Writer-director Mick Axelrod’s “For the Joy of the Sting,” at Las Vegas Little Theatre Studio, is an enjoyable mess, rich in possibilities.

One of the unfortunate realities of local theater is that shows often open before the cast has had a chance to perform in front of a live audience. It’s the nature of the beast; community theater productions have short runs (as little as one weekend, or, for the fortunate, a couple of months).

I couldn't tell if the touring production of "Anything Goes," currently at the Smith Center, was poorly directed or if the cast members were just having an off night in the opening performance. This exuberant musical comedy has all the elements of a...

Alan Ball is the reason to see "Gemini." His role as Fran in Nevada Conservatory Theatre's production of the 1977 Albert Innaurato dramedy isn't showy. The union guest actor doesn't have any big moments that scream for attention. But he's a marvel...

The alarm went off in my head immediately. Entering Cockroach Theatre's small playing space for "Gruesome Playground Injuries" (by Rajiv Joseph, author of the popular "Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo"), we spot a young woman, Kayleen (Felicia Taylor...

The best I can say about The Utah Shakespeare Festival Touring Ensemble's 75-minute version of "Romeo and Juliet" - geared toward high-school audiences and open to the general public this weekend - is that it isn't terrible. This time out the group...

Marko Westwood is frustrated. When I ask the 20-year Las Vegas resident what it's like to try getting word out about his dance company he replies, with a voice too eager and a smile too broad, "Oh, it's so amazing! It's flowers and unicorns and...

Anthony Burgess' 1962 "A Clockwork Orange" - a futuristic adventure about a young, lower-class British punk (Alex) and his pack-mates who love Beethoven as much as torture and killing - was considered by some at the time of release to be a rare bird...

I suspect the Las Vegas Theatre Arts Production Show podcast doesn't have much of a worldwide audience. But in the local theater community, it's a must-listen. No wonder. The program is populated by four hosts in their 20s and 30s - Benjamin Loewy,...

It's only natural that performers sometimes feel they are nonentities when cast in chorus roles. But I often want to tell these people, "When you're onstage, you are being seen just as clearly as anyone else." Case in point: In the Onyx Theater's...

I have a major reservation about Las Vegas Little Theatre's very entertaining "The Proletariat," but there's much good stuff to talk about first. Ernest Hemmings' original play about the evils of the corporate world is at times devastatingly funny,...

Forgive me for having to do a housekeeping chore. For the past 16 years that I've been working as a theater critic (10 for this newspaper), I've been fascinated by the relationship between the reviewer and the reviewed. I was brought up in the...

Let's see who the real local theater buffs are: How many of you recognize the name Jerry Crawford? The Michigan resident is well-known around these parts for his longtime professorship at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. During his nearly 34...

Two very different shows had their official opening last weekend, both worth seeing. One's playing indefinitely, the other closes shop Saturday. Las Vegas Academy's dance drama "Changing Faces" (7 p.m. today and Saturday at the Lowden, Ninth Street...

There's a new cabaret program at the Onyx that may change the cabaret scene. The 96-seat theater has always hosted nights of improv, imported singers and comedy acts. But now Vegas talents - not Strip headliners, not Cirque, but theater vets who...

Rainbow Company's "Honk!" goes in and out of messiness and just as often hits bull's-eyes. One minute, you like it; the next, you don't. The 1993 West End musical by Anthony Drewe and George Stiles is an amusing and touching adaptation of Hans...

Cockroach Theatre, formerly one of Vegas' top performing troupes, is not having a good season. Its latest problem is John Kolvenbach's intermittently amusing 2008 dramedy "Love Song." At the story's center is an emotionally and/or mentally...

The script to Steven Belber's 2000 "Tape" is a light, fun read. We meet two high school male friends who are doing some heavy partying with help from a healthy sized bong. We then meet the pair 10 years later.

How does an actor keep things fresh during a long run? How does he mentally prepare for a performance? How important is it that he have a life outside the theater? The recently published "Performance of the Century: 100 Years of Actors' Equity...