.'s dineLA Restaurant Week -- and we've discovered that some experiences definitely offered more value than others. I decided to close out my own Restaurant Week experience with a casual lunch and a more upscale dinner: for the former, I took LAist editor Zach out to lunch at eat. on sunset, while I saved the fancy hotel dinner at Circa 55 for my special guy. Both restaurants offered exactly what I was looking for in a Restaurant Week experience: tasty, unique dishes for reasonable prices in a beautiful location. And did I mention good service? When it comes to dining in this city, nothing sets apart a fine meal so much as excellent service. more ›

What are your favorite breakfast spots in Los Angeles? Who's got the best cup of coffee? The yummiest pancakes? The thickest slabs of bacon? Who's overrated and who's overlooked? We're determined to find out -- so wake up with us, won't you? Enjoy L.A.'s Best Breakfasts!!! more ›

Last Friday night at Bordello, Elite Yelpers gathered for drinks and music to wish Stephy S, Community Manager of Yelp.com for Los Angeles (she's like Tom of MySpace, but goddess style), a farewell adieu as she takes on a larger responsibility for the website up at its San Francisco HQ (sister site SFist should feel so lucky). Since May 2006, Stephy has been leading the way for Yelp.com, bringing in the energy for a site that had nothing to a site that now has everything. Today, we spoke to Stephy about food, drink, some other stuff, and... food. After all, when it's your job included writing over 1500 food reviews (1575 to be exact as of this publishing), you're going to have great foodie suggestions. more ›

With the big Christmas season movies still a week away (The Golden Compass, Atonement), it's a rather soft schedule of new releases. That's not to say there aren't any quality films coming out, though. At the top of the list is The Savages. Philip Seymour Hoffman, Laura Linney and Philip Bosco star in Tamara Jenkin's acerbic drama about two siblings forced to care for their not altogether pleasant father as he slips further into... more ›

With one very notable exception, it's a fairly dull weekend in the movie world. That exception, of course, is the sterling No Country for Old Men. After several misfires (Intolerable Cruelty, The Ladykillers, The Man Who Wasn't There), the Coen Brothers are back with their best film since The Big Lebowski. Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin and Tommy Lee Jones all give superb performances in this adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's novel of the same name.... more ›

For what seems like the 300th time this year, Hollywood is giving us a movie based on a graphic novel. That movie is 30 Days of Night and stars the lethally inexpressive Josh Hartnett as a small-town sheriff charged with the task of protecting Barrow, Alaska from a rampaging horde of hungry (or is thirsty?) vampires. All I can say is, "at least it's rated R". I'll probably sit this one out and wait... more ›

It's a strong weekend for new releases. After a long break, Jim Gray is back in the director's chair with We Own the Night. Mark Wahlberg and Joaquin Phoenix star as brothers on opposite sides of the law. Reviews have been 50/50, but critics were equally blase about Gray's last flick, The Yards, which I loved. Cate Blanchett is back as Queen Elizabeth in Elizabeth: The Golden Age. Reviews have been weaker than those... more ›

Though it opens Wednesday, I'm including in this guide because Wes Anderson is a director whose films you just automatically have to see and the more advance warning, the better. His latest jewel box follows three brothers (Wilson, Brody, Schwartzman) who decide to travel together across India in an effort to mend the rift that has grown between them all. Expect fantastical plot twists and plenty of whimsy. more ›

The fall tradition of releasing prestige films continues tomorrow as Resident Evil: Extinction opens wide. Milla Jovovich stars as the beneficent Alice, a latter-day Tess of the d'Urbervilles who is charged with the stygian task of killing armies of the undead--and the joke is now over. Anyone dumb enough to see the latest chapter of this awful series probably didn't notice anyway. At least there's nudity. But not from Ali Larter. Dang! Into the... more ›

It's a fairly busy release schedule tomorrow with a few studio pictures and a bunch of indies hitting the screens. Neil Jordan directs Jodie Foster in ). Reviews are mostly positive and it does have the supremely underrated Nicky Katt (and the formerly underrated, now probably properly rated Terrence Howard), so I'll give it a look. more ›