“Hell’s Kitchen,” “Stereophonic” and “The Sound of Music” are among the national tours set to stop at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre next season, Broadway in Hollywood announced Friday.
The Pantages’ 2025-26 slate kicks off with buzzy Broadway exports. First up is “Suffs,” Shaina Taub’s historical musical chronicling the American women’s suffrage movement (Nov. 18-Dec. 7), and “Stereophonic” (Dec. 9-Jan. 2, 2026). David Adjmi’s portrait of a ’70s band recording a new album won last year’s Tony Award for best play and features original music by Arcade Fire’s Will Butler.
Then it’s “The Notebook,” Ingrid Michaelson and Bekah Brunstetter’s musical adaptation of Nicholas Sparks’ 1996 romantic novel (Jan. 6-25, 2026), and a revival of “Monty Python’s Spamalot,” the stage parody of Arthurian legend that’s based on the 1975 film “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” (March 24-April 12, 2026).
Also in the lineup: “Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The Sound of Music,” the beloved 1959 stage musical about Maria and the Von Trapp family that was adapted into a 1965 film (May 5–24, 2026); and “Hell’s Kitchen,” Alicia Keys’ semiautobiographical stage show, which was nominated for last year’s Tony Award for best musical (May 26-June 21, 2026).
Closing out the season is “Beauty and the Beast,” based on the 1991 animated film with music by Alan Menken and Tim Rice (Aug. 11-Sept. 6, 2026).
The announcement also noted that theatergoers who purchase the seven-show 2025-26 season package, available online or by phone, will have priority access to the Pantages’ previously announced classics: the return engagement of Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg’s “Les Misérables” (Oct. 7-19, 2025) and the latest touring production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “The Phantom of the Opera” (June 24-Aug. 9, 2026).
I’m Ashley Lee, saving these shows’ dates in my calendar. I’m here with my fellow Times staff writer Jessica Gelt with more arts news:
Best bets: On our radar this week
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Corita Art Center
“If you drew a Venn diagram that brought together Charles Eames, Pop Art, commercial printing, social justice movements, the Second Vatican Council and 1960s Los Angeles, only one person could inhabit the space where those areas intersect: Corita Kent,” wrote former Times columnist Carolina A. Miranda. “Her work at its most innovative took vernacular culture — commercial logos and graphics, bits of corporate slogans, images from mass media — and reconfigured them into fine art. Art that not only advanced the ways in which these elements were used formally, but that grounded Pop, a form that could be too enamored of its own cleverness, in currents that were as spiritual as they were political.”
The Corita Art Center is celebrating the legacy of the “Pop-Art Nun” with a new space in the Arts District, opening to the public this weekend. Its inaugural exhibition: “heroes and sheroes,” Kent’s 29 prints lauding important figures who uplifted society, including the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Cesar Chavez. Admission on Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. is free with online reservations (and already sold out for this month but available in April and beyond). Corita Art Center, 811 Traction Ave., Suite 3A, Arts District. corita.org
‘Night at the Library: Building Stories’
An after-hours hangout at an L.A. public library? This first-ever late-night party includes drawing classes by Heavy Manners Library, a photo booth with the Black Image Center, screen printing with Color Compton and live performances by BodyTraffic, Carolyn Pennypacker Riggs’ Distance Duet, dublab, Bob Baker Marionette Theater, Yesika Salgado and Urban Voices Project, among others. The Saturday evening event opens at 8 p.m. (7 p.m. for VIP ticket holders) and goes until midnight. Richard J. Riordan Central Library, 630 W. 5th St., downtown. lfla.org
Rubberband
“It’s obvious to me that this is the next wave of contemporary dance — borrowing from the streets and putting hip-hop onstage,” Rubberband artistic director Victor Quijadatold The Times in 2008. The L.A. native is bringing his Montreal-based dance company — with their signature fusion of hip-hop, classical ballet and contemporary movement — back to California to perform its program “Second Chances.” Performances are Saturday at 7:30 p.m., with a postshow Q&A with Quijada, and Sunday at 2 p.m. BroadStage, 1310 11th St., Santa Monica. broadstage.org
— Ashley Lee
The week ahead: A curated calendar
FRIDAY
ACB Jazz Inspired by speakeasies and underground nightclubs, Lincoln Jones’ American Contemporary Ballet dances to the music of Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Jelly Roll Morton, Johnny Dodds and others
8 p.m. Friday; March 13, 14, 20 and 21. Bank of America Plaza, 333 S. Hope St., Suite C-150, downtown L.A. acbdances.com
Calibash Myke Towers, Codiciado, Wisin, Santa Fe Klan, Eladio Carrión, Xavi, Bebeshito and Alex Sensation headline this Latin musical festival (rescheduled from Jan. 18).
8 p.m. Saturday. Crypto.com Arena, 1111 S. Figueroa St., downtown L.A. cryptoarena.com
Mujeres on the Verge (Women on the Verge) The world premiere of four one-act plays celebrating Women’s “HER”story Month.
8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; 3 p.m. Sundays; through March 23. Gloria Molina Auditorium at Casa 0101 Theater, 2102 E. First St., Boyle Heights. casa0101.org
Gillian Welch & David Rawlings The roots duo tour behind their Grammy-winning album “Woodland,” named for the legendary Nashville recording studio they own.
6:30 p.m. The Wiltern, 3790 Wilshire Blvd. wiltern.com
SATURDAY
At Long Last Longworth Programmed by “You Must Remember This” podcaster Karina Longworth, this four-film series kicks off with a rare screening of Peter Bogdanovich’s 1975 musical “At Long Last Love,” followed by “The Wizard of Oz” (March 9), “Arizona Dream” (March 11) and “Trouble in Paradise” (March 13).
7:30 p.m. The Frida Cinema, 305 E. 4th St., #100, Santa Ana. thefridacinema.org
Così Fan Tutte L.A. Opera’s production of Mozart’s risque comedy of seduction and deception features Ana María Martínez and Rod Gilfry as the scandalous schemers.
Through March 30. Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, 135 N. Grand Ave., downtown L.A. laopera.org
Inua Ellams The poet and playwright interacts with the audience for “Search Party,” blending primal storytelling, modern call-and-response and the artist’s own vast archive of words for a never-the-same-twice performance.
8 p.m. Saturday. UCLA Nimoy Theater, 1262 Westwood Blvd. cap.ucla.edu
High Desert Art Fair The weekend includes exhibitions uniquely staged in motel rooms by top galleries, plus talks, book signings and a Saturday evening concert.
10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday and March 9. Pioneertown Motel, 5240 Curtis Road, Pioneertown. highdesertartfair.com
Musical Fusion With Arturo Sandoval The 2024 Kennedy Center honoree joins the Long Beach Symphony for an eclectic program, including Adam Schoenberg’s “Cool Cat,” inspired by the late celebrity mountain lion P-22.
7:30 p.m. Long Beach Terrace Theater, 300 E. Ocean Blvd. longbeachsymphony.org
SUNDAY
Diary of Flowers: Artists and their Worlds A wide-ranging exhibition of work from MOCA’s collection that explores how artists find their way to creative expression.
Through Jan. 4, 2026. Museum of Contemporary Art, 250 S. Grand Ave., downtown L.A. moca.org
Feast. Leonix Movement Theatre and Immersive Art Collective present a performance of the epic poem “Beowulf,” reimagined for the stage by Megan Doherty, with preshow cocktails and charcuterie, and postshow social engagement.
6:45 p.m. Saturday and 4:45 p.m. Sunday, through April 6. The Count’s Den, 1039 S. Olive St., downtown L.A. leonixtheatre.org
Hamlet (Solus) David Melville incorporates instrumentation into his one-man interpretation of Shakespeare’s tragedy; directed by Cary Reynolds.
7:30 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sundays; through April 13. Independent Shakespeare Co., 3191 Casitas Ave., #130, Atwater Village. iscla.org
The Nowruz Family Daylong Festival Celebrate Iranian New Year with this free event, followed by an evening concert featuring international artists.
12 to 5 p.m. festival; 6 p.m. concert. Royce Hall and Dickson Court, UCLA, 10745 Dickson Court. farhang.org
Old Black & White Hollywood A Black comedienne and a white star become friends, then rivals, in 1954 Tinseltown, in a play by ShaWanna Renee Rivon.
7 p.m. Sunday, March 9, 16 and 23; 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, March 14, 15, 21 and 22. Loft Ensemble, 11031 Camarillo St., North Hollywood. loftensemble.org
Vienna Philharmonic Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts the Austrian ensemble in two shows: first, a performance of Richard Strauss’ “Ein Heldenleben,” with three-time Grammy Award winner Yefim Bronfman playing Beethoven’s third piano concerto; the second program features Schubert’s “Tragic” symphony and Dvořák’s “From the New World” symphony.
6 p.m. Sunday; 8 p.m. Tuesday. Segerstrom Center for the Arts, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. philharmonicsociety.org
The Wailin’ Jennys The Canadian-American folk-roots trio brings its signature bluegrass harmonies to Orange County.
7:30 p.m. Musco Center for the Arts, Chapman University, One University Drive, Orange. muscocenter.org
Culture news and the SoCal scene
It’s pouring chamber opera in Los Angeles, writes Times classical music critic Mark Swed in a commentary about a robust wave of the art form recently crashing ashore on stages throughout the city. Included in his discussion: “The Great Yes, the Great No,” at the Wallis; “El Relicario de Los Animales,” part of Long Beach Opera’s season of Pauline Oliveros productions; and L.A. Opera’s delivery of Beth Morrison Projects’ adaptation of the Atom Egoyan film “Adoration.”
Swed also wrote about the riveting spectacle of watching two of the world’s most accomplished pianists share a stage at Walt Disney Concert Hall when the Vikingur Ólafsson and Yuja Wang tour arrived in L.A. “Demand for the superstar pianists’ recital was such that Wednesday’s sold-out performance led the Los Angeles Philharmonic, which presented the concert, to add a second date. Not a concert to be missed by any living being who could be squeezed in, the Wednesday night performance had one patron exiting Disney carrying a small dog,” Swed wrote before launching into a detailed description of why this was a must-see event.
People missing the relatively stable years when Barack Obama served as the country’s 44th president might want to catch a performance of “44 the Musical,” at the Kirk Douglas Theatre. In his review, Times theater critic Charles McNulty describes the show as an “affectionate spoof” of Obama’s White House years — one that encourages audiences to get a little rowdy. “But what a strange, tumultuous, unjoyful moment it is to encounter this winking recap of our 44th president’s political journey. Nostalgia for a president whose greatest sins were expanding healthcare access and wearing a tan suit is a luxury we can ill afford at the moment,” McNulty writes.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, but still hugely disappointing for theater-lovers in the nation’s capital, producers of the musical “Hamilton” announced that they were canceling upcoming performances at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts after President Trump’s recent takeover. “In recent weeks we have sadly seen decades of Kennedy Center neutrality be destroyed,” wrote “Hamilton” producer Jeffrey Seller in an emailed statement. “The recent purge by the Trump Administration of both professional staff and performing arts events at or originally produced by the Kennedy Center flies in the face of everything this national cultural center represents.”
Fifty-five middle school students from Altadena Arts and Eliot Arts Magnet will perform a one-night-only benefit production of “Shrek the Musical JR.” at the Ahmanson Theatre on April 18 at 7 p.m. The heartwarming event comes after the heartbreak the students experienced when their lives were upended by the Eaton fire in January and the theater they were using for rehearsals burned along with much else at Eliot Arts. The opportunity is made possible by Center Theatre Group in partnership with Pasadena Unified School District and Pasadena Playhouse. Proceeds from the performance will go toward rebuilding the arts programs at the affected schools. Tickets open to PUSD families on March 12, and to the general public on March 19, and can be found on CTG’s website. Donations can also be made directly to Eliot Arts through its annual fund. The show is just one part of a larger effort by CTG to help with relief efforts after the fires. Since the tragedy, CTG has raised more than $450,000 to help those affected by the fires. It also sent teaching artists into emergency camps across L.A. County while schools remained closed during the fires’ aftermath; worked on a donation drive with Baby2Baby; and created the CTG Wildfire Relief Fund to help CTG workers affected by the fires.
A week ago, the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art quietly announced that its director and CEO, Sandra Jackson-Dumont, would be leaving her role on April 1. In an email to The Times, a representative for the museum wrote that Jackson-Dumont’s decision to leave “was based on the new organizational design to split the current role into two positions.” George Lucas will now be responsible for the museum’s content direction, and Jim Gianopulos, former chairman and CEO of 20th Century Fox and Paramount Pictures, will become acting CEO while the museum conducts a search to fill the role permanently. “Sandra’s transformative leadership over the past five years has been essential to preparing the museum for its opening,” the rep wrote. “Her dedication to advancing narrative art and realizing our vision has helped lay the groundwork to establish the museum as a vital cultural resource for Los Angeles and a future destination for those who will visit from around the world. Sandra has helped create an institution that will serve and inspire generations to come.”
The Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra recently announced its 2025-26 season with an extra bit of exciting news: The beginning of a new partnership between LACO and the Colburn School. The renowned arts school’s Zipper Hall will become the new downtown L.A. home for LACO’s orchestral and chamber programs. The pairing will expand to include performances at the Frank Gehry-designed Colburn Center when it opens in 2027, with regular LACO performances at Terri and Jerry Kohl Hall. “This partnership was inevitable — a natural evolution of a shared history and shared commitment to excellence, community and preserving the timeless tradition of classical music,” said LACO’s Executive Director Ben Cadwallader in a statement. “Both Colburn and LACO have long been dedicated to fostering the future of music through education and performance. This is perhaps best embodied by LACO concertmaster Margaret Batjer, who is director of the Colburn School’s Music Academy. We are thrilled to perform in our new home at the exceptional Zipper Hall, and [to] be a part of the thriving cultural corridor along Grand Avenue.” The season also includes performances at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills and the Huntington’s Rothenberg Hall in San Marino.
— Jessica Gelt
And last but not least
I’m still soaring from this thoughtful and gorgeous Oscars performance.