RICHARD III
Friday, February 27th, 2026Ann Noble delivers a tour-de-force performance in the title role, but I found Guillermo Cienfuegos’s edgy, contemporary, stunningly staged take on William Shakespeare’s Richard III hard to follow (and most of its characters hard to distinguish one from another). Then again, that just might be me and my conflicted feelings about the Bard, particularly when he is in history play mode.
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RED HARLEM
Tuesday, February 24th, 2026An intriguing truth-is-stranger-than-fiction premise (Stalin-era Soviets’ recruitment of African-American performers for a movie expose on racism in the U.S. to be shot in the USSR) and some inventively stylized staging by director Bernadette Speakes are two major pluses in Kimba Henderson’s Red Harlem. What it needs to achieve full impact is a trim.
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UNCLE VANYA
Sunday, February 22nd, 2026
Neil LaBute gives Anton Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya a more contemporary-sounding tweak in the Tony nominated playwright’s third visit to Santa Monica’s City Garage Theatre, and the result is a Vanya that even Chekhov “non-fans” like this reviewer can enjoy.
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I LOVE YOU, YOU’RE PERFECT, NOW CHANGE
Saturday, February 21st, 2026
Joe Di Pietro and Jimmy Roberts’ three-decades-old—but still delightfully relevant—smash off-Broadway musical I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change now gets a smashing 30th-anniversary revival at Long Beach’s International City Theatre
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SIX
Friday, February 20th, 2026
Never has a sextet of triple-threats delivered more 5-star Broadway pizzazz than the 6 wives of Henry VIII do in Six The Musical, now making its 2nd appearance at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre, back in 2026 for a must-see 3-week run.
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HERE LIES LOVE
Thursday, February 19th, 2026Center Theatre Group’s sensationally designed and performed West Coast Premiere of Here Lies Love, aka the Imelda Marcos Disco Musical, has everything an entirely sung-through show ought to have except one vital element–songs you’d want to listen to a second time.
AMADEUS
Tuesday, February 17th, 2026
Tony Award winner Jefferson Mays and West End/Bridgerton breakout star Sam Clemmett burn up the stage in what may well be the most sumptuous production in Pasadena Playhouse history in Darko Tresnjak’s stunning take on Peter Shaffer’s Amadeus.
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MAN OF LA MANCHA
Monday, February 16th, 2026
Career-best performances by Richard Bermudez and Monika Peña are just two of the reasons Musical Theatre West’s spectacular 60th-anniversary revival of the 1966 Best Musical Tony winner is a must-see.
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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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