Cyanne McClairian’s one woman show, I Died

The Goodwill store outlets are a treasure trove for the adventurous DVD hunter. After extended practice I can breeze through the

Going into South Coast Repertory’s production of adapter/director David Catlin’s Moby Dick, based on the novel by Herman Melville, I

For those of you unaware of the fire storm unleashed on Colin Mitchell, former editor of Bitter Lemons, L.A.’s ground

The Latino Theater Company offers up a first-class troupe for the world premiere of Jonathan Ceniceroz’s “The Cruise.”

By Ernest Kearney  —  As one devoted to the study of history, I knew of Mary Walker (1832–1919), but I

This is actually a treatment, the longer form that follows a successful pitch …because a treatment is longer and lots

On the hunt for a different sort of dark-doing this Halloween? Look no further than the Echo Theater Company’s production

"If you want to live, come with me – and keep in harmony" Yes, I troll Netflix, the cable channels, and

The Superhero and his Charming Wife purports to be “inspired by archetypes and dreams” presented in the style of “an

It is surprising how a vocal style dating back before the 1500s can still strike one as so immediate. Such

The bed is our most formidable arena. And two people in bed alone are never really by themselves. Bed by Sheila Callaghan,

by Ernest Kearney — Ice at the 24th Street Theatre is really a matter of  “All the King’s horses and

Katori Hall’s The Mountaintop won the 2010 British Olivier Award for Best New Play. In 2011 it opened in New York

Schadenfreude [shahd-n-froi-duh] noun. Satisfaction or pleasure felt at someone else’s misfortune. Serve it up ice cold! Tribal Council finally arrived. Two of ’em.

By Ernest Kearney  —  "Fresh Meat" is set in a dystopian future where the world order seems to have fused into

I hate writing bad reviews. Honest. I’d rather write glowing reviews, pouring forth accolades and singing praises to high heaven. I truly would. Now

"Nothing Bad – A Werewolf Rock Musical" has spun the 1987 vampire film, "The Lost Boys" by way of the

For Daniel Holden, danger lurks not just behind shadows, but in the harsh light of day; often prancing down the

At 100% full on energy the entire night, Garth Brooks IS the ultimate entertainer. From the moment he takes the

In 'Class' getting ready for Fall Prom is more than finding a pretty dress and matching corsage. (BBC America)

You need valleys. Without valleys how can you appreciate the heights of hills? For me 2016 was a valley, 2014 and 2015

By Ernest Kearney  —  Set in the Florida Keys during a raging hurricane "Spaceman," by Writer/Director Melissa Vitello, plays like

Forever Flamenco is back at the Fountain Theatre, which is cause for celebration. I am a self admitted aficionado, whose been

Whatever had you Sherlocked from Hello, one thing is not up for debate… we all want the duo back for

By Ernest Kearney — Step by step, inch by inch – The Hollywood Fringe Festival 2019 draws nearer. Must

By Darwyn Carson — Writer/Performer Katt Balsan is a force of a singular nature. You can catch her through the

I must admit an admiration for Tricia Aurand’s undertaking in "Nicaea." Not only does she present an historical tale, but

By Ernest Kearney  —  There is some solid writing in Playwright/Director Travis Snyder-Eaton’s "Glitch," a two-person play about Rachel, a journalist

Panos Vlahos, making his U.S. debut at Hollywood Fringe (2017) in “Mistero Buffo,” combed three pieces from the last half

Round One has begun, a first clang! in the bruising prize fight that Donald Trump’s presidency threatens to become. It’s

Loser! The Tweet Defeat of Donald Trump did not begin with “Liddle’ Bob Corker” and his oh-so-devastating viral tweet: https://twitter.com/SenBobCorker/status/917045348820049920? Wham! Impressive. But

Is the secret of succeeding in this messy business called life acceptance? Is the only hope of defeating life's chaotic conflux

Heck

"Nothing is so firmly believed as what we know least." Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) In viewing Peter Landesman's Parkland (2013), it is

The Fall: Season 2, on NETFLIX, got more personal and crossed more lines than could be handled by the Paris Metro

By Ernest Kearney — "An Odyssey" by Patrick Denney is a solid piece of writing that is well-directed

Director/writer/set designer Donovan Glover won the 1991 UCLA Best-New-Play-of-the-Year Award for this work and at times "Just Like Life" certainly

By Ernest Kearney  — Bill Posley’s superbly slick, and raucously funny show, "The Day I Became Black," reveals to

By Ernest Kearney  —  Melanie Holmes’s "Negative Spaces" takes us into a strange and unsettling place.  Lily (Holmes) and her

The movie Jurassic Park removed an intriguing side plot from Michael Crichton’s novel of the same name, that I think applies directly

Check out this "Game of Thrones" location video focusing on Iceland and Spain; just luscious

By Ernest Kearney  —  "Henry V" has long been considered one of Shakespeare’s problem plays; called a “stirring piece of

A man brings his guitar and a cooler out to the beach, and as he faces the setting sun tries

"Ascent" features the talents of dancer Adam Kerbel and Taiko drummer Shih-Wei Willie Wu in a fusion piece that displays

Santiago Cabrera is Aramis.  Though they are, the four of them, multilayered individuals, Aramis would seem to be the one

Playwright Michael Leoni’s characters connected with the audience to an intense degree, and yet

A life lacking passion is paralysis. The particular focus of that passion counts for beans. Take your pick: Video Games, Persian rugs,

Placas: The Most Dangerous Tattoo has only a week left on its limited run at Casa 0101 in Boyle Heights,

For the first decade of this century I didn't pay much attention to the music business. After close to 30

The train metaphor was spot-on when Trump was unstoppable. And it would be easy to call what’s happening now a

“I was trained as a classical musician, so my approach to theater comes from a different perspective than most playwrights.”

In his latest recorded musical venture, Grammy-winning jazz pianist Billy Childs takes on the music legacy of Laura Nyro–and the

The Clone's world has expanded

What strikes one—when inspecting television’s hugest failures—is the large percentage of those which are remakes and retooling’s. Now with the right

This production has it all. 'Kurios – Cabinet of Curiosities' is running now through March 26 at Lone Star

If you follow economic or political news at all, you know there has been a lot of discussion about our

You’re in Los Angeles and looking for the perfect space to mount your production. Available for your play, meeting, workshop or

The TVolution Hollywood Fringe Festival Awards Coming Soon!

Obama’s had a great couple of weeks politically, but he’s still gone as of January 20, 2017. That leaves a

In its quintessence, theatre is the bonding of poetry and dance. That is oft forgotten in this age of directors as

The question, for all (or it should be) GOT viewers: Will the Snow 'who knows nothing' return? HBO’s just released promotional

There have been three truly great social humorists in American history, Mark Twain, Will Rogers and Jon Stewart. The least

by Ernest Kearney  —  IAMA Theatre Company’s production, "Sinner’s Laundry," at the Lounge Theatre in Hollywood, can be summed up

By Ernest Kearney  —  In my opinion, Long Beach’s International City Theatre artistic director, caryn desai has a genius for

The personalities with whom playwright, Steven Vlasak populates “Nights at the Algonquin Round Table” are some the most acerbic wits,

The peaceful dawning has come and gone. This day is like a long breath of air that has been held

From Space.com: Overall, dark energy is thought to contribute 73 percent of all the mass and energy in the universe. Another 23

Sometimes, someone posts something on Facebook that is of intrinsic value. The following thought-piece—published here with the author’s permission—is such

by Ernest Kearney — Klaus Kinski (1926-1991) was celebrated for his talent and disparaged for the madness that served as

What: BBC America’s Psychological Detective Thriller— One Night, Three Hour Movie Event TVolution Quick Take Summary: We thought we’d seen the

By Ernest Kearney —  "Shakes on the Rocks" has a poor concept of what it wants to be. Eleven actors

We love Angela Lansbury. And PBS announced today, "She's ba-a-a-ck." Dame Lansbury with Michael Gambon will head the cast in

OMG Moments on Empire • An unexpected gift, a single red rose, is dropped at the entrance to Cookie's swank apartment

Summary: What would it be like? It’s 1962, fifteen years after the end of World War II and the ultimate

The incident that actually coined the phrase "October Surprise" came when Henry Kissinger, Richard Nixon’s National Security Advisor, lied just

"The Tomb" by Ed Sharrow (at the Complex Theatre during Fringe 2017) is an encapsulated tale of Anthony the Great,

By Ernest Kearney  —  Of all Shakespeare’s plays save "Hamlet," "Othello" offers the most challenges to any cry of players,

Start in a state with an active electorate of six million (say, Pennsylvania in 2016). Now poll a thousand of

Hollywood Fringe 2016 is bubbling over with choices. Here we have two shows that share common ground and perhaps even

An advisor to Donald Trump recently explained the candidate’s multiple (and conflicting) positions on most issues with: Words don’t matter. Wow,

Photo above is from Creative Commons: “hacker army 2.0” by Rodrigo Paoletti is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Well Hollywood Fringe 2016 has come to a close and with it comes the last of the Round Ups

I expected President Drumpf to embarrass himself—and us by proxy—when he went abroad last month. He did not disappoint, so

"A Hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is braver five minutes longer."        

By Ernest Kearney —  There is nothing as intoxicating as watching a Performance – capital “P.”  It matters little if

The Americans, season 4 premiere 10pm, Weds. (March, 16) on FX. Be prepared for a whip-lash year. Now, it’s possible you

By Ernest Kearney  —  We are told by author Alan L. Brooks, he is "a doctor, not a playwright –

Well, here we are at about the mid way point in the Fringe. So far 31 shows seen and 23

Abigail/1702 by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa has received its West Coast premiere at Long Beach's International City Theatre. As usual, the production

In "Ashlee Olivia Presents E.A.R.T.H.A.," Ms. Jones delivers an exceptional performance of an exceptional performer

Wow. That’s about the most apropos comment across the board on Squeeze My Cans, Cathy Schenkelberg’s riveting, heart wrenching and ultimately

In the real world April means springtime and showers. In HBO time, it means winter is coming. In the land

The intended purpose of this monthly column is to bring to the attention of cinema junkies those odd and typically

By Ernest Kearney — " Coasterthon Catastrophe: An Amusement Park Musical" is a rough, dopey, kinda silly, rather

Jesus Christ Superstar is a great show. Lyrics by Tim Rice, and music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, and for my

By David Nairne  —  Damn! "The Joe and Joshua Show!" is clever and funny. Writer performers Joe Hernandez-Kolski and

Victorian era pulp fiction by another name could have been Penny Awful, Penny Number, Penny Blood or Penny Horrible. The

The old elephants in the room for Republicans—racism, sexism, disdain for the poor (to name a few)—are no longer invisible

Here's the bulletin: A tough new detective, year 1864, is coming to our airwaves. Tom Weston-Jones stars in BBC America's,

These days, every comedian and commentator seems to be paraphrasing Bette Davis in All About Eve: “Fasten your seat belts,

By Ernest Kearney  —  "The Big Picture" is as cluttered, chaotic and confused as your average, interstate, multi-vehicle pileup and

There are plenty o' football games variety and specials to eyeball on this weekend of final holiday visitations, but there

The Democratic field has lost half since we last spoke. Not the Republicans, the Democrats! Joe Biden: gone, even if

By Ernest Kearney  — "Dracula's Taste Test" is no great shakes, but neither does it hold itself up as anything else.

By Ernest Kearney Playwright Greg Kalleres opens "Meanwhile Back at the Super Lair" interestingly enough; with a

Jack Lukeman has a voice that feels like a friend’s hand on a troubled shoulder.  From his 1995 debut album

In James Cougar Canfield’s historical play Ladies in Waiting: The Judgement of Henry VIII the “ladies” in question are the

THE GOLD MEDALS: ANNABELLA BOOZE, BALLS AND BLUEGRASS THE DEVIL YOU SAY RESERVE CHAMPION REVOLUTIONARY LOVE THE THREE MUSKETEERERS: CLOWNS WITH SWORDS THE BRONZE MEDALS: FIFTY SHADES OF

"Shakeslesque" is a playfully amusing blend of Bard and boobs; a racy, randy raucous romp in which the buxom babes

Rectify creator Ray McKinnon had a seed of an idea: "I was just interested in the life of a man

 By Ernest Kearney  —  Before we move into the review of Playwright Andrew Osborne’s "Special" directed by Kerr Seth Lordygan

Think of a row of dominos as scenes in a film. The first domino strikes the one before it; the

For the Hollywood Fringe 2016, I employ a rating scale that should be familiar to my readers. For newcomers, I've inserted

Our little game of Political Survivor abruptly expanded to the House of Representatives last week, with potentially explosive results. Speaker John Boehner

“Hell is really cold, wet and smells like fish.” In the tale of his time as a greenhorn on a commercial

"The Spidey Project" has been one of the most popular shows at Fringe 2017 and it’s easy to understand why

By Ernest Kearney  —  It is regrettable that more audiences didn’t have the opportunity of seeing "Butoh Medea," an adaptation of

Forgive the projection, but are producer/writers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss attempting to 1) let us down easy by forecasting

Long-awaited "Game of Thrones'" Season Seven—winner of 12 Emmy's just last September, remember— is no longer coming. It's Here: July

A few weeks back, Molly Ball wrote in the Washington Post about the 2016 Presidential Campaign’s “…rich irony that America's

A USEFUL LIFE IN C MAJOR David Wheatley has four degrees in music and composition. He has an impressive background in stage

The Robey Theatre Company and Los Angeles Theatre Center have partnered for the staging of "Dr. Du Bois and Miss

“Drumpf – that’s the sound of shit hitting the wall, and sticking.” — a tweet from @slothlax A couple of weeks

"He was looking for someone else, you say—someone who was not you?" "He was looking for little Miles." A portentous clearness

If not for a twist of fate and a bit of luck we might never have been witness to David

At one point in the production of Lauren Gunderson's I and You at the Fountain Theatre, the main character's bedroom

People are funny. In the way we keep making the same mistakes. Even when we're conscious of our tendency to run

There is a great deal about Swarm Cell which is commendable

"The Second Coming of Klaus Kinski" writer, performer Andrew Perez presents Kinski and all his demons with such unnerving commitment

Talk about being overly optimistic. My previous TheTVolution post seems positively Pollyanna-ish. The headline read: "The Voice Finally Acknowledges Songwriters."

Friday, June 5 we will discover what it means to be "reborn" as a "Sensate." That's the day Netflix unveils

Wow! What a remarkably haphazard and poorly structured thesis to use as the foundation for a documentary! A more insipid,

1897. The Glorious Century, a period of unprecedented peace across all Europe was at a close. As that gilded, moribund age

"Kinsherf’s Coat" harkens back to one of the Sixties most lamentable losses – “The Happening," which was was an indiscernible

…that’s the current liberal fantasy, and we can sweeten it even more by taking the rest of America’s “left coast” with

Okay, a quick side bar. My mother came to Los Angeles in the early '50s as a single parent. She was a

Once upon a time there was born a brilliant musician. Leon Russell. A Poem Is A Naked Person gets close to

Post-debate note: The political wind seemed to change at the second debate. So--praise cheeses!--this may be the last Trump-centric column. He’s

Four Chords and a Gun at the Bootleg Theater, which relates the stories of when The Ramones worked with Phil

Starting June 1st and running throughout the entire month Hollywood Fringe 2017 will be offering up 356 shows; all vying

CURSED “MY ROAD TO HOLLYWOOD” is an Ear Wax Medal Winner I write this without the least rancor towards Ms. Mendoza. I

"Chimera Bella," with cinematography by James Delhauer, is described as “an acrobatic journey”; I saw little proof of either.

By Ernest Kearney  —  David Lucarelli’s "Doctor Zomba’s Ghost Show of Terror" is straight forward fun.  As directed by Kevin

By Ernest Kearney — We live in a world of tangerine despots, murderous religionists, a generation who places

OMG moments on Empire: • While trying to steal a top rap artist from a rival music competitor, Lucious and Anika

By Ernest Kearney — Well I can’t say that I was able to discern the “three short plays, written by

by Ernest Kearney — The world premiere of "Jackie Unveiled" by award-winning playwright Tom Dugan has been extended at the

John Farmanesh-Bocca has in the past impressed me. Now he’s pissed me off. Though, I am still impressed. A number of years back

By Ernest Kearney  —  "Jack Benny (A Ménage En Train)" is the first perfect Fringe show of 2018.  What does

Here’s a quickie to help you prepare for the Republican debate on Thursday August 9. In 2012, my wife and

By Ernest Kearney — "Earhart: More Than A F**king Mystery" is your basic fun-time show.  It doesn’t go into the

By Ernest Kearney —  "A Very Die Hard Christmas" is a rough little laugh-fest and delivers on what it promises quite nicely. 

Welcome to Springtime TV Madness: Sarah Manning faces off against manic Castor Clone Rudy (Ari Millen) aka "Scarface." Watch "The Weight of this

Recorded in Hollywood has been extended. What's this, you say

Forever Flamenco, have I said it once?  Have I said it twice?  I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve

Periodically in the theatre certain works crop up at the most crucial of times arising in answer to some distinct

By Ernest Kearney  —  On December 21, 1988 a bomb exploded on Pan Am Flight 103 over the town of

by Darwyn Carson — Time to Gird Your Loins everybody. If you haven't refreshed your memory yet, there's plenty of

The Hollywood Fringe Festival 2015: Final Tallies & Reviews HOUSE OF RABBITS CHARIVARI IN VOYEURVILLE (Platinum Medal) House of Rabbits Charivari in

There are identifiable years in the history of this nation that are shrouded in a foreboding of dire times ahead;

The Hollywood Fringe Festival is a premier example of a thriving Los Angelean creative arts scene. Modeled after the famed Edinburgh

Ana Lily Amirpour's intelligent and superbly crafted film A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night is definitely a world view

By Ernest Kearney — There are particular products, —merchandise, institutions and other…stuff— exports from the U.K., which the rest of

As the nerdiest kid this side of the Rockies, I lived for the cheesy Sci-Fi that oozed out of the

Seven years prior to American Idol breaking out on Fox to become one of the most successful and talked about

At 11:30 on New Year’s Eve, a friend asked me what actual “new” things would come in 2016. The political

The TVolution declares 'The Knick'  The Best Summer Freshman Drama (2014) Here the cast speaks on creating those intense and almost too

You don’t have to be paying rapt attention to the 50-inch rectangular flat screen hanging above the fireplace or the

The Tragedy of JFK (as told by Wm. Shakespeare) is cleverly conceived, beautifully acted and stylishly staged. (If this review

by Ernest Kearney  —  Imagine if Donald Trump was president for life, that all the TV stations were operated by

Dry Land by Ruby Rae Spiegel drew its inspiration from a 2012 article in The New Republic concerning the assault

It opens with a real-life catastrophic event: a meteor the size of a small house hits a small town in

The Boundless Artists Theatre Company has presented Fringe audiences with a production of the fairy tale The Little Mermaid, which

By Steve Schlich — My premise is brutal: business is a cross between a dictatorship and a junta …which makes

What does this all mean? A flashy, vulgar celebrity/businessman runs for public office with no prior experience except having run a

By Ernest Kearney  —  Now the funny thing is that the title, We Need This Musical to Stop Us From

It is always a pity when a show falls through the cracks, and with 375 Fringe 2017 shows that is

The Chromolume Theatre at The Attic has been the site of some stunning successes, and while their current production of

In my previous post, I quoted MSNBC reporter Chuck Todd speculating that the period before the South Carolina primary—now a

Imagine a petting zoo where Caffè Latte is served. Or imagine you’re in the mood to find a cat to

Full disclosure: I am not a fan of the shows of playwright Peter Lefcourt and director Terri Hanauer. Their prior productions,

Just for a bit of fun: Emmy Speech Master Class featuring Parker Posey Be sure to suscribe to the TV Academy's You Tube

By Ernest Kearney  —  "Pretty Dead Girl – A Musical Necromance."  There’s a title that holds promise, wouldn’t you say?

"Blue," by filmmaker Charles Huddleston, is not a complex plot. It’s a pretty straightforward morality tale wrapped in the landscape

I wanted "Zombie Clown Trump" (Surprise! It's a musical), so badly, to be great.  But if wishes were horses….

Office Beat: A Tap Dance Comedy playing now at 2016's Hollywood Fringe: A review

Wendy Williams stops by Books and Books in Coral Gables to sign her new book Ask Wendy. How you doin'?

By Ernest Kearney  —  The Unconventional Empire’s production of "Matthew Marcum’s Pollock: A Frequency Parable" proves they are more than

The family that fights together stays together—or at least becomes more tolerant of each other—could be the subtitle for Episode

I've turned so many people on to this show and have never heard any regrets. The best is my brother

By Steve Schlich — Above: #PlaidShirtGuy mocks Trump at a Montana rally. He (and friends) were eventually shooed off-camera, but

What’s so embarrassing for me (an old white man) about watching an old white presidential candidate say—almost indignantly—“Well

By Ernest Kearney  —  James Royce is an okay mime. It’s ironic in a way that he’s performing his show in

There were Poirots before him. There will be Poirots to follow. Right now, for over seven hundred and fifty million

"My Janis," at The New Collective during Fringe 2017, is not actually a play. It is a moment

By Ernest Kearney — At its best, theatre spans vast separations of time and culture revealing how shared struggles makes

[May 30, 2018] Stars of Broadway, music, movies and television sparkle as the Los Angeles Women’s Theatre Festival (LAWTF) comes

By Ernest Kearney — At the very least, congratulations must be bestowed on Writer/Director Amit Itelman’s "Bride of Blood" as

By Ernest Kearney — Premise-wise "Small Mouth Sounds," by Playwright Bess Wohl, has a lot of potential. The highly touted

Well once again you have the opportunity of experiencing one of the true treats of L.A. Sunday, May 22 – Forever

Playwright Laura Maria Censabella's "Paradise," having closed a successful run at the Odyssey Theatre has now moved to the Matrix

Arms and the Man is one of George Bernard Shaw’s most appealing plays; which is what he intended it to

By Ernest Kearney —  The Aeriform Arts Studios is setup for those interested in learning the skills of trapeze, ribbon silks, lyra

By Ernest Kearney — June is slowly but steadily approaching, and with June comes that Saturnalia of the

By Ernest Kearney — This was my first “mashup” of theatre and film with soundtrack framed within a concert rendering.

Both Alton Sterling and Philando Castile told the officer who shot them, “I have a gun.” They may have thought

By Ernest Kearney — There is a great deal of talent involved in "Two Fisted Love" at the Odyssey Ensemble

On second thought, don't flash that cash—I'll get ill. The Koch brothers have reportedly committed $900 million, give-or-take, to Republican

by Ernest Kearney — Forough Farrokhzad was the subject of Sussan Deyhim’s The House is Black which I recently reviewed

Stephen Sachs is an intellectual juggernaut of a playwright who plumbs premises for his pieces from the pages of the

Brace yourselves. It's Hollywood Fringe time. The Hollywood Fringe, for the uninitiated, is a glorious explosion celebrating the arts and artists. If

Admittedly, I'm not a music streaming customer. While I channel some (but not most) of my entertainment through my computer,

"Comic-Con The Musical" celebrates that Mecca of Nerd-dom, The San Diego Comic-Con International aka Comic-Con. Four magical days every

As part of the Replacement Parts film and discussion series, the Velaslavasay Panorama will be host to a screening of

The 2014 Pulitzer prize-winning drama, “Water by the Spoonful,” at the Mark Taper Forum through March 11, is Act II

Take a sneak peak at my experience on the red carpet for the Los Angeles, California movie premiere of The

By Ernest Kearney —  The Burglars of Hamm are a delightfully merry and madcap lot. And if you needed proof of

When the bar is set as high as writer/director David Hare and thespian extraordinaire Bill Nighy (yes, I am biased)

With a solid reputation for superior dramas, PBS's Masterpiece Theatre has undoubtedly been a hard act to follow. Now its

In the Good Old Days that Donald Trump talks about at rallies, jackboots are apparently the style. And I say “are”

Playwright Adam Peck's "Bonnie & Clyde" brushes aside the legendary elements of the Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow story, putting