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Tours
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Theater Review: THE NOTEBOOK (North American Tour at San Diego Civic Theatre)
LOVE, LOSS, AND LYRICS An earnest musical adaptation that leans into memory, even when it leans too hard The touring production of The Notebook arrives at the Civic Theatre with a built-in audience and a well-worn story to tell. Based on Nicholas Sparks’ bestselling novel and the beloved 2004 film, the musical adaptation leans into…
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Concert Review: LISE DAVIDSEN & FREDDIE DE TOMMASO (BroadStage, Santa Monica)
TWO VOICES, ONE VOLTAGE An evening of operatic power finds its charge in connection, not just scale BroadStage does not often present evenings of this ambition. A sold-out house, a freelance orchestra under Iván López Reynoso, and two singers at or near the summit of their respective careers: Lise Davidsen, the Norwegian soprano who has…
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Dance Preview: PARSONS DANCE (BroadStage, Santa Monica)
HIGH VOLTAGE DANCE, NO SAFETY NET A company built on athleticism, musicality, and sheer momentum returns to BroadStage Few choreographers have maintained the kind of sustained, high-energy appeal that David Parsons has cultivated since breaking out as a star dancer with the Paul Taylor Dance Company in the late 1970s. After founding Parsons Dance in…
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Dance Review: SYLVIA (American Ballet Theatre at Segerstrom Center)
DELIBES TAKES THE LEAD In ABT’s return of Ashton’s Sylvia, the best performance at Segerstrom wasn’t onstage Frederic Ashton’s Sylvia arrives at Segerstrom Center for the Arts after nine years away from American Ballet Theatre’s repertory, with the Pacific Symphony in the pit. Start there. Ormsby Wilkins conducted, and he set the terms of the…
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Dance Review: HUBBARD STREET DANCE CHICAGO PROGRAM A (The Joyce Theater, NYC)
THREE STYLES, ONE ELECTRIFYING COMPANY A vibrant program that moves effortlessly from sensual modernism to jazzy precision to kinetic abstraction Hubbard Street Dance Chicago returns to The Joyce Theater, bringing the springtime vibes we have all been craving. I caught Program A, and I can assure you it is a full-on, can’t-take-your-eyes-off-it showcase of movement…
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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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Cabaret Review: JULIE BENKO: EUPHONIC GUMBO (Birdland in NYC and West Coast Tour)
LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL WITH A TWIST Julie Benko’s Mardi Gras–flavored cabaret delights with energy and polish: a tasty Gumbo On a Monday night at Birdland Jazz Club, with a twinkle in her eye, singer Julie Benko refers to her work the rest of the week as being involved in “a little show called…
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Theater Review: BEETLEJUICE (North American Tour at McCallum Theatre)
SAY HIS NAME—AND HOLD ON A neon-charged national tour delivers irreverent spectacle, sharp performances, and just enough heart to make the afterlife feel alive Any doubts that the Netherworld could thrive in the Coachella Valley heat were laid to rest at the McCallum Theatre’s opening night. The North American tour of Beetlejuice has officially haunted…
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Dance Preview: STILL/HERE (Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company on Tour at Royce Hall)
STILL HERE, STILL ESSENTIAL The tour of Bill T. Jones’s landmark dance comes to Royce Hall with undiminished force The first time I saw Still/Here, it was at BAM. It was 1994, the year of Stonewall’s 25th Anniversary and The Gay Games in NYC. So, yes, there was celebrating, but the AIDS epidemic was still…
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Theater Review: PARANORMAL ACTIVITY (North American Premiere Tour at American Conservatory Theater)
A.C.T. EMBRACES HORROR WITH A STYLISH, SUSPENSEFUL STAGE ADAPTATION A slow-burn ghost story elevated by design, atmosphere, and committed performances A.C.T. continues its 2025/26 season by branching out and taking a chance on a new genre: horror. If the posters and ad campaigns look familiar, they should—to fans of the original films. Paranormal Activity is…
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Theater Review: CLUE (Second North American Tour at the McCallum Theatre)
A BOARD GAME FAVORITE TURNS INTO A LIVE-ACTION FARCE OF MURDER AND MAYHEM A high-energy whodunit that entertains, even when the pacing wobbles The classic whodunit murder mystery game Clue leapt from the board to the boards last night at McCallum Theatre. The production—directed by Casey Hushion—is a bit of a double-edged dagger. While it…
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Theater Review: MONTY PYTHON’S SPAMALOT (North American Tour)
HOLY GRAIL, WHOLLY DATED A high-energy tour packed with talent, nostalgic chaos, and humor that doesn’t always land in 2026 Risking impalement by a heavily armored knight, and death by cheeky British puns, I joined a lively crowd at Segerstrom Hall for Monty Python’s Spamalot. Shockingly, I am a virgin—to the musical, that is. The…
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Theater Review: STEREOPHONIC (National Tour, CIBC Theatre Chicago)
THEATER IN STEREOPHONIC A terrific docudrama about artistic temperament and the torment of creation David Adjmi’s Stereophonic, now playing at the CIBC, is an unusual piece of theater. It’s not about learning any life lessons, or coming to terms with things, and with one notable exception, none of the characters have a growth arc; further,…
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Theater Review: SOME LIKE IT HOT (National Tour, Broadway in Boston)
A REIMAGINING OF A HOLLYWOOD CLASSIC Frothy fun with an affirmingly progressive perspective The art deco sets (Scott Pask, scenic design), broad-shouldered plaids (Gregg Barnes, costumes), and jitterbugging choreography (Casey Nicholaw, who also directed) are a pleasing eyeful in Broadway in Boston’s energetic rendition of the Tony-award winning Some Like It Hot. But there’s more…
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Theater Review: A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE (The Streetcar Project Tour at A.C.T. in S.F.)
EVEN MORE TO DESIRE A stripped-down Streetcar that proves Tennessee Williams needs no scenery. Since struggle for power among the classes is one of the central themes in Tennessee Williams’ still-shocking A Streetcar Named Desire, it makes perfect sense that director and co-creator Nick Westrate would strip the Pulitzer Prize winner down to its rawest…
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Theater Review: CAMELTON (Stephen Cole’s One-Man Show About One Man’s Wild Ride)
THERE’S NO BUSINESS LIKE SHOW BUSINESS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE MIDDLE EAST Stephen Cole’s backstage Qatar saga is stranger than fiction—and just as entertaining In the story category of “truth is stranger than fiction,” and well worthy of inclusion in an edition of Ripley’s Believe It or Not, comes the mind-boggling saga of how…
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Theater Review: THE TRAGEDY OF HAMLET (Eddie Izzard; International Tour; Hollywood’s Montalbán)
A SOLO HAMLET BUILT ON PRECISION AND VELOCITY Inside the White-Box World of Izzard: One Performer, Twenty-Two Roles, No Safety Net Suzy Eddie Izzard—formerly known as Eddie Izzard until 2023 and now using she/her pronouns—is a groundbreaking British comedian known for her gender-defying stage persona. Now Izzard has taken up a new challenge, the actor’s…
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Dance Preview: GRAHAM100 (Martha Graham Dance Company International Tour in Chicago)
GRAHAM’S DANCE DYNASTY DESCENDS ON THE AUDITORIUM THEATRE Martha Graham Dance Company pairs signature works with a Bernstein-inspired Chicago premiere. On January 24, The Auditorium Theatre will host the living legacy of a pioneering genius. As part of its celebratory 100th anniversary international tour, the Martha Graham Dance Company will commemorate this unmatched milestone with…
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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: THE NOTEBOOK: THE MUSICAL (North American Tour)
Three Couples, Zero Accumulation With a score that forgets to remember, The Notebook drowns in its own mawkish bathwater There’s a musical version of The Notebook that might actually work. A decades-spanning romance built on longing, separation, and fading memory? That’s theater. What’s currently stinking up the Hollywood Pantages? That’s a $30 million hostage situation…
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