The Pasadena Playhouse News

The Live Arts 2022/23 Transformations Season continues with Jonathan Tolins' delightfully comic solo show, BUYER & CELLAR, directed by Jude Hansen. BUYER & CELLAR will have 16 performances in the Founders Theater, April 7 through April 29, 2023, at Live Arts Theater.

Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s 1985 Pulitzer Prize winning Sunday in the Park with George has just opened at the Pasadena Playhouse as part of their six-month celebration of everything Sondheim. Sarna Lapine (James’ niece) directs the cast of twenty-two, lead by Graham Phillips as George Seurat/George and Krystina Alabado as Dot/Marie. Andy Einhorn conducts a full orchestra of sixteen musicians. After a howling boot camp of rehearsals and a very successful opening night, Graham finally took a breather to answer a few of my queries.

Originally performed solo by Smith, “Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992” has been reimagined for a cast of five performers. Thirty years after its world premiere, Center Theatre Group will celebrate the West Coast premiere of the revised production by giving away 1,000 tickets to Angelenos.

Ford's Theatre Society has announced that Sheldon Epps will be joining the creative team of the musical SHOUT SISTER SHOUT! as the Production Supervisor.

Read BroadwayWorld's list of the best Disney Channel Original movies for Broadway lovers, featuring High School Musical, Descendants and more!

New Jersey Repertory Company “NJRep,” located at 179 Broadway in Long Branch, will present Robin Gerber's new play THE SHOT, April 6 – 23, 2023 in its Studio Theatre. THE SHOT will star Emmy nominee and Broadway alum Sharon Lawrence (Cabaret, Fiddler on the Roof).

Jez Butterworth's masterful international Tony Award winning Best Play (2019) “The Ferryman” will run January 27-March 5, 2023 (opening February 4) – in the first United States production after Broadway – and the first in the newly renovated and renamed Conrad Prebys Theatre at the Dea Hurston New Village Arts Center.

Co-authored by Conor Duffy and Jake Broder, Max & Willy’s Last Laugh is based on the true story of entertainers Max Ehrlich and Willy Rosen, who for 18 months performed the funniest cabaret in Europe to ensure their safety at the Westerbork Transit Camp during World War II.

In a landmark partnership, Pasadena Playhouse has been collaborating with all of the high schools of Pasadena Unified School District (PUSD) over the past 6 months to realize the students’ vision of Into the Woods.

Breaking With Tradition Productions will present a new production of Brothers Play by Matthew Doherty. Directed by James Eckhouse, the cast will feature (in alphabetical order) Rob Nagle, Jeffrey Nordling, and Jamie Wollrab.

SoHo Playhouse has announced the return of JOB by Max Wolf Friedlich to the SoHo Playhouse for an extended run in 2023. Casting for the extended run will be announced in 2023.

All new production photos have been released for THE WONDERFUL WINTER OF OZ: A HOLIDAY PANTO, written by Kris Lythgoe, choreography by Mason Trueblood, musical direction by Andy Street and directed by Bonnie Lythgoe.

Forever Plaid is an Off-Broadway Musical Revue that was first performed in 1989 in New York, and was written by Stuart Ross. Now the show is performed Internationally. The show itself featured Stan Chandler, Guy Stroman, Gabriel Barre, and Jason Graae in the 1989 New York Cast. While James Raitt was responsible for the Musical arrangement, vocal arrangements and music direction, the show was Directed and Choreographed by its writer Stuart Ross. The Musical Revue was produced into a feature film, which was released in 2009 starring two of the original cast members (Chandler, and Engel)and Larry Raben and Daniel Reichard as Sparky and Frankie respectively. Fans of the show will notice that in the film adaptation, “The Golden Cardigan,” and “Catch a Falling Star,” were omitted.

Epps recounts his rollercoaster ride of a life in the theatre, with all the excitement and occasional anguish that come with the highs and lows. The author’s journey in the American theatre has been amplified by his experience as a Black man who has frequently been “one of the few,” “the first” or even “the only.”

 Come celebrate the one and only CHITA RIVERA in a unique concert event CHITA: THE RHYTHM OF MY LIFE for a single performance only on Sunday, December 11 at 2:00pm presented by Segerstrom Center for the Arts at the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall.

The Pasadena Chorale presents the first concert of its 2022-2023 season, the Los Angeles Premiere of Shawn Kirchner's The Light of Hope Returning on Tuesday, Dec. 6 at 7:30 p.m. at the First United Methodist Church in Pasadena, Calif.

BroadwayWorld talks to Sheldon Epps about his new memoir 'My Own Directions: A Black Man's Journey in the American Theatre' that recounts his struggles and successes leading the Pasadena Playhouse for two decades and directing the Tony-nominated musicals 'Blues in the Night' and 'Play On!' on Broadway and beyond.

Laguna Playhouse and Lythgoe Family Panto has announced the full casting for its upcoming production of THE WONDERFUL WINTER OF OZ: A HOLIDAY PANTO, written by Kris Lythgoe, choreography by Mason Trueblood, musical direction by Andy Street and directed by Bonnie Lythgoe. 

Robin Gerber’s play The Shot, directed by Michelle Joyner, has proven to be the hot ticket as part of the 2022 United Solo Festival; it will add a performance on will Tuesday, November 1 at 8 PM (after adding two shows previously).

Tony Award-winning Broadway veteran John Rubinstein performs in his first one-man show Eisenhower: This Piece of Ground at Theatre West opening October 22, 2022. This world premiere (co-produced in association with New Los Angeles Repertory Company) is directed by Peter Ellenstein. John carved out some time to answer a few of my queries.