Shari Barrett

With its stirring original music, vivid storytelling and exuberant cast, A Christmas Carol at A Noise Within continues to capture the timeless magic of Dickens’ classic - and the enduring hope that kindness can redeem us all.

Award-winning director Cameron Watson invites us to watch the story of two lost souls looking for human connection who bloom and blossom after randomly meeting in a world that seems to consistently separate them from others into perpetual loneliness.

All four actors as well as director Mirai are to be commended for keeping the action moving and characters deeply present in their own truths. Given the small and up-close staging in the black box theatre, every audience member will feel like a fly on the fence in Jessie’s backyard while seated on all four sides of the center stage playing area. Each in their own ways creates a portrait of parenthood that is by turns raw, hilarious, joyful, and profoundly moving.

The Actors' Gang is presenting the World Premiere of Children of the Winter Kingdom – The Bonkers Adventures of Holly and Spruce, an original family-friendly fantasy fairy tale for the theater written by Adam Dugas and Mary Eileen O’Donnell and directed by Dugas for a limited three-week engagement from December 4 to 20 at the Actors’ Gang in Culver City.

Directed with pinpoint focus and lots of movement by Cate Caplin to keep the play from becoming a typical “talking heads” production, I guarantee An Inspector Calls will keep you captivated until its startling conclusion.

No doubt there are a lot of Broadway World readers interested in hearing about life on the road as an ensemble member while understudying two roles, wondering what it takes to be prepared at a moment’s notice to step into a role for which you may not have had a lot of rehearsal. I spoke with Jenna Lea Rosen about her experience on tour with SUFFS.

Produced by Liviera Lim and Michael DiNardo and directed by Ashley Busenlener for Last Call Theatre, The Butterfly Effect is not to be missed by fans of true immersive/interactive theatre or those curious to experience being involved in a show rather than just watching it.

Here's my conversation with Playwright Levi Holloway on the development of the Paranormal Activity, how it relates to the film franchise, and the creation of the special effects-filled production at Ahmanson Theatre Nov 13 to Dec 7.

Opera is no stranger to the devilish phenomenon now inhabiting the musical theatre stage with the popular Hadestown, Damn Yankees, and The Devil Wears Prada frequently playing to sold out houses wherever presented. That’s also very true with Faust in particular, whose story of possession was shared this past summer in Griffith Park. But the most devilish of operas include Berlioz’s La Damnation de Faust, Gounod’s Faust and Boito’s Mefistofele, which The Verdi Chorus will be sharing on November 15 and 16 at the First Presbyterian Church in Santa Monica.

My conversation with writer and director Sofia Streisand centers around her inspiration for creating the dark musical thriller Bluebeard's Castle, with its American premiere at the Odyssey Theatre from November 1-23, 2025, and how she expects American audiences to react to its content.

What makes this production so enthralling along with Donovan’s tight direction is the immersive effect of feeling involved in the lives of these two lonely people as they openly reveal their fears and feelings as the 90-minute play unfolds.

Here's my conversation with playwright Ankita Raturi about the genesis for the play and how she developed it as a comedy rather than a drama about a mother and son cross-country college tour.

Elliot Shoenman's newest play, Paper Walls is a story that reveals the enduring thread connecting the struggles of 20th-century immigrants seeking refuge and opportunity in America, with today’s vitriol debates around immigration policy. Our conversation explores the inspiration for it and how it relates to all America today.

With frontotemporal dementia (FTD) in the news due to actor Bruce Willis fighting the disease for several years, I decided to speak with playwright Jake Broder, an Atlantic Fellow at the Global Brain Health Institute, about his motivation to create Unravelled and his research on the disease.

August Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come and Gone introduces us to a group of men and women teetering on the brink as they search for lost family, identity, and purpose in the aftermath of slavery. I decided to speak with the play’s director Gregg T. Daniel about his production opening October 18 at A Noise Within in Pasadena.

I decided to speak with Dietrich Smith, adaptor and director of Amerika or, The Man Who Disappeared, about his journey to present it as well as his interest in Franz Kafka’s story.

From start to finish, Hernandez and Vargas are to be commended for their tour-de-force performances, often taking on other roles in the brothers’ lives, be it their ancestors, employers, or the cop who changes the course of both their lives forever.

Director MacQueen keeps the action moving along at a steady pace, a much-needed component of a 2.5 hour play offering so much information to absorb about the history of women's suffrage. Highly recommended.

Director Amie Farrell on her vision for presenting the Los Angeles premiere of Ms. Holmes & Ms. Watson – Apt 2B by Kate Hamill, the story of two free-spirited women who hilariously evolve into codependent partners in crime-solving.

I spoke with Jeff Liu about his journey directing Paranormal Inside after The Brothers Paranormal, the difference between the two scripts and the characters’ friendship, his experience working with its original cast members, and any updates on what a spectacular boo-fest the production promises to be.