Hamid Rahmanian‘s Song of the North, now currently playing at Pasadena Playhouse, is an extraordinary multimedia production that is a marvel for all ages to enjoy. Utilizing shadow puppetry (483 puppets!!) and projected animation with immense success to reimagine the Iranian epic Shahnameh, the joy and magic found in this adaptation is undeniable.

Created by visionary artist Hamid Rahmanian, this stunning multimedia production uses shadow puppetry and projected animation to reimagine the Persian epic Shahnameh. At its heart is Manijeh, a fierce heroine navigating a world of mythical beasts who must use all her strengths and talents to rescue her beloved, Bijan, from a perilous predicament. Hamid Rahmanian’s Song of the North is an epic love story with a cast of 483 handmade puppets and a talented ensemble of actors and puppeteers, all coming together to create powerful theater for young minds ready to explore heroism, heritage, and imaginative storytelling.

It is interesting to note that while the official synopsis of the play calls this a Persian epic, creator Hamid Rahmanian straight up called it an Iranian tale and right away, it has made me realize that there is palpable uneasiness (especially given our most immediate circumstances) of advertising anything that’s Iranian related. And as a result in most western cases, especially if it’s an ancient fable or story or timeline, the predecessor “Persian” will be used. But make no mistake, Iran is very much Persia and vice versa. Before we actually get into the review, I wanted to put that out there as it has always been sitting in the back of my mind for the past few years until it became crystalized after tonight’s opening performance.

The show itself is a technical marvel to such an extent that when you first sit down and watch it unfold, it truly feels like you’re watching a film with all the elements already shot and recorded. But other than the voiceover performances and the digital animation shown throughout, every single puppet and set pieces are done via shadow puppetry. To accomplish this, there is an enormous of teamwork and coordination involved. First, you have the puppeteers Camille Cooper, Ray Dondero, Monica Lerch, Esme Roszel, and Christopher Williams who are handling over 480+ handmade puppets.

Then you have the main actors Emily Batsford, Sarah Westman, Kirk Bixby, Clay Westman, Sam Rotengold, Harrison Greene, and J Hann who wear shadow puppetry faces but are on stage interacting with the puppets and when they’re not performing with their buddies, most of them go into puppeteer mode. They are creating the lighting effects, prepping shadow scenography, or casting human-size shadows of the main characters with costumes & masks. These actors/puppeteers bring to life the delightful puppetry design done by Saba Niknam and Hamid Rahmanian and along with the gorgeous score by Loga Ramin Torkian and musicians Pejman Hadadi, Molly Rogers, Mahsa Ghassemi, Sinan Cem Eroglu, Sufi Rahmanian, and Iman Torkian, this is an 80 minute experience that will mesmerize and thrill you.

As mentioned before, the actors/puppeteers are acting to a pre-recorded voiceover performance track that is a crucial element to making the production so enjoyable. With voiceover actors Mark Thompson, Christina Calph, Richard Epcar, and Rose Nisker, they help fill the already rich world even more so with gravitas and humor.

On the story side, it is a re-imagined staging of a small portion of the Shahnameh, an epic poem written by the poet Abolqasem Ferdowsi of Tous chronicling real and mythical history of the greater Iranian region. These stories have been told and re-told for many centuries, with each new version honoring the timeless tale while reflecting the culture and concerns of its new audience. With this particular adaptation done by Hamid Rahmanian, it focuses on story of Bijan and Manijeh and as an adaptation, it was a thoroughly entertaining and hilarious accomplishment. Because there is a larger than life fable aspect to it, there are plot elements that occur which seem outright nonsensical but you are in for the ride because there is a twinkle in the adapted writing that this is meant to be a good time for all ages. And I truly mean a good time for all ages as there will be many aspects for adults to enjoy, some I felt was quite mischievous in towing the line to becoming a biiiiiiit inappropriate for children (but not enough to cause alarm for parents).

While 80 minutes is a brisk length for most plays and musicals, I actually think some trims could have been applied as the heavier dialogue moments did hit a slight pacing snag with several of the children AND adults starting to drift off. And on the broken record note that I will always apply for any theatre performance I watch, while I commend the Southwest Asian/Iranian creative team makeup, the vast majority, if not all, of the voiceover & onstage actors/puppeteers are white. I do understand that puppetry experience is a very particular craft but when it comes to voiceover actors, I would have loved to see a fuller usage of Iranian/Southwest Asian actors. It is particularly telling when the composer Loga Ramin Torkian and vocalist Azam Ali have their headshots be placed on top on the ensemble cast roster so as to indicate that this is not an all-white production.

But I must give Hamid Rahmanian all the flowers to adapting this epic tale into something wholly enjoyable to watch from the storytelling perspective and remarkable to behold in the technical. It was also appreciated that because of our very chaotic times we are living right now, with the illegal war initiated by Israel and the U.S. on Iran and the brutal protester crackdown by the Iranian government months before, Rahmanian dedicated the play to all the Iranians who lost their lives in the past few months. Talking about this matter is an insanely complex matter so wherever you fall in the political spectrum of how one perceives Iran, there is no question that many Iranian civilians have been needlessly killed. In fact, even having this Iranian story be told on one of the largest theatre spaces in Los Angeles is an act of resistance in itself considering that our current U.S. administration very much views Iran as the enemy and as a result, will trickle down to many U.S. citizens (mainly white people) viewing all Iranians and Brown people equally as such.

Song of the North will perform at the Pasadena Playhouse (located on 39 S El Molino Ave, Pasadena, CA 91101) from March 21st to 29th in a limited six performance run with Saturdays at 2pm & 7pm and Sundays at 2pm. Tickets can be bought here. There is one publicly available student matinee performance on March 25 at 9AM. Tickets for this performance are $10 per student and available to school groups only. Pre and Post-show workshops available at your school site for $300 per class hour. Email education@pasadenaplayhouse.org or call 626 344 8979 to book a student group or workshop for your students. Open Captioned performance of Hamid Rahmanian’s Song of the North will be on Sunday, March 22. 2026 at 2:00 PM.