LOS ANGELES THEATER REVIEWS

In the ways Angels in America embodies and reflects the zeitgeist of the AIDS epidemic, Our Dear Dead Drug Lord presents a story of four young women with a penchant for summoning spirits that somehow perfectly encapsulates the larger experiences of living in a terror-obsessed, post-9/11 world muddie...

PETER PAN GOES WRONG is the most Fractured of Fairy Tales, a raucous sitcom on steroids that is uproariously funny as it barrels along at light speed...

While the new changes to this beloved musical are stunning, this iteration of LES MISÉRABLES fails to recognize human pathos....

Featuring distinctively intuitive direction from Matthew McCray, and an amazing, youthful ensemble cast that are consistently giving it their all, this latest OC iteration of Jonathan Larson's Tony-winning 1996 rock opera is much more impactful than even past stagings that have toured---and is one o...

STEW – a Pulitzer Prize finalist - is a lot more complicated than it presents. You might have questions about what has transpired. But a bit of ambiguity is a good thing especially when you have actors like Roslyn Ruff, Samantha Miller, Jasmine Ashanti and especially LisaGay Hamilton to muddy the ...

While the play-with-music has its fair share of interesting and even poignant moments, SCR's overall production feels surprisingly low-stakes, and only really becomes much more lively when it reaches its celebratory music-filled finalé. With its stories delivered via monologues, it becomes difficul...

Atmosphere, this CAESAR has aplenty. What David Melville’s production does not have this time is particularly strong acting. Players in several key roles felt miscast, out of synch with their own characters, with fellow players or, in some cases, both. As a result, the production is not great at m...

Now at Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa through July 23, 2023, the musical is mostly engaging and passionately performed. But a chaotic, sped-through first act only provides brief vignettes of a challenging life. The better second act focuses on Ms. Turner's comeback, concluding with a m...

CRABS IN A BUCKET is one of the Echo’s best in recent memory and that’s saying a lot because the Echo consistently brings challenging and entertaining material to vibrant life. The collective is one of Los Angeles’ crown jewels — and maybe one of its best-kept secrets....

An exhilarating, inspiring event, BEETLEJUICE does its source material proud, retaining the look and tone of the film and expanding upon it in organic ways....

Delightfully charming but also now slightly dated, MTW's expectedly family-friendly, colorfully saturated production is indeed a lovely, mostly entertaining stage recreation of the movie classic. But curiously, at times, the show feels subdued and tamed-down, and in dire need of an extra jolt of ene...

From the opening storm to the closing musical number, the Kiki & David Gindler Performing Arts Center is awash in buzzes, cries, whooshes, rattles and clangs. What did our critic think of THE TEMPEST at Antaeus Theatre?...

Unlike most stories told about the LGBT community in the ’70s and ’80s, this isn’t about homophobia, about the terror of coming out to loved ones, or about self-destruction or self-hatred. Chambers creates normalcy of life for her characters, and that makes them relatable to everyone. We know ...

Ellen Geer’s new compilation of Shakespeare's best-known history plays does nothing to address the misogynistic, xenophobic views that have led to Margaret of Anjou’s historical presentation (or any other woman’s) as a stereotypical villain. But in other ways, it succeeds in illuminating Marga...

Ten years after its premiere, EXORCISTIC has made a breathtaking return. And as a nod to the 50th Anniversary of “The Exorcist” (the movie), opening night was nothing less than a perfect display of limelight infused celluloid send-up....

the latest Broadway revival of INTO THE WOODS that wraps up its national tour at the Ahmanson Theatre, is fantastic. Director Lear deBessonet’s spin on this tale of wishes granted and their consequences both embraces the spirit of Lapine’s original productions and also sends the material off in ...

In FETCH CLAY, MAKE MAN, Will Power investigates the friendship as a fascinating dual study in individual character and cultural identity. Under Debbie Allen’s rocking direction at the Douglas, the play is as exciting as it is thoughtful.  THE BEAR’s Edwin Lee Gibson and Ray Fisher act the dayl...

I was appalled to see a fantasy of homeless people and hourly workers city-wide joining together to seek revenge against the rich framed as an inevitable horror. When the throngs of impoverished storm the building toward the end of Act 1, it was uncomfortable to see the ticket holders around me squi...

Certainly, those of us who have been (or currently are) school teachers, administrators, and counselors will recognize the clashes and motivations expressed in Burdick’s exploration of the challenges of pursuing a profession meant for those who deeply care about the welfare of students, even in th...

As the depiction of a chance encounter between two very different people, THE MOUNTAINTOP has some interesting observations to make. But the second the stakes change and Camae proves to be something other than who she first presented herself to be, the play springs a leak and stumbles to its hagiogr...

A musical theater show disguised as a kick-ass pop-rock concert with some powerful vocals delivering catchy songs, SIX - THE MUSICAL is a surprisingly absorbing, historical musical comedy that manages to convey several fully-formed character-driven narratives that have depth, gravitas, and spunk. Ea...

The performance itself was a straightforward, text-driven version of Macbeth. Director Ellen Geer has not ignored a word of Shakespeare’s text and has crafted a production which seems obsessed with clarity, but doesn’t present any theatricality or inventiveness beyond relaying the narrative....

As creatively at home as Anna Deavere Smith has been delving into multiple perspectives on the Crown Heights riots of 1991 and the fallout from the Rodney King verdicts of 1992, a traditionally-structured play – even one about a figure as arresting as Billie Jean King - may not be in her artistic ...

Unlike, many of the rock ballads for stage that have been touring out of Broadway, TINA is singular in that it is based and narratively shaped on a real life. And, for once, it makes sense....

The production that opened June 10 at the outdoor Lowell Davies Festival Theater was consistently enjoyable, but never enchanting. Set in the Regency area and using a mixture of music (here a court violin, there a ukelele) to foreground the play rather than drive it forward, Marshall’s production ...