On paper, it feels a bit wrong to call a musical about September 11th, 2001 “uplifting.” It is easy to wonder how that could possibly be true…until seeing Come From Away, a true marvel of a show that manages to take a large story everyone knows about one of the most devastating days in modern … More Theater Review: Come From Away at the Ahmanson Theatre
Two immigrant families, one Mexican and one Japanese-American, have lived peacefully as neighbors on a ranch in the Santa Clara Valley for years, working together in the fields. The oldest children from each family have even fallen in love with each other—and then Pearl Harbor happens, and soon World War II, and their lives will … More Theater Review: Valley of the Heart at the Mark Taper Forum
What happens when a popular television personality finds himself in the middle of a scandal? This topical question is at the center of Quack, a world premiere play by Eliza Clark currently playing at Center Theatre Group’s Kirk Douglas Theatre. Dr. Irving Baer (Dan Bucatinsky) is an endocrinologist who has built an empire of sorts … More Theater Review: Quack at the Kirk Douglas Theatre
There have been plenty of musicals about complicated, grieving families over the years, but until now, there has not been one tailor-made for the social media era. Enter Dear Evan Hansen, the 2017 Tony winner for Best Musical that opened last night at Center Theatre Group’s Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles. With music and lyrics by … More Theater Review: Dear Evan Hansen at the Ahmanson Theatre
Teenage girls worldwide struggle with a number of the same issues—body image, fitting in at school, planning for the future, dealing with societal and familial pressures. But while many of these issues are universal, there are also major differences depending on where in the world girls grow up. School Girls, Or, the African Mean Girls … More Theater Review: School Girls, Or, the African Mean Girls Play at the Kirk Douglas Theatre
Reading, Pennsylvania was always a factory town—a place where generation after generation grew up working at steel mills, until the financial crisis of the early 2000s changed the only life many of these workers had ever known irrevocably. This is the topic of Sweat, the 2017 Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Lynn Nottage that opened in … More Theater Review: Sweat at the Mark Taper Forum
Look out, baby, cause here they come. Ain’t Too Proud—The Life and Times of The Temptations opened in Los Angeles at Center Theatre Group’s Ahmanson Theatre last night, just hours after it was announced the show will transfer to Broadway in spring 2019. With a score comprised of the iconic music catalogue of The Temptations and a book … More Theater Review: Ain’t Too Proud at the Ahmanson Theatre
Despite an impressive pedigree, there is little that’s flashy about The Humans, the 2016 Tony Award winner for Best Play that opened this week at Center Theatre Group’s Ahmanson Theatre. Written by Stephen Karam with the entire original Broadway cast reprising their roles, the one-act play unfolds over the course of Thanksgiving dinner with a … More Theater Review: The Humans at the Ahmanson Theatre
Soft Power, currently in its world premiere at Center Theatre Group’s Ahmanson Theatre, is billed as “a play with a musical.” This is a unique description fitting for a unique show, both in structure and in content. With play and lyrics by David Henry Hwang and music and additional lyrics by Jeanine Tesori, Soft Power taps … More Theater Review: Soft Power at the Ahmanson Theatre
Playwright Quiara Alegría Hudes’s Elliot Trilogy, which begins with Elliot, a Soldier’s Fugue, now playing at Center Theatre Group’s Kirk Douglas Theatre, continues at the Mark Taper Forum in Water by the Spoonful, which opened last week. Together the three plays, which conclude with The Happiest Song Plays Last, opening this coming weekend at the … More Theater Review: Water by the Spoonful at Center Theatre Group’s Mark Taper Forum
ON STAGE & SCREEN 