Linda Vista at Mark Taper Forum

Linda Vista

Mark Taper Forum
135 North Grand Ave. Los Angeles

Wheeler just turned 50. His marriage is over, his job is mundane, and the best years of his life appear to be behind him. A move from the cot in his ex-wife's garage to his own apartment opens up new possibilities for love and sex -- complicated, painful and hilarious. Full of opinions, yet short on self-examination, Wheeler must reconcile the man he has become with the man he wants to be in this major new play from the writer of August: Osage County. In this Steppenwolf Theatre Company production, Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning playwright Tracy Letts delivers a "male midlife crisis tragicomedy of epic proportions" (Chicago Sun Times) in this "smart, very funny, hugely entertaining play" (Daily Herald) that resonates with a new sense of sobriety in the wake of #MeToo. Coming to the stage in 2019 at the Mark Taper Forum.

Thru - Feb 17, 2019

Tuesdays: 8:00pm

Wednesdays: 8:00pm

Thursdays: 8:00pm

Fridays: 8:00pm

Saturdays: 2:30pm & 8:00pm

Sundays: 1:00pm & 6:30pm

Price: $30-$75

Show Type: Comedy/Drama

Box Office: 213-628-2772

www.centertheatregroup.org/theatres/mtf/

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Linda Vista Reviews

Average Rating based on 7 reviews

Highly Recommended
Recommended
Somewhat Recommended
Not Recommended

Los Angeles Times - Somewhat Recommended

"..."Linda Vista" doesn't always seem convinced that it wants to be a play. Letts clearly appreciates the freedom of theater to graphically tackle subjects, such as middle-aged sex, that might make TV producers squirm. But many of the scenes, italicized with pop music, play like a dark rom-com."

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- Charles McNulty

Broadway World - Highly Recommended

"...This very contemporary tale set near San Diego reflects the ever-changing single scene in beachside California towns where there are lots of people searching for some answer or some dream as they look for self-fulfillment. As Barford shares, "They may not even know what they are looking for," which is exactly how Wheeler will probably continue to exist his entire life. And while Letts' dialog is hilarious, it is certainly poignant and painful at the same time, just like real life."

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- Shari Barrett

Stage and Cinema - Recommended

"...Director Dexter Bullard has a clear love for the play and the actors. He effectively utilizes the turntable and Todd Rosenthal's terrific sets, and he takes chances, trusting that action doesn't always have to be front and center to be impactful, and actors don't have to be loveable to make us fall in love."

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- Samuel Garza Bernstein

Stage Scene LA - Highly Recommended

"...Tracy Letts could just as easily have called his latest play Train Wreck, so hot a mess is its 50-year-old protagonist that much of the pleasure of Letts' relentlessly funny, defiantly unsentimental Linda Vista (a Steppenwolf visitor to the Mark Taper Forum) is watching its antihero (emphasis on the anti) get what he so richly deserves."

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- Steven Stanley

Cultural Weekly - Not Recommended

"...In the end the only thing that's abundantly clear is that Linda Vista is a mess. Perhaps Letts should listen to Wheeler when he says, "you know your movie's too long when you have to give people an intermission." Maybe he should forget Linda Vista for a year or two then, if inclined, take it out and cut it by half. At 90 minutes, with no intermission (and please no fake sex), who knows…? Anything can happen."

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- Sylvie Drake

Stage Raw - Highly Recommended

"...While the writing is astute, the production would not be the success it is without Barford, who seems born to play this beleaguered character with a nimble tongue. The supporting players are adept and authentic across the board, their collective performance contriving a mirror for human conduct, mostly for worse and occasionally for better."

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- Deborah Klugman

Theatre Notes - Highly Recommended

"...Tracy Letts's new play, Linda Vista, swept in from Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company where it premiered in April of 2017, sneaks up on an audience in this sterling production under the keen direction of Dexter Bullard. On opening night, the audience filled the Mark Taper Forum to capacity and was cheerfully buzzing along in anticipation. The playwright could be seen chatting with friends and acquaintances inside and outside the auditorium. His recorded voice announces the usual caveats over the loudspeaker-turn off phones, unwrap candies, and so on. On stage in the brightly lit auditorium, a couple of guys are moving some boxes onto the set, which represents a furnished apartment. Is the play starting? The house lights are still up. Then as the lights fade, one of the guys' cell phones rings and the audience is instantly silent. It is an indelibly theatrical moment that rivets attention, presages what is to come."

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- Paul Myrvold