Some years you simply need to get via.
I can’t faux that 2025 delivered a banner crop of theater productions. Most of the greatest reveals on this checklist got here from elsewhere. And the next than traditional share have been seen on the Ahmanson Theatre, which had a remarkably good yr — maybe the very best of any native theater.
It was so good, the truth is, that I left off Michael Arden’s revival of “Parade.” My self-consciousness concerning the excessive variety of touring productions persuaded me to not embody “Shucked” on the Hollywood Pantages, which lightened the summer time with its nation bumpkin merriment. And I additionally omitted “Here There Are Blueberries” on the Wallis not as a result of it wasn’t the most effective productions however as a result of it was on my spotlight reel of 2022, when this Tectonic Theatre Challenge play, conceived and directed by Moisés Kaufman, premiered at La Jolla Playhouse.
Our picks for this yr’s greatest in arts and leisure.
The spotlight on the Mark Taper Discussion board this yr was Jocelyn Bioh’s comedy “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding,” which was on its closing touring cease. And the most effective musical nights I had all yr was courtesy of a live performance model of the Nationwide Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene’s revival of “Fiddler on the Roof” in Yiddish on the Soraya.
After all, L.A. had the theater world’s consideration this summer time when Cynthia Erivo headlined the Hollywood Bowl’s revival of “Jesus Christ Superstar,” a manufacturing that appeared to take over Instagram with the clobbering drive of the film marketing campaign for Depraved.” However my very own decide for L.A. manufacturing of the yr can be Jessica Kubzansky’s revival of “The Night of the Iguana.”
Kubzansky demonstrated by instance what’s required. She and Tennessee Williams have been a superb match. However it’s not nearly pairing the suitable director with the suitable creator. It’s additionally about fielding a well-synchronized inventive firm.
Too many domestically grown productions (from our bigger theaters particularly) appear to go away out one among these parts. To evaluate by the outcomes, the manufacturing course of appears top-down slightly than natural. A number of occasions this yr on the larger theaters it appeared as if the principal casting was an afterthought.
Co-productions generally is a sensible option to pool sources whereas spreading the danger. However they aren’t all the time the reply, as proved by the lackluster revival of “Noises Off” on the Geffen Playhouse, a co-production with Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre Firm,
The very best new dramatic work I noticed anyplace this yr was Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ “Purpose,” which deservedly gained the Pulitzer Prize for drama and the Tony Award for greatest play. La Jolla Playhouse has introduced that it’s going to produce the West Coast premiere subsequent yr. I gained’t maintain my breath for an L.A. manufacturing. (I’m nonetheless ready for Jackie Sibblies Drury’s “Fairview” and numerous Annie Baker performs.) However not less than Eboni Sales space’s Pulitzer Prize-winning “Primary Trust” is coming to the Taper in Could.
The author who made the largest first impression on me is a.ok. payne, creator of “Furlough’s Paradise,” which was the very best new play I noticed on the town all yr. Performs that I noticed in New York that deserve main productions in L.A. embody Bess Wohl‘s “Liberation,” Kimberly Belflower‘s “John Proctor Is the Villain,” Samuel D. Hunter’s “Little Bear Ridge Road,” and, if any firm is daring sufficient, Jordan Tannahill’s “Prince Faggot.”
I’m nonetheless desirous about Toni Servillo’s full-throated efficiency in “Tre modi per non morire: Baudelaire, Dante, i Greci,” tailored from works by Giuseppe Montesano. This solo present, which I noticed at Milan’s Piccolo Teatro, provided a passionate protection of how nice literature can educate us to dwell once more.
The theater can and ought to be a sanctuary from the know-how that’s encroaching on what distinguishes us as human beings — our capability to ponder ourselves and others feelingly.
2025 positively had its excessive factors. However there appears to be a weakening of institutional resolve within the face of unrelenting financial, political and cultural pressures. Let’s pray for a renewal of dedication to create the theater — and society — we deserve.
Herewith, in no explicit order, are my Los Angeles theater highlights of 2025.
Kasey Mahaffy and CJ Eldred in “A Man of No Importance” at A Noise Inside.
(Photograph by Craig Schwartz)
“A Man of No Importance,” A Noise Inside. This revival of a lesser recognized musical by Stephen Flaherty, Lynn Ahrens and Terrence McNally (the group behind “Ragtime”) was one of many surprising treasures of 2025. A story of a closeted Dublin bus driver with a ardour for Oscar Wilde and a yen for newbie theatricals, the present featured a star efficiency from Kasey Mahaffy that was chic in each its modesty and flamboyance. Julia Rodriguez-Elliott’s manufacturing gracefully depicted a world of atypical of us trying on the aesthetic stars from their humdrum day by day realities.
Claudia Logan, from left, Bisserat Tseggai, and Mia Ellis in “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding” on the Mark Taper Discussion board.
(Javier Vasquez / Heart Theatre Group)
“Jaja’s African Hair Braiding,” Mark Taper Discussion board. Jocelyn Bioh’s high-spirited ensemble comedy, vibrantly directed by Whitney White, took us contained in the lives of the African immigrant ladies who work at a Harlem braiding salon. Whereas working their fingers to the bone creating essentially the most flamboyant hair designs, these characters reveal the good distances they’ve traveled, the braveness that’s been required of them and the vulnerabilities they face of their more and more hostile promised land.
Cynthia Erivo and Adam Lambert in “Jesus Christ Superstar” on the Hollywood Bowl.
(Farah Sosa)
“Jesus Christ Superstar,” Hollywood Bowl. Cynthia Erivo delivered a divinely impressed efficiency on this revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s 1971 musical, directed and choreographed with concert-like brio by Sergio Trujillo. Adam Lambert was the electrical Judas to Erivo’s nuclear Jesus, and the vitality they emitted was greater than sufficient to energy all of social media for just a few days in August. This present didn’t simply go viral — it went world pandemic.
Julanne Chidi Hill, from left, Dennis Dun, Jully Lee and Riley Shanahan in “The Night of the Iguana” at Boston Courtroom Pasadena.
(Brian Hashimoto)
“The Night of the Iguana,” Boston Courtroom Pasadena. Creative director Jessica Kubzansky minimize to the religious core of one among Tennessee Williams’ lesser main performs and made it appear on par together with his masterpieces, “The Glass Menagerie” and “A Streetcar Named Desire.” Jully Lee was good as Hannah, the itinerant painter who turns up along with her 97-year-old poet father at a Mexican seaside inn that is sort of a refuge for the world’s strays. Julanne Chidi Hill, who performed the lusty widow lodge proprietor, Maxine, and Riley Shanahan, who performed Lawrence Shannon, the disgraced reverend on the lam from his misdeeds, helped carry the play’s lonely battle for redemption to blistering life.
DeWanda Clever, left, and Kacie Rogers in “Furlough’s Paradise” on the Geffen Playhouse.
(Jeff Lorch)
“Furlough’s Paradise,” Geffen Playhouse. This shape-shifting two-character drama by a.ok. payne explores the politically loaded topic of id via the connection of two queer Black cousins, who grew up collectively however whose lives have diverged. Sade (DeWanda Clever) is on a three-day furlough from jail; Mina (Kacie Rogers), adrift in California, has returned residence to attach along with her roots. Collectively, they problem one another’s understanding of the previous and sense of risk for the longer term. The drama, directed by Tinashe Kajese-Bolden and choreographed by Dell Howlett, routinely escaped the confined realism of the dramatic scenario to search out freedom in a realm of boundless lyricism.
Wesley Guimarães , left, and Jack Lancaster and in “Bacon” at Rogue Machine.
(Jeff Lorch)
“Bacon,” Rogue Machine Theatre on the Matrix’s Henry Murray Stage. This fierce two-hander by British playwright Sophie Swithinbank, about an abusive relationship between two teenage boys awakening to their sexuality, was all of the extra flamable for being carried out in such an inescapable intimate area. Wesley Guimarães and Jack Lancaster introduced out the contrasting natures of those characters who’re drawn to every in methods neither can absolutely work out. The manufacturing, directed by Michael Matthews, incisively balanced the traumatic push and erotic pull.
Jennifer Babiak and Steven Skybell in “Fiddler on the Roof.”
(Luis Luque / Luque Pictures)
“Fiddler on the Roof,” The Soraya. This fluidly staged live performance model of the Nationwide Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene’s acclaimed revival in Yiddish of this traditional American musical introduced a sharp-edged authenticity to the story of Tevye the milkman and his marriageable daughters navigating a treacherous world of pogroms and fraying custom. Steven Skybell, magnificent within the function of the besieged patriarch, led an excellent solid that introduced a brand new understanding to an outdated chestnut via the drive of Yiddish language and tradition. The manufacturing, directed by Oscar- and Tony-winning actor Joel Gray, spoke as a lot to our personal political and social turmoil as to that of the characters with out ever having to press the purpose.
Rachel Simone Webb and the corporate of the North American tour of “& Juliet.”
(Matthew Murphy)
“& Juliet,” Ahmanson Theatre. This jukebox musical imagines with unstinting originality a situation through which the doomed heroine of William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” doesn’t die on the finish of the play. Granted a theatrical second act, Juliet makes the rollicking most of it. The identical may very well be stated of this kinetically entertaining touring manufacturing. Tragedy was remodeled not simply into comedy however right into a Max Martin dance social gathering, replete with hits from the blockbuster Swedish producer that have been made well-known by such pop titans as Katy Perry, Britney Spears and the Backstreet Boys.
Pragun Bhardwaj, from left, Taha Mandviwala and the nationwide touring firm of “Life of Pi.”
(Evan Zimmerman)
“Life of Pi,” Ahmanson Theatre. Probably the most visually entrancing manufacturing of the yr was additionally probably the most dramatically fascinating. This journey story of a boy attempting to outlive a shipwreck with the assistance of his creativeness and some of the surviving animals of his household’s zoo translated into purely theatrical phrases the fable-like enchantment of Yann Martel’s 2002 Booker Prize-winning novel. Lolita Chakrabarti’s sensible adaptation rode the magic carpet of Max Webster’s staging, which had essentially the most enchanting menagerie of puppets since “The Lion King.”
Cher Alvarez in “Paranormal Activity.”
(Kyle Flubacker)
“Paranormal Activity,” Ahmanson Theatre. This impeccably staged horror play by Levi Holloway succeeded in injecting most concern with out theatergoers having to hate themselves within the morning. The characters, rendered with up to date exactness by a first-rate solid, have been so recognizable that they made the mysterious occasions unfolding round them terrifyingly believable. The London home, ingeniously laid out by scenic designer Fly Davis, virtually stole the present.
