REVIEW: FAKE IT UNTIL YOU MAKE IT BY RYAN M. LUEVANO Center Theatre Group’s world premiere of Fake It Until You Make It, by Larissa FastHorse, marks a significant milestone as she becomes the first Native American playwright featured at the Mark Taper Forum. Directed by Michael John Garcés, this co-production with Arena Stage in […]

REVIEW: ONCE UPON A MATTRESS BY RYAN M. LUEVANO It’s the perfect season for a Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale! The Ahmanson Theatre is currently showing the classic 1960s musical Once Upon a Mattress, which is a funny adaptation of the fairy tale “The Princess and the Pea.” The musical features the legendary musical theatre […]

BY RYAN M. LUEVANO REVIEW: A STRANGE LOOP The Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-Winning acclaimed musical A Strange Loop, is at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles for a limited four-week engagement through Sunday, June 30, 2024. A Strange Loop features book, music, and lyrics by Michael R. Jackson and is directed by Tony Award […]

BY RYAN M. LUEVANO Get ready to be dazzled by the sensational Broadway revival of “Funny Girl” at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles. This limited four-week engagement from April 2 to April 28, 2024, is a must-see for musical theater lovers. With a star-studded cast including Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter Melissa Manchester as Mrs. Brice […]

BY RYAN M. LUEVANO In the heart of Los Angeles, the dazzling lights of the theater are set to ignite as the celebrated songwriting duo, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, known for their triumphs like the Tony Award-winning “Dear Evan Hansen,” the Academy Award for “La La Land,” and the Golden Globe for “The Greatest […]

REVIEW: THE SECRET GARDEN BY RYAN M. LUEVANO A revival of the 1991 musical The Secret Garden is now underway at the Ahmanson preceding a national tour. The musical with book and lyrics by Marsha Norman and music by Lucy Simon boasts that its been “developed for a new generation.” In an interview with the […]

REVIEW: 2:22 A GHOST STORY BY RYAN M. LUEVANO Halloween maybe over, but if you’re still craving something spooky, the Ahmanson Theatre is offering the U.S. premiere of 2:22 A Ghost Story play by Danny Robins. The play seeks to answer the question: Is that ghost heard on the baby monitor at 2:22am or something else? The […]

REVIEW: VALLEY OF THE HEART BY RYAN M. LUÉVANO Proclaimed by president Barack Obama for “bringing Chicano culture to American drama”, playwright Luis Valdez’s (most notably known for Zoot Suit) latest play Valley of the Heart brings both Chicano and Japanese culture to the stage. Based on Valdez’s life experiences as a child growing up […]

REVIEW: DEAR EVAN HANSEN BY RYAN LUÉVANO I remember when, the now six Tony-winning musical, Dear Evan Hansen first appeared on my radar when it inconspicuously opened Off-Broadway at Second Stage Theatre in 2016. Within a short time the musical started creating a profound buzz, followed by winning a profusion of theatre awards. Then just the next […]

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 […]