THE VISIT
Tuesday, September 15th, 2026
How far would you go if someone offered you an outrageous sum of money on one condition? And if you were willing to go that far, how would you rationalize your decision to do the unthinkable? These are the questions at the heart of Friedrich Dürrenmatt’s The Visit, now being revived at the Pasadena Playhouse in a production so spectacular, you’d think you were seeing it on Broadway.
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LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS
Friday, September 4th, 2026
Even last-minute improvised emergency lighting couldn’t dim the opening night excitement at Altadena Music Theatre’s all-around fabulous open-air revival of Howard Ashman and Alan Menken’s Little Shop Of Horrors.
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AUGUST WILSON’S MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM
Tuesday, September 1st, 2026
My mind may have wandered during the second half of Act One of August Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, but when all is said and done, it’s a pretty darn spectacular season opener for A Noise Within.
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PERICLES
Sunday, August 30th, 2026
Ten strangers seeking refuge from a storm in a disaster relief center find much in common with their displaced Shakespearean counterparts in Boston Court Pasadena’s thrillingly inventive staging of Ellen McLaughlin’s modern verse translation of Pericles.
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GREASE
Friday, August 7th, 2026
I’ve seen eleven different productions of Grease, but none of them has reached the heights of Altadena Music Theatre’s thrillingly innovative under-the-stars reinvention of the 1972 Broadway smash.
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MEXODUS
Tuesday, July 14th, 2026
New musicals don’t get any more one-of-a-kind than Brian Quijada and Nygel D. Robinson’s supremely inventive, supremely innovative, supremely elucidating and entertaining off-Broadway two-hander Mexodus, now dazzling Pasadena Playhouse audiences direct from its New York run.
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BRIGADOON
Wednesday, May 20th, 2026
Alan J. Lerner and Frederick Loewe’s Brigadoon gets a long overdue makeover at the Pasadena Playhouse, one that updates Lerner’s creaky book while not changing a note of the musical theater classic’ gorgeous score, and the result is the most glorious of revivals.
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LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS
Tuesday, May 19th, 2026
I’ve attended a whopping sixteen productions of the iconic horror comedy rock musical Little Shop Of Horrors, but seeing it “dancified” at the Lineage Performing Arts Center made me feel I was experiencing the off-Broadway camp classic for the very first time.
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Since 2007, Steven Stanley's StageSceneLA.com has spotlighted the best in Southern California theater via reviews, interviews, and its annual StageSceneLA Scenies.
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