A Critical Overview: The Best of Theater ’89

South Coast Repertory brought 19th-Century England to life in two productions last spring: David Emmes’ airy staging of Shaw’s “You Never Can Tell” and Stephen Jeffreys’ complex adaptation of Dickens’ “Hard Times”--a remarkable demonstration of the power of the imagination and of the actor’s ability to ignite it, marred only by weaknesses in the musical department.

It was the first of two shows called “Hard Times” that I reviewed and liked this year. The other was a Company of Angels adaptation of Studs Terkel’s scrapbook about the Depression--and its actors filled as many roles as those doing the Dickens, though on a much smaller scale.

The most striking piece of new work I reviewed was Reza Abdoh and Mira-Lani Oglesby’s “Minamata” at Los Angeles Theatre Center. This performance collage, taking off from the industrial poisoning of a Japanese fishing village, was seriously weakened by its creator’s self-indulgence, but it included enough tantalizing imagery to keep me hooked through two viewings. The LATC production was remarkably assured--the best-mounted example of large-scale home-grown performance art that Los Angeles has seen.

None of the new plays I reviewed this year was a total success, but some of the brighter elements included Julie Harris in “Driving Miss Daisy” (Henry Fonda Theatre), several performances in “The Boys Next Door” (Pasadena Playhouse), the exchanges of stories in Suzanne Lummis’ “Night Owls” (Cast Theatre), the knockabout fun of “Our Lady of the Tortilla” (Bilingual Foundation of the Arts) and the antic monologues of Christopher Durang’s “Laughing Wild” (Long Beach Studio Theatre).

Enterprising revivals included Michael Arabian’s hyperactive staging of Frank Wedekind’s “Spring Awakening” (Odyssey Theatre) and an intriguingly revised version of the musical revue “Bittersuite” (Burbage Theatre).

“A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” was the funniest thing yet seen at California Music Theatre, and a new professional company in Simi Valley, Santa Susana Rep, did well by “Man of La Mancha” in a tent.

Finally, Brain Trust’s comedy revue, “Mental Cruelty” (Tamarind) was an invigorating surprise in an overcrowded genre.