STARS OF THE L.A. STAGE

SOME YEARS you just have to get through.

- CHARLES McNULTY THEATER CRITIC

I can't pretend that 2025 delivered a banner crop of theater productions. Many of the best shows on this list came from elsewhere. And a higher than usual percentage were seen at the Ahmanson Theatre, which had a remarkably good year - perhaps the best of any local theater. It was so good, in fact, that I left off Michael Arden's revival of "Parade." My self-consciousness about the high number of touring productions persuaded me not to include "Shucked" at the Hollywood Pantages, which lightened the summer with its country bumpkin merriment. And I also omitted "Here There Are Blueberries" at the Wallis not because it wasn't one of the best productions but because it was on my highlight reel of 2022, when this Tectonic Theatre Project play, conceived and directed by Moisés Kaufman, premiered at La Jolla Playhouse.

The highlight at the Mark Taper Forum this year was Jocelyn Bioh's comedy "Jaja's African Hair Braiding," which was on its final touring stop. And one of the best musical nights I had all year was courtesy of a concert version of the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene's revival of "Fiddler on the Roof" in Yiddish at the Soraya.

Of course, L.A. had the theater world's attention this summer when Cynthia Erivo headlined the Hollywood Bowl's revival of "Jesus Christ Superstar," a production that seemed to take over Instagram with the clobbering force of the movie campaign for "Wicked." But my own pick for L.A. production of the year would be Jessica Kubzansky's revival of "The Night of the Iguana."

Kubzansky demonstrated by example what's required. She and Tennessee Williams were an excellent match. But it's not just about pairing the right director with the right author. It's also about fielding a well-synchronized artistic company.