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

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

"Do You: Migration of the Monarchs" is a dazzling concept conveyed in a visually rich language, not a play as

It amazes me what a higgledy-piggledy of sources have served as inspiration for musicals. Little Shops of Horror, Cats, Sunset Boulevard

The Echo Theater Company is one of the newer jewels in the crown of Los Angeles theatre, and with their

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

This 10th episode delivers a surprising Didn't-See-That-Coming moment: Just when it seemed that Jamal is all set to step up to

"Silent Sky" in its final weekend at Long Beach's International City Theatre, is a well-crafted feel-good evening in the theatre. 

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

By Ernest Kearney   — If most non-artists know the name Chris Burden (1946-2015), it is for the art installation “Urban

Mrs. Elizabeth Handy, wife to the “Father of the Blues” W. C. Handy, lay critically ill on the street outside

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

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

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

Thank goodness, we’re almost through the lull in Hamilton news. After the multi-week coverage of its record number of Tony

By Ernest Kearney  —  Writer/director Giovanni Zuniga has succeeded in doing what few playwrights seldom do: knock one out of

The Fringe Week One Continued

If you're not excited about the return of Matthew Rhys on The Americans tonight on FX, then you haven't been watching.

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

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

Do you know his favorite Karaoke song? I do. And he sings it with me. The man, the legend talks

Sunset Baby is an intelligently written play with a superb cast that positively gleams from those benefits which blesses any

Let the Games Begin in How To Get Away With Murder

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

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

A recap of The Musketeers — Season One. Season Two begins January 17, 9/8c only on BBC America.

The 25th Annual (Silver Anniversary) Los Angeles Women’s Theatre Festival (LAWTF) has a roster of distinguished artists who will co-host four days

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

I love speaking to a kindred soul whose passions are rooted in another field different from mine. It always fascinates

"There are so many sounds I still want to make, so many things I haven't yet done." B.B. King   The summer of

For those of you who are unschooled in America’s favorite pastime, Van Lingle Mungo was a Major League pitcher who

Set in suburban New Jersey in 1985, Red Oaks centers around college student David Meyers—a young man at a crossroads

Now I’ve seen some truly remarkable acting at this year’s Fringe, but here are two amazing ensembles that stand out

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

By Ernest Kearney  —  The School of Night and its Artistic Director, Christopher Johnson can always be counted on to

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

Wait, don’t put away the Christmas decorations just yet. I’ve got one more present for you—and you’re gonna to hate

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

Okay

"Secret Honor, The Last Testament of Richard M. Nixon" is a torrential tirade spewed by a scotch-soaked Richard M. Nixon,

The Wrecking Crew were a group of uncredited Los Angeles studio musicians who played on and created hundreds of hit

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

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

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

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

By Ernest Kearney - The Cherry Poppins Productions have embraced a formula which has served them well in Hollywood Fringe

I haven’t teased you with a Survivor metaphor in months. Well, the last time someone got voted off the island was in

by Ernest Kearney  —  That Sussan Deyhim’s The House is Black Media Project had such a limited engagement at the

In deciding to watch this documentary it doesn't matters greatly if you support capital punishment or oppose it. This is

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

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

It was rather fitting that on the night of the first presidential debate I found myself sitting in the audience,

The Antaeus Theatre Company always amazes me. The work they do is of the highest quality, and the actors that make

As I write this, it’s just a few days until the crucial Wisconsin primary, and the impossible is seemingly in

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

I always feel a kinship between August Wilson and the ancient Greek playwrights. Like the dramas of Euripides and other Athenian

For me, the internet can be like standing in line at the supermarket. Oh, those tabloids! My eye is also

Noel Coward’s Hay Fever at Theatre Palisades is a wonderfully delivered comedy of manners. Laughs and folly spring from the

by Ernest Kearney  —  I do have a soft spot for weird sci-fi flicks - The History of Future Folk

By Ernest Kearney  —  When the Russian poet Vladimir Mayakovsky was found on April 14, 1930—a suicide at the age

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

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

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

I can’t tell if Donald Trump is brilliant or an idiot—and maybe he’s both. On Monday, August 8th, he trotted

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

By Ernest Kearney  —  In his latest Hollywood Fringe Festival offering, "New Kid on the Block," playwright John Patrick Daly's heart is

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

Some of the most jaw dropping, chill raising, and yes tear inducing, imagery ever shot makes up BBC America’s prequel

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

You enter the REDCAT (Roy and Edna Disney/CaLArts Theater) to find a mass of chairs arranged seemingly haphazard in the

Acorn TV’s most recent original dramedy: the small-village, untrained, but good at crime solving diva, Agatha Raisin.

"Monsters, John! Monsters from the Id!" That's the warning delivered by a dying Warren Stevens to Captain Leslie Nielson just before

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

Above: July 18, 2017 MSNBC screen grab. At you thought he couldn’t look stupider! Let’s be truthful about the reason that

I love Shakespeare. Straight up. If I could cook him down I'd probably be mainlining the Bard. Any Shakespeare junkie has a

by Ernest Kearney  — The origins of Taiko drumming in Japan is lost in that vast attic called history, but

…and the biggest problem with democracy is that every damn fool gets one vote. You heard me right. The metric

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

Looking for the “Big Bang” — that spark which initiated what would become America’s if not the World’s interest in comics

Let's imagine one could take a heaping jigger of Citizen Kane, another of Blade Runner, pour in a dash of

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

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

By Ernest Kearney  —  The Bitch is Back: An Elton John Cabaret is exactly that, no more no less.  Director

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

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

Well on here I am: Hollywood Fringe Show number forty-five now and here’s a just a recap of some of

Under the direction of Giovanna Sardelli, solid performances command the stage, in a new work by Rajiv Joseph; author of

No, not that race card. But some candidate will play it before the election. Promise. I mean the horse race card.

There's a lot of hot to the touch TV to watch these days. Only a few shows on the buzzed

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

There have been a number of performances that will travel with me for quite some time during Hollywood Fringe 2017…

When I think that political discourse has hit a new low--twice a week these days--I sometimes remind myself of the

LOS ANGELES (Dec. 14. 2016) — Members of L.A.’s “PRO-99” theater community continue to gather signatures to demand a new

I’m sorry, but the Hitler analogy is at last appropriate. You can hear the original Führer’s hateful nationalism in nearly

It took several tries before I could finish this Charles Krauthammer article about the Republicans squandering their “victory” over the so-called mainstream

By Ernest Kearney — Actor, Playwright, Joshua Thomas was last at the Hollywood Fringe Festival in 2014 with

The folks who produce Survivor think that they understand tribes. Jeff Probst’s first official duty, on the first episode of every season,

Say it ain’t so

When I started on this mission of writing about songwriters and how they weren’t being properly acknowledged, I had absolutely

By Ernest Kearney  —  From the very start of the preshow it was evident that the cast of "Mackers!" was

By Ernest Kearney — The other night my lovely wife Marlene and I were out walking with a couple of

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

Terrifying in some circles, hotly desired in others: the party divided by a populist revolution and defeated by an electorate

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

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

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

by Ernest Kearney “My mother didn’t wear sneakers,” Fahn proclaims at the opening of her one-woman show, Under the

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

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

By Ernest Kearney - "House of Tales" is bursting with concepts and ideas to the point of avalanching the audience

by Ernest Kearney —  My Own Private River Phoenix is a smart and funny piece that is just not ready to

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

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

In Part I, we celebrated two dazzling effects of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s landmark musical Hamilton: with his theatrical retelling of our

When I first heard news of a weekly series set in hip hop and R&B music industry with a predominately

The year 2015 is slipping away into history, and more importantly into memory. We are oblivious to the value of memory

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

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

Heck

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

We're back on the boat deck filled with potential Survivor contestants, waiting to see who will commit by jumping into

In an isolated study room, set off in a forgotten wing of a cavernous comprehensive school tucked away in a

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

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

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

The Bravest Show of the Summer goes to: The Honorable Woman. Series creator Hugo Blick's masterful eye created a world of

Ready. Set. Time for more AMC’s Better Call Saul and Fargo (FX); among the most—if not the most—highly anticipated return

TheTvolution.com Award Tallies for mid run of the Hollywood Fringe Festival ‘18 (HHF18): We rank all the shows we attend

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

Next Fall by Geoffrey Nauffts is a stunningly sincere and heartfelt drama that is sure to move any audience. That may

The Republican side of this primary season, nearing its final throes, is playing out like a vintage horror movie that

Theatre Unleashed, who has employed a sense of intelligence and willingness to push the envelope over the ensuing years,

Never start off your career with a masterpiece. Where do you go from there? Known in some circles as the Joseph Kesselring

Indeed, four men like them, four men devoted to each other from their money to their lives, four men always

The last time the Tap Overload Company came to the Hollywood Fringe, my review of their show "Office Beat" was

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

In Eugene O'Neill's Anna Christie the sea defines all things; the characters, their lives, their past, and their destinies. It is

ShoWorks Entertainment has traveled from South Africa to stage two offerings at the Fringe, both written by South African playwright

…and tracks it all over our political kitchen floor! Not that the place was spotless to begin… This edition was supposed

The American election season never ends with the election. Not anymore. Nailing the president-elect for reneging on his second-biggest campaign promise

With Black History Month you hear accounts of Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Cyrus Attucks and other historical black figures

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

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

It's nearly here

This long runnng Brit series, which has been refreshed, all to the good, several times over is available for viewing

By Ernest Kearney  —   There is nothing so evasive as engendering effective and credible dread in a live theatre environment.

We are all Donald Trump now. In 1963, JFK went to the Berlin wall and said, “Ich bin ein Berliner” (I

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

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

And when chemotherapy fails, what’s left—Kryptonite? There’s no easy cure for the cancer that is metastasizing in the Republican Party right

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

With hardly an exception the American Experience historical programs are gems. That the dumb heads in congress have succeeded in

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

By Ernest Kearney  —  Cooper Bates’ one-man show, Black When I Was a Boy is a truly heartfelt tale of

The tunes in "Save Me a Spot" were both charming and moving, and wisely limited to ten in number.

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

By Ernest Kearney  —  Michael Shaw Fisher has apparently taken to heart George Burns’ sage advice on how to be a

Last year no one knew what to expect. The burning question was: "Who is Orphan Black?" This recap is for anyone

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

Out of the 380-plus shows presented during Hollywood Fringe Festival Show 2018, 80 were viewed by TVolution critics: 69 of

A lot of us who respect Barack Obama’s eight years in the White House want to curl up and hibernate

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.

The audience has come to The Lovelace Studio Theatre in the Wallis Center for the Performing Arts, in expectation of

By Ernest Kearney  —  "Easy Targets: Artists and Heroes" doesn’t quite reach the same heady heights as the Burglars of Hamm’s HHF17

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

By Ernest Kearney  —  Like little boys with their toy soldiers, so, too, are little girls with their dolls: They

"The more things change the more they stay the same" (Les Guêpes, January 1849) Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr They are ale drinking, rabble-rousers. Musket

There are more individuals whose talents deserve some Note of Distinction this year, and we, at TheTVolution wish the privilege

by Darwyn Carson  —  With an eye and a heart dedicated to cohesive connection and support of local theatre, Better

"Bono and the Edge Waiting for Godomino's" by writer/director Richard Lucas approaches being the ultimate Hollywood Fringe Festival offering.

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

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

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

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

Good news here. Acorn Media Group, the first company to provide live streaming of the best in classic and contemporary

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

Can the lightening in the bottle that was the essence of the limited special event of True Detective, Season 1

By Ernest Kearney  —  Still is a stylishly staged deconstruction of a murder mystery, involving three high school students, that

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

Is Hillary honest? Does she lie? That seems an odd issue for the Trump camp to obsess about, considering the

For the most part, Korean cinema has not rung the dong for me. I Saw the Devil (2010) Kim Jee-woon’s brutal and

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

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

Sarah Manning is the key. She is brave, brash and ballsy. It’s one or a combination of these traits that

By Ernest Kearney  —  The Open Fist Company under Ben Martin’s skillful direction have done well by Author Dylan Thomas

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

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

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

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

By Ernest Kearney  —  "The Importance of Being Oscar" is demonstrative of a particular difficulty in writing plays, scripts or

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

The Not Man Apart Physical Theatre Ensemble never fails to deliver. "Ajax in Iraq," "The SuperHero and his

By Ernest Kearney  —  The history of the United States Army installation of Fort Huachuca located in southeast Arizona is

It is odd to admire the seed but fault the fruit. But Brittanie Richardson’s solo show "Art and Abolition" has

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

By Ernest Kearney  —  "Uncivil Correctness: Joan Rivers, Abbie Hoffman, Bin Laden," apparently, began as a class project and, unfortunately,