Los Angeles Theatre, Let’s Talk About Palestine

July 7, 2025July 8, 2025 Edward Hong

To the Los Angeles theatre community, I love you and I adore you. I’ve been part of you for the past 15 years and despite the many challenges I have come across when it comes to meaningful representation and opportunities, I will always cherish the countless memories we have experienced and will continue to experience together as an artist and as a critic. But I think it’s time we desperately need to talk about the one subject that you have been avoiding for so long — Palestine.

Reviews, Theatre

A Los Angeles Theatre Review: ‘My Brother’s Keeper’

June 14, 2025June 14, 2025 Edward Hong

Theatre is a fascinating beast where unlike the medium of film and television, theatre can never be replicated and a performance on one day will not quite be the same on the next. And when there’s only five? Such is the case for Bethesda Repertory Theatre‘s My Brother’s Keeper, a deeply moving and intimate piece about brotherhood and embracing one’s identity that also shines a much needed light on the Latino LGBTQIA+ community.

Television, Theatre

History Had its Eyes on the ‘Hamilton’ Original Broadway Cast Reunion at the Tonys

June 9, 2025June 11, 2025 Rosana Maris Arias

The 78th Tony Awards, hosted by Cynthia Erivo, were held on Sunday, and Maybe Happy Endings swept many of the major categories. As usual, the show included an array of powerful performances, including a number from Real Women Have Curves, but most notably, the 10-year reunion of the original Broadway cast of Hamilton turned the world upside down.

Reviews, Theatre

A Los Angeles Theatre Review: ‘Hamlet’

June 5, 2025June 5, 2025 Edward Hong

With the promise of Center Theatre Group‘s Hamlet (both adapted and directed by Robert O’Hara) being bold and daring for the new generation, it is odd to say that despite a very able and entertaining cast and some novel ideas, this production could do without the first half entirely and leave just the second half. And even then, it still doesn’t quite fulfill the promise of being bold or daring. Was it entertaining? Sure. Was it necessary? No.

Reviews, Theatre

A Los Angeles Theatre Review: ‘The Chinese Lady’

May 28, 2025May 28, 2025 Edward Hong

As a script, Lloyd Suh‘s The Chinese Lady has been a fascinating play that caught my attention since its world premiere back in 2018. It is an extremely dense and repetitive piece yet it has many moments of profound insight and depth that pierces through the much slower first half.

Reviews, Theatre

A Los Angeles Theatre Review: ‘Life of Pi’

May 10, 2025May 10, 2025 Edward Hong

Throughout my teenage years as well as adulthood, I have never read Yann Martel‘s Life of Pi or seen the 2012 Ang Lee film adaptation so coming into the Broadway touring production of this staged adaptation at the Center Theatre Group here in Los Angeles was a wonderful surprise with a truly meaningful diverse ensemble cast, incredible puppetry and visuals, and a moving story (which has been beautifully adapted for the stage by Lolita Chakrabarti) that makes you question how you look at your own life.

Reviews, Theatre

A Los Angeles Theatre Review: ‘The Staircase’

May 5, 2025May 6, 2025 Edward Hong

Having its world premiere at the South Coast Repertory, Noa Gardner‘s The Staircase is a deeply personal play that brings Hawaiian identity and folklore to the spotlight. Directed by Gaye Taylor Upchurch, the music, folklore storytelling, and its message are wonderfully integrated with the efforts for authentic Hawaiian representation realized to full effect.

Reviews, Theatre2 Comments

A Los Angeles Theatre Review: ‘The Delicate Tears of the Waning Moon’

May 4, 2025May 5, 2025 Edward Hong

It is only fitting that the opening night of The Delicate Tears of the Waning Moon on May 3rd at the Latino Theater Company landed on World Press Freedom Day because this extraordinary and devastating work of art written by Rebeca Alemán (who also plays the main character) is an unforgettable tribute to journalism and to all the journalists who have lost their lives telling the truth. This is a play that is so startling and spellbindingly beautiful that it will stay with you long after you leave the theatre.

Interview, Theatre1 Comment

Myra Molloy on ‘Hadestown’ and Being the First Thai Lead in a Broadway Musical

April 30, 2025April 30, 2025 Sophia Soto

On May 6, Myra Molloy will take over the lead role of Eurydice in the Tony-winning Hadestown. I had the chance to ask the actress about being the first Thai lead in a Broadway musical, how she prepares for a performance, what stood out to her about this story, and more. Keep reading for everything she shared!

Reviews, Theatre

A Los Angeles Theatre Review: ‘The Last Play by Rickérby Hinds’

April 28, 2025April 28, 2025 Edward Hong

One of the most common (and perhaps overused) playwrighting tropes I’ve often seen on stage is a meta play about a writer figuring out what the play is all about. This trope becomes explored once again with the world premiere of Rickérby Hinds‘ The Last Play by Rickérby Hinds at the Latino Theater Company, where Hinds presents the possibility of this play being his last play where he brings back characters from his previous works to guide him through his writer’s block.

Reviews, Theatre

A Los Angeles Theatre Review: ‘Just Like Us’

April 20, 2025April 20, 2025 Edward Hong

Launching the 40th anniversary season of Latino Theater Company is Just Like Us, a rather timely play written by Karen Zacarías, inspired by a bestselling book by Helen Thorpe, and directed by Fidel Gomez.

Reviews, Theatre2 Comments

A Los Angeles Theatre Review: ‘Last Night at Mikell’s’

April 19, 2025April 20, 2025 Edward Hong

There is a special kind of joy to be had when I learn about a theatre company for the first time mixed with a certain kind of strange embarrassment when that said theatre company has been around for over thirty years. This is the case with The Robey Theatre Company, which was organized in 1994 and co-founded by Ben Guillory and Danny Glover.

Reviews, Theatre

A Los Angeles Theatre Review: ‘You Are Cordially Invited to the End of the World!’

April 14, 2025April 14, 2025 Edward Hong

I’ve only seen two productions directed by Zi Alikhan, the first being Frou-Frou: A Menagerie of Sorts just two months back which riffed Tennessee William’s The Glass Menagerie into a wild and excellent adventure. Now, with the world premiere of Keiko Green‘s You Are Cordially Invited to the End of the World! at the South Coast Repertory, I’ll make it a point in the future to watch any play he will direct as well as any play written by Green because it’s just that good.

News, Theatre

‘The Enabler Monologues’ is a Two-Night Only Theatrical Protest Event

April 3, 2025April 13, 2025 Edward Hong

Echo Theater Company presents the The Enabler Monologues, a searing, darkly comedic, two-night-only theatrical protest event that exposes the enablers of fascism — the politicians, billionaires, media moguls and power players who paved the way for Trump’s return.

Reviews, Theatre

A Los Angeles Theatre Review: ‘One Jewish Boy’

March 23, 2025March 24, 2025 Edward Hong

With the current genocide of the Palestinian people and an intense global scrutiny of the Israeli government’s ongoing war crimes, one of the western responses to that is to show antisemitism is also rapidly on the rise.

Theatre

PlayGround Presents Season 13 ‘Best of PlayGround-LA’

March 20, 2025March 23, 2025 Edward Hong

PlayGround, a leading national playwright incubator and theatre community hub, is pleased to share the lineup for Best of PlayGround(LA) ‘25.

Reviews, Theatre

A Los Angeles Theatre Review: ‘One For My Baby’

March 17, 2025March 17, 2025 Edward Hong

You can’t knock the ambition of All Roads Theatre Company as they launch their first production of 2025 in a big way with the world premiere of One For My Baby for a very short two week engagement at the El Portal Theatre. But clocking in at over three hours, 24 songs, and 10 lead characters, this overly stuffy and long musical could use some serious plot focusing and trimming before it is “Broadway bound.”

Reviews, Theatre1 Comment

A Los Angeles Theatre Review: ‘Topdog/Underdog’

March 5, 2025March 5, 2025 Edward Hong

Suzan-Lori Parks‘ Topdog/Underdog is a riveting play that is as powerful and vibrant now as it was when it premiered off-Broadway back in 2001. It is a play much deserved in its accolades with the work winning the 2002 Pulitzer Prize and the New York Times calling it “The Greatest American Play of the Past 25 Years.”

Reviews, Theatre1 Comment

A Los Angeles Theatre Review: ‘Frou-Frou: A Menagerie of Sorts’

March 2, 2025March 2, 2025 Edward Hong

John Anthony Loffredo’s Frou-Frou: A Menagerie of Sorts, which just had its world premiere at Boston Court Pasadena, is an extraordinary piece of theatre unlike any other where not only does it take the storyline of Tennessee Williams‘ The Glass Menagerie and completely riff off from it in wildly provocative ways, but makes a very compelling case that if a theatre company must depend on putting up classic works over and over again, why not present a thoroughly refreshing and updated take on it?

News, Theatre

Latino Theater Company Announces 40th Anniversary Season

February 27, 2025February 28, 2025 Edward Hong

L.A.’s Latino Theater Company will celebrate its 40th Anniversary in 2025 with an ambitious, culturally diverse season of plays, tours and other events. Founded in 1985, Latino Theater Company has operated the City of Los Angeles-owned Los Angeles Theatre Center, housed in a former bank building in Downtown’s historic core, since 2006.

Theatre

Celebrating the 2025 Awardees for the 32nd Annual Los Angeles Women’s Theatre Festival

February 27, 2025February 27, 2025 Edward Hong

The Los Angeles Women’s Theatre Festival will take place March 27 to March 30 with the overall theme of the festival this year being STRONGER TOGETHER. This year marks the theatre festival’s 32 years of producing over 700 extraordinary multicultural and multidisciplinary solo performers from around the globe.

Reviews, Theatre

A Los Angeles Theatre Review: ‘Four Women in Red’

February 23, 2025February 23, 2025 Edward Hong

Once in a while, you come across a play that has a message so important that you wish to see it succeed higher in future productions as its current iteration needs a bit more work. That is the case for Laura Shamas’ Four Women in Red, which had its world premiere at the The Victory Theatre Center.

Reviews, Theatre

A Los Angeles Theatre Review: ‘Cambodian Rock Band’

February 22, 2025March 22, 2025 Edward Hong

Ever since the world premiere of Lauren Yee’s Cambodian Rock Band at the South Coast Repertory back in 2018, there have been nothing but hype and rave reviews as it quickly became an immensely successful and popular production that had many others take place around the United States, with its most significant ones being at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and the Signature Theatre in New York.