Best Theatre Reviews in Los Angeles Love Actually Live
People seem to be divided into 2 camps: those who adore writer-managing director Richard Curtis' 2003 holiday rom-com "Love Actually," and those who can't bide the flick'south centre-meltingly grand gestures, wryly feel-good vibe and bittersweet, ain't-love-thousand charms (not to mention its pre-#MeToo boss-employee romances).
It'south a divide equally wide every bit the boomer generation's polarizing contend over Neil Diamond (full disclosure: hearing "Holly Holy" still gives me goosebumps). But this much is true: If you lot're a fan of "Love Actually," you'll probably experience right at dwelling at "Dear Really Alive," the rousing, affecting production from those clever folks backside the picture music-based theatrical series For the Record ("Tarantino," "Scorsese: American Crime Requiem"), co-produced with the Wallis Annenberg Heart for the Performing Arts.
"Love Really Alive" is billed equally "a multimedia-concert celebration," simply it'south best not to think too deeply virtually the hybrid's complex, impressive structure. Information technology's a chip of a head-hurting puzzle. Simply let this superbly mounted, quasi-jukebox musical wash over you with the warmth and joy of its myriad components.
Adapted and directed by Anderson Davis, who also serves as the creative manager of For the Record, "Live" combines a cord of "Love Actually" flick clips (shown on stationary and traveling screens) with live performances that either re-create or complement the projected scenes. The mix includes stylized, dialogue-gratuitous reenactments and terrific renditions (bundled past conductor and musical supervisor Jesse Vargas) of the chart-topping soundtrack'due south pop hits, ballads and standards. Told you information technology was a little complicated.
No matter, it proves a truly immersive experience as the show'southward large, genial cast and fifteen-slice orchestra deftly move u.s. through the movie's lively crisscross of love stories set in London in the weeks earlier Christmas.
(Lawrence K. Ho)
Meanwhile, a huge, brightly lit Christmas tree stands upstage centre amid Matthew Steinbrenner'south elegant, beautifully dimensional, rotating prepare congenital to evoke a classic London-architecture mix of stone, brick, stucco and forest. Scenery, projected and concrete, comes and goes.
The player-vocalists each play one or more than characters from the picture show, largely coiffed and costumed to resemble — OK, some more closely than others — their onscreen counterparts. Although it's a notably attractive and achieved cast — Rex Smith, Rumer Willis, Steve Kazee (Tony winner for "One time") and B. Slade are among the bigger names — the inherent need to friction match these performers with the picture show's recognizable ensemble (including Hugh Grant, Emma Thompson, Liam Neeson, Laura Linney and Keira Knightley) results in a show that's not as ethnically, or physically, diverse as this kind of big-scale product might otherwise be.
In that location are many highlights over the course of 30-plus musical numbers, particularly the sexy "Smooth," with its light-show antics; the deeply moving Joni Mitchell classics "River" and "Both Sides At present"; the happily infectious Pointer Sisters' hit "Jump (For My Love)" (cue the booty-shaking); the Act One closer, Kelly Clarkson's torchy "The Trouble With Love Is"; and a gorgeous and bluesy "White Christmas," led by a soaring B. Slade.
But quondam teen idol, Top 40 striking maker and Broadway veteran Smith struts away with the show playing aging rock legend Baton Mack (a memorable Bill Nighy in the picture show). As the flamboyantly cheeky musician, Smith has a ball performing a purposely unctuous, Christmastime version of the Troggs' "Honey Is All Around," which Billy records in a humorously desperate catch to reclaim his relevance. Kudos get to the 63-year-old Smith for baring a lot more than his soul — and for rocking those gold lamé shorts — in the finale.
It should be said that the omnipresent movie clips, without which there might be no "Love Actually Live," are a double-edged sword. Although these scenes effectively necktie together the live action, they're so darned absorbing and entertaining that it'south easy to forget about the hard-working performers keeping up onstage.
Still, it's all part of this holiday gift'southward crowd-pleasing efforts, and I wouldn't be surprised to see more For the Record events merely like information technology. "The Big Arctic Live," anyone?
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
'Dear Really Alive'
Where: Bram Goldsmith Theater, Wallis Annenberg Middle for the Performing Arts, 9390 North. Santa Monica Blvd., Beverly Hills
When: 7:30 p.m. Mondays-Fridays, ii and seven:30 p.m. Saturdays, 2 and seven p.g. Sundays (check for exceptions, including New Year's Eve); ends Dec. 31
Tickets: $35-$125 (subject to change)
Info: (310) 746-4000, TheWallis.org
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Source: https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/la-et-cm-love-actually-live-review-20181221-story.html