Andy García in Key Largo at The Geffen. Photo:Yann Rabanier By E.M. Fredric Key Largo based on the classic Humphrey Bogart-Lauren Bacall film and the reimagined version of Maxwell Anderson’s blank verse play, lionizes producer, co-writer and star Andy Garcia. The play was originally produced in 1939 and the film was hulled from there. This iteration is co-written by Jeffrey Hatcher, co-produced by Frank Mancuso with Andy Garcia and directed by Doug Hughes as a vehicle that spotlights Andy Garcia’s head mobster Johnny Rocco. Originally the focus in the film was on McCloud played by Bogart but here the target shifts to Rocco as Andy Garcia snares Edward G. Robinson’s shoes with stiletto ease. Garcia is on fire in both acts and is the main reason to visit the Geffen to see Key Largo . The Academy Award Nominee proves he’s an unstoppable beast on stage, profoundly immersed into the character and adding to the apocalyptic atmosphere of the play as its main fire and dragon ag...

L-R: Vella Lovell and Ruy Iskandar in Witch at Geffen Playhouse. Directed by Marti Lyons. Photo credit: Jeff Lorch By E.M. Fredric The Geffen has scored more hits than misses during the last year, and Witch is no exception. This wonderful take on witches, devils, souls for sale and the state of the world (then and now) is written with great comedic aplomb by Jen Silverman. She feeds her actors’—in this retelling of a Jacobean drama—roles with a delectable array of the absurd yet superlatively nuanced reality set against all that’s royal. These include: Elizabeth (Maura Tierney), a banished woman who has been named a witch; Sir Arthur (Brian George), who decides to bring in a lout from the lower class but oh-so-popular with the locals Frank Thorney (Ruy Iskandar) as his second son, so that he’ll produce an heir; and Sir Arthur’s real son, Cuddy (Will Von Vogt) likes/loves/hates Frank and won’t be producing an heir anytime soon. So the stage is set for a jealous rivalry betwe...