The best of LA’s theatre scene is celebrated with the 2007 LA Stage Alliance’s Ovation Awards on Monday night at the Orpheum Theater downtown. The ceremony honor Annette Bening and will be hosted by Neil—wait for it—Patrick Harris (fans of How I Met Your Mother might appreciate that one). Tickets ($40, $80 and $150) to the show are available to the general public. If those ticket prices are too steep, then check out our......

Avenue Q, the Broadway sensation now playing at the Ahmanson Theatre, simply put, is Sesame Street and The Muppets for adults. Actually, it's any go-lucky humpty-dory family/neighborhood TV sitcom with overly crude humor. It's a tight production with abrupt segues, hints of metatheatrical jabs and extremely catchy tunes. Everything's very un-PC, but that's okay, cause a puppet said it, right? They're just telling it like it is, as they see it, no qualms about......

The best plays and musicals are the ones that challenge, trasnport and entertain. If our senses, our norms our challenged when watching a show, or we are transported to another place and time where we can completely escape our current reality, or, at the very least, if we come away with a few well-earned laughs then the creators and actors have done their job. Following this line of logic, Q utterly failed. ...

Don't forget to enter our Labor Day Weekend Contest with the prize to see AIR at the Greek Amphitheater later this month. Recent major events for the Los Angeles Fire Department include a fire last night in North Hills contained to a 12 x 12 foot room where a twenty-something male in serious condition with smoke inhalation and an air ambulance rescue for a two-year-old boy who fell from a pony, dragging him near......

Only a few days left to get tickets to Edward Scissorhands -- no not the movie, the musical playing at the Ahmanson Theatre until December 31st. The touching and Gothic Tim Burton fairytale has been brought to the stage by Matthew Bourne, who devised, directed, and choreographed the show in London. This breathtaking dance sensation is performed to the original movie soundtrack written by Danny Elfman with a live string orchestra. It has beautiful......

Though this particular LAist poster isn’t Jewish, the idea of getting gifts for eight nights is totally appealing. So if anyone’s feeling particularly generous, here are a few -– ok eight -– gift suggestions. And remember Hanukkah begins this Saturday tonight...so you still have a few days left to shop: 1. Jeanine Payer jewelry. This San Francisco-based artist loves engraving words and quotes in her silver jewelry. We spied a few of her works......

We're giving away a pair of tickets to see The Black Rider at the Ahmanson Theatre on Thursday, May 11. If you like Tom Waits, William S. Burroughs or the work of director Robert Wilson, you don't want to miss this amazing, unforgettable performance. We're sorry, this contest is now closed. Fine Print: Affiliates of LAist, other -ist sites and the Center Theatre Group are not eligible to enter. Entries received by 1PM PST......

The Black Rider is stunning in its vision. On a nearly blank stage, actors move like broken puppets; costumes and makeup are extraordinary, horrific, expressionistic. The mastermind is director Robert Wilson, who has created a performance that is striking and unforgettable. Wilson had two bigtime collaborators — Tom Waits wrote the music and William S. Burroughs wrote the story — but in the end it is the director who commands the show, now playing......

Tonight, Australian native, satirist and actor Barry Humphries, the creator of Dame Edna Everage, will open his her solo show, Dame Edna: Back With A Vengeance!, at the Ahmanson Theatre. If you are in need of marriage counseling and a psychic reading, Dame might make you part of the show. This short run closes April 9th. 25 ft. and 2 days away, iWitness opens at the Mark Taper Forum. Refusing to serve in the......

Matthew Bourne’s version of Swan Lake is a far cry from the images of dainty little ballerinas in white. His vision of the classical ballet features men dancing in the flock and even in the lead role. This is not the first time Bourne’s Swan Lake has played LA, but if you missed it the first time in 1997, you have until March 19 to catch it this time around. Swan Lake Ahmanson Theatre......

On Thursday, we wrote:Our LA Flavorpill newsletter for May 31- June 6 landed in our mailbox on Tuesday. It's taken a while to digest their list of "hand picked" happenings, but we noticed that LA Flavorpill favors the Merce Cunningham Dance Company twice. First there's the wrap around ads for Dance at the Music Center's presentation of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company at the Ahmanson Theatre June 2-6. While Flavorpill Productions states in its "About......

We have a bone to pick with Flavorpill Productions. Our LA Flavorpill newsletter for May 31- June 6 landed in our mailbox on Tuesday. It's taken a while to digest their list of "hand picked" happenings, but we noticed that LA Flavorpill favors the Merce Cunningham Dance Company twice. First there's the wrap around ads for Dance at the Music Center's presentation of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company at the Ahmanson Theatre June 2-6.......

• Indie 103 presents The Wedding Present with Crystal Skulls at the Troubadour tonight. Doors open at 8 PM; tickets are $15 advance. • At the Hotel Cafe, see AM with Buddy, Brad Byrd, Single File and others TBA, starting at 8 PM. • At the Egyptian Theatre, an 8:00 PM screening of Raging Bull preceded by a boxing demonstration by former Golden Gloves Champion Mickey Jones in the courtyard at 7:30 PM. •......

We realize that theatre reviews typically come out after the reviewer has seen the play, but we're on a 9 a.m. flight to the Big Apple tomorrow for a week's vacation (and to crash the Gothamist/Six Apart Happy Hour), so a review is the farthest thing from our mind. We haven't even packed! But we're going out tonight to see As You Like It downtown at the Ahmanson, and we're pretty stoked. We're also......