Pasadena Playhouse

UNCLE VANYA at Pasadena Playhouse

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Terry Morgan – ArtsBeat LA As the saying goes, the more things change, the more they stay the same. Technology zooms forward, but human nature remains stubbornly persistent. Thus a play such as Anton Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya, which premiered in 1899, can still speak to us today, can still cause us to laugh or cry at its … Read more

THE FATHER at the Pasadena Playhouse

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Erin Conley – On Stage & Screen Perspective is crucial to the understanding of both life and theater, and in the Pasadena Playhouse production of The Father, which opened this week, an intentionally disorienting point-of-view offers a dramatic and moving look at late-stage dementia. Written by Florian Zeller, the play premiered in 2014 and many consider … Read more

THE GREAT LEAP at the Pasadena Playhouse

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Erin Conley – On Stage & Screen  Sometimes the most compelling drama in sports does not happen on the court or field, but behind the scenes. In The Great Leap, a play by Lauren Yee that opened in its Los Angeles premiere this weekend at the Pasadena Playhouse, in association with the East West Players, basketball … Read more

LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS at the Pasadena Playhouse

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Jonas Schwartz – Theatermania Pasadena Playhouse has produced a reimagined Little Shop of Horrors, the hit musical about a man-eating plant and the schlub who feeds him human flesh. Alan Menken’s memorable music and Howard Ashman’s lyrics, with their loving detail for puns and storytelling, still makes this musical special. This revival, however, may leave audiences … Read more

GOOD BOYS at the Pasadena Playhouse

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Terry Morgan  –  Stage Raw When, in 2008,  premiered Good Men and True, his tale of privileged young prep school students acting badly, it certainly wasn’t new or surprising — this sort of pernicious behavior has gone on for generations. But the obnoxious, beer-relishing example of Brett Kavanaugh brought entitled, smug white men back into the … Read more

GATHER: SURPRISING STORIES AND OTHER MISCHIEF at the Pasadena Playhouse

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Katie Buenneke – Stage Raw Gather: Surprising Stories and Other Mischief is an unwieldy title for a theatrical piece. Then again, Gather is an unwieldy theatrical piece. It’s not immediately clear what the piece is, and the answer doesn’t come readily upon further reflection.Read more… Now running through June 22

RAGTIME at the Pasadena Playhouse

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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

THE WOMAN IN BLACK at the Pasadena Playhouse

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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