TOP THEATER PICKS STILL PLAYING: 1) WEST SIDE STORY La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts (April 21 – May 14, 2017) West Side Story is unlike any other musical. Generation after generation, it stands the test of time both in admiration and in the message it relates: hope heals and hate destroys. This beloved musical was […]

REVIEW: MAN OF LA MANCHA BY RYAN LUÉVANO “To dream … the impossible dream,” the lyrics to the hit song of the 1964 musical Man of La Mancha have never meant as much as they do in A Noise Within Theatre Company’s revival of this work. This production eschews the customary opulence of traditional staging […]

REVIEW: CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF BY RYAN LUÉVANO An exciting time for Antaeus Theatre Company also proves a favorable boon for the Los Angeles theater community. The theatre company, once located in North Hollywood, has recently moved into a new custom space in Glendale, and has opened a thrilling revival of Cat on […]

REVIEW: ELEVATOR BY RYAN LUÉVANO Award-winning filmmaker and playwright Michael Leoni’s hit play Elevator returns to L.A. for a limited run at The Coast Playhouse. The premise is simple: seven strangers are trapped in an elevator. However, what ensues is a stimulating experience that will keep you on the edge of your seat. In both presentation […]

THE PASADENA SYMPHONY: IN REHEARSAL Overture In the Italian Style, Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 5 “Turkish”, and Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 3 “Scottish” BY RYAN M. LUÉVANO It’s been an exciting week for the Pasadena Symphony as they rehearse for their upcoming concert on Saturday, March 18th 2017 at Ambassador Auditorium. This week they were visited by two guests to be […]

REVIEW: AT HOME AT THE ZOO BY RYAN LUÉVANO Just last September the world lost the great American playwright Edward Albee who had bestowed upon us so many wonderful plays most notably: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, The Zoo Story, A Delicate Balance and The Goat, or Who is Sylvia? Now the Wallis Annenberg Center […]

REVIEW: AH, WILDERNESS! BY RYAN LUÉVANO Explore the humor of playwright Eugene O’Neill in A Noise Within Theatre company’s revival of his 1933 play Ah, Wilderness! The play represents, as O’Neill put it, the “other side of the coin” regarding his work. It’s his only comedy in the sea of tragic visions that populate his oeuvre including: Mourning Becomes Electra, […]

REVIEW: ONCE ON THIS ISLAND BY RYAN LUÉVANO The musical Once on this Island may not be a household name like West Side Story or Wicked, however this show, with a book and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens and music by Stephen Flaherty, takes audiences to an exotic island in the Caribbean boasting messages of goodwill and […]

THE PASADENA SYMPHONY: IN REHEARSAL Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6 “Pathétique” and Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 BY RYAN M. LUÉVANO There’s no audience in the vast auditorium and not a tuxedo in sight. The orchestra files in wearing their street clothes from a long day of teaching, practicing, performing in studio and whatever else occupies […]

REVIEW: HALLELUJAH, BABY! BY RYAN LUÉVANO Making a career in the performing arts has always been a challenge, now imagine trying the same thing as a minority in a time when equality does not exist. That’s the basic premise the 1967 musical Hallelujah, Baby! (music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Adolph Green and Betty Comden, […]