100% Sweet on the Tightrope

Thanks to Bitter Lemons for keeping us at 100% Sweet with all these reviews!

Also thanks to Editor Colin Mitchell for his wonderful response to seeing the show.

SWEET Director Debbie Devine and her cohorts have fashioned from scratch something incredibly special, suggesting the feeling of a sweet summer dream staged by Federico Fellini. Travis Michael Holder – Backstage

SWEET Devine’s staging is quite entrancing, and White even overcomes the perils of being a grown woman cast as a young girl.  Don Shirley – LA Stage Times

SWEET The content discusses personal loss in a gentle way and deserves an audience.  Michael Sheehan – OnStageLosAngeles

SWEET That said, the subject is handled so warmly, so gently, and so delicately that it is surprisingly appropriate for most ages. The play is a poem, brought to life by storytelling actors, a touching and subtle set, live piano music, and occasional old film clips as backdrop.  Roberta – Mommy Poppins

SWEET Based on a lyric poem by Mike Kenny, director Debbie Devine has transformed the ode into a highly stylized reflection of love and loss that can only be described as pure theatrical magic. Tom Chaits – Stage and Cinema

SWEET “Walking the Tightrope” is a thought provoking play, at times heart-tugging for the adult audience. It is the first full effort by Lab24 towards its goal to produce intelligent and worthwhile theater for the whole family, the type that gives credit to your children’s thinking capacity and that will turn them into theater-goers and supporters of the arts. Dena Burroughs – LA Examiner

SWEET It’s hard to imagine a theatrical performance focused on death, life changes and children could be something appropriate and enjoyable for children and adults alike. After seeing 24th Street Theatre’s experimental Lab24 perform the West Coast premiere of Walking the Tightrope, I can say that director Debbie Devine and her cast absolutely nailed their attempt to make “adult theater for kids”.  LoriLee Beckman – LifeInLA

SWEET The play is just over an hour long, but provides for its audience an emotional journey and catharsis worth many more hours of life. Nowhere will you get more time equity. Andrea Kittelson – LA Examiner

SWEET “Walking the Tightrope” is set in an England coastal town, where it shines bright when the sun appears but also experiences heavy rain and gusty winds. That’s precisely how I will categorize the one-hour long play, which is filled with a delightful plot of smiles, emotional drama, and the impeccable cast. Marvin Vasquez – Campus Circle

SWEET Delicately poised between children’s fable and adult reverie at once, only to become another transcendent thing altogether, “Walking the Tightrope” at 24th Street Theatre delivers the evocative, cathartic goods. David C. Nichols – LA Times

SWEET As the characters create new norms for their family, the play touches upon themes such as growing up, life changes, home, family, tradition, and longing. Under the direction of Debbie Devine, Walking the Tightrope is funny, sweet, moving, and perfectly enjoyable for both adults and little ones over the age of six. Mia Bonadonna – LAist

SWEET I am normally skeptical of anything that is described as magical, but this play is truly magical. This play should take a copyright out on the word magical. “Walking the Tightrope” is the type of play that can make a theater junkie out of any child or uninitiated adult. Rose Desena – The Los Angeles Post

SWEET Walking the Tightrope is a phenomenal piece of theatre, and by the fact that there was not a dry eye in the house when I saw it, I am not the only one who thinks so. Mickala Jauregui – A Little Night Musing

SWEET Written by Mike Kenny and directed by Debbie Devine, Walking the Tightrope is not only aesthetically beautiful but deeply touching and insightful. Raquel Sanchez – Playwriting in the City

SWEET Given that so many examples of children’s theater are simply appalling — the equivalent of Muffin the Puppet singing “Sharing Is Caring and Obey your Parents” or some such rubbish — what a pleasure it is to see a work, aimed at a young audience, that possesses both intellectual heft and genuinely involving emotion. Paul Birchall – LA Weekly

SWEET Directed with all of us in mind, this ridiculously stunning piece of artwork is a part of the playhouse’s path during their 15th Year to expand their productions to audiences of all ages. Not just kiddos, not just adults but transcending the lines of age barriers and bringing simply the best quality cutting edge art to the stage every single time. Ugh. Love it. Simply adore. Deanna Leigh – The Li’l Devil Mama

SWEET If you’ve got adventurous kids take them. If not go and experience a simple play beautifully told. Anthony Byrnes – KCRW

SWEET With video projections by Matthew G. Hill that serve the setting splendidly and an abstract scenic design by Keith Mitchell that is both utilitarian and believable as a stand-in for many locations in the house and around the village, we witness a skillful collaboration that creates theater that is artful and satisfying. Ben Miles – Showmag

SWEET British playwright Mark Kenny’s ode to love and loss gets a marvelous, magical west coast premiere at the 24th Street Theatre under the inspired direction of Debbie Devine and with an extraordinary cast. Hoyt Hilsman – Huffington Post

SWEET Director Debbie Devine, whose stated purpose is to create “adult theatre for kids,” has succeeded brilliantly. Kudos for this magical world to Keith Mitchell (set), Dan Weingarten (lighting), John Zalewski (sound), Matthew G. Hill (video) and Ela Jo Erwin (costumes). Morna Murhpy Martell – Not Born Yesterday!

WALKING THE TIGHTROPE Presented by and at 24th Street Theatre 1117 W. 24th St., L.A. 90007 2 and 7:30 p.m, Saturdays; January 26 – March 30, 2013 Tickets:$12-$15; (213) 745-6516 Running time: 65 minutes