The Lex Theatre

No one answers the phone! They have a lease advertisement up. You email and call and no one bothers to contact you. No wonder it is so hard for them to get a tenant.

This review is for the Lovecraft Nightmare Suite on February 16^th, 2014.
Driving up to The Lex Theatre, I couldn’t help but poke fun at it’s location. It’s off of Santa Monica Blvd, semi residential area. We found metered parking on the street, 2 hours for a couple of quarters. We arrived 15 minutes before the play started. We walked in to the small lobby area, got our play bill and walked in to sit down.
Walking in, I was somewhat the opposite of impressed yet not disappointed in the size of the theatre. I think the stage was smaller then my living room. I wondered how 8 – 9 actors would be able to make it work.
I’m not going to give anything away about the play itself. I was extremely impressed with the actors, the script, the amazing set design, and most of all the lighting concepts. Talk about talent!!! Good things do come in small packages. I completely underestimated or maybe, misunderstood the power of small theatre.
The actors– amazing! Never fumbled their lines, they were always on their mark, and they carried the play to it’s fullest potential. The light and sound crew did so well in manipulating the ambiance of the play.
The performance last about an hour and 40 minutes straight through. Very pleased with this theatrical experience!
I am definitely looking forward to more plays by this theatre group. Need to find the play bill to list the group.

This review is for the theater, not the production!
And my opinion is… just awful — terrible, terrible service for the paying audience! I have friends in the theater, and they have often said the first rule is… start on time, no matter what!
So we got to the theater about 7:15 (for an 8:00 pm performance), hung out, read through the program, and the house opened around 7:40. It seemed like we were sitting an awful long time — longer than 20 minutes. Well, we were! At 8:16, the guy selling the tickets came in, greeted us, and said that the show didn’t start on time because «we are waiting for some VIPs who should be here pretty soon, so we won’t start till they come.» I said — aren’t WE VIPs (having paid for our tickets)??? He said — none of you are as «V» as the «VIPs.» And he left. They waited — if you can believe it — ANOTHER 10 – 15 minutes before starting. That’s 50 paying patrons, waiting about 30 minutes for a show to start. Or, put another way, 25 cumulative hours of time!!! Why isn’t OUR time valuable? What if we were meeting friends after the performance… etc., etc. I was quite outraged, and it colored my experience of the entire evening. The VIPs finally showed up around 9 pm. Too bad we didn’t wait for them to arrive before the show started! How dare the management delay the start of a show for people who couldn’t be bothered to be there at the proper starting time!
I will never, EVER again patronize this theater, knowing they make such decisions AGAINST the paying public and for their friends… or whoever they were. Outrageous! We should have all been offered a refund for their flagrant disregard of common courtesy and professionalism.

This review is for the preview performance of Lovecraft Nightmare Suite presented by the Visceral Company on 9÷26÷13.
We got our fantastically discounted tickets on Goldstar and went with another couple to check out the performance of five H.P. Lovecraft tales done with some effects and puppetry in some of the tales.
I really enjoyed the evening and the actors were excellent in their rendering of the sometimes tricky dialogue of H.P. and emotional delivery. They gave it their best and I felt caught up in the whole nightmarish dreamworld which is exactly what should happen.
The sets were effective yet not terribly overdone, music good and again, actors were great. Definitely go see this if you are a fan of Mr Lovecraft.
Fun thing to do in the coming days before Halloween !!!

*** I love Friday nights at the theatre. ***
When I moved to LA in 1999, I was a little
shocked to find a lackluster choice of plays.
I felt Chicago had far better offerings overall.
What is up with that? Doesn’t H/​Wood draw
major actors? Isn’t there lots of prod’n $$$?
I didn’t get it but I acclimated. I found many
neighborhood playhouses throughout LA.
That is special! The Lex Theatre is one.
Last nite I saw a contemporary rendition
of Shakespeare’s «Othello» by Tiger Reel.
It was set in present day Washington DC
and Fort Cyprus (Florida). Several flat tv
screens surrounded the stage helping to
add to its present day concept as well as
enhance background/​meaning of scenes.
Visual display was the only thing I liked…
The rest of «Othello» prod’n was awful.
Several scenes were grossly overacted.
Gratuitous disrobing sequence of Othello;
is this a Chippendale short story or what?
The special audio effects often drowns out
the actors while they are speaking their lines.
Language was not updated to modern English
(yes, this is Shakespeare but Old English just
comes across as ridiculous in this context).
Modern English with an added cadence
would have served this play far better …
change «Moor» to ««Negro», change 2011
to 1960, change Turks to Cubans … hell,
just change everything here because this
play has no cohesive flow. It is disjointed.
Playhouse … 5-​stars
Othello (the play) … 1-​stars
*** I hated the play, but love the playhouse. ***