INTERVIEW: NOVEMBER CHRISTINE BY RYAN M. LUÉVANO Joining the 2018 New York Musical Festival this summer is the new musical Legacy by November Christine. Following in the footsteps of the musical sensation Hamilton, Christine’s musical also uses hip-hop to tell the story of a historical figure, this time 16th century priest Martin Luther. With an all […]

REVIEW: SOFT POWER BY RYAN M. LUÉVANO To commemorate Center Theatre Group’s 50th anniversary season, Artistic Director Michael Ritchie commissioned playwright David Henry Hwang (M. Butterfly) to write a piece of theatre, that piece is Soft Power [soft pow·er (noun)a persuasive approach to international relations, typically involving the use of cultural influence]. What originally began […]

INTERVIEW: ZACHARY BERNSTEIN BY RYAN M. LUÉVANO After a critically-lauded late-night run at Sacred Fools Theater Company in April, the original musical, Disasteroid!, returns for a seven-show run at The Broadwater Black Box Theater as part of the 2018 Hollywood Fringe Festival. Written by Zachary Bernstein and directed by Guy Picot, this pre-apocalyptic romantic comedy […]

INTERVIEW: GLASGOW LYMAN & JEFF ROSICK BY RYAN M. LUÉVANO Writers and producers Glasgow Lyman and Jeff Rosick are bringing a world premiere musical to the 2018 Hollywood Fringe Festival. This dark comedy musical is called: WNTMTSUFKO: We Need This Musical To Stop Us From Killing Ourselves. In this Tin Pan L.A. exclusive Glasgow Lyman and Jeff Rosick discuss […]

REVIEW: VIOLET BY RYAN M. LUÉVANO Unless you’re a musical theatre aficionado or follow the work of composer the brilliant composer Jeanine Tesori, you may have never heard of the 2014 musical Violet. But just because show’s name isn’t familiar, doesn’t mean that Violet should be overlooked. Violet may not have the sparkle of a […]

REVIEW: NATIVE SON BY RYAN M. LUÉVANO In high school Richard Wright’s 1940 novel Native Son was required reading, the book about a young African American man living in poverty in 1930s Chicago who kills, rapes, and then is sentenced to death. Everything that happens in this book is heavy and dark, truth be told […]

REVIEW: A RAISIN IN THE SUN BY RYAN M. LUÉVANO A Noise Within continues its 2018 season on the theme of ‘Entertaining Courage’ with a production of Lorraine Hanberry’s play A Raisin in the Sun. The 1959 play denotes a courage of its own as it marked as the first play on Broadway to be […]

REVIEW: ALLEGIANCE BY RYAN M. LUÉVANO The musical Allegiance, which had a short run on Broadway from October 2015 to February 2016, is experiencing it’s Los Angeles premiere by the East West Players and the Japanese American Cultural & Community Center featuring George Takei reprising his original role from the Broadway run. Also reprising their Broadway roles […]

REVIEW: A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE BY RYAN M. LUÉVANO Since its first performance in 1947, A Streetcar Named Desire remains among the finest plays of the 20th century and one of Tennessee Williams’ most beloved works. Of the original production, New York Times critic Brooks Atkinson wrote: “Like ‘The Glass Menagerie’ the new play is […]

2018 ASCAP FOUNDATION MUSICAL THEATRE WORKSHOP BY RYAN M. LUÉVANO The ASCAP Foundation Musical Theatre Workshop, now presented in a new partnership with Universal Theatrical Group, has returned to The Wallis in Beverly Hills this February. This workshop pioneered by Stephen Schwartz (Wicked, Godspell, Pippin, The Prince of Egypt, Pocahontas, The Hunchback of Notre Dame) provides […]