theater

Some years you just have to get through.

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.

Our picks for this year’s best in arts and entertainment.

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.

Too many locally grown productions (from our larger theaters especially) seem to leave out one of these elements. To judge by the results, the producing process seems top-down rather than organic. A few times this year at the bigger theaters it seemed as if the principal casting was an afterthought.

Co-productions can be a smart way to pool resources while spreading the risk. But they aren’t always the answer, as proved by the lackluster revival of “Noises Off” at the Geffen Playhouse, a co-production with Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre Company,

The best new dramatic work I saw anywhere this year was Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ “Purpose,” which deservedly won the Pulitzer Prize for drama and the Tony Award for best play. La Jolla Playhouse has announced that it will produce the West Coast premiere next year. I won’t hold my breath for an L.A. production. (Jackie Sibblies Drury’s “Fairview” is finally heading here next season, but I’m still waiting for countless Annie Baker plays.) But at least Eboni Booth’s Pulitzer Prize-winning “Primary Trust” is coming to the Taper in May.

The writer who made the biggest first impression on me is a.k. payne, author of “Furlough’s Paradise,” which was the best new play I saw in town all year. Plays that I saw in New York that deserve major productions in L.A. include Bess Wohl‘s “Liberation,” Kimberly Belflower‘s “John Proctor Is the Villain,” Samuel D. Hunter’s “Little Bear Ridge Road,” and, if any company is daring enough, Jordan Tannahill’s “Prince Faggot.”

I’m still thinking about Toni Servillo’s full-throated performance in “Tre modi per non morire: Baudelaire, Dante, i Greci,” adapted from works by Giuseppe Montesano. This solo show, which I saw at Milan’s Piccolo Teatro, offered a passionate defense of how great literature can teach us to live again.

The theater can and should be a sanctuary from the technology that is encroaching on what distinguishes us as human beings — our capacity to contemplate ourselves and others feelingly.

2025 definitely had its high points. But there seems to be a weakening of institutional resolve in the face of unrelenting economic, political and cultural pressures. Let’s pray for a renewal of determination to create the theater — and society — we deserve.

Herewith, in no particular order, are my Los Angeles theater highlights of 2025.

Kasey Mahaffy and CJ Eldred in “A Man of No Importance” at A Noise Within.

(Photo by Craig Schwartz)

“A Man of No Importance,” A Noise Within. This revival of a lesser known musical by Stephen Flaherty, Lynn Ahrens and Terrence McNally (the team behind “Ragtime”) was one of the unexpected treasures of 2025. A tale of a closeted Dublin bus driver with a passion for Oscar Wilde and a yen for amateur theatricals, the show featured a star performance from Kasey Mahaffy that was sublime in both its modesty and flamboyance. Julia Rodriguez-Elliott’s production gracefully depicted a world of ordinary folks looking at the aesthetic stars from their humdrum daily realities.

Claudia Logan, from left, Bisserat Tseggai, and Mia Ellis in “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding” at the Mark Taper Forum.

(Javier Vasquez / Center Theatre Group)

“Jaja’s African Hair Braiding,” Mark Taper Forum. Jocelyn Bioh’s high-spirited ensemble comedy, vibrantly directed by Whitney White, took us inside the lives of the African immigrant women who work at a Harlem braiding salon. While working their fingers to the bone creating the most flamboyant hair designs, these characters reveal the great distances they’ve traveled, the courage that’s been required of them and the vulnerabilities they face in their increasingly hostile promised land.

Cynthia Erivo and Adam Lambert in “Jesus Christ Superstar” at the Hollywood Bowl.

(Farah Sosa)

“Jesus Christ Superstar,” Hollywood Bowl. Cynthia Erivo delivered a divinely inspired performance in 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 electric Judas to Erivo’s nuclear Jesus, and the energy they emitted was more than enough to power all of social media for a few days in August. This show didn’t just go viral — it went global pandemic.

Julanne Chidi Hill, from left, Dennis Dun, Jully Lee and Riley Shanahan in “The Night of the Iguana” at Boston Court Pasadena.

(Brian Hashimoto)

“The Night of the Iguana,” Boston Court Pasadena. Artistic director Jessica Kubzansky cut to the spiritual core of one of Tennessee Williams’ lesser major plays and made it seem on par with his masterpieces, “The Glass Menagerie” and “A Streetcar Named Desire.” Jully Lee was brilliant as Hannah, the itinerant painter who turns up with her 97-year-old poet father at a Mexican seaside inn that is like a refuge for the world’s strays. Julanne Chidi Hill, who played the lusty widow hotel proprietor, Maxine, and Riley Shanahan, who played Lawrence Shannon, the disgraced reverend on the lam from his misdeeds, helped bring the play’s lonely battle for redemption to blistering life.

DeWanda Wise, left, and Kacie Rogers in “Furlough’s Paradise” at the Geffen Playhouse.

(Jeff Lorch)

“Furlough’s Paradise,” Geffen Playhouse. This shape-shifting two-character drama by a.k. payne explores the politically loaded subject of identity through the relationship of two queer Black cousins, who grew up together but whose lives have diverged. Sade (DeWanda Wise) is on a three-day furlough from prison; Mina (Kacie Rogers), adrift in California, has returned home to connect with her roots. Together, they challenge each other’s understanding of the past and sense of possibility for the future. The drama, directed by Tinashe Kajese-Bolden and choreographed by Dell Howlett, routinely escaped the confined realism of the dramatic situation to find 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 at 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 the more combustible for being performed in such an inescapable intimate space. Wesley Guimarães and Jack Lancaster brought out the contrasting natures of these characters who are drawn to each in ways neither can fully work out. The production, 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 Photography)

“Fiddler on the Roof,” The Soraya. This fluidly staged concert version of the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene’s acclaimed revival in Yiddish of this classic American musical brought a sharp-edged authenticity to the story of Tevye the milkman and his marriageable daughters navigating a treacherous world of pogroms and fraying tradition. Steven Skybell, magnificent in the role of the besieged patriarch, led a superb cast that brought a new understanding to an old chestnut through the force of Yiddish language and culture. The production, directed by Oscar- and Tony-winning actor Joel Grey, spoke as much to our own political and social turmoil as to that of the characters without ever having to press the point.

Rachel Simone Webb and the company of the North American tour of “& Juliet.”

(Matthew Murphy)

“& Juliet,” Ahmanson Theatre. This jukebox musical imagines with unstinting originality a scenario in which the doomed heroine of William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” doesn’t die at the end of the play. Granted a theatrical second act, Juliet makes the rollicking most of it. The same could be said of this kinetically entertaining touring production. Tragedy was transformed not just into comedy but into a Max Martin dance party, replete with hits from the blockbuster Swedish producer that were made famous by such pop titans as Katy Perry, Britney Spears and the Backstreet Boys.

Pragun Bhardwaj, from left, Taha Mandviwala and the national touring company of “Life of Pi.”

(Evan Zimmerman)

“Life of Pi,” Ahmanson Theatre. The most visually entrancing production of the year was also one of the most dramatically captivating. This adventure tale of a boy trying to survive a shipwreck with the help of his imagination and a few of the surviving animals of his family’s zoo translated into purely theatrical terms the fable-like enchantment of Yann Martel’s 2002 Booker Prize-winning novel. Lolita Chakrabarti’s smart adaptation rode the magic carpet of Max Webster’s staging, which had 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 maximum fear without theatergoers having to hate themselves in the morning. The characters, rendered with contemporary exactness by a first-rate cast, were so recognizable that they made the mysterious events unfolding around them terrifyingly plausible. The London house, ingeniously laid out by scenic designer Fly Davis, practically stole the show.

Imax is having a moment. More than 50 years after debuting at the 1970 Osaka world’s fair with the 17-minute experimental film “Tiger Child,” the format has become the ascendant king of spectacle. Today, Imax counts 1,829 screens in 89 countries — just 1% of theaters — yet makes up an increasingly vital part of the theatrical box office, with 50% market share growth since 2018 and an estimated $1.2-billion take in 2025. And the company shows no signs of slowing down.

“As long as there are filmmakers who are fans as well as studios who are fans, we’re going to make a difference,” says Chief Executive Richard Gelfond, who acquired the company in 1994 with business partner Bradley Wechsler.

Breaking into mainstream Hollywood didn’t come easy. For decades Imax films were largely documentaries, often about space exploration, nature or discoveries, with systems installed in museums and science centers. The flash point came in 2008 with Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight,” which featured 28 minutes filmed with Imax 70mm cameras. Film buff and industry content creator Lizzy Gonzalez vividly remembers when the Joker (Heath Ledger) unmasks himself during the chaotic bank heist. “It was my earliest Imax experience, and my jaw dropped in awe,” she says. Ever since, she’s been hooked, admitting the premium format is “the only legit movie experience that immerses you in the story.”

Directors are now leaning in, with the “Filmed for Imax” (FFI) lineup expanding to 14 titles in 2025 — doubling last year’s total. The program lets filmmakers shoot with Imax cameras or other approved cameras and provides additional production support, such as a longer window with the equipment and more publicity during release. “In previous years, Imax used to do about 10% of the box office in North America, but [with] FFI movies we’ve averaged about 15%. It means more dollars to whoever makes them and more profit to the studio,” says Gelfond.

Regina Hall in “One Battle After Another.”

(Warner Bros. Pictures)

Not all movies exhibited in Imax formats are shot under the FFI banner — indeed, from James Cameron’s original “Avatar” to Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another,” the majority of Imax releases are instead enhanced using digital media remastering. But movies that take advantage of FFI, including “Sinners,” “Superman” and “F1,” are seeing box-office benefits and a palpable moviegoing experience.

“Today’s audiences are searching for an emotional connection; they want to feel something, to step inside the filmmaker’s vision. That’s exactly what we wanted to give them by shooting in 65mm Imax,” says “Sinners” cinematographer Autumn Durald Arkapaw, who was the first woman to shoot in the format. “When you sit in a dark theater and take in a full 1.43:1, 15-perf Imax image, it fills your field of view, and you finally understand what cinema can be.”

Claudio Miranda, the cinematographer behind Joseph Kosinski’s “Top Gun: Maverick” and “F1,” agrees. “For me, Imax is all about immersion. It brings audiences more into the movie than any other format, surrounding them from the north, south, east and west with the film, which is needed for a story of the size and scope of ‘F1.’ Joe and I operate under the shared understanding that audiences react more viscerally to a film that’s been shot authentically, and they can feel it in their bones if it’s not. So we gravitate towards telling immersive, human stories.”

Imax is improving technical capabilities too, including a new Imax 70mm film camera system nicknamed “The Keighley” in honor of late Chief Quality Officer David Keighley, who oversaw hundreds of Imax projects. Its most significant improvement is reduced noise. The previous model was bulky, heavy and notoriously loud. Thanks to the quieter design, Nolan’s “The Odyssey” will become the first theatrical movie shot entirely on Imax film cameras, something he couldn’t achieve on “Oppenheimer” due to sound issues.

“Brad Pitt” in “F1.”

(Warner Bros. Pictures)

Nolan’s adaptation of Homer’s epic has already caused a stir, as most Imax tickets sold out a year before its release next July. Imax superfan Shane Short, who saw “Oppenheimer” 132 times and once sat next to Arkapaw during a screening of “Sinners,” says it’s a good thing. “What really pulls me into movies is the emotional aspect when connecting with something. For me, it’s hard to get that in a normal theater. Imax is truly the ultimate immersive experience that draws me in.”

Of course, Imax is not the only big-screen game in town. There’s AMC Prime, Cinemark XD, Regal RPX, Dolby Cinema, Real3D and 4DX, to name a few. All share one thing in common: an extra premium for a ticket. “The upcharges for a lot of people are worth it,” says Comscore senior media analyst Paul Dergarabedian. “When you go into Imax or other premium formats, it’s really about the sound and vision coming together. And for the right movie, the right screen, fans who don’t go to the movies every day are going to splurge.”

How much that will cost audiences going forward is left up to theaters. “By way of our agreement, it’s not our place to get involved,” says Gelfond about pricing. “We believe there could be more elasticity if it’s a big release, but again, it’s up to the exhibitor.” Any indication of a price squeeze on consumers will likely surface in the next two years with the forthcoming “Project Hail Mary,” “Supergirl,” “The Batman: Part Two” and “Dune: Part Three,” for which director Denis Villeneuve shot scenes using the new Imax 70mm cameras.

Our guess? Start saving now.