LOS ANGELES THEATER REVIEWS

The problem is not that it’s bad — it’s certainly serviceable — so much as it’s unmemorable. Something that should never be said about a character as dynamic as Mrs. Doubtfire....

As the mystical opening chords begin to play and Liz Toonkel emerges in a stunning sequined costume designed by Stephen James, one might relax back into their seat, assured that a flashy, polished magic show which meekly follows the formula made popular by Copperfield and Blaine is about to unfold...

Director Kent Gash’s production in Pasadena serves up equal parts heat and cool, a slick and sweaty celebration of a man who was as vibrant and dangerous as his music. Under the musical direction of Darryl Archibald and choreography of Dell Howlett – both of which are first-rate – the evening ...

The Sandwich Ministry is an intimate, small town story. It is about faith, smelly church centers, natural disasters, loss, sandwich fixings, and the struggle to find meaning and community.  Playwright Miranda Rose Hall celebrates the unassuming, rich beauty of female friendship and the things that ...

The Winter’s Tale at Will Geer Theatricum Botanical is a true joy of a production. There is a terrific cast of lively, powerhouse performers and many irresistible moments of magic, delight, drama, and fall-out-your-chair-laughing hilarity.  I absolutely loved it....

The Bard is back and DURAN DURANTHONY & CLEOPATRA is up to snuff, zanily on point both in its concept and execution. When it comes to pop-Bard hybridization, Walker and his company know exactly what they’re doing....

The Spy Who Went Into Rehab is a cheeky, high-spirited, brilliant new world premiere comedy at the Pacific Resident Theatre.  This sexy, adventurous, romp follows a simple and hilarious premise — what would happen if James Bond were court-ordered to rehab?...

Did I mention that this all takes place in 1726? No? Well, if it weren’t for the popinjays, you would initially think this is a medieval morality play. ...

La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts' mesmerizing, visually-stunning 2016 production of Disney's stage adaptation of THE LITTLE MERMAID has returned for a limited engagement continuing through June 23, 2024. Filled with colorful costumes and sets and soaring mermaids, this spectacular show will...

This 2022 revival of the 1964 musical is quite enjoyable, not because of its new changes (via director Michael Mayer and Harvey Fierstein's new book) but thanks mostly to its lead star McCrimmon, who is reason enough to see this touring iteration. The show continues at Segerstrom Center for the Arts...

Ticket holders expecting the sprawling 360-degree LED screens of viral exhibitions like the Van Gogh or Monet 'Immersive Experiences' should know: This is not that. What it is, however, is a gorgeously produced play that fans of Frida Kahlo—the Mexican painter known for her brilliantly colored se...

Lovers of Agatha Christie, Knives Out, Michael Connelly, and of course, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, will be absolutely delighted by this fiendish period mystery starring everyone’s favorite sleuth and cocaine addict....

To close out their 2023-2024 Series, Segerstrom Center welcomed theater aficionado Seth Rudetsky to serve as an interviewer/pianist for Tony Award winner Lillias White for three shows May 16-18, 2024 in one of the most incredibly wonderful, fan-favoring shows that the OC arts campus has ever hosted ...

The latest play by The Actors’ Gang, written and directed by founder/Artistic Director Tim Robbins, is a melancholy reckoning over the early days of the covid pandemic...The gods are around for TOPSY TURVY, but they’re contemplative, grouchy and decidedly critical of the poor blighters who have ...

Misalliance is a delight, a breezy, witty, carefree period romp and delectable social satire set on the sprawling Surrey estate of underwear tycoon John Tartleton....

Having its OC Premiere at Chance Theater in Anaheim, CA through May 31, ALMA—the touching, poignant, and very timely play written by Benjamin Benne—delves dramatically into the complex, sometimes contentious, but achingly relatable relationship between a struggling single immigrant mother and he...

A sharp blade wielded threateningly, forced perspective creating looming palatial walls, the rotting heads of failed suitors, and a princess literally shrouded in mystery quickly orient us within Puccini’s iconic fairytale....

Matt Doyle—the 2022 Tony Award winner for his gender-bent role of Jaime in the Broadway revival of COMPANY—made his Segerstrom Center for the Arts Cabaret Series debut over a three-night engagement that began on May 2, 2024 with an incredible set that showcased his amazing vocal talents and his ...

A moody dramatic dive into the life of a violinist whose celebrated waltz got him mistaken for Strauss. As lovely as Alberto Barboza’s production looks on stage at the Los Angeles Theatre Center – and as melodic as it often sounds – GHOST WALTZ’s impact is as fleeting as the spirits who popu...

The Body’s Midnight is a brilliant, meditative, fiercely funny and brutally heartrending world premiere drama at Boston Court Pasadena.  It is a hard play to capture its essence, both explosively hilarious and lyrical, surreal, and profoundly mournful, a ferocious elegy to all the things that are...

Nocturne Theatre’s production of Beauty and the Beast hits all the right notes. Fans of the original story will be delighted with the stellar performances of their favorite songs, while fans of Meyer2Meyer’s macabre touch will relish the costumes and the overall ambiance of the Nocturne Theatre ...

Every immigrant experience is unique and Guimarães’ story is a deeply engaging rumination on the power of faith and the capacity of hope to see one through....

Eleanor Burgess’ brilliant, thoughtful, and often bitingly funny GALILEE, 34—currently having its impressive world premiere production at South Coast Repertory through May 12, 2024—is a humorously insightful, beautifully-performed new play that offers an unreliably revisionist examination of s...

MONSTERS OF THE AMERICAN CINEMA, a whip smart and heartfelt play by Christian St. Croix produced in its L.A. premiere by Rogue Machine Theatre, argues that in the present, monsters and human beings aren’t easily distinguishable from each other.  Monsters can take human form and vice versa. I gues...

The problem with NORA is that in the longer, three-act running time of “A Doll’s House,” Nora’s world and its inhabitants would be fleshed out so that they had depth that is not evident in this adaptation....