Review On Native Gardens

September 14th, 2018

Tin Pan L.A.

Registered Critic

REVIEW: NATIVE GARDENS

BY RYAN M. LUÉVANO

Karen Zacarías' new comedy Native Gardens, now playing at the Pasadena Playhouse, is the perfect fit for this city's perfectly tailored green lawns and gardening lifestyle that includes the celebrated Tournament of Roses Parade. The play directed by Jason Alexander proves that just how challenging it can be to share a property line, and the what it truly means to be a good neighbor. Zacarías adeptly infuses issues of ageism, taste, race, and class into this brisk comedy that can't help but remind us of an elevated episode of I Love Lucy.

Ryan Luévano is a professional music director, composer, musicologist and music educator. Ryan is an experienced music director and conductor for musical theater, opera, film and concert music. Past productions include: Experience Magic!, Annie, The Sound of Music, Into the Woods, Chess, The Pajama Game, Bells Are Ringing, and Funny Girl. Additionally, he works as a professor of music at Woodbury University and Santa Ana College. When he’s not producing shows he pens as a theater critic for his blog Tin Pan L.A. where you can read all about the L.A. theater scene.