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Shari Barrett
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Dance Review: ALVIN AILEY DANCE COMPANY (In Residence at the Music Center; Program B)
The Music Center’s exhilarating 2025–2026 Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at The Music Center season includes the beloved Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater which continued its exclusive Southern California multi-year residency with The Music Center with seven stupendous performances in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion this weekend, March 25-29, 2026. This review covers the selections presented as Program B on…
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QUINCY’S WORLD: THE NEW FOUNDING FATHER OF AMERICAN MUSIC (MUSE/IQUE at The Wallis)
A THRILLER OF A CONCERT MUSE/IQUE’s vibrant tribute traces the extraordinary career of one of America’s greatest musical innovators Quincy Jones changed the face of music as a bold, brave, multi-hyphenate music mogul whose storied legacy is unlike anyone else’s—as a record producer, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, composer, arranger, and cultural force. Over a career spanning more…
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Theater Review: ALL THE DEVILS ARE HERE: HOW SHAKESPEARE INVENTED THE VILLAIN (Patrick Page at BroadStage)
A MASTER VILLAIN TAKES THE STAGE Patrick Page turns Shakespeare’s greatest monsters into a riveting, slyly funny tour through human nature— one blood-red spotlight at a time. Dubbed “the villain of Broadway” by Playbill, Patrick Page has never shied away from exploring his dark side. Now, with his tour-de-force solo show All the Devils Are…
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Theater Review: DIE HEART: THE DIRECTOR’S CUT (Troubadour Theater Company at The Colony)
TAKE THAT, NAKATOMI The Troubies blow up Die Hard, Heart-style — and it’s pure holiday mayhem The Troubadour Theater Company — the Troubies — has been wreaking musical-comedy havoc around Los Angeles since 1995, and their latest spoof, Die Heart: The Director’s Cut, might be the most gloriously unhinged holiday offering they’ve detonated yet. Their…
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Concert Review: LENNON AND NILSSON: SONGS FROM THE LOST WEEKEND (Live from Laurel Canyon at The Carpenter Center)
LOST WEEKEND, FOUND MAGIC Lennon and Nilsson Get a Vibrant Tribute Live from Laurel Canyon, known for blending storytelling with faithful musical tributes, returned to the Carpenter Center on November 9 with Lennon and Nilsson: Songs from the Lost Weekend, a two-act concert chronicling the music, friendship, and notorious misadventures shared by John Lennon and…
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Theater Review: PAPER WALLS (Broadwater Mainstage)
HONORING A FAMILY STUCK IN A HOLOCAUST NIGHTMARE Four actors, four moving walls, a wooden table and chairs, and historical projections combine into an extraordinary theatrical experience in the hands of director Darin Anthony, set and production designer Justin Huen, and projection designer Ben Rock who enhance the emotional impact of Paper Walls by Elliot…
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Theater Review: JULIA MASLI: HA HA HA HA HA HA HA (Pasadena Playhouse)
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA OFFERS UNITY THROUGH AN ABSURDIST GROUP THERAPY SESSION I had no idea what I was walking into when I drove out to the Pasadena Playhouse (more than an hour’s drive during traffic) to see absurdist clown Julia Masli entertain the crowd at a 70-minute absurdist clown’s group therapy…
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Concert Review: HAVE YOU EVER HEARD OF ETTA JAMES? (MUSE/IQUE at The Skirball)
HAVE YOU EVER HEARD OF ETTA JAMES? MUSE/IQUE SCHOOLS US IN SOUL Presented by MUSE/IQUE at The Huntington Library and The Skirball MUSE/IQUE’s concerts have never been simple performances; they’re living history lessons that turn scholarship into celebration. Under the meticulous leadership of Artistic and Music Director Rachael Worby, the Pasadena-based ensemble has carved a…
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Dance Review: GRAHAM100 (Martha Graham Dance Company at The Soraya)
GRAHAM100 DANCES THE CENTURY AWAKE Every analysis of 20th century American arts puts Martha Graham in a small class of visionaries who changed the world, with several calling her the “Picasso of Dance.” And since Martha Graham began her dance life in Los Angeles in 1911, it’s not a surprise that the Martha Graham Dance Company…
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Theater Review: OTHERKIN (Road Theatre Company)
DRAGONS, DOOMSDAY, AND DAZZLE The Road Theatre Company launches its 34th season with N.T. Vandecar’s Otherkin, a bold, visually stunning new work staged by Christina Carlisi in her directorial premiere. Even when its mythology gets dense, the production keeps you hooked, partly because it looks fantastic, but mostly because it’s anchored by the beating heart…
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Theater Review: GO PLAY! (Odyssey Theatre Ensemble)
WHAT DOGS REALLY THINK ABOUT UNCONDITIONAL LOVE Those of us who have ever lived with a beloved canine companion (I hesitate to use the word “owned” since I question who really owns whom) certainly know the amount of time spent happily together sharing human concerns and feelings with no hope of a canine verbal response….
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Concert Review: LIKE IT LIKE HARLEM (MUSE/IQUE at Mark Taper Forum)
From Mambo to Boogaloo: MUSE/IQUE Swings Through Harlem’s Latin Music Revolution MUSE/IQUE is amid a two-year exploration of key musical moments in America. During its 2025 Make Some Noise: Music and Stories of American Defiance and Hope series, the influences of Transformative American Artists and Thinkers who changed the world are shared. Their latest concert,…
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Theater Review: YANKEE DAWG YOU DIE (East West Players)
ACTING WHILE ASIAN: A SURVIVAL GUIDE IN ONE ACT Kung Fu, Sidekick, Wise Man, Dead: The Hollywood Starter Pack. Philip Kan Gotanda’s Yankee Dawg You Die pulls no punches in its portrait of two Asian-American actors navigating Hollywood’s tangled machinery—one a hardened veteran, the other freshly idealistic. Set in the late 1980s but pulsing with…
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Theater Review: ONE MAN POE (Stephen Smith on Tour)
MADNESS MADE FLESH I’ve seen several performances of Edgar Allan Poe’s poems and short stories over the years, but none compare to the artistry, intensity, and total immersion Stephen Smith brings to Poe’s descent-into-madness characters in One Man Poe at the 2025 Hollywood Fringe Festival. The production is divided into two one-hour shows, each featuring…
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Theater Review: GASLIGHT (Pacific Resident Theatre)
WHEN THE ONLY TENSION IS IN THE CORSET: GASLIGHT IS ALL DIM AND NO SPARK AT PRT Patrick Hamilton’s 1938 play, Gas Light (now known as Gaslight) is a melodrama which follows a young woman whose husband slowly manipulates her into believing she is descending into insanity. This one-time taut psychological thriller is set in Victorian…
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Theater Review: SHAKE IT AWAY: THE ANN MILLER STORY (Kayla Boye)
TAPS, TINSEL, AND TENACITY: KAYLA BOYE DAZZLES AS ANN MILLER Kayla Boye is a powerhouse performer whose ability to step inside the soul of her characters will astound you, beginning from her intimately revealing portrayal of legendary Hollywood icon Elizabeth Taylor at Fringe 2022 to her current tour-de-force performance as Hollywood Golden Age and Broadway…
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Dance Review: CINDERELLA (Los Angeles Ballet)
I HAD A BALL Composed during tumultuous World War II, Cinderella is regarded as one of Sergei Prokofiev’s most popular compositions which made its debut in Moscow in 1945. The piece is well-loved for its jubilant and melodic score, which lends itself to all the fantastic lifts and leaps inherent in the story of love,…
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Concert Review: WELCOME TO THE DREAM FACTORY (MUSE/IQUE)
AND WHAT A DREAM IT IS As part of its 2025 Season, “Make Some Noise: Music and Stories of American Defiance and Hope,” MUSE/IQUE presented Welcome to the Dream Factory, centering on the golden days of Hollywood where dreams were built on sound stages by composers, actors, and directors who lit up the world on…
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Theater Review: LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS (Nocturne Theatre)
HORRORS IN THE ROUND Little Shop of Horrors, based on the 1960 science-fiction film by Roger Corman, opened off-Broadway at the Orpheum Theatre in Manhattan’s East Village on July 27, 1982. The production, directed by lyricist Howard Ashman, was so popular that David Geffen and team swooped in to buy the rights. The music, composed by…
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Concert Review: ACCORDING TO RAY (MUSE/IQUE at Mark Taper Forum)
Rachael Worby, Founding Artistic and Music Director of MUSE/IQUE, is hosting the inspirational 2025 season “Make Some Noise: Music and Stories of American Defiance and Hope” which spotlights transformative American artists and thinkers who rejected norms and limitations to forge a new and better future, while teaching us that nothing is impossible. And what better…
Theater Review: THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR (Chicago Shakespeare Theater)
by Emma S. Rund | April 10, 2026
in Chicago, TheaterTheater Review: MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM (Goodman Theatre, Chicago)
by Croydon Fernandes | April 9, 2026
in Chicago, TheaterTheater Review: CHARLOTTE’S WEB (Wheelock Family Theatre, Boston)
by Lynne Weiss | April 7, 2026
in Boston, Theater
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