LOS ANGELES THEATER REVIEWS

In a meticulously scripted and carefully crafted medley of songs, the performers highlighted the highs and lows of their careers, illustrating their individual paths to Hairspray and sharing anecdotes of their vastly different lives since the closing of the show....

This is a small-scale, intimate human story that feels like a slice of life, entertaining, touching, and deftly told with wildly abundant, delicious humor.  Mostly Demolition is a comedy, observant, delightful, laugh-out-loud funny.  There is a thoughtful drama lingering here too — slowly, astut...

Now having its So. California Regional premiere production at La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts thru Oct. 13, 2024, this funny, endearing, and ultimately empowering show is easily, hands-down, this critic's favorite iteration of this musical—in no small part thanks to Desi Oakley's return ...

Blessed with jawdroppingly gorgeous vocals, Tony Award winner Joaquina Kalukango—accompanied by music director Michael Orland—wows in her West Coast solo concert debut at OC's Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa to kick off their 2024-2025 Cabaret Series....

The Skin of Our Teeth is an astonishing production of the classic play at A Noise Within through September 29th.  It is insatiably alive with sharp-fanged wit, whimsical thoughtfulness, and improbable wonder.  The Skin of Our Teeth is audaciously satirical, but also earnest its incandescent medit...

For all the device’s delicious successes, framing complicated shots of singers through the geometric slats of Ezio Frigerio’s behemoth set in ways that conversely evoke the opulence of a work by the Freed unit or the subtle asymmetry of a Mizoguchi movie, both the live performance and the filmed...

Martin Crimp’s free adaptation – first staged in 2019 with James McAvoy in the title role -  is as urgent and beguiling as it is contemporary, a classic with a fiery heart and not an inch of dustiness or quaintness. In the revival directed by Mike Donahue at the Pasadena Playhouse, CYRANO burst...

A little more nuance to both the characters and the script would have given the show more weight. As it is, it’s quite broad, which, yes, is part of the point, but that point would be sharper if it were toned down a bit....

In its L.A. premiere at the Geffen Playhouse directed by Andrew Russell, DRAGON LADY is every inch an homage to Maria Sr., who died in 2022, but also to resilience. Watching Porkalob crawl inside the skins these two little boys who are playing the part of super heroes ... is to take a wicked cool jo...

Pascal & Julien is the US premiere of a magical play about childhood and friendship at the award-winning 24th Street Theatre in West Adams running through October 27th.  Written by Australian playwright Daniel Keene, Pascal & Julien is the tale of two quirky, annoying loners who discover the tender...

TH IR DS is the world premiere of a new dystopian drama, a messy play with a lot of interesting things on its mind. ...

Memorable, entertaining and show-stopping, 3 Faces of Steve is a special treat to be savored.  The lavish, luxurious operatic voices and powerhouse emotive performances of Angelina Réaux, Michael Sokol and Bernardo Bermudez shine in the intimate, warm space of the Odyssey....

Though the language is easy to imagine as the foundation for a more ostentatious spectacle, the sweeping narration is deftly relayed by a mighty fistful of actors and a polished trio of dancers in a way that allows grand battles and weighty sociopolitical musings to service the intrinsic poetry of t...

The work’s premiere at the Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum feels like a couple of different narratives – along with a screed or two – stuffed into a single evening. It’s an identity quest! It’s a perilous journey to motherhood! It’s a rumination/condemnation on what it means to be Latino!...

THE BROTHERS SIZE, a heart-rending, music-suffused three-hander exploring the strength and limits of fraternal bonds, is being staged in the Geffen’s smaller Audrey Skirball Kenis Theatre, where it fits beautifully....

Director Sean Cawelti has crafted a handful of stunning visuals which punctuate the narrative with video projection, meticulously-rendered puppet choreography, and a particularly stunning sequence with pyrotechnics....

In the sublime tradition of the madcap screwball comedies of the 1930s and the great farces of the stage by writers like Molière and Aristophanes, Human Error has dazzling, brilliant writing. ...

The world premiere of the LaBute-ian tango, IF I NEEDED SOMEONE, is being staged at Santa Monica’s City Garage where director Frédérique Michel and actors Devin Davis-Lorton and Adam Langsam serve it up with (sorry, Jules) considerable sweetness....

A smash hit at Hollywood Fringe, Patient 13 follows Gail Thomas on her journey with cancer, mental health, and becoming the subject of a medical study about the clinical use of magic mushrooms.  ...

DIDO OF IDAHO is a dark comedy by Abby Rosebrock that tackles intense themes of grief, trauma, and obsession. Deftly directed by Abigail Deser, the show is powerful, pointed, and poignant with solid performances and clever staging. Another in a long-running series of knockouts from the Echo Theater ...

Aimed at offering a more progressive framework that tweaks the infamous story, this admirable revised version reflects a purposefully modern approach to the classic story, attempting to balance the original's charm and whimsy with contemporary sensibilities. This brand new national tour continues at...

Director David Melville's Forest of Arden has plenty of space for the melancholy, the displaced and the lovelorn alike, even for a frisky French goatherd who warbles merrily as she bags goat poop. ISC free Shakespeare patrons only get one production this summer, but it’s a winner....

MURDER AFTER HOURS is exquisitely well done and will keep you guessing up until the affecting and surprising end. It’s well worth spending an evening in the British countryside among the snipes and snubs of the upper class at the Lonny Chapman....

Filled with incredible showstoppers, many familiar theatrical staples, and some exquisite singing from an all-star cast of theater vets, this well-curated “greatest hits” concert honoring Boublil and Schonberg was a fitting, glorious celebration of the creative partnership responsible for two of...

The universe seems to have contrived to allow them to present a near-perfect production. With the gentle sounds of crickets in the background and the sporadic circling of LAPD’s helicopters, the seasoned cast weaves an intimate tale that is booby-trapped with a million Chekhovian guns which fire r...