Theatre West

What a fabulous find! This place is awesome for young kids. Lots of audience participation — my kids didn’t want to leave when the show ended! The artists are also very talented, funny and entertaining. Love it!

Went with a preschool today to see a performance of Little Red Riding Hood. Show was entertaining and kept the attention of my wiggly 3 year old. Our show was delayed since the production team wanted to wait for the last, late-​arriving school (they got lost). Didn’t really appreciate that since we would not have expected that for our school and definitely had restless children on our hands. Also, beware… their website says that there is free parking in the lot across the street: «FREE PARKING is provided across the street in the PANASONIC lot, which may be crossed with a crosswalk and traffic light.» HOWEVER, this is ONLY after 5 and on weekends (conveniently left off the website). I got to find out the hard way since the parking attendant would NOT let me leave… I got to park again, get my child out of the carseat and wait to cross the street and then wait another 7 minutes for someone to finish a conversation in order to ask for money… since I had NO cash and their website said the parking was free. They gave me $ 5, which was then too small amount since the additional 15 minutes of the debacle was costing MORE money! The parking attendant didn’t have the nerve to ask me to go through that again and paid out of his own pocket. Shame since the production was so sweet.

I just took my four year old to see «Goldilocks and the three Bears». I thought the production was great. It was simple yet entertaining, not too long for the kids (about an hour long), and the music was catchy. The actors did a great job getting the kids excited and eager to participate. The actress who played Goldilocks had an especially pretty voice. I really appreciate little theatres like this that have a real down to earth quality and you feel like you’re contributing to your community when you buy a ticket. I’d love to see this theatre have a packed house every night. It deserves it. My child and I are excited to go see next season’s Storybook Theatre production.

I just saw «The Tango Singer» an original play written and directed by John R. Lacey. Well he totally outdid himself with the writing and story. The actors were fabulous and took ownership of their roles; taking us back to Argentina then Paris. Their professionalism and expertise in theater was evident. The singing was impressive embracing you with their emotions; you lived the words and felt them deeply. It was wonderful to see the reactions from the audience around me, the laughter in response to certain scenes, the cheers, the emotions we all felt. Then the finale was simply a STANDING OVATION. Well deserved everyone! Great Job! I saw it a few times; had to, and took about 10 guests with me — all loved it and appreciated having been told about it, otherwise would have missed it. GREAT JOB EVERYONE! So what’s next?

Saw a performance by Conscious … «How I Got UNSTUCK»… a real laugh and cry type performance. Loved the theater though, nice space… great area to use and transform for various projects.

My mother and I love going to Theatre West because they always put on a good production for all ages.

Saw Waiting for Lefty. Good play for a lot of reasons: believable characters, correct historical usage of words, mini-​plays within the play which touched upon the different stages of people’s lives: when a couple starts dating, get engaged, married with children, and pertinent to 2010 in the sense of how desperate people may feel because of the recession.

Recently saw «Acting — The First Six Lessons». It was a thrill to watch Beau Bridges and his daughter together and they gave top notch performances. The play has much to say, not just about acting, but life in general. That said, it could have used more story or dramatic structure. I wish them luck as they develop this worthwhile project.
I would have rated the experience four stars except for the poor management of the theater itself. My date and I (and many other people) waited twenty minutes on line to pick up our tickets. Worse, we were seated in the General section, although we had paid for Premium seats. We complained to two theater staffers and showed them the receipt for it– to no avail. Disappointing, as we had been looking forward to sitting up close for this show. When we complained later via email they finally fixed the cause of their ticketing error, offered us a $ 2 refund (!!) but no apology.

I’m surprised more people have yet to review Theatre West! It is an internationally acclaimed theatre in Hollywood, California. I came to know the theatre through their production of Waiting in the Wings with Betty Garrett which I saw last fall when I was in LA. It was fantastic! Betty Garrett, from On the Town and All in the Family — at 90 years old, stole the stage in every scene. In September they are doing the play Gaslight which is a Victorian Thriller. I will be back in LA for Labor Day weekend and I already purchased my tickets! I’ve been to the Ahmanson out there but this theatre had equally talented actors and there was not a bad seat in the house. And there was FREE parking across the street. Also, the set for Waiting in the Wings was breathtaking and it looks like the same guy is doing the set for Gaslight. I can’t wait. I highly suggest checking out Theatre West.

Just saw the «Sleeping Beauty» production earlier today with my four year old son. It was delightful and entertaining! It was age appropriate and interactive. My only complaint was that my son had to sit on my lap the entire time because there was a mix of adults and the children in the audience so he couldn’t see over anyone’s head where he was sitting. Typically in those types of settings there is a distinction between where adults and children sit because 45 pounds on my knee for two hours was nothing nice! Other than that I got great deal on tickets so it worked out perfectly. Without the discount, a family of three is $ 36 but I only paid $ 18.
Also, thanks to my lovely mother who was responsible for the mapquest, oddly enough the theatre where we saw the production was not the theatre where I purchased tickets but somehow they let us in anyway at the Will Call window!