MUSIC ACADEMY OF THE WEST, SANTA BARBARA

by Shari Barrett - May 08, 2026

While harmonizing to perfection, Katis rules the piano with the sensitivity necessary to realistically perform King’s songs of self-awareness and the longing to find your place in the world, while Clews’ finger-picking expertise on guitar adds a real sense of introspective musical magic to Taylo...

by Harker Jones - May 07, 2026

This marks the second triumph for co-creator-director-choreographer Scott Thompson, following his sensational “One For My Baby” at the same venue last year....

by Harker Jones - May 05, 2026

Director Meyer keeps things moving at a fair clip without ever seeming rushed, and he serves up real scares....

by Shari Barrett - April 29, 2026

Astounding triple-threat talent is on display in big production numbers with attention-grabbing scenic elements by brilliant designers add to the artistic wonder of the entire production helmed by EWP Artistic Director Lily Tung Crystal, choreographed by Janelle Dote Portman, with music direction by...

by Harker Jones - April 28, 2026

BACK TO OZ is an exhilarating trip through history and down the Yellow Brick Road...

by Shari Barrett - April 27, 2026

Be ready to play your part to find out who can you trust and who wants to destroy The Liminary. Depending on the questions asked and information gathered via audience participation, the process and ending will be different at each of the performances....

by Michael Quintos - April 26, 2026

First developed and workshopped at South Coast Repertory’s annual Pacific Playwrights Festival in 2025, celebrated new “it” playwright Talene Monahon’s freshly birthed play EAT ME is currently being presented at OC’s Tony Award-winning regional theater as a fully-formed World Premiere prod...

by Shari Barrett - April 25, 2026

We never get a sense of what draws these two women to each other (other than sex), or what they have in common other than auditioning for acting work. Nor do we witness them falling in love, which makes it difficult to care whether or not their relationship succeeds....

by Harker Jones - April 23, 2026

The star of the show, in the end, is Jacobson’s script, leading us toward the titular HELL MOUTH through five well-drawn characters and their existential crises that mirror our own....

by Evan Henerson - April 21, 2026

The Southland has had its share of memorable Fugard stagings, and the newly-opened revival of “MASTER HAROLD” at the Geffen Playhouse boasts an impressive roster of artists and creatives – onstage and off – who bring this tale vibrantly to life....