INTERVIEW: ANTHONY GRUPPUSO BY RYAN M. LUÉVANO Storybook Theatre is in its 35th consecutive season of providing wholesome family entertainment, produced under a union (Actors Equity) contract, making it the oldest local company to do so. All of its shows are tailored to young children (ages 3 to 9) and their families. Currently playing is The […]

INTERVIEW: JAKE LEVY & SAREEN TCHEKMEDYIAN BY RYAN M. LUÉVANO Following its run at the Pantages in October, Broadway’s Anastasia is now playing at Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa. In this Tin Pan L.A. exclusive performers Jake Levy and Sareen Tchekmedyian discuss what it’s like to be in the national touring cast of […]

REVIEW: GEM OF THE OCEAN BY RYAN M. LUÉVANO There’s something fascinating about plays that are set in the ‘olden days’; simpler times, when people just sat around talking to one another face to face. Watching one of these works is like finding a secret door that takes us back in time, if only for […]

REVIEW: BURIED CHILD BY RYAN M. LUÉVANO I remember picking up Sam Shepard’s play Buried Child from the, now closed, Samuel French Bookshop on Sunset Blvd., a couple years ago. Then upon reading this strange, dark and humorous play, I remember thinking: What just happened? Who are these people? How could a whole family be so […]

BY RYAN M. LUÉVANO New York City is considered the mecca of musical theater which makes sense given its history with the genre that goes all the way back to operetta. Thus, it comes as no surprise that there are countless venues and organizations that provide an outlet for new musicals to present their work. […]

INTERVIEW: CASEY CHRISTENSEN AND JENNIFER GOODMAN BY RYAN M. LUÉVANO Ten years in the making, conceived by Jennifer Goodman, Casey Christensen (book and lyrics), celebrity vocal coach Rachael Lawrence’s (music) musical Life in Boobs will have its debut at Second City Hollywood. The musical deals with the journeys many women face with their boobs, from training […]

BY RYAN M. LUÉVANO I first encountered Dave Yaden on a chilly Tuesday evening last fall at the magic-themed bar Black Rabbit Rose (BRR) in Hollywood. I was directed to the theater section of the BRR by a friend who highly recommended that I check out the weekly “jazz” band lead by Dave Yaden. Upon […]

BY RYAN M. LUÉVANO Playwright Paula Vogel has dedicated her life to bringing underrepresented “real” people to the stage, examining traditionally controversial issues, and telling the stories that as she puts it “[…] wound our memory so we can remember.” Her mission began as a high schooler who ditched school to visit the Library of […]

BY RYAN M. LUÉVANO The ASCAP Foundation Musical Theatre Workshop, in partnership with Universal Theatrical Group and The Wallis, has returned to The Wallis in Beverly Hills this May with three new musicals. This workshop, led by Stephen Schwartz (Wicked, Godspell, Pippin, The Prince of Egypt, Pocahontas, The Hunchback of Notre Dame) and organized by ASCAP’s Michael Kerker, provides an […]

REVIEW: FIDDLER ON THE ROOF BY RYAN M. LUÉVANO 1964 was a great season for Broadway—it included Funny Girl, Hello Dolly!, Man of the Manchaand Fiddler on the Roof, the revival of which is having its Orange Country debut at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts. It’s hard to believe that Fiddler is now fifty-five years old. Yet even so, […]