ON STAGE

Alice in One-Hit Wonderland 2

Falcon Theatre, through Oct. 12
***1/2

I'm not normally given to terms such as "a rockin' good time," but I may have to make an exception in this instance. The Troubadours, under the inimitable hand of director/Head Scalawag Matt Walker, have taken the Lewis Carroll favorite Alice Through the Looking Glass, recast the lead with Alice, the advice dispensary/maid from The Brady Bunch, and seasoned the piece heavily with those briefly popular, intoxicatingly catchy songs you can't forget (no matter how hard you try) such as Frankie Goes to Hollywood's "Relax" or the disco-era classic, "Do the Hustle" (or, in this case, "The Alice"… Weird Al should be losing sleep). Beth Kennedy essays the role of Alice with ease and verve, leading the sizeable cast in an incredibly energetic 88-minute romp. There's singing, there's dancing, there's double-dutch jump rope, there are bouncing knights, and, of course, the sine qua non of the piece, a Jabberwocky, here realized by Matt Scott as a very large, and quite effective, puppet. Audrey Siegal's appearance as Wonder Woman is notable, if not rigidly faithful to the source material. —WENZEL JONES

Mrs. Warren's Profession

Chandler Studio Theatre, through Aug. 24
***

A show in which characters toss off lines such as "you modern young ladies" may seem dated, but George Bernard Shaw's Mrs. Kitty Warren (Gillian Doyle), sub rosa proprietress of an international chain of stylish brothels, could teach Heidi Fleiss a thing or two, decorum and circumspection being just the beginning. This Madame has a cigar-smoking daughter (see above), Vivie (Joanna Strapp), who has been raised primarily by others with every financial advantage, albeit oblivious to the provenance of her tuition. When mamma makes one of her rare stops by Vivie's, beans are spilled, choices are justified, and scales fall from eyes. Doyle is excellent as a businesswoman with her common corners barely smoothed away and Strapp displays a keen intelligence and wit. Playing the reverend's son with a crush on Vivie, Jeremy Lelliott is so fresh and shiny he seems to have popped in from a Coward play. The direction (August Viverito) is lively, but it doesn't make those Shavian social statement monologues pass any faster. —W.J.

LIMITED RUN

Bury the Dead

The themes of Irwin Shaw's 1936 wartime classic could not be more pertinent today, and the Actors’ Gang's take should not be missed. The Ivy Substation. Closes Sat., Sept. 13. (Thurs.-Sun. only) 8 p.m. (3 p.m. Sun.) $25. www.theactorsgang.com.

La Cage Aux Folles

The first gay-themed Broadway musical celebration of the modern family ends its extended run. Knightsbridge Theatre. Closes Sun., Aug. 24. Sat. (8 p.m.) and Sun. (6 p.m.) only. $30. 323/667-0955. www.knightsbridgetheatre.com.

Plastic Crystal

Obsessive compulsion, infidelity, and unexpected revelations permeate this world premiere event in Hollywood. Open Fist Theatre. Closes Thurs., Aug. 28. (Wed.-Thurs.) 8 p.m. $15. 323/882-6912. www.openfist.org.

Abigail's Party

A desperate woman forces cigarettes and food on her guests in an attempt to mask her failed party and her failed marriage. Odyssey Theatre. Sat., Aug. 23-Sun., Oct. 12. $25-30. 310/477-2055. www.odysseytheatre.com.

Homo Must

Vanities

This world-premiere musical chronicles the lives and loves of three vivacious Texan women, and is based on the off-Broadway hit. Pasadena Playhouse. Fri., Aug. 22-Sun., Sept. 28. $38-58. www.pasadenaplayhouse.com.

AISLE SAY

Critics Walking on Water?

A few years ago, a highly popular—though critically savaged—musical returned to L.A. and it was reviewed by a freelance critic for a major local paper. He started the review by saying how much he despised the show when he saw it the year before, and how angry he was at having paid for his tickets at that time. Then he proceeded to mercilessly trash the show. Critics certainly do dish out harsh judgments at times, but shouldn't a key ethical value in reviewing be to strive as hard as possible to minimize the biases that we all possess? This guy not only wallowed in his pre-judgments on this show, he publicly paraded them, as if he was proud of them. Why the hell didn't he tell the editor he needed to decline that assignment? No wonder critics sometimes get a bad rap when some viewers disagree with our appraisals.

If you're Ben Brantley at the New York Times or Charles McNulty at the L.A. Times, your review can carry a lot of box-office weight. Yet how well do people absorb and assimilate what they read? I often find people dropping this sound byte: “Oh, that show got good reviews.” When you quiz them further, you find they actually only read one review, and they probably missed the five or six other unfavorable notices the show received elsewhere. Or they skimmed over a headline that sort of sounded like a favorable review, and when you read the whole thing, you find that the critic expressed serious reservations about the show.

I've written about journalistic ethics before, and how many time-honored principles have become tarnished. But once you get past the obvious matters of avoiding conflicts of interest and keeping an open mind, what else is a reviewer supposed to do? Does anyone still listen to critics in this era of electronic information overload? Should they? The sanest—and perhaps most useful—way for playgoers to deal with reviews is firstly to take all appraisals with a grain of salt and secondly, to read the reviews as a means of stimulating your own thoughts on a show. If critics did nothing more than facilitate ongoing intelligent discussions of theatrical works, that seems like a worthy goal. One caveat: Next time I pan a show, forget everything I've written here, and assume you are reading the gospel truth. —LES SPINDLE