Throughout the show, I repeatedly found myself saying, “What the f***?” between the vocal performances, aerial stunts, puppetry and scenic design. From left: Zachary Keller and Helen Krushinski in "Water for Elephants" at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre (Photo by Matthew Murphy) Written by Rick Elice with music by PigPen Theatre Co., inspired by Sara Gruen’s 2006 novel and directed by Jessica Stone at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre, the Tony Award-nominated musical “Water for Elephants” tells...

Ntozake Shange’s 1976 Obie Award-winning choreopoem “for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf,” directed by Desean K. Terry at The Last Acting Studio, follows several Black women as they share personal stories centered around love, heartbreak, trauma, identity, sexuality and survival. From left: Aliysa Shareef, Serenity Calhoun, Ryn Stafford, Sequoiah Blaire and Alise Willis in rehearsal for The Last Acting Studio's "for colored girls who have considered...

Brian Yorke and Tom Kitt’s Tony Award-winning 2009 musical “Next to Normal” follows the Goodman family, who look like the perfect family from the outside, but peeling back layers reveals a family struggling with the grief of losing their son Gabe (Dillon Klena) and how that loss has affected each of them differently. From left: Jonny Perl (Dan), Sophia Roth (Natalie), Catriona Fray (Diana) and Dillon Klena (Gabe) in "Next to Normal" at Hudson Backstage Theatre. Photo by Rachel Wilkosz....