REVIEW: ALL THE BEST KILLERS ARE LIBRARIANS  BY RYAN M. LUÉVANO Anyone who loves a good assassin movie will appreciate the premise of Bob DeRosa’s new play All the Best Killers Are Librarians. The plot concerns a shy librarian named Margo who meets a man who hires and trains the best assassins, convinced she is […]

REVIEW: ALIEN VS. MUSICAL BY RYAN M. LUÉVANO The battle between alien and musical theater characters continues at this year’s Hollywood Fringe Festival as the infamous musical Alien Vs. Musical is back with a new and extended version. Creators Erik Przytulski and Steve Troop have developed a piece that’s both the product of the edgy […]

REVIEW: THUG TUNNEL BY RYAN M. LUÉVANO Original musicals are one of the most difficult things to write and in the case of Hollywood Fringe, sometimes just as difficult to sit through. This is because often writers simply are not aware of the intricacies involved in writing a good musical—this is a especially a challenge […]

REVIEW: THIRTEEN’S SPRING BY RYAN M. LUÉVANO In this year’s over 300 Hollywood Fringe theater works, you’ll find that most of them are comedies, upbeat musicals, edgy or experimental works. The Moving Art Collective brings us something different and poignant, the world premiere of Thirteen’s Spring, a historical drama about Anne Frank. At this point many […]

REVIEW: BROADWAY NOIR BY RYAN M. LUÉVANO One of the best things about the Hollywood Fringe Festival is that you can see a huge variety of theater works in all stages of creation from experimental, workshop, to a finished product. And time has proven that musicals always require more work-shopping than any other due to […]

REVIEW: THE CITY OF CONVERSATION BY RYAN LUÉVANO It’s election season and you can tell because everyone and their dog is letting you know their polarized opinion on social media, whether you want to see it or not—that’s our 21st century floor for debate. The Wallis’ West Coast premiere of Anthony Giardina’s play The City […]

REVIEW: L.A. NOW AND THEN BY RYAN M. LUÉVANO Movie palaces, yo-yos, hula-hoops, the Pan Pacific Auditorium, C.C. Brown’s, Wallichs Music City, disco, the 1962 Dodgers and a time before cellphones—how many of these do you remember? Whether you remember them, or even know what they are, the new musical revue L.A. Now and Then […]

REVIEW: THE STORY OF ALICE BY RYAN M. LUÉVANO Lewis Carroll’s 1865 story Alice in Wonderland remains his most popular tale, and has received many film, television and stage adaptations, so many that the basic story itself is now worn-out and pedestrian. It was first presented as a musical at the West End in 1886 […]

REVIEW: TURTLES BY RYAN M. LUÉVANO There are two fundamental types of theatrical works: first, the ones whose magic lasts only until the final curtain, and second, the ones whose magic comes home with you well after the final curtain has fallen. The West Coast Premiere of John Greiner-Ferris’ Turtles, produced by Red Cup Theatre […]

REVIEW: THE BOY FROM OZ, CELEBRATION THEATRE BY RYAN M. LUÉVANO In 2004 The Boy From Oz starring Hugh Jackman ran on Broadway for 365 performances before it closed at the end of Jackman’s contract, and after he won Tony Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor […]