COSTA MESA THEATER REVIEWS

Bursting with contagious rhythm, irrepressible heart, and an abiding sense of community pride, Lin-Manuel Miranda's Tony Award-winning 2008 original Broadway musical IN THE HEIGHTS remains one of the most vibrant and emotionally resonant contemporary musicals to emerge from the early 21st century. F...

Initially billed as a show that was 'lovingly ripped off' from the 1975 cult classic film Monty Python and the Holy Grail, the Tony Award–winning 2005 Broadway musical comedy MONTY PYTHON'S SPAMALOT™ gleefully gallops back onto the stage in a brand new production with its signature coconut-clack...

Directed by James Vásquez with musical direction by Ryan O'Connell and choreography by Shani Talmor, this remarkably solid new production of the 1965 Tony Award winner boasts haunting visuals and superb performances from its assembled ensemble, led by a trio of excellent leads that offer three dist...

Wildly surprising and deliciously savage, Yasmina Reza's machete-edged 2006 dark comedy GOD OF CARNAGE—here directed by Marco Barricelli and continues performances at OC's South Coast Repertory through March 21, 2026—has to be one of the most ferocious dissections of modern-day performative civi...

In what is clearly proving to be the must-see stage production of the new year so far here in Southern California, McCoy Rigby Entertainment's stunning new production of the 1979 Tony Award-winning classic SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET—now playing a limited engagement at the La Mi...

Adapted from Nicholas Sparks' ubiquitous 1996 novel (and its popular 2004 film iteration featuring Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling), THE NOTEBOOK - THE MUSICAL re-stages a generational love story into a quietly sweeping, memory-fractured stage romance that subtly promotes emotional accumulation over...

If the longevity of a Broadway classic is judged by its ability to reflect both its historical significance and its present existence in popular culture, this new revival of THE WIZ is somehow caught somewhere between reverence and reinvention....

Filled with a seemingly non-stop parade of awww-shucks delivered puns—of both super naughty and super corny varieties—the show, for lack of a more eloquent description, is so frikkin silly and stupid in the best possible ways a comedy can get. Mind you, this isn't an insult at all—the show is ...

Now presenting an even more over-the-top follow up compared to their first go-round in THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG staged here last February, the La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts and McCoy Rigby Entertainment revisit the earnestly bumbling folks at the fictional Cornley Polytechnic Drama Socie...

An intermission-less, two-character, conversational-centric play that focuses on a pair of women's specific immigrant experiences—marked with loneliness, hopes, fears, and puzzlements big and small—Pulitzer Prize finalist Lloyd Suh's absorbing, touching, and occasionally (thankfully) very funny ...

After making a splash when it first visited the OC back in 2022, MOULIN ROUGE! - THE MUSICAL—the dazzling, Tony Award-winning 2019 Broadway stage adaptation of Baz Luhrmann's groundbreaking 2001 movie musical—is back full throttle at Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa for a limited wee...

During the recent opening night performance of Musical Theatre West's vibrant new production of the 10-time Tony Award-winning 1964 musical HELLO, DOLLY!, the enthusiastically appreciative audience might as well have chanted 'Hello, Tami!' judging from the reactions during the show's finalé bows. M...

The current fragile state of, arguably, one of our country's most important founding documents—and whether or not some of our current leaders are legally following it—seems to be top of mind these days, which bodes well for the timely arrival of Chance Theater's latest production, playwright Hei...

Nominated for 13 Tony Awards, the 2022 musical adaptation SOME LIKE IT HOT is a surprisingly delightful, hilariously fun, and gleefully silly musical comedy that also has an endearingly open-minded new twist that re-contextualizes the movie's main raison d'être into something more empowering and th...

Blessed with undeniable vocal talents and an endearingly charming persona, Tony and Olivier Award winner and Disney Legend Lea Salonga recently returned to Costa Mesa's Segerstrom Center for the Arts for the one-night-only Orange County stop of the North American leg of her brand-new, perfectly-cura...

Still quite a rousing crowd-pleaser—offering empathy and kindness as its main endearing ingredient— La Mirada Theatre's brand new, 'non-replica' production of the Tony-winning musical COME FROM AWAY is a superb, rather enjoyable new Broadway-caliber production that is as every bit as appealing a...

Fresh off its sit-down engagement at Los Angeles' Ahmanson Theatre, the new(-ish) 2022 Broadway jukebox musical & JULIET is finally making its long-awaited pit-stop an hour south of L.A. at OC's Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa through September 21, 2025. Unabashedly gleeful and quite a ...

When it comes to the Hollywood Bowl's Summer 2025 production of the Andrew Lloyd Webber / Tim Rice classic rock musical JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR—which opened August 1 for three sold-out performances playing throughout the weekend—there are just not enough superlatives to bestow upon one of the mos...

Overall, A BEAUTIFUL NOISE—now on stage at Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa through August 10, 2025—comes off as guaranteed musical candy for Neil Diamond devotees, thanks to its current form as a polished, tidy, nostalgia-baiting jukebox musical loaded with familiar hits, sprinkles ...

Bursting with powerful, beautifully-rendered musical performances and emotionally-stirring characterizations from a terrific ensemble cast, Chance Theater's incredible-sounding, fiercely-acted, deeply searing new production of SPRING AWAKENING is, according to this critic, one of the best, most sati...

Musically entertaining though rather light on narrative heft, Musical Theatre West's otherwise rousing, concert-like new production BUDDY - THE BUDDY HOLLY STORY—now on stage at the Carpenter Performing Arts Center in Long Beach through July 27, 2025—is a straightforward, nostalgic jukebox music...

To kick off the official start of its 2025 season, one of the world's most iconic venues, the Hollywood Bowl, welcomed more than 10,000 guests on the evening of June 7, 2025 for its opening night concert 'An Evening With Hugh Jackman,' featuring the celebrated Australian-born stage-and-screen star p...

Touted as the first 'non-replica' regional production of this Disney stage musical mounted in Southern California, La Mirada Theatre's fresh iteration of FROZEN - THE MUSICAL still has plenty of Disney-esque magic to offer young and old audience members alike seeking to revisit the land of Arendelle...

There is definitely an easy-to-surmise draw behind the now-touring version of the Tony Award-winning play LIFE OF PI, now currently enchanting audiences at OC's Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa through June 15, 2025. Filled with innovative visual trickery and remarkable, human-powered pu...

Set in the part of the 'real' Hawaii that tourists are unlikely to ever see, THE STAIRCASE—the World Premiere play from Noa Gardner directed by Gaye Taylor Upchurch—is an admirable new play that features a superb acting ensemble, relatable themes, beautifully authentic cultural representation, a...