Goldstar Member Tips

• Goldstar Member on Where to Park
  Excellent - behind theatre and public parking lot across the street
• Michael Masterson on Other
  Don't bother going.
• Goldstar Member on Where to Park
  Easiest parking possible - big structure right across the street!

70 Goldstar Member Reviews

MKatz

This was the worst piece of crap I have ever seen and I've seen bad productions before. I'm sorry to the actors and they did try their best but other than the costumes being fantastic, there is absolutely nothing redeeming about this show. Only other good point, was the actor playing Ruddy Valentino was very cute. Do not waste your time!

Written on May 09 2011

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• 13 Good To Know
• 2 I Like Your Writing
• 16 I Went And I Agree

david26point2

I tried to award zero stars but this site requires at least one before the review is accepted, however one star is one too many for this fiasco. A nonsensical plot, cheesy set and oh - the embarrassingly
stereotypical latina character made me cringe - I can't believe that anybody involved with this production had the chutzpah to actually stage it and expect the public to pay to see it. Don't waste your time.

Written on May 10 2011

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• 4 Good To Know
• 0 I Like Your Writing
• 5 I Went And I Agree

David Bonner

Let's cut to the bone as this play had only two redeeming values: 1) it was barely an hour long; and 2) the two male leads were mostly naked in the opening scene. The sparse costumes didn't add a single thing to the show but the guys were nice to look at.

I bought tickets two months ago for what was billed as "opening night". A few days before the show I got an email telling me it was now a preview show. The extra time used honing this show won't help. The script is trash. I got so excited when I read the shows description; this sounded like such a great concept. Only the play is more about time travel, earthquakes, and other hokey stuff. We were not once treated to a single meaningful insight into the lavender marriages of the day. During the play I caught myself several times making suggestions to myself about how I would change it to make it better. I'm not a professional and neither is this show. OMG it was bad.

Everything was laughable in the most unfunny way. The staging looked as though it had been created by a five year old and was so wobbly it appeared as though collapse could come at any moment. The set decorator apparently didn't care enough about detail to get the security guard a holster for his gun so he just shoved it in his pocket. In the house of the most famous of Hollywood stars of the day they used plastic champagne glasses. Small details to be sure, but they all add to the "giggle" component. The list of what's wrong with this production is probably longer than the play itself.

Do yourself a favor: DON'T GO. Even if the tickets are free (mine weren't) this show is not worth your time.

My apologies to the actors as you struggle through this show. Your efforts were laudable, but when you start with a crappy script Oscar winning acting won't help.

Written on May 09 2011

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• 2 Good To Know
• 4 I Like Your Writing
• 7 I Went And I Agree

Playlover

I never post reviews except in extraordinary cirmcumstances. In fact, the only one I've posted before was a rave for a play that was extraordinarily good but unheralded. The case with Lavender is the opposite. It is an extraordinarily bad, unstageworthy script (can't even call it a "play") that is lovingly produced to absolutely no avail. You will not learn anything about Lavender Marriages, the 1920s, or Hollywood "royalty" that isn't already included in the show's description. You will not be entertained. You will wonder why such an event exists in a town otherwise filled with talented and competent writers.

Written on May 09 2011

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• 4 Good To Know
• 1 I Like Your Writing
• 8 I Went And I Agree

More Information About Lavender Love

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Website

http://www.machatheatre.org/home.html

Description

Lavender Love: a new play by Odalys Nanin
(Award winning playwright, producer and founder of Macha Theatre/Films) directed by Ilmar Taska and Odalys Nanin

A "lavender marriage" is the union of two gay celebrities who pretend to be involved with each other in a heterosexual relationship. It serves like a smoke screen to the press protecting them from society's cruelty of the time against gay love.   Famous silent screen diva Alla Nazimova and Rudolph Valentino lived together in a mansion on the corner of Sunset and Crescent Heights which is now a parking lot.   The character of Alas Nin is the time traveler who connects us to the past revealing to the audience what it was really like to live in their shoes.

It's sensual, it's sarcastic, it's debauchery and hysterically funny but most of all it's incredibly real.

Written in celebration of West Hollywood's 25 year anniversary, Lavender Love is a look back in time in order to learn where we came from and what we have learned if anything at all.

Odalys Nanin - Co-Director
Since graduating from The Drama Studio London and Rutgers University, Odalys Nanin has appeared in many MOW, soap operas, series, T.V. commercials and at least 30 theatre productions both in New York and Los Angeles. She has earned a stellar reputation for writing, directing and producing theatre in Los Angeles.

Nanin is the recipient of three Drama-Logue Theatre Awards for direction, performance and production of Vargas Llosas La Chunga. Her other plays are Skin of Honey, Love Struck, Garbo’s Cuban Lover, The Nun and the Countess and Beyond Love.

Garbo’s Cuban Lover and The Nun and the Countess were chosen as “One of the Best Ten Plays by the Advocate Magazine and were Critic’s Pick in Backstage West. Beyond Love received a Curve Magazine Award for best Lesbian play.

Nanin has also translated, adapted, directed and produced Blood Wedding by Garcia Lorca which received Critic’s Pick in Backstage West.

Nanin is also a screenwriter/filmmaker and has written, directed and produced two short films: Only One Suitcase and Garbo’s Cuban Lover which are promos to her screenplays. Only One Suitcase, the short film, has screened at the NYFilm Festival, the LA International Film Festival, Cinemafest in Puerto Rico and the Taos Film Festival. Garbo’s Cuban Lover, the short film, has screened at Outfest Gay and Lesbian Film Festival and at the L.A. Shorts Festival.

Nanin has been recognized by Tentaciones Magazine as one of the most influential Latinas in the LGBTI community. She has been interviewed by the Advocate, Curve Mag, The Blade, Los Angeles Times, Frontiers, L.A. Weekly, Entertainment Today, The Sophisticate, La Opinion, and Power Up Magazine. She has also participated in the following panels: Queering the Heart of Aztlan at UCLA, Queer Filmmakers Panel, Chicano/Chicana Literature Conference in Alcala, Spain and has been on the board of the Astraea Foundation. She is the Producing Artistic Director and Founder of Macha Theatre/Films.

Ilmar Taska - Co-Director
Ilmar Taska was born into a camp in Siberia, but only met the real wolves later in the entertainment business, where he has written, produced and directed film productions like Back in the USSR with Roman Polanski, Candles in the Dark with Maximillian Schell and Alyssa Milano, Set Point with Carmen Kass and recently Thy Kingdom Come/WIngs of Fear. 

He started his theatre career at the age of 11, playing the lead character in the Estonian National Radio Theatre's radio-play Lenin's Smile. Later he worked in Sweden with Nordstjarna and Remote Control Productions. Last year Ilmar directed Power of Love by Tony J. Williams at The Courtyard Theatre in London starring Kate Winslet's sister Anna Winslet and Christoph Dostal. This is Ilmar's first collaboration with Odalys Nanin.