All stories by Terry Morgan on BroadwayStars

Monday, October 21, 2024

Antaeus presents “The Importance of Being Earnest” by Terry Morgan

Although new plays can be exciting and are crucial to the continuing vitality of theatre, I’m especially fond of older works, the more obscure the better. It’s cheap time travel, immersi…

SOURCE: Arts Beat LA at 09:18PM
Monday, October 14, 2024

“Robbin, from the Hood” at The Road by Terry Morgan

Message plays are a pillar of western theater. Our entire theatrical ecosystem is unthinkable without works such as Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House or Larry…

SOURCE: Arts Beat LA at 08:18PM
Tuesday, September 17, 2024

“Clarkston” presented by Echo Theater Company by Terry Morgan

In my twenty-five years of theater reviewing, time and again when I find myself less enthusiastic about a show, ninety-nine percent of the time the culprit is the writing. One would think th…

SOURCE: Arts Beat LA at 10:24PM
Wednesday, September 11, 2024

A Noise Within presents “The Skin of Our Teeth” by Terry Morgan

Thornton Wilder’s 1942 Pulitzer Prize-winning play, The Skin of Our Teeth, is an assuredly odd duck. It’s eighty-two years old but still seems postmodern with its frequent fourth-wall br…

SOURCE: Arts Beat LA at 02:32PM
Tuesday, August 20, 2024

Rogue Machine presents “Human Error” by Terry Morgan

In my fifty-seven years of life, I’ve never seen this country so divided and tribalized. I think the media bears a lot of blame for this, referring to us as living in red or blue states an…

SOURCE: Arts Beat LA at 02:03PM
Thursday, August 1, 2024

Son of Semele presents “Crevasse” by Terry Morgan

Fans of history can’t help but wish they were there for private, unrecorded conversations between famed historical figures, to be the proverbial fly on the wall and gain insight into what …

SOURCE: Arts Beat LA at 12:00PM
Thursday, July 18, 2024

WATCHING THE DARK COLUMN – “Longlegs” by Terry Morgan

Welcome to Watching the Dark, a regular column featuring essays, articles and reviews about horror films. Written by Terry Morgan. Longlegs in cinemas This is the third piece of a thr…

SOURCE: Arts Beat LA at 03:48PM
Sunday, July 14, 2024

Ruskin presents “The Substance of Fire” by Terry Morgan

The first time I read Jon Robin Baitz’s 1991 play, The Substance of Fire, and later saw the film made from it, I liked it. I wasn’t alone – the success of that play catapulted Baitz in…

SOURCE: Arts Beat LA at 06:32PM
Wednesday, July 3, 2024

“Psycho Beach Party” by Terry Morgan

It may be less well known now, but back in the 1960s, the character of surfer girl Gidget was popular and influential, the subject of novels, films and TV series starring the likes of Sandra…

SOURCE: Arts Beat LA at 02:18PM
Thursday, June 27, 2024

WATCHING THE DARK COLUMN – “I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House” by Terry Morgan

Welcome to Watching the Dark, a regular column featuring essays and articles about horror films. Written by Terry Morgan. I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House from Netflix Qu…

SOURCE: Arts Beat LA at 10:06PM
Thursday, May 30, 2024

WATCHING THE DARK – “The Blackcoat’s Daughter” reviewed by Terry Morgan

Welcome to Watching the Dark, a new regular column featuring reviews and articles about horror films. Written by Terry Morgan. The Blackcoat’s Daughter from A24 The Angels, They Fo…

SOURCE: Arts Beat LA at 08:12PM
Monday, May 20, 2024

“Girl from the North Country” reviewed by Terry Morgan

Musicals can have many different formats, but the two most prevalent structures these days are the traditional and the jukebox. The traditional (incorporating Sondheim, because his changes a…

SOURCE: Arts Beat LA at 01:36PM
Thursday, May 16, 2024

WATCHING THE DARK – “You Can’t Run Forever” reviewed by Terry Morgan

Welcome to Watching the Dark, a new regular column featuring reviews and articles about horror films. Written by Terry Morgan. You Can’t Run Forever from Lionsgate I’ve been a cr…

SOURCE: Arts Beat LA at 04:12PM
Monday, April 29, 2024

“Nora” at Antaeus – reviewed by Terry Morgan

If the road to Hell is paved with good intentions, perhaps the road to freedom is paved with righteous anger? Henrik Ibsen may have thought so when he wrote his proto-feminist play, A Doll�…

SOURCE: Arts Beat LA at 02:18PM
Tuesday, April 9, 2024

“Fat Ham” at the Geffen – reviewed by Terry Morgan

According to the great sages of the internet, Hamlet is the most produced play in world history, and whether or not that claim is true, the indecisive Dane is certainly ubiquitous. And if it…

SOURCE: Arts Beat LA at 04:42PM
Tuesday, February 20, 2024

“Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” at A Noise Within – reviewed by Terry Morgan

Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler’s Sweeney Todd is my favorite musical. Its combination of a beautiful score, clever lyrics and unusually gruesome subject matter is sui generis. When it�…

SOURCE: Arts Beat LA at 09:48PM
Wednesday, February 14, 2024

Antaeus presents “The Winter’s Tale” – reviewed by Terry Morgan

“A sad tale’s best for winter,” Shakespeare has one of his characters opine in his penultimate work, The Winter’s Tale, an odd duck of a play that’s mostly been overshadowed by his…

SOURCE: Arts Beat LA at 01:32AM
Friday, January 26, 2024

Now playing at the Pasadena Playhouse – “Kate” by Terry Morgan

I find one-person shows one of the most difficult types of theatre to review, for several reasons. If the quality of the writing or performance isn’t good, there may be nothing but negativ…

SOURCE: Arts Beat LA at 11:18PM
Thursday, December 21, 2023

Roundup – The Ten Best Theater Productions of 2023 by Terry Morgan

Although no year in which the Mark Taper Forum is at least temporarily shuttered and the Kirk Douglas Theatre’s programming is reduced can be said to be an entirely positive year for Los A…

SOURCE: Arts Beat LA at 07:42PM
Thursday, November 9, 2023

“Inherit the Wind” now at Pasadena Playhouse by Terry Morgan

One of the great pleasures of theater is seeing a revival of a classic play not only succeed on its own merits but also be relevant to modern times. Certain works such as The Crucible or Ene…

SOURCE: Arts Beat LA at 12:18AM
Tuesday, October 24, 2023

“Slow Thunder” reviewed by Terry Morgan

Sometimes great actors can save a bad play. The sheer strength of their talent or the brilliance of their star power dazzles us into not noticing or caring that the vehicle they’re in is l…

SOURCE: Arts Beat LA at 05:07PM
Thursday, October 5, 2023

Life Sucks. by Terry Morgan

The first time I encountered Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya, I identified strongly with the title character, both with his frustrations and what he thought of as the tragedy of his life. As I got o…

SOURCE: Arts Beat LA at 01:49PM
Sunday, September 17, 2023

“Measure STILL for Measure” at Boston Court by Terry Morgan

Measure for Measure has been referred to as Shakespeare’s “#MeToo play,” a story in which a man in power uses his clout to try and sexually abuse a woman, except that she stands up to …

SOURCE: Arts Beat LA at 06:03PM
Thursday, August 31, 2023

“Heroes of the Fourth Turning” at Rogue Machine by Terry Morgan

In a world in which a repulsive con man can get elected president and turn the entire Republican party into a credulous and insane mob, it’s to be expected that somebody would try to write…

SOURCE: Arts Beat LA at 07:04PM
Wednesday, August 16, 2023

“Peter Pan Goes Wrong” reviewed by Terry Morgan

For better or worse, it’s human nature to find the misfortune of others amusing. YouTube is filled with videos of people making mistakes or getting hit somewhere unpleasant by a stray ball…

SOURCE: Arts Beat LA at 10:13PM
Thursday, July 20, 2023

“Crabs in a Bucket” at the Echo by Terry Morgan

When I got to my seat at the Atwater Village Theatre, I saw a note. It informed me that this seat was in “the Crabby Zone,” and that performers in crab costumes with outsized claws would…

SOURCE: Arts Beat LA at 02:49PM
Wednesday, July 5, 2023

“The Tempest” at Antaeus by Terry Morgan

I have seen a fair number of Shakespeare plays altered by directors in my day, from modernizations to setting/era changes, and the main thing is that the alterations have to successfully ill…

SOURCE: Arts Beat LA at 04:19PM
Tuesday, June 27, 2023

“Fetch Clay, Make Man” at the Kirk Douglas by Terry Morgan

The subject of unlikely friendships is always intriguing (however will this cat and dog get along?), and none seems more unlikely than the friendship between boxing legend Muhammad Ali and e…

SOURCE: Arts Beat LA at 09:19PM
Thursday, April 27, 2023

Laguna Playhouse presents “The Realistic Joneses” by Terry Morgan

Laguna Playhouse, in association with Gare St. Lazare, Ireland and the Rubicon Theatre Company, presents the rolling Southern California premiere of The Realistic Joneses by Will Eno. Th…

SOURCE: Arts Beat LA at 03:06PM
Tuesday, April 11, 2023

“Kiss of the Spider Woman” at A Noise Within – reviewed by Terry Morgan

The reasons that a piece of art works in one format but not so well in another are many and varied. In a time in which seemingly everything is being turned into a musical, and every animated…

SOURCE: Arts Beat LA at 06:36PM
Friday, March 24, 2023

Now at the Taper – “Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992” reviewed by Terry Morgan

The 1992 Los Angeles Uprising, known more colloquially as the “L.A. riots,” happened almost 31 years ago. Anna Deavere Smith’s play about it, Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992, premiered in …

SOURCE: Arts Beat LA at 10:32PM

All that Chat

2024-2025 BROADWAY SEASON
Jun 05, 2024: Home - Todd Haimes Theatre
Jul 11, 2024: Oh, Mary! - Lyceum Theatre
Jul 30, 2024: Job - Hayes Theater
Sep 12, 2024: The Roommate - Booth Theatre
Nov 14, 2024: Tammy Faye - Palace Theatre
Dec 12, 2024: Cult of Love - Hayes Theater
Dec 19, 2024: Gypsy - Majestic Theatre
Mar 15, 2025: Purpose - Hayes Theater
Apr 01, 2025: Glengarry Glen Ross
Apr 10, 2025: Smash - Imperial Theatre
TBA: Titanic