A banquet of sorts arrives on Southern California stages in the early 2024 season. There is pizza, ham, jelly … and that’s merely from some of the show titles.
Audiences can consume from a range of offerings. On one stage a Shakespearean ghost visits a Black backyard barbecue. Elsewhere, there are not one but two jukebox variations of Julia Roberts’ most famous movies. Plus, there’s a much-awaited musical kiss.
From the menus of the 13 most prominent live theaters across four Southern California counties, here are some of the tempting offerings.
LOS ANGELES COUNTY
Ahmanson Theater: ‘Funny Girl’
If you have finally finished Barbra Streisand’s 966-printed-page tome of self, or just skipped through the highlights, this could be an ideal time to revisit “Funny Girl,” the show that made her the way she were — er, was. Off the recent Broadway revival, the show’s national touring version follows the (love) life and (comedic) times of famed vaudevillian comedienne Fanny Brice. In New York, the musical triumphantly starred Lea Michelle. This tour will reveal if young Katerina McCrimmon — a lead in her first national production — earns show-stopping status or at least a “Hello Gorgeous.”
When: April 2-28
Where: Ahmanson Theatre, 135 N. Grand, Los Angeles
Information: CenterTheatreGroup.org
Geffen Playhouse: ‘Fat Ham’
“Fat Ham”… a mash-up of “Hamlet” at a Black backyard BBQ wedding reception? Well, here’s the rub: James Ijames, 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Drama winner, leans more on tickling rib bones than mulling over Yorick’s skull. Its raucous tone is set when the main character’s dead father’s ghost makes an appearance demanding a side salad of vengeance. Boisterous doings result. This is a transfer of the Broadway production, which earned a critic’s pick from The New York Times.
When: March 27-April 28
Where: Geffen Playhouse, 10886 Le Conte Ave, Los Angeles
Information: Geffenplayhouse.org
La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts: ‘Mystic Pizza’
The West Coast premiere of the musicalized version of a rendering of Julia Roberts’ movie debut, “Mystic Pizza” serves up a two-topping combo pie: the storyline of the original film’s coming-of-age jukeboxed with 20-some ’80s and ’90s pop hits including “Girls Just Want to Have Fun,” The Power of Love” and “Manic Monday.” If it’s a tasty slice will be determined out of the oven, but La Mirada has a track record of delivering premium ingredients when it comes to staging and casting accessible, upbeat musicals.
When: Jan. 19-Feb. 11
Where: La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts, 14900 La Mirada Blvd., La Mirada
Information: lamiradatheatre.com
Musical Theatre West: ’42nd Street’
It’s still a bit surprising to realize that the meta-Broadway show “42nd Street” actually began its life long ago as a movie. But it is the perfect framework for a musical, right from the initial visual opening of the curtain rising a foot or so revealing a stage-wide dance line of tapping feet. The plot sounds cliché, tracking as it does the birth pangs of an imaginary musical and the rise of an unknown who becomes a young star. But “42nd Street” turns out to be the predominant origin myth about talent and ambition along the Great White Way.
When: Feb. 9-25
Where: Carpenter Center, 6200 E. Atherton St, Long Beach
Information: Musical.org
Pantages Theatre: ‘The Wiz’
In a Broadway-bound reimagined production, “The Wiz,” a seven-time Tony winner back in 1975 — best musical and best score were among its trophies — sees a modernized Black pride version of the famed Oz tale featuring a familiar R&B/funk score. This new mounting is already a road warrior, making several touring stops already, so Hollywood should host a well-polished run. Boogieing down the Yellow Brick Road, however, is limited to a three-week run here and with Wayne Brady in the role of The Wiz here, hurrying along that road to the box office might be more advisable than easing on down there.
When: Feb. 13-March 3
Where: Pantages Theatre, 6233 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles
Information: BroadwayinHollywood.com
Pasadena Playhouse: ‘Jelly’s Last Jam’
A rarely revived gem — the casting call alone could try director and choreographers’ souls — “Jelly’s Last Jam” is a tap-dance driven telling of the rough-and-tumble life of jazz pianist and songwriter Jelly Roll Morton. Navigating the back alley New Orleans to New York stardom bio of the self-proclaimed “inventor of jazz,” this is high risk/high reward musical theater. The late, fabled tap master Gregory Hines won a Tony in 1992 for portraying Morton; at this writing there is no announcement about who will be filling these big shoes in Pasadena.
When: May 29-June 23.
Where: Pasadena Playhouse, 39 S. El Molino Avenue, Pasadena
Information: Pasadenaplayhouse.org
ORANGE COUNTY
Chance Theater: ‘Tiny, Beautiful Things’
Chance’s first half of 2024 finds two musicals bookending two plays focusing on women’s voices. Perhaps most promising is the Orange County premiere of “Tiny, Beautiful Things.” Taken from writer Cheryl Strayed’s best seller, actress Nia Vardalos (“My Big Fat Greek Wedding”) adapted the experiences of an online, modern-day advice columnist into an 80-minute reflective play that finds the writer visited by people who have sought advice and leaving the central character internalizing the emotional challenges and reckonings she has wrestled with publicly.
When: April 5-April 28.
Where: Chance Theater, 5522 E. La Palma Ave., Anaheim
Information: chancetheater.com
The Laguna Playhouse: ‘Ain’t Misbehavin”
First staged in 1978 as a cabaret performance, “Ain’t Misbehavin’” is an irresistible sung-through show that is somehow more than a revue even though it’s without a narrative. Running on the energy of Fats Waller’s jitterbugging quick and engaging tunes, it puts the vocalized energies of its five animated performers front and center. In the 1930s Harlem scene, Waller was both a songwriter/pianist and an impresario who wrote songs intended to entertain. Beyond the titled number, some of the indelible titles in the 31-song score include “I’m Going To Sit Write Down and Write Myself a Letter,” “Honeysuckle Rose” and “‘Taint Nobody’s Bizness if I Do.”
When: Jan. 24-Feb. 11.
Where: Laguna Playhouse, 606 Laguna Canyon Road, Laguna Beach
Information: LagunaPlayhouse.com
South Coast Repertory: ‘Prelude to a Kiss The Musical’
One of South Coast Repertory’s most storied commissioned plays, Craig Lucas’ “Prelude to a Kiss,” will — finally — see the world premiere of the musicalized version of the same title with Lucas again writing the book. This new work was originally aimed at a 2020 mounting, receiving a very promising reading the year previously, and now the awaited kiss will be bestowed. This world premiere production is being directed by SCR’s artistic director, David Ivers.
When: April 21-May 11.
Where: South Coast Repertory Theater, 655 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa
Information: SCR.org
Segerstrom Center for the Arts: “‘MJ The Musical’
The Michael Jackson bio-drama “MJ The Musical” is on the road and if even half the riveting, adrenaline rush of this dance-driven Broadway show transfers, this will land incredibly well. Though organized around a plot that ends in the early 1990s — avoiding the scandals that marred the King of Pop’s later years — this time-fluid story covers the singer’s earliest, and then most successful, years with maximum dazzle. Much of the success is owed to director/choreographer Christopher Wheeldon, whose background in the world of ballet brings a focus and discipline to both Jackson’s dancing and the dances formed around his music. And, if you had to ask, yes, even that famous white glove dotted with Swarovski crystal will likely get its own round of cheers.
When: March 19-31.
Where: Segerstrom Center for the Arts, 655 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa
Information: scfta.org
RIVERSIDE COUNTY
Fox Performing Arts Center and McCallum Theatre: ‘Pretty Woman’
The most successful movie of the late director Garry Marshall’s prodigious career — and Julia Roberts’ biggest box office hit — this live musical version of “Pretty Woman” features songs from rocker Bryan Adams and Jim Vallance. While far from a critical favorite, it had a reasonably successful run for a year on Broadway in 2018-2019. The plot resembles the movie with its modern spin on a Cinderella-esque notion: a business mogul hires a prostitute to be his formal companion at events and a relationship emerges.
When: Jan. 16-17 (Riverside); Jan. 19-21 (Palm Desert)
Where: Fox Performing Arts Center, 3801 Mission Inn Ave., Riverside; McCallum Theatre, 73000 Fred Waring Drive, Palm Desert
Information: tour.prettywomanthemusical.com
SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY
The California Theatre for the Performing Arts: ‘In The Heights’
A locally sourced production of “In The Heights” presents Lin-Manuel Miranda’s “other” musical, the one not about anyone found on any denomination of U.S. currency. Of course, labeling this show as the earlier and lesser Miranda musical doesn’t do it justice since it won four Tonys, including best musical in 2008. It’s an agreeable, high-spirited entertainment with a substantive display of characters of Puerto Rican, Cuban and Dominican descent.
When: May 19-21.
Where: The California Theatre for the Performing Arts. 562 W. 4th St., San Bernardino
Information: CaliforniaTheatre.net
