CATS at the Pantages Theatre

Dany Margolies – The Daily Breeze Do you invent a new cuss word every time your phone insists you install a slight update? Do you glare at products in the grocery store whose labels boast “improved” when you know they’re not. Chances are, then, you’ll feel the same about this “new Broadway production” of “Cats,” … Read more

OTHELLO at A Noise Within

Ellen Dostal – BroadwayWorld Never has the relationship between Iago and Roderigo in Shakespeare’s OTHELLO stolen the show like it does in the current A Noise Within production, directed by Jessica Kubzansky. With an outwardly nonchalant Michael Manuel as the revenge seeking villain, and Jeremy Rabb, an actor who knows comedy like the back of … Read more

RAGTIME at the Pasadena Playhouse

Katie Buenneke – Stage Raw Ragtime has got to be up there with Oklahoma! as one of the most undeniably American musicals of all time, and it has finally come home to Southern California. Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty’s musical made its U.S. premiere at the now-demolished Shubert Theatre in Century City in 1997, before opening on Broadway … Read more

WITNESS UGANDA at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts

Dany Margolies – The Daily Breeze Presumably expelled by his New York City church for being gay, Griffin Matthews gathered his earnings from his then-unfruitful acting career and headed to Uganda for a six-week stay to help build a school. He changed lives there. The Ugandans he met changed his. And from this real-life journey … Read more

THE YEAR WITHOUT A SANTANA CLAUS – Troubadour Theater Company at The El Portal Theatre

Ellen Dostal – BroadwayWorld What would Christmas in LA be without the Troubies? A lot less funny. Happily, artistic director, writer, and head jokester Matt “Mashup” Walker and his coterie of clowns aren’t about to let anyone down. Not only are they back with their seventeenth annual holiday show, they’re proving just how smart they … Read more

LOVE ACTUALLY LIVE at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts

Ellen Dostal – BroadwayWorld The countdown to Christmas begins and ends with an all-out love blitz this year in For the Record’s latest world premiere, LOVE ACTUALLY LIVE, a hybrid entertainment that blends scenes from Richard Curtis‘ 2003 film Love Actually with live performances of the movie’s soundtrack. Co-produced by the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, … Read more

ONE ACT FESTIVAL at SkyPilot Theatre Company

Ellen Dostal – BroadwayWorld New work is the lifeblood of the theatre and it is also the sole focus of LA-based SkyPilot Theatre Company. Going one step further, SkyPilot’s niche is “producing only original plays, created by LA playwrights,” which they have done consistently since 2010.Read more… Now running through November 18

THE WOMAN IN BLACK at the Pasadena Playhouse

Jonas Schwartz –  TheaterMania An evening of chills, giggles, and parlor tricks are on offer in Stephen Mallatratt’s The Woman in Black, which serves up the perfect treat for the Halloween season.Read more… Ellen Dostal – BroadwayWorld One of the things theatre does extremely well is create something out of nothing. That’s pretty much the key … Read more

WICKED LIT at the Mountain View Cemetery in Altadena

Harker Jones – LA Weekly Presenting its 10th season of screams and scares at the Mountain View Cemetery in Altadena, Wicked Lit has become an Halloween-season tradition in Los Angeles. The immersive walking theater experience presented by Unbound Productions gives patrons a look at Mountain View’s stunning mortuary (designed by Cecil E. Bryan) and provides … Read more

FAIRY TALE THEATRE 18 & OVER: THE MUSICAL at Ammunition Theatre Company at The Pico

Ellen Dostal – BroadwayWorld Ammunition Theatre Company ventures into the wacky world of fractured fairy tales for its latest production, FAIRY TALE THEATRE 18 & OVER: THE MUSICAL. Written and narrated by Michael J. Feldman, with original songs by Jason Currie, the show consists of four sketch comedy skits performed in 90 minutes, no intermission, … Read more