REVIEW: FLY BY RYAN M. LUÉVANO The Pasadena Playhouse in conjunction with Crossroads Theatre Company presents the West Coast premiere of Fly by Trey Ellis and Ricardo Khan. Inspired by the American heroism of the Tuskegee Airmen, Fly dramatizes the story of four American Air Corp fighters who flew over the skies of Europe and […]

REVIEW: PILLARS OF NEW YORK BY RYAN M. LUÉVANO Fresh on the heels of a new year, the L.A. theater scene is already seeing the influx of original L.A. musicals like Pillars of New York by Michael Antin. This musical tells the story about four couples’ struggles in and around the events surrounding 9/11 told […]

REVIEW: HAM: A MUSICAL MEMOIR BY RYAN M. LUÉVANO The word memoir, although French, has been reduced to a dusty term used to describe the dreary lives of old people; but make it a musical memoir about Sam Harris and what you have is something different—Ham: A Musical Memoir is enthralling. Sam Harris, multi-million selling […]

REVIEW: EMPIRE BY RYAN M. LUÉVANO Creating and producing an original musical of this magnitude is no easy task, yet co-creators Caroline Sherman and Robert Hull rise to the occasion with Empire the musical. Over 16 years in the making Empire is a tribute to classic musical theater telling the story of the struggle to design and […]

REVIEW: MY SISTER BY RYAN M. LUÉVANO Janet Schlapkohl’s play My Sister returns to L.A. after its West Coast premiere at the Hollywood Fringe Festival where it won two awards. This two-person play tells the story of two identical twins, one with a disability, in Berlin during the Nazi rise to power. Schlapkohl wrote the […]

REVIEW: THE ABSOLUTE BRIGHTNESS OF LEONARD PELKEY BY RYAN M. LUEVANO L.A. welcomes The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey written by and starring James Lecesne, the writer of the Academy Award-winning film Trevor. This critically acclaimed off-Broadway hit is a fictional mystery based on his young adult novel, Absolute Brightness, surrounding the disappearance and death of Leonard […]

REVIEW: 1984 BY: RYAN M LUÉVANO George Orwell’s seminal work 1984 leaps out of the book and onto The Broad Stage in Santa Monica in this thrilling production by the Headlong, Nottingham Playhouse and Almeida Theatre from the UK. This gripping adaptation created by Robert Icke and Duncan Macmillan recounts Orwell’s dystopian novel conjuring a […]

REVIEW: THE MANOR BY RYAN M. LUÉVANO Have you ever noticed the giant mansion that extends westward and upwards into the foothills of the Santa Monica Mountains? That’s Greystone Mansion: a 55-room Tudor-style estate on Loma Vista Drive. Built in 1928 by oil tycoon Edward Doheny, Sr., as a wedding gift for his son Ned. […]

REVIEW: BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY BY RYAN M. LUÉVANO The 2014 Tony award winning musical Bridges of Madison County, book by Marsha Norman and music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown, has landed in L.A. with the Mr. Brown conducting the performances. Until now most are only familiar with the Broadway cast recording, but upon seeing […]

REVIEW: WHO KILLED SANTA? BY RYAN M. LUÉVANO Pour a glass of spiked eggnog and join the party! Who Killed Santa? is a campy, hilarious and provocatively festive adult holiday show with puppets that puts the ‘X’ in X-Mas. This West Coast premiere of Neil Haven’s play is brought into fruition for L.A. audiences at […]