LOS ANGELES THEATER REVIEWS

The tour of SIX at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre, directed by Lucy Moss and Jamie Armitage, is 90 minutes of partying with performers Khaila Wilcoxon, Storm Lever, Natalie Paris, Olivia Donalson, Courtney Mack and Gabriela Carrillo as killer – or maybe make that killed? - MCs....

AVAAZ is incredibly sweet.  But so much more. The entire 100 minutes with Michael Shayan is joyous....

In between wiping tears from my eyes, what I witnessed was, by far, one of the most emotionally-impactful dramas I have seen this year, filled with heart-wrenching scenes, nuanced acting choices, and plenty of funny, incredibly relatable moments that pierced through the tension. A unique yet familia...

WWhat seems like a deceptively simple premise develops several intriguing layers in Alessandro Camon’s SCINTILLA, enjoying its world premiere at the Road Theatre. Equal parts domestic drama and a harrowing investigation into the results of climate change, SCINTILLA is as impactful as it is unrelen...

Aerosol is in the air as Tracy Turnblad, Penny Pingleton, and the teens of Baltimore bring politics and pizzazz to Hollywood with a stunning production of one of the best and beloved musicals of all time....

Part of its Stephen Sondheim Celebration this spring, “A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC” is another triumph for the Pasadena Playhouse, following up the sublime “Sunday in the Park with George.”...

It's a rare treat when an actual living legend of musical theatre like Jason Robert Brown comes to our neck of the woods to talk about his work, let alone perform some of these works live in an intimate cabaret setting. But thanks to Segerstrom Center of the Arts, the composer gave us a spectacular ...

When you get right down to it, Amanda and Elyot are two people with the enormous blind side of being drawn to one another yet destined to hurt one another; walking a fine line between love and hate, desire and aversion. ...

Presented by McCoy Rigby Entertainment, this beautiful, mesmerizing, Broadway-caliber production of THE KING AND I has all the ingredients of a great revival done right, from its dazzling visual and technical components to the vibrant musical magic created by both its rousing orchestra and the talen...

As if the universe knew that our increasingly divisive country is in desperate need to revisit this hit 2002 Tony Award-winning musical again, HAIRSPRAY has now embarked on a brand new non-equity national tour starring RuPaul's Drag Race fan favorite Nina West. The show, now at Segerstrom Center for...

Carryl’s play is as tight as it is immediate, an inspired-by-the-headlines jolt of storytelling that cuts across racial unrest, the psyches of our men in blue and even the January 6 insurrection....

Though this song-and-dance spectacular first emerged as a lush, hypnotic stage adaptation of a classic movie musical that combined sophisticated ballet with exuberant show tunes, MTW's new 2023 regional production, now performing through April 30, 2023 somehow feels less mesmerizing---particularly d...

Elizabeth McGovern gets downright gritty in a gutsy, full-blown exploration of one of Hollywood’s most meta-femmes fatales in AVA: THE SECRET CONVERSATIONS....

What did our critic think of 1776 at Ahmanson Theatre? In contemporary theater - as in life - optics matter. A lot. Given current trends in theatrical programing, the musical 1776 would probably never get staged. Granted, Sherman Edwards and Peter Stone's 1969 take on the sturm and drang surrounding...

This production of Inge’s play (also a 1955 movie) has its moments while consistently delivering the longing, the dissatisfaction and, yes, also the sensuality that PICNIC offers up. ur critic think of PICNIC at Odyssey Theatre Ensemble?...

Though Michael Michetti’s staging has some extraneous elements, Adrián González and Ed F. Martin shine through in fully-developed performances. They carry dense dialogue through nuances of tension, desire, and discomfort in a journey that belies the tight space of the cell in which the entire di...

As solidly staged and forcefully acted as this TWILIGHT is, the production is both problematic and comes across feeling like something is missing....

An admirable, absurdly funny first full production of a brand new musical, WALTER PAISLEY, is perhaps one of the most enjoyable work-in-progress shows this reviewer has seen in a long time. This delightful world premiere production---filled with madcap antics and a humorously pulpy plot---continues ...

After the excitement of the participatory pre-show, we are sat down in a hodgepodge of rickety, old chairs and spoon-fed a mediocre staging of The Tempest. The whole evening takes on a feeling that Beil warns against in her program note; the immersive elements become a gimmick, a brief reward for ta...

Notwithstanding that this production falls into many classic Shakespeare traps, Foolish Production Company's 1-hour, high-camp, rendition of TWELFTH NIGHT is very well done....

Tony-nominated playwright Lucas Hnath’s THE THIN PLACE is an eerie meditation on grief, regret and the need for closure, though it is undermined by the lack of a satisfying conclusion despite phenomenal performances....

Zoe Sarnak’s score rocks. It sounds at times like Blondie or the B-52s (I like the B-52s so that comparison is not a dig here), but is so intrinsically connected to the emotional arch of the story being told that it soars like a musical theatre score should....

Simon Levy’s production at the Fountain Theatre is a smartly-acted brain-tickler that makes its points and lands its blows with humor and intellect...

Featuring dynamic choreography from director Casey Nicholaw and new songs from Fey's hubby Jeff Richmond and lyricist Nell Benjamin, this stage adaptation of the cult hit movie (that will also soon be re-adapted into a movie musical) admirably recreates its quote-heavy 'fetch'-ness and anthropologic...

The Pasadena Playhouse has drawn the curtain on its 2023 Sondheim Celebration with a lush and poignant rendering of SUNDAY. Directed by Sarna Lapine, the production is a west coast remount of her 2017 Broadway revival with an entirely new cast, but with the same technical team....