Welcome to LA Theatre Guides! Check out the list of upcoming shows in LA Theatre.
*shows with an asterisks are produced by companies that have signed the LA Anti-Racist Theatre Standards, encourage your favorite company to sign the standards today!
Mercury produced by the Road Theatre
Jan 12 - Feb 18 (Hollywood)
Three stories cross outside of Portland, OR in a pitch black comedy with an illicit affair, a couple hanging on by a thread, bears at the window, the worst curiosity shop on the west coast, and an adorable missing dog named Mr Bundles. No one’s happy, people stop being nice, and blood spills. This mash up of myth, missing empathy, and “good neighbors” explores what happens when the mercury rises.
Sukkot produced by the 6th Act
Jan 12 - Feb 4 (Los Feliz)
SUKKOT is the hilarious and heartwarming story of the Sullivan family, a half-Jewish-half-Irish-Catholic family attempting to rejoice by celebrating an obscure Jewish holiday that no one has ever heard of. One year after losing his wife to cancer, Patrick Sullivan is still unable to overcome his overwhelming grief, until a rabbi introduces him to the little-known Jewish holiday of Sukkot
Guide Notes: Directed by the Director of My Big Fat Greek Wedding!!
Both And (A Play About Laughing While Black) Produced by Boston Court* at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts
Jan 13 - 28 (West Side)
Through clowning, poetic text, and a tour-de-force performance, the play deeply investigates the nucleus of Black joy. As her mother is dying, Teayanna finds herself in a netherworld between life and death, struggling to help her mother cross over. The journey reveals the wisdom of the ancestors, invokes the legacy of the Middle Passage, and unfolds the surprising secrets within her mother’s purse. This unique and powerful story, rich with humor, raw honesty, and passion, becomes a brilliant meditation on how to reconnect with joy.
Guide Notes: I missed the first run of this show and heard nothing but incredible things, and am very grateful I have a second chance to see it.
Private Lives by Noel Coward produced by Kentwood Players
Jan 19 - Feb 10 (Inglewood)
Private Lives is a uniquely humorous comedy of manners about Amanda and Elyot, a divorced couple who, while honeymooning with their new spouses, discover that they are staying in adjacent rooms at the same hotel. Despite a perpetually stormy relationship, they realize that they still have feelings for each other. It soon becomes clear they cannot live with each other, but also cannot live without each other in this fast-paced, witty, delightful, and passionate Noel Coward comedic romp.
Guide Notes: I've recently learned about Noel Coward after Ryan O'Connor's reading of "The Cowards" and have loved his works (Ryan and Noel). I haven't seen or read this show yet but am excited for this Noel Coward resurgence.
POTUS: or, behind every great dumbass are seven women trying to keep him alive at the Geffen Playhouse
Jan 17 - Feb 17
A derogatory comment, a summit gone awry, an anal abscess—it’s a bad day at the White House. When the President unwittingly spins a PR nightmare into a global crisis, it inevitably falls on the seven women he relies on most to clean up the mess. Take a raucous romp through the halls of the West Wing in a riotous and irreverent farce about the men who hold the power vs. the women who get the job done.
Guide Notes: I LOVE Alexandra Billings, as well as several other cast members. The Geffen just got a new Artistic Director and I am excited to see what he brings to the community.
KATE @ Pasadena Playhouse*
Jan 17 - Feb11 (Pasadena)
In her widely celebrated one-woman show, revered comedian Kate Berlant explores the events of her life that have brought her to this moment. Embodying many characters in this tour de force performance, she expertly morphs before our eyes and exposes a truth she has, until now, kept hidden.
Guide Notes: Directed by Bo Burnham! I've been a fan of Bo Burnham since I was probably too young and unsupervised on YouTube, but I am so excited to see this translate to a one-woman show.
A Mexican Trilogy: An American Story Produced by the Latino Theatre Company*
Jan 18 - Jan 28 (DTLA)
Join students from East Los Angeles College, Los Angeles Valley College, and Los Angeles City College as they unite for a captivating performance of Evelina Fernandez's A Mexican Trilogy: An American Story at The Los Angeles Theatre Center. In collaboration with the Latino Theater Company’s "IMPACT" community engagement initiative, directed by the esteemed José Luis Valenzuela, each college takes the stage to present one part of the award-winning trilogy. Follow the Morales family across decades of the Mexican-American experience, from a remote mining town in Arizona during World War II in Faith, to the Phoenix family home during the Cuban Missile Crisis in Hope, and finally to Los Angeles in 2005, post the death of Pope John Paul II, in Charity. A Mexican Trilogy unfolds a poignant narrative, capturing the resilience and cultural heritage of the Mexican-American community, offering a profound exploration of history and identity
Mystic Pizza at La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts
Produced by McCoy Rigby Entertainment
Jan 19 - Feb11 (La Mirada/Orange County)
A new musical you’ll love at first slice! Based on the classic 1988 Julia Roberts rom-com, MYSTIC PIZZA is a new musical about three working-class girls who navigate the complexities of life, love and family in a small-town pizza joint. The infectious score features mega-hits of the 80s and 90s, from “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun,” and “Addicted to Love,” to “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now,” “Take My Breath Away,” and many more!
La Cocina produced by Loft Ensemble
Jan 19 - Feb 11 (NoHo)
LA COCINA looks at the back of house of a modern day NYC restaurant kitchen as cooks and waitstaff juggle orders, dishes, and their own dreams of a better life.
Carousel of Fools produced by Rogue Artist Ensemble*
Jan 25 - One Night Only (Santa Monica)
Carousel of Fools features 30 games, pop-up performances and sideshow acts, including magicians, mermaids, land sharks, carousel rides, tarot readers, naughty finger puppets, a monster truck ballet, a fire-breathing chicken, stilt walkers, a (stationary) blacklight dark ride, and more! Audiences will spend an interactive choose-your-own-adventure night following their curiosities into every corner of the Looff Hippodrome.
Guide Notes: There is an additional immersive production for a higher-ticket price. This company has always been pushing forward the medium of theatre and I am excited to see their work in person for the first time in a while.
The Musical of Musicals (the Musical) produced by Ophelia's Jump Productions*
Jan 26 - Feb18 (Claremont)
In this hilarious satire of musical theatre, one story becomes five delightful musicals, each written in the distinctive style of a different master of the form, from Rodgers & Hammerstein to Stephen Sondheim.
Guide Notes: This theatre is in Claremont, next to some incredible food and breweries. Get there early, make a night of it!
Matthew Bourne’s Romeo and Juliet at The Ahmanson (Center Theatre Group)*
Jan 28 - Feb 25 (DTLA)
Matthew Bourne’s Romeo and Juliet gives Shakespeare’s timeless story of forbidden love a scintillating injection of raw passion and youthful vitality. Confined against their will by a society that seeks to divide, our two young lovers must follow their hearts as they risk everything to be together. A masterful re-telling of an ageless tale of teenage discovery and the madness of first love, Romeo and Juliet garnered universal critical acclaim when it premiered in 2019, and now returns to the New Adventures repertoire alongside the very best of Bourne’s world-renowned dance theatre productions.
Guide Note: I have always loved Matthew Bourne's ballets, they feel new and edgy while still following a well known story like Romeo and Juliet.
BONUS: CTG is hosting a Dance Community Night before the Jan. 28th performance while purchasing tickets, use promo code “DANCENIGHT” to attend a pre-show reception with fellow dancers and art makers! And yes, there will be wine!
Hedwig and The Angry Inch produced by Chance Theatre
Jan 26 - Feb 25 (Orange County)
This groundbreaking smash that took Broadway by storm tells the story of “internationally ignored song stylist” Hedwig Schmidt, a fourth-wall smashing East German rock ‘n’ roll goddess who also happens to be the victim of a botched sex-change operation, which has left her with just “an angry inch.” This outrageous and unexpectedly hilarious story is dazzlingly performed by Hedwig (née Hansel) in the form of a rock gig/stand-up comedy routine backed by the hard-rocking band “The Angry Inch.” Using songs and monologues, Hedwig tells her story and her life’s search for “The Origin of Love.” It’s a rocking ride, funny, touching, and ultimately inspiring to anyone who has felt life gave them an inch when they deserved a mile.
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