Andrew Child

Decades before cementing himself in the pop culture consciousness as Ali Wong’s curmudgeonly father in Beef, Yee originated the role of Bradley Yamishita (played in this production by Daniel J. Kim).

While still a high schooler living and finding his passion for theatre in Los Angeles, Trevor James had the opportunity to sing “The Old Red Hills of Home” from Parade for composer Jason Robert Brown.

Though familiar with Shakespearean roles, the chance to play Ophelia was still a surprise for Peña. “I usually don’t play roles like this— I play clowns.”

Sometimes there are ideas so asinine that they circle back around and become genius again. That’s Widdle Women, and Alcott would be thrilled enough people signed off on this that it is seeing the light of day.

Puppetry and movement director Finn Caldwell is the genius who has really elevated the show, bringing a delightful cast of animals to life in surprisingly realistic and emotional ways.

Read our interview with the director of A Doll’s House, Part 2 at Pasadena Playhouse, Jennifer Chang. Learn more about Jennifer's production, her history with the play, and more.

The piece feels like a sophisticated relative of Cirque du Soleil and, with a striking funeral procession, a chorus of women villagers, and a revolving quartet of confessions, somehow also lands like a well-worn gem of musical theatre.

Whether thanks to Cavanagh’s approach or director Shawna Lucey’s reinventions, the opera never seems to warrant excuse or apology. Justin Austin and Anthony León never miss a chance for silliness, strutting about the stage with ridiculous levels of machismo to match their preposterous mustache disguises.

It is evident that Christ and Stole have been performing this show for a while: it is a well-oiled machine. Though still playful with each other, Christ tees up punchlines and gags perfectly which Stole is always able to nail home.

“There’s a great sense of theatricality, an element of surprise. (Parks) brings us in with humor and lightness and then pulls the veil back on us. The play exists in the world of three-card monte—- she cons us.”

John Cameron Mitchell’s cabaret show exhibited his demented, impish persona through a series of high-energy numbers. Of course, the crowd was most invested in his renditions of songs from Hedwig and the Angry Inch.

With a superior level of artistry in terms of performance, composition, and design, the reality of the Japanese American concentration camps is relayed to contemporary audiences.

In approaching the play for a new production at A Noise Within, director Andi Chapman has grappled with these facets of the work and— aside from a few key missteps— has delivered a clever, if forgettable, production.

Even for a seasoned performer, approaching Sondheim’s repertoire can be daunting. “It’s intimidating as a performer because you want to please him, to do something perfect.”

'A dramaturg generally works as a kind of advisor to a playwright,” muses Mwenya Kabwe, a theatre-maker currently based in Cape Town, South Africa. How, then, does a dramaturg engage with a process in which there is no playwright in the strictest sense of the term?

O’Hara has approached the entire evening with such severe gravitas and humble respect that familiar messages seem to land fresh on even jaded ears. How else are we meant to keep singing right now?

If you have yet to see the work of Handspring Puppet Company, hurry to get tickets for Life & Times of Michael K in its limited run. No one to my knowledge is maneuvering puppets quite like these masters.

Pinkleton has thrown every prop gimmick and novel idea in the book at the show, and in the process has disrupted the stuff that simply works about the piece.

It’s hard to succinctly describe Shipping, a new musical by Jen Jackson and Louisa Kellogg with music by Brian Heveron-Smith. On one hand, it’s a scrappy little treat— a cobbled-together weave of local comedy talents that filled the Elysian Theatre with non-stop laughs from beginning to end. <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Read the review. </span>

The show is vibrant and candy-colored, featuring an earnest cohort of character actors perfectly placed into their roles, but with a stirring score by Jeanine Tesori and witty book by David Lindsay-Abaire, the piece is an instant classic of contemporary musical theatre.