Observations Along The Road... at Dreamwidth

No fooling! It’s time for another headline post. Although I’m posting this on April Fool’s Day, there are no “fool” headlines buried herein — after all, these headlines cover March 2026, not April. Then again…

2026 marks the 30^th Anniversary of the California Highways website. The changelog for 1996 shows the first “official” changes in October 1996, although it notes that “Changes before early 1996 were not specifically noted, although this site, in various forms, dates back at least as far as 1992, and possibly as early as 1986. Searching on Google Groups uncovers an early posting of the state highway list in December of 1992 to the Usenet Group ca.driving. In 1995, there was a posting of the highway list in response to a question, showing a last modified date of 1994. By October 1996, postings were being made showing the existence of the California Highways page off of Pacificnet. The earliest capture of the site on the Wayback Machine is in December 1998.” So welcome to the 30^th Anniversary year, or perhaps the 40^th Anniversary year, of California Highways! Speaking of the website, I’m pleased to announce that the January-March updates to the California Highways website have been posted.

With respect to the podcast: Season 4 is written and recording is proceeding apace. We’re planning a few bonus episodes that don’t take as much research and writing; after which I’ll turn my attention to Season 5, covering Routes 15 through 23. I particularly like ep 4.12, which covers the unbuilt freeways of the San Fernando Valley, using the first segment of Route 14 as the starting point. Zencaster is working well for recording the podcast. I think it sounds better, but I would love to hear from the listeners. Let us know what you think. It looks like the regular audience is between 60-80 folks, and I’d love to get that number up, although the numbers don’t included those who listen directly from the CARouteByRoute website (as I don’t know how to get those stats). You can help our listening audience grow. Please tell your friends about the podcast, “like”, “♥”, or “favorite” it, and give it a rating in your favorite podcatcher. Share the podcast on Facebook groups, and in your Bluesky and Mastodon communities. For those that hear the early episodes, the sound quality of the episodes does get better — we were learning. If you know sound editing, feel free to give me advice (I use Audacity to edit). As always, you can keep up with the show at the podcast’s forever home at https://www.caroutebyroute.org , the show’s page on Spotify for Creators, or you can subscribe through your favorite podcatching app or via the RSS feeds (CARxR, Spotify for Creators) . The following episodes have been posted this month:

• March | CA RxR 4.08: Route 12: Sonoma and Napa. Episode 4.08 is the first of three episodes focusing on Route 12. We start by exploring LRN 12, which we visited before in our episodes on Route 8, for LRN 12 became I-8 between San Diego and El Centro. We then look at Sign Route 12 and Route 12, which are mostly the same route… except, of course, in the first segment where they differ in routing between Route 1 and US 101. Episode 4.08 focuses on the first two segments of Route 12, which covers the portions between Route 1 near Valley Ford or Jenner through Sebastapol, Santa Rosa, Sonoma, Napa, and into Cordelia. Episode 4.09 will cover Route 12 from I-80 near Suisan City through the Sacramento Wetlands to Lodi and Route 99. Lastly, Episode 4.10 will cover Route 12 from Route 99 to the Sierra Foothill and San Andreas, where it meets Route 49. As usual, we’ll cover historical routings, projects, and names along the route. (Spotify for Creators)
• March | CA RxR 4.09: Route 12: Crossing the Wetlands. Episode 4.09 continues our exploration of Route 12 through an exploration of the middle section of the route: From Fairfield/Cordelia through the “Drive to Stay Alive” corridor, on through the wetlands of Rio Vista, and into the central valley and Lodi. We explore the big change in routing that happened in Rio Vista. We also look at some major projects within this segment, as well as some of the interesting names. We also review LRN 12, which we visited before in our episodes on Route 8, for LRN 12 became I-8 between San Diego and El Centro. Our exploration of Route 12 will conclude in Episode 4.10, which will cover Route 12 from Route 99 to the Sierra Foothill and San Andreas, where it meets Route 49. (Spotify for Creators)

As a reminder: One of the sources for the highway page updates (and the raison d’etre for for this post) are headlines about California Highways that I’ve seen over the last month. I collect them in this post, which serves as fodder for the updates to my California Highways site, and so there are also other pages and things I’ve seen that I wanted to remember for the site updates. Lastly, the post also includes some things that I think would be of peripheral interest to my highway-obsessed highway-interested readers.

One last point of personal interest: For over 20 years, I’ve been a judge at the California Science and Engineering Fair. This is the state level fair for all those Middle and High School science fairs, that bubble up to their county fairs, than then make it post those fairs to the state level. This year, the CSEF is on Sunday April 12 at Cal Lutheran in Thousand Oaks. We always need judges in a wide variety of scientific and engineering categories. So if you are working the in the field of science or engineering, consider volunteering to be a judge. I’ll be there, probably running the Jr. Mathematical Sciences panel. We do get highway related projects: Last year’s winner in our category was a kid that used cellular automata to model traffic on I-405.

Well, you should now be up to date. Here are the headlines that I found about California’s highways for March 2026.

Key

[Ħ Historical information | ＄ Paywalls, ＄＄ really obnoxious paywalls, and ∅ other annoying restrictions. I’m no longer going to list the paper names, as I’m including them in the headlines now. Note: For ＄ paywalls, sometimes the only way is incognito mode, grabbing the text before the paywall shows, and pasting into an editor. See this article for more tips on bypassing paywalls. ＄＄ paywalls require the use of archive.ph. ☊ indicates an primarily audio article. 🎥 indicates a primarily video article. 🎩 indicates hat/tip to someone for finding this article. ]

Highway Headlines

• Metro Committee Approves Additional Early Construction Funding for Union Station Run-Through Tracks (Streetsblog Los Angeles). This week the Metro Construction Committee approved an additional $210 million for early construction work on the long planned Union Station run-through tracks project, called Link US. Metro already had allocated about $300 million for early Link US construction already underway; this ups the “pre-construction” phase to a half-billion dollars. If you’re completely unfamiliar with LinkUS, watch SBLA’s short explainer video. Since opening in 1939, Union Station has operated with inefficient stub-end tracks. Essentially trains nose into the station, then have to reverse to get out. Metro estimates that fixing this will increase Union Station capacity from 180 to 278 trains daily and reduce train dwell times from ~20 minutes to ~5 minutes – greatly benefitting riders on Metrolink, Amtrak, and future CA High-Speed Rail. Link US is a huge undertaking which includes building a new bridge over and along the 101 Freeway. The initial phase is anticipated to cost roughly $2.3 billion.
• ☊ Untangling the 101/92 interchange and what it means for the Peninsula (WheelTalk). The Highway 101 and 92 interchange is one of the busiest and most complex transportation hubs in the Bay Area — and it’s also the focus of several major projects that often get confused with one another. In this episode of Wheel Talk, we break down three distinct transportation efforts connected to the interchange and surrounding communities, each with its own purpose and  timeline. First, we look at a safety and bottleneck improvement project already underway, designed to reduce congestion and improve traffic flow through known trouble spots. Caltrans Public Information Officer Jeneane Crawford explains what drivers can expect during construction and how success will be measured. Next, we examine a proposed direct connectors project that could link Highway 92 with the 101 express lanes. Still under review, this proposal has raised important community questions. San Mateo County Transportation Authority Director of Project Delivery Jess Manzi responds to public concerns and clarifies where the project stands today.
• Steel-weld inspection and plate repairs continue on Carquinez Bridge (The Bay Link Blog). Caltrans continues to perform essential steel weld inspection project weld inspections and repairs on the Carquinez Bridge. The work is critical to maintaining the ongoing structural integrity of the bridge. Carquinez Bridge closures are expected to continue through March.
• ＄ New Highway 101 carpool lane hours take effect in Sonoma, Marin counties after unpopular September shift (Press Democrat). If commuters on Highway 101 in Sonoma and Marin counties are feeling a bit whipsawed these days, that’s understandable. For the second time in six months, crews for California’s transportation department recently finished updating signs displaying a new set of carpool lane hours for that 52-mile corridor. As of Monday, revised signs announced that the latest high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lane hours are 6 to 9 a.m. in the morning and 3 to 6:30 p.m. in the evening, in both counties, in both directions, Monday through Friday. This latest iteration represents a retreat from the HOV lane hours unveiled by Caltrans – to widespread condemnation ­­– on Sept. 8.
• ＄＄ SANDAG outsources troubled highway toll collection [🎩 andy3175] (San Diego Union Tribune). San Diego’s regional planning agency is largely walking away — for now — from its controversial management of local toll roads, after years of billing-software problems that led to scathing audits and millions in legal costs. The San Diego Association of Governments is set to ink a contract with two Orange County transit agencies that will hand them control of the billing and financial systems for the tolled section of state Route 125 in the South Bay and toll lanes on Interstate 15 in North County. The move could save the agency more than $2 million a year, its staff said. On Friday, SANDAG’s board unanimously backed the new contract with the Transportation Corridor Agencies, or TCA, which consists of two different agencies that oversee four Orange County toll roads, as well as handle the billing system for tolled lanes on Interstate 10 in San Bernardino County.
• State Route 168 Shaver Lake Viaduct Project (FB/Caltrans Central Valley District 6). The Department of Transportation (Caltrans), in cooperation with Viking Construction, announces the State Route 168 Shaver Lake Viaduct Project in Fresno County to begin April 2026. This project would construct a two-lane viaduct structure on a new alignment on State Route 168 along a section of Shaver Lake shoreline, in Fresno County, from Post Mile (PM) 49.1 to PM 49.5.

Before we start on the update: 2026 marks the 30^th Anniversary of this website. The changelog for 1996 shows the first “official” changes in October 1996, although it notes that “Changes before early 1996 were not specifically noted, although this site, in various forms, dates back at least as far as 1992, and possibly as early as 1986. Searching on Google Groups uncovers an early posting of the state highway list in December of 1992 to the Usenet Group ca.driving. In 1995, there was a posting of the highway list in response to a question, showing a last modified date of 1994. By October 1996, postings were being made showing the existence of the California Highways page off of Pacificnet.The earliest capture of the site on the Wayback Machine is in December 1998.” So welcome to the start of the 30^th Anniversary year, or perhaps the 40^th Anniversary year, of California Highways!

This update covers January, February, and March 2026. Before we dive into the updates to the California Highways site, an update on the California Highways: Route by Route podcast. As always, you can keep up with the show at the podcast’s forever home at https://www.caroutebyroute.org , the show’s page on Spotify for Podcasters, or you can subscribe through your favorite podcaster or via the RSS feeds (CARxR, Spotify for Podcasters). The following episodes have been posted since the last update at the end of 2025:

• March | CA RxR 4.08: Route 12: Sonoma and Napa. Episode 4.08 is the first of three episodes focusing on Route 12. We start by exploring LRN 12, which we visited before in our episodes on Route 8, for LRN 12 became I-8 between San Diego and El Centro. We then look at Sign Route 12 and Route 12, which are mostly the same route… except, of course, in the first segment where they differ in routing between Route 1 and US 101. Episode 4.08 focuses on the first two segments of Route 12, which covers the portions between Route 1 near Valley Ford or Jenner through Sebastapol, Santa Rosa, Sonoma, Napa, and into Cordelia. Episode 4.09 will cover Route 12 from I-80 near Suisan City through the Sacramento Wetlands to Lodi and Route 99. Lastly, Episode 4.10 will cover Route 12 from Route 99 to the Sierra Foothill and San Andreas, where it meets Route 49. As usual, we’ll cover historical routings, projects, and names along the route. (Spotify for Creators)
• February | CA RxR 4.07: Route 11: From Pasadena to the Border. In Episode 4.07, we examine Route 11. We’ll start by exploring LRN 11, which was essentially the first state highway, running from Sacramento to Placerville, later extended to run from Antioch to the Nevada State Line near Lake Tahoe. Today, it is primarily US 50 with a bit of Route 160. We then explore the original Sign Route 11, which was LRN 165 and LRN 205, and is today’s Route 110. It was also US 60, and is perhaps better known as the Harbor Freeway and the Pasadena Freeway / Arroyo Seco Parkway. We explore the history and various routings of Sign Route 11, including the history of the Figueroa Tunnels. Lastly, we explore the current Route 11, which is a short route near the Mexico border that connects the San Diego Freeway System (Route 905/Route 125) to the Otay Mesa East port of entry. (Spotify for Creators)
• January | CA RxR 4.06: I-10: San Bernardino Freeway. Episode 4.06 continues our exploration of Route 10. Episode 4.05 covered the first segment of Route 10: The Santa Monica Freeway between Route 1 and the I-5/US 101 junction. This episode, 4.06, covers the second segment of Route 10, from US 101 to the Arizona Border. Along the way, we explore the former I-110 segment, Route 10S, and do a deep dive into the US highways that shaped this segment of I-10: US 60, US 70, and US 99. We explore the historical routing of those highways across this segment. We also look at some of the names on the highway, and current projects along the highway. (Spotify for Creators)
• January | CA RxR 4.05: I-10: Santa Monica Freeway. With Episode 4.05, we turn our attention to Route 10. This first episode on Route 10 starts with an exploration of the 10^th route (the last ordinal route we’ll do), which was the Emigrant Gap Highway, and became the basis for LRN 37. This became part of the Lincoln Highway, then US 40, and is now part of I-80 from Sacramento to Nevada. We look at LRN 10, which became Route 198 from US 101 near San Lucas to Sequoia National Park. We then explore Sign Route 10 (which we discussed in our episode on I-5 in Los Angeles county), which ran from US 101A to US 101, later becoming Route 42 and US 101 Bypass, and eventually I-105 and I-5. Lastly, we turn to post-1964 Route 10, which is today’s I-10. In this episode, we focus on the first segment: “From Route 1 in Santa Monica to Route 5 near Seventh Street in Los Angeles”, which is today’s Santa Monica Freeway. We look at its origins as Sign Route 6, which became Sign Route 26 along LRN 173, LRN 166, and LRN 171. We focus on LRN 173 (LRN 166 and LRN 171 were discussed in our episode on I-5 in Los Angeles county, as well as our episode on Route 6), which was Olympic Blvd. We explore the history of the Santa Monica Freeway segment, the experiments tried along this highway, some significant projects along this segment, and some significant names on this segment. (Spotify for Creators)

Turning to the updates to the California Highways pages: Updates were made to the following highways, based on my reading of the (virtual) papers and my research for the fourth and fifth seasons of the podcast in January, February, and March 2026 (which are posted to the roadgeeking category at the “Observations Along The Road” and to the California Highways Facebook group) as well as any backed up email changes. I also reviewed the the AAroads forum (Ꜳ). This resulted in changes on the following routes, with credit as indicated [my research^(ℱ), contributions of information or leads (via direct mail or ꜲRoads) from andy3175⁽²⁾, ClassicsHasClass⁽³⁾, Tom Fearer [Max Rockatansky]⁽⁴⁾, Mike Palmer⁽⁵⁾, Will Poundstone⁽⁶⁾]: Route 1^(ℱ), Route 2^(ℱ), Route 4^(ℱ,4), I-5^(ℱ), Sign Route 7^(ℱ), Route 9⁽⁴⁾, I-10^(ℱ), Route 12^(ℱ), Route 14^(ℱ,6), Route 16^(ℱ), Route 24^(ℱ), Route 26^(ℱ), Route 28^(ℱ), Route 34^(ℱ), Route 37^(ℱ), Route 47^(ℱ,5), Route 49^(ℱ), US 50^(ℱ), Route 57^(ℱ), Campus Parkway/Route 59⁽⁴⁾, Route 60^(ℱ), Route 71^(ℱ), Route 74^(ℱ), I-80^(ℱ), Route 82^(ℱ), Route 84^(ℱ), Route 90^(ℱ), Route 91^(ℱ), Route 92^(ℱ), Route 93^(ℱ), Route 99^(ℱ), US 101^(ℱ), I-105^(ℱ), Route 118^(ℱ), Route 125⁽²⁾, Route 134^(ℱ), Route 138^(ℱ), Route 140^(ℱ), Route 168^(ℱ), Route 180⁽⁴⁾, I-210^(ℱ), I-215^(ℱ), Route 211^(ℱ), I-215^(ℱ), Route 217^(ℱ), Route 241^(ℱ), Route 255^(ℱ), Route 260^(ℱ), US 395⁽³⁾, I-405^(ℱ,6), I-580^(ℱ), I-680^(ℱ), I-710^(ℱ), I-880^(ℱ), LRN 7^(ℱ), LRN 77^(ℱ), LRN 221^(ℱ), County Sign Route E15^(ℱ), El Camino Real^(ℱ).
(Source: private email through 3/19/2026, Highway headline posts through and including the March 2026 Headline post (up to “Fifth Street” (HL) and “Douglas Flat” (GN)), AARoads through 3/27/2026)

Completed work on Season 4, and started work on Season 5, of the Route by Route podcast. Research for and preparation of the episodes posted or written during this period resulted in changes and updates to the following routes: I-10, Route 12, Route 13, Route 14, Route 49, Route 110, Route 112, Route 123, Route 260, I-980, LRN 8, LRN 9, LRN 10, LRN 11, LRN 12, LRN 13, LRN 14, LRN 24, County Sign Route J5.

Reviewed the Pending Legislation page, based on the California Legislature site, for bills through 2026-03-20. As usual, I recommend to every Californian that they visit the legislative website regularly and see what their legis-critters are doing. As many people are unfamiliar with how the legislature operates (and why there are so many “non-substantive changes” and “gut and amend” bills), I’ve added the legislative calendar (updated for 2026) to the end of the Pending Legislation page. This is early in the even-numbered year session, so there’s a lot of introduction of placeholder bills, and a lot of amending of those placeholder bills (and bills that remained active from the previous year). Noted the passage of the following bills / resolutions (I also identified a number of errors in bills and resolutions, and submitted comments as indicated):

• ACR 71 (Kalra) Little Saigon Freeway.
  Designates the portion of US 101 in the County of Santa Clara from Story Road (SCL 34.224) to the junction with Route 280 and Route 680 (SCL 34.873) as the “Little Saigon Freeway”. In August 2025, it was noted that Santa Clara leaders had shown support for the proposal; see here.02/20/26 Chaptered by Secretary of State – Res. Chapter 4, Statutes of 2026.

Reviewed the online agenda of the California Coastal Commission for the January through March meetings. The following items were of interest:

• February: Agenda Item W12a. February 2026 Appeal No. A-1-MEN-25-0050 (Caltrans Gualala Downtown Streetscape Project, Mendocino County). Appeals by (1) Save Gualala, and (2) Bower Limited Partnership from decision of County of Mendocino granting permit with conditions to the California Department of Transportation District 1 for the Gualala Downtown Streetscape Enhancement project that proposes to reconfigure approximately 0.5 mi. segment of Route 1, removing on-highway parking and installing two-way left turn lanes, bicycle lanes, sidewalks, pedestrian refuge islands, crosswalks, activated flashing beacons, drainage, landscaping, and other improvements from post mile 0.6 to 1.0 in unincorporated Gualala, Mendocino County. (AS-A)
• February: Agenda Item W13a. February 2026 Application No. 1-25-0828 (Caltrans Albion River Bridge Repair and Maintenance, Mendocino County). Application by the California Department of Transportation District 1 to repair and maintain the Albion River Bridge through replacement in-kind of 53 deteriorated timber scabs and inspection and potential replacement of at least three split ring connectors and one mole claw connector located at the base of the timber towers, all located above the Albion River within the Caltrans right of way on Route 1, Mendocino County. (MP-SF)

I checked California Transportation Commission page for the agenda and results of the January and March 2026 meetings of the California Transportation Commission. As always, note that I tend not to track items that do not impact these pages — i.e., pavement rehabilitation or replacement, landscaping, drainage, culverts, roadside facilities, charging stations, or other things that do not impact the routing or history, unless they are really significant. As such, the following items were of interest:

Back when you were in high school, you would often get assignments that would have you compare and contrast various things. That particular exercise doesn’t go away, especially if you are an avid theatregoer. After all, how many productions of The Sound of Music will you see over your lifetime? The story doesn’t change: What changes is the execution, and how one particular production team brings that production to life, on a different stage, with different actors. We saw that earlier this weekend with The Color Purple, where we were able to compare and contrast a production of that musical in a 74-seat black box, as compared to the original version on the Ahmanson Stage and the revival version on the Pantages stage.

We had that chance again yesterday with The Play That Goes Wrong, which is being presented for two more weekends by 5-Star Theatricals (nee Cabrillo Music Theatre). Here, the interesting contrast was between the original Broadway tour (which we saw at the Ahmanson in 2019) and a community theatre production (mounted by Canyon Theatre Guild in 2024). Here you have widely varying budgets and actor skill levels, from a Broadway-caliber touring set and a full union cast to a community theatre with no budgets for rentals and a home-grown cast (I won’t say amateur or unskilled, tho, as CTG’s talent pool often draws from local regulars as well as other theatre industry folks, but not AEA). 5-Star is somewhere in the middle: They have the budget to rent reasonable sets (although I miss the days they built their own), have a small number of AEA actors, have a casting team that identifies strong up-and-coming actors (I still remember seeing Katherine McPhee, prior to American Idol, on the Cabrillo Stage leading “Annie Get Your Gun” in 2005), and get strong directors.

First, some background to this particular play. As I wrote back in 2019:

The premise of The Play That Goes Wrong is a simple one: an amateur British theatre company, the Cornley University Drama Society, has been afforded the honour through a British-American Cultural Exchange Program of presenting a play on tour in America: The Murder at Haversham Manor, written by Susie H.K. Brideswell. Unfortunately, during the production, everything that can go wrong during the production does. Miscues. Misplaced props. Non-cooperating sets. Bad actors. Technology issues. Trying to summarize the story is pointless — the story exists only to provide a framework for the mayhem, and the mayhem is so rapid-fire that trying to describe it is (a) impossible, and (b) would destroy the humor.

The Play That Goes Wrong is a farce. Farce exaggerates things, with broad stereotypical characters, often intentionally bad acting, and extremely tight timing. Perhaps the best known example of a farce is the play Noises Off. The problem with farce is that repeat viewing often destroys the humor as you become aware of the intentional missteps. Some find the humor fresh each time; some find it diminishes. I’d avoid seeing the same farce too frequently; if you do, look for what is fresh and new in the execution.

The good news is that 5-Star has found an extremely strong cast (more on that in a sec), with a strong director that was able to bring out their playfulness. They got the timing right (or is that wrong?). They hit the humor beats, and were able to bring their own flair to the production. The bad news is that 5-Star didn’t strongly commit to the conceit of the show. I remember that the community CTG had flyers in the bathrooms and around the theatre about the missing dog (it is a plot beat in the story). They had a fake program within the real program about the Cornly University Drama Society play, with fake bios of the characters on the stage, and fake ads that had real working websites. 5-Star missed that little extra (which, truthfully, would not have cost a significant amount). Those who have seen this farce before would notice. For the T.O. audience that was new to this play, perhaps they might not; but that little extra does add to the humor.

Setting that aside, the execution was flawless (although it seems wrong to say that when discussing a play whose purpose is for everything to go wrong). They did have the pre-curtain schtick, with audience involvement. They did play with the usual opening announcements. The show was entertaining and funny, with appropriate overacting and missteps.

In many ways, the “star” of TPTGW is the set. Alas, here 5-Star didn’t take the risk of building their own set (as Canyon TG did). They rented it from Studio Tenn Theatre Company, which meant the set was shipped from Tennessee, where Studio Tenn is located. The set worked well and supported the requisite antics. Renting vs. building takes away the fun of seeing whether the company can execute the tight set building needs. As with intentional overacting, intentionally building a set (and props) that are designed to fail is an art. The rental set did that just fine; I just missed the extra local touch. However, I will note that set rental is better environmentally as set reuse prevents that large amount of waste that comes after the show ends.

Where this production shines is in the casting and the direction. Director Larry Raben brought out the playfulness in the cast, which was a mix of local and AEA talent. He got the timings precise, and knew when to play up the comedy moves to bring out the laughs. All of the cast was strong, but there were some notable highlights. The first was Gabi Manoukian as Annie, one of the stage managers. In her stage manager role, she conveys a sufficient back-stage personality to make the later uncomfortable transition to actor believable. She’s fun to watch in the opening sequences, and her closing transformation is just great. Adam Hagenbuch knocked it out of the park, both in his early portrayals of the dead Charles Haversham and his final portrayals as the same character. Justin Michael Wilcox was a strong Chris/Inspector. I particularly liked his audience interaction early on, and his (apparent) ab-libbing at points as things go awry. John Shartzer was great as Max, the seeming neophyte actor who played to the audience reaction. Hell, all of the cast was really strong, and each deserves recognition.

Should you go see this? Probably. About the only caveat might be if you’ve seen a lot of productions of TPTGW, simply because you know the beats. Still, even in that case, this is worth seeing because of the flawless execution by this cast. The Play That Goes Wrong continues at the Scherr Forum at the Bank of America Thousand Oaks Plaza Theatre, presented by 5-Star Theatricals, until March 29, 2026. Tickets are available through the 5-Star website.

Credits

The Play That Goes Wrong. A Mischief Theatre production. Written by Henry Lewis, Henry Shields, and Jonathan Sayer. Directed by Larry Rabin.

Cast (^æ denotes members of Actors Equity): Timothy Willard Trevor Watson – Lighting and Sound Operator; Justin Michael Wilcox^æ Chris Bean – Inspector Carter & Director; Adam Hagenbuch^æ Jonathan Harris – Charles Haversham; Mark Gagliardi^æ Robert Grove – Thomas Colleymoore; Travis Joe Dixon Dennis Tyde – Perkins; Lyndsi LaRose Sandra Wilkinson – Florence Colleymoore; John Shartzer^æ Max Bennett – Cecil Haversham; and Gabi Manoukian Annie Twilloil – Stage Manager. Swings: Noah Kaplan, Smantha Lawrence-Mata, and Calaway Swanson.

Production and Creative: Larry Rabin Director; Coby Rogers Asst. Director; Olivia Riddle^æ Production Stage Manager; Morgan McDonald^æ Asst. Stage Manager; Cody Tellis Rutledge Scenic Designer; Studio Tenn Theatre Company Set Rental; Brandon Baruch Lighting Design; Jonathan A. Burke Sound Design; Julia Pinhey Asst Sound Design; Isa Underdahl Sound Mixer; Alex Choate Tech Director/Prop Design; Jacob Holcombe Asst Prop Design/Crew Chief; Gail Garon Costume Design; Luis Martinez Wig and Hair Design; EK Dagenfield Production Manager; Michael Donovan Casting Director; Richie Ferris Casting Director; David Elzer Publicity; Fresh Interactive Marketing; Cindy Murray Executive Director/Producer. Also worthy of note for this production is the 5-Star crew: Destin Washington-Wolfe, Sierra Armstrong, and the Stage Crew: Cameron Probe, San Dyck Forum Technical Supervisor; Finn Traxler Forum Lighting; Ben Blonigan Forum Audio, Form Rail Operator.

Administrivia

I am not a professional critic. I’m a retired cybersecurity professional, a roadgeek who does a highway site and a podcast about California Highways, and someone who loves live performance. I buy all my own tickets, unless explicitly noted otherwise. I do these writeups to share my thoughts on shows with my friends and the community. I encourage you to go to your local theatres and support them (ideally, by purchasing full price tickets, if you can afford to do so). We currently subscribe or have memberships at: Center Theatre Group/Ahmanson Theatre; Broadway in Hollywood/Pantages Theatre; Pasadena Playhouse; The Soraya, Chromolume Theatre, and 5-Star Theatricals.

Want to find a show: Check out the Theatre Commons LA show list. Other good lists are the Theatre in LA listings; the TodayTix listings; OnStage 411 (use the “shows” drop down); and Theatermania.

Some interesting shows that have caught my eye. Wisteria Theatre is doing Reefer Madness: The Musical (in April), as is Long Beach Playhouse (in October/November).  Wisteria was overpriced for a black-box; I might look into Long Beach’s production (but have to factor in the drive). Ebony Rep is doing Ain’t Misbehavin’ at the end of May into June. I love the show, but the prices are a bit high and I’m still trying to decide. I have a hold on the calendar. Casa 0101 is doing the play version of Real Women Have Curves from the end of March into May. Conundrum Theatre is doing a bunch of shows, but notably Big Fish in December 2026. And, as noted earlier, the Colony Theatre is doing Catch Me If You Can in the September/October 2026 timeframe. I’ll look into ticketing the fall shows once I know the CTG Season, to prevent conflicts. Broadway in Hollywood has announced its 2026-2027 season, and it is spectacular. The only major shows missing are Oh Mary, Boop: The Musical, and Just In Time. I expect Oh Mary to show up at the Ahmanson, and possibly Boop; Just In Time might be in the following Broadway in Hollywood season as I haven’t seen it announce any tour dates. Perhaps some local theatre will decide to mount Real Women Have Curves – The Musical or Dead Outlaw. One can hope. I do know the Segerstrom is doing Curves in Concert on March 20, but we just can’t make it due to the distance and a busy busy March. Lastly, I’ll note Group Rep in NoHo has announced their season, which includes a mounting of Applause in the July-August timeframe. That’s useful if you missed the MTG one-nighter; I haven’t yet decided if I want to see it again (although Group Rep does a great job with older and rarely done musical re-visits).

I used to do more detailed writeups; here’s my current approach.

Upcoming

♦ Theatre / ♣ Music / ◊ Other Live Performance – Next 90ish Days (⊕ indicates ticketing is pending).

• March: ♦ The Play That Goes Wrong at 5-Star Theatricals;  ♦ Here Lies Love at CTG/Mark Taper; MRJ Man of the Year Dinner at Temple Beth Hillel; MoTAS Poker Tournament; ♦ Spamlot at BIH/Pantages.
• April: ♦ Kim’s Convenience Store at CTG/Ahmanson; ♦ Ride the Cyclone at The Main; ♣ Jeremy Jordan at The Soraya; California Science and Engineering Fair at CLU; ♦ Flower Drum Song at East/West Players; ♦ Real Women Have Curves at Casa 0101. NOTE: We need judges for the California Science and Engineering Fair. If you have a degree in the sciences and are available to judge April 12 at Cal Lutheran in Thousand Oaks, sign up to judge here.
• May: ♦ Falstaff at LA Opera; ♦ The Sound of Music at BIH/Pantages; ♦ Brigadoon at The Pasadena Playhouse; ♦ Hells Kitchen at BIH/Pantages.
• June: ♦⊕ Ain’t Misbehavin’ at Ebony Rep; ♦ Elegies at Chromolume; ♦ Primary Trust at CTG/Taper; ♦ Mamma Mia at CTG/Ahmanson; plus whatever I schedule from the Hollywood Fringe Festival.

This entry was originally posted on Observations Along the Road as 🎭 Third Times The Charm, Right? | "The Play That Goes Wrong" @ 5-Star by cahwyguy. Although you can comment on DW, please make comments on original post at the Wordpress blog using the link to the left. You can sign in with your LJ, DW, FB, or a myriad of other accounts. Note: Subsequent changes made to the post on the blog are not propagated by the SNAP Crossposter; please visit the original post to see the latest version. P.S.: If you see share buttons above, note that they do not work outside of the Wordpress blog.

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What? February is over already? Seems like it is only been four weeks? Time is going fast in 2026, perhaps because we want it to be over fast. Now that I’m retired, the days are busy in a different sense: working on the highway pages, and working at the gym. Reading the news and looking for articles related to California Highways, saving them away for this headline post. I’m continuing to work on the highway pages: The January headlines are incorporated in the source files, and after this post I’ll start on the February pages and likely work on finishing the update round (unless I wait until the March headlines). Note that 2026 marks the 30^th Anniversary of the California Highways website. The changelog for 1996 shows the first “official” changes in October 1996, although it notes that “Changes before early 1996 were not specifically noted, although this site, in various forms, dates back at least as far as 1992, and possibly as early as 1986. Searching on Google Groups uncovers an early posting of the state highway list in December of 1992 to the Usenet Group ca.driving. In 1995, there was a posting of the highway list in response to a question, showing a last modified date of 1994. By October 1996, postings were being made showing the existence of the California Highways page off of Pacificnet. The earliest capture of the site on the Wayback Machine is in December 1998.” So welcome to the 30^th Anniversary year, or perhaps the 40^th Anniversary year, of California Highways!

With respect to the podcast: Season 4 is written and recording is proceeding apace. We’re planing a few bonus episodes that don’t take as much research and writing; after which I’ll turn my attention to Season 5, covering Routes 15 through 23. I particularly like ep 4.12, which covers the unbuilt freeways of the San Fernando Valley, using the first segment of Route 14 as the starting point. Zencaster is working well for recording the podcast. I think it sounds better, but I would love to hear from the listeners. Let us know what you think. It looks like the regular audience is between 60-80 folks, and I’d love to get that number up, although the numbers don’t included those who listen directly from the CARouteByRoute website (as I don’t know how to get those stats). You can help our listening audience grow. Please tell your friends about the podcast, “like”, “♥”, or “favorite” it, and give it a rating in your favorite podcatcher. Share the podcast on Facebook groups, and in your Bluesky and Mastodon communities. For those that hear the early episodes, the sound quality of the episodes does get better — we were learning. If you know sound editing, feel free to give me advice (I use Audacity to edit). As always, you can keep up with the show at the podcast’s forever home at https://www.caroutebyroute.org , the show’s page on Spotify for Creators, or you can subscribe through your favorite podcatching app or via the RSS feeds (CARxR, Spotify for Creators) . The following episode has been posted this month:

• February | CA RxR 4.07: Route 11: From Pasadena to the Border. In Episode 4.07, we examine Route 11.  We’ll start by exploring LRN 11, which was essentially the first state highway, running from Sacramento to Placerville, later extended to run from Antioch to the Nevada State Line near Lake Tahoe. Today, it is primarily US 50 with a bit of Route 160. We then the original Sign Route 11, which was LRN 165 and LRN 205, and is today’s Route 110. It was also US 60, and is perhaps better known as the Harbor Freeway and the Pasadena Freeway / Arroyo Seco Parkway. We explore the history and various routings of Sign Route 11, including the history of the Figueroa Tunnels. Lastly, we explore the current Route 11, which is a short route near the Mexico border that connects the San Diego Freeway System (Route 905/Route 125) to the Otay Mesa East port of entry.
  .
  On deck: In episode 4.08, we start a three-episode group that will cover Route 12. Route 12 runs from Route 1 near Valley Ford to US 101 and thence to Sonoma area. It then runs through Napa to meet I-80 near Cordelia. That part is episode 4.08. Episode 4.09 will cover Route 12 from I-80 near Suisan City through the Sacramento Wetlands to Lodi and Route 99. Lastly, Episode 4.10 will cover Route 12 from Route 99 to the Sierra Foothill and San Andreas, where it meets Route 49. (Spotify for Creators)

As a reminder: One of the sources for the highway page updates (and the raison d’etre for for this post) are headlines about California Highways that I’ve seen over the last month. I collect them in this post, which serves as fodder for the updates to my California Highways site, and so there are also other pages and things I’ve seen that I wanted to remember for the site updates. Lastly, the post also includes some things that I think would be of peripheral interest to my highway-obsessed highway-interested readers.

Well, you should now be up to date. Here are the headlines that I found about California’s highways for February 2026.

Key

[Ħ Historical information | ＄ Paywalls, ＄＄ really obnoxious paywalls, and ∅ other annoying restrictions. I’m no longer going to list the paper names, as I’m including them in the headlines now. Note: For ＄ paywalls, sometimes the only way is incognito mode, grabbing the text before the paywall shows, and pasting into an editor. See this article for more tips on bypassing paywalls. ＄＄ paywalls require the use of archive.ph. ☊ indicates an primarily audio article. 🎥 indicates a primarily video article. 🎩 indicates hat/tip to someone for finding this article. ]

Highway Headlines

• Commission to Hear Status 710 Freeway Stub Redevelopment Report (Pasadena Now). The city’s Human Relations Commission will receive a presentation on the Reconnecting Pasadena 710 project at its Feb. 3 meeting, focusing on social justice considerations and community perspectives. Danny Parker, chair of the Reconnecting Pasadena 710 Advisory Group, will address commissioners at 6:30 p.m. at Jackie Robinson Community Center, at 1020 North Fair Oaks Avenue. The presentation marks the commission’s first formal update on the long-debated freeway stub redevelopment since the project gained renewed attention last fall.
• O’Byrne’s Ferry Bridge (No. 281 California Historical Landmark) (Sierra Nevada Geotourism). O’Byrne’s Ferry Bridge started out as a simple old toll bridge between two counties, and ended its legacy by making a splash! Patrick O. Byrne started construction of a chain cable bridge in 1852 across the Stanislaus River on the line between Calaveras and Tuolumne counties. It soon became a bustling toll bridge since it was on the primary road between Stockton and Sonora.
• ＄ Could part of Highway 1 be moved inland? (San Mateo Daily Journal). A potential long-term suggestion to address erosion along Highway 1 in the Surfers Beach area by elevating the road and moving it inward to the Burnham Strip is generating concern from community leaders, who say the proposal doesn’t adequately address environmental root causes and ignores a park planned for the area. Caltrans will take the plan and deve lop a more detailed feasibility study, beginning a long development process that can take up to five to 10 years, said Joshua Smith, California Coastal Commission spokesperson. The plan, which was submitted to the California Coastal Commission by Caltrans in November, offers long-term alternatives to protect the threatened highway, including various combinations of moving it in by around 200 feet, raising the road with a bridge structure and more nature-based defenses.
• California Invests Nearly 1 Billion Dollars for Safer Highways, Improving Transit and Expanding Walkable Communities (Caltrans). The California Transportation Commission (CTC) this past week allocated nearly $1 billion to expand transit capabilities, add new highway safety features and boost the state’s continued climate action goals. Bolstered by Governor Gavin Newsom’s Build More, Faster – For All infrastructure agenda, these improvements will make California communities safer and more climate resilient. The $988.7 million approved today includes $184 million from the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 (IIJA) and $336 million in support from Senate Bill 1 (SB 1), the Road Repair and Accountability Act of 2017. The investments made by these two funding sources have created an estimated 684,000 jobs. It has helped Californians, businesses and visitors who rely on the state’s transportation network for employment and educational opportunities, access to goods and services and connection to recreational attractions. […] The list of funded projects includes $96 million to improve travel times and enhance traffic safety between Ventura County and Goleta with high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes, pedestrian and bike paths and transit enhancements.
• City of Malibu announces new safety measures after deadly pedestrian crash on Pacific Coast Highway (ABC7 Los Angeles). Malibu officials are highlighting new safety efforts along Pacific Coast Highway as authorities investigate another deadly crash in which a pedestrian was hit and killed overnight, briefly shutting down portions of the roadway. The incident comes amid long-standing concerns about speeding on the busy coastal stretch. Safety along the highway has been under scrutiny for years, including after a 2023 crash that killed four Pepperdine University students.
• ＄ The breathtaking wonders of California Highway 127 (Los Angeles Times). By midwinter, Los Angeles is defined less by cold than by light. Cool, clear mornings give way to afternoons shaped by the low winter arc of the sun, painting the mountains in long shadows and the sky in improbable color. And as that low light settles in, my whole body shifts in spirit. Somewhere deep in the limbic system, a synapse fires like a flare, tracing the old circuitry of migration and memory — that annual pull toward the wide-open deserts of the American Southwest. I dream of lizards, dark skies, sand dunes and sunsets streaked in rose-mauve and smoky violet, the air heavy with the scent of wet creosote and campfire smoke.
• On Highway 127, I discovered the breathtaking wonders of going the long way (LA Times via MSN). By midwinter, Los Angeles is defined less by cold than by light. Cool, clear mornings give way to afternoons shaped by the low winter arc of the sun, painting the mountains in long shadows and the sky in improbable color. And as that low light settles in, my whole body shifts in spirit. Somewhere d eep in the limbic system, a synapse fires like a flare, tracing the old circuitry of migration and memory — that annual pull toward the wide-open deserts of the American Southwest. I dream of lizards, dark skies, sand dunes and sunsets streaked in rose-mauve and smoky violet, the air heavy with the scent of wet creosote and campfire smoke. But mostly I long for the open road, those forgotten highways where pavement runs through the quaint towns, weathered landmarks and the millions of acres of public land in the desert. It is a nostalgia shared by the chroniclers of the past.
• When will Angeles Crest Highway reopen after Christmas storm damage? Caltrans gives update (ABC7 Los Angeles). A portion of the Angeles Crest Highway has been closed for about a month after the Christmas week storms washed away parts of the road. Repair work is underway, but when exactly will the highway will reopen? Eyewitness News spoke with Monica Ruvalcaba with Caltrans on Wednesday, who said the highway is closed indefinitely for about a 30-mile stretch, starting at Newcomb’s Ranch to Big Pines Highway. The extent of the damage in some areas is so bad, Caltrans crews can’t get to those spots yet.
• Caltrans to Begin SR-4 Old River Bridge Maintenance Project (Contra Costa News). Caltrans will soon begin a bridge maintenance and preservation project that will make necessary upgrades and repairs of the Old River Bridge on State Route 4 (SR-4), located at the San Joaquin/Contra Costa County line, east of Discovery Bay. This project is required to install a new polyester concrete overlay to the bridge deck (roadway) surface, install new guardrail systems located at the approaches of each end of the bridge, and painting of the bridge steel structure with weather-resistant paint and materials to increase the reliability and serviceability of this 100-year-old swing span bridge. Additional in-water work will see the existing timber waling and the fenders on the north side of Pier 3 replaced, while the south side of Pier 2 would be supported with new high-density polyethylene walers mounted to the existing timber piles.

If you haven't figured it out by now, I enjoy seeing shows that I've only heard but never seen. Sometimes my schedule or circumstances just don't permit it. For example, Long Beach Playhouse is doing "It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's Superman" the next three weekends, but I just don't have space in my schedule to fit it in, plus the space is not easily accessible. But sometimes it does work out, and certain companies tend to do these "rarer" shows more than others. One of these companies is Musical Theatre Guild, whose mission includes "presenting either forgotten, neglected, or unfairly dismissed Broadway musicals." These are presented in a minimalist concert format: 25 hours max rehearsal, minimal costumes, minimal sets (if any), with scripts in hand. They are also one night only shows. Since COVID, their shows have been fewer: they used to have three a season; recently it has been perhaps one or two a year, plus some concerts. Still, if you like the rarely produced gems, they are worth keeping an eye on (or, today, subscribing to their newsletter).

There most recent show, which we saw last night, was Applause. This is a rarely done musical that originally was on Broadway back in 1970. It was at the LA Civic Light Opera (the predecessor to organizations like Broadway in Hollywood or what was being done at Center Theatre Group) in 1972, which was two shows before I saw my first LACLO show, The Rothschilds. So I've never seen it; I've only heard the music. The original show starred folks like Lauren Bacall and Bonnie Franklin.

Applause is based upon the original short story "The Wisdom of Eve" by Mary Orr, and the subsequent film "All About Eve". The plot is similar to the movie, but was reworked to not use movie characters (as permission from Fox wasn't obtained until late in the process), and to update the timeframe to Broadway in the 1970s. The basic notion of a starlet/grifter who attaches herself to an older star, sucks up to her, and eventually usurps her fame and glory, remains. You can read the plot summary on the Wikipedia page; I won't repeat it here.

The show is in someway a love-letter to the theatre, especially the title song "Applause", which makes one think a bit of the later production, A Chorus Line. There is an underlying love of the theatre in this show; the notion of this is why people do the crazy business called "show". That aspect of the show still works.

That said, a show that worked in 1970 has problematic areas 55 years later. One of the problems was highlighted by MTG in their introduction to the show: the use of the term "gypsy". When the show came out, the term (in the theatre-sense) referred to dancers and chorus members that went from show to show. There was even a ceremony where they were honored by the presentation of a "gypsy robe" (since renamed the "legacy robe"). The term arose from the historical usage of the term "gypsy" that referred to the nomadic Rominii people, but later evolved into a slur against the same folks. Its use in the show here is less problematic as it is the theatre sense, but it is still a problem (and a problem for the even better known show, Gypsy, although that arguably is named after a character).

However, the use of the term "gypsy" is not the major dated problem with the show. The real problem shows up in the second act, where the producer Howard Benedict invites Eve up to his room, with an implication that it would be a good career move. This is followed by another interaction where he uses his production power over her. The wikipedia synopsis puts it thusly: "Her plans with Buzz are crushed by Howard who claims her for himself, telling her "We both know what you want and you know I'm the one who can get it for you" – Eve needs Howard's influence as a producer as well as his silence concerning her devious rise to stardom." But the power imbalance and sexual implications are clear. This was something that might have been accepted in the 1940s and 1950s when the original story and movie were written, and even as late as the end of the 1960s. But in today's environment, this is clearly a sexual harassment situation, and is uncomfortable to watch. I think this aspect of the story might render the original version unproducible except as a "museum" (period) piece; as with Flower Drum Song some rewriting and revisiting would be necessary to update this for modern audiences.

Also problematic is Margo's resolution: She decides that she wants to make lasagna so that she can get back her love, Bill, who wants a more traditional wife as opposed to one that is in love with her career. Again, that is a notion that might have been borderline acceptable to audiences in the late 1960s and early 1970s. To an audience 55 years later (except in certain states), that notion is quaint and outdated. A different resolution that brings the two together would be needed to make things more plausible for audiences in the 2020s.

Lastly, the show clearly reflects the original casting. The characterizations of Margo were clearly designed to be amplified by the presence of Lauren Bacall in the role. The songs were clearly keyed and designed to suit Bacall's limited range (similar to what Kander and Ebb did for her in Woman of the Year).

What I detailed above were problems not of MTG's making. They knew of these problems when they chose the show, and their goal was to present the show warts and all. Even dated shows deserve to be remembered (well, perhaps not The Girl from Nantucket or Whoop Up!), and MTGs mission is to remind us what is good about the show. So let's now turn to discussing MTG's production of Applause.

Let's start with the music, which was spectacular. This is because the normal limited orchestra that MTG can afford was supplemented by the David Lee Foundation to an expanded 17 piece orchestra. We recognized many of the names in the orchestra as being musicians that are also involved with big bands and orchestras we like, such as Mike Deutsch, Wayne Bergeron, Chris Maurer, and Steve Trapani. There's a reason I take the time to always list the orchestra members: you start to learn the regulars in the Los Angeles  theatre and music scene. Los Angeles has some of the most talented musicians around.

In general, the performances were strong, modulo the limited rehearsal time. This meant that scripts were in hand, and there were the occasional line slips and such that really didn't detract from anything. Barbara Carlton Heart made a great Margo Channing, and she seemed to be having quite a bit of fun with the role. Ashley Moniz was also strong as Eve Harringon, and Melissa Lyons Caldretti made a great Bonnie. I also liked Joshua Finkel's Buzz, and Leslie Stevens's Karen made me keep thinking of Mary Tyler Moore, for some reason.

The ensemble was also strong, notably Jennifer Bennett (whom I recall seeing in a cantor's concert many years ago) and Chantal Tribble. Also notable was Jasmine Ejan for her dancing on roller skates.

I also loved the insert in the program: «"Who's That Girl" will be sung by Margo and Eve, not by the characters from Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812.» Sigh, this meant that we didn't get a song from Mary, Natasha, and Old Bolkonsky. However, they missed the other "oops" in their performance dedication, where the end dates should have been 2025, not 1925.

The major problem in the show's production was unsurprising given the limited rehearsal time: sound. Microphones were going in and out. Some ensemble performers had to resort to using handheld microphones; for others, the microphones were not mixed right making things harder to hear. Normally, this would be ironed out in subsequent performance or full rehearsals. MTG doesn't have that luxury, and it is a continual problem.

I can't tell you to go see this performance, as it was a one-time show. I can urge you to get on MTG's mailing list, and to explore their 30th Anniversary Gala and Concert on 10.11.2026 at the Broad Stage. I also encourage you to support the rarely done musicals so they get done. For example, Colony Theatre is doing Catch Me If You Can; Conundrum will be doing Big Fish; Chromolume will be doing Sondheim's Road Show. Supposedly the El Portal will be doing Anyone Can Whistle at the end of April, although it has disappeared from their calendar again, so who knows. I have an inquiry in on that one.

Credits

Applause. Book by Betty Comden and Adolph Green. Music by Charles Strouse. Lyrics by Lee Adams. Based on the 1950 film All About Eve written and directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, and produced by Darryl F. Zanuck; and the original 1946 story "The Wisdom of Eve" by Mary Orr. Directed and Choreographed by Trance Thompson.

Cast (all are members of Actors Equity): Barbara Charlton Heart Margo Channing; Brian Kim McCormick Bill Sampson; Ashley Moniz Eve Harrington; Melissa Lyons Caldretti Bonnie; Taubert Nedalini Duane Fox; Robert Yacko Howard Benedict; Joshua Finkel Buzz Richards; Leslie Stevens Karen Richards. Ensemble: Patrick Beller, Jennifer Bennett, Jasmine Ejan, Kevin Matsumoto, Benny Perez, Roma Scarano, Chantal Tribble, George Xavier. ASL Interpreters: Angelina Guidice, Lior Klein.

Music Department: Brad Ellis Conductor / Piano; Nate Light Bass; Brian Boyce Drums; Zane Johnson Guitar; Alexander Rannie Harp / Organ; Mike Deutsch Percussion; Wayne Bergeron Trumpet; Dan Fornero Trumpet; Chris Maurer Trumpet; Alan Kaplan Trombone; Erin Navarro Trombone; Steve Trapani Bass Trombone; Phil Feather Reeds; Greg Huckins Reeds; Glen Berger Reeds; Jimmy Emerzian Reeds; Allen Savedoff Reeds; Alexander Rannie Orchestra Contractor.

Production and Creative: Trance Thompson Director / Choreographer; Brad Ellis Music Director; Jennifer Gordon Production Coordinator; Tonoccus McClain Production Coordinator; Leesa Freed Production Stage Manager; Stacey Cortez Asst Stage Manager; Scottie Nevil Asst Stage Manager; John W. Calder II Production Stage Manager; A. Jeffrey Schoneberg Costume Designer; Arwyn Austin Sound Engineer.

Administrivia

I am not a professional critic. I’m a cybersecurity professional, a roadgeek who does a highway site and a podcast about California Highways, and someone who loves live performance. I buy all my own tickets, unless explicitly noted otherwise. I do these writeups to share my thoughts on shows with my friends and the community. I encourage you to go to your local theatres and support them (ideally, by purchasing full price tickets, if you can afford to do so). We currently subscribe or have memberships at: Center Theatre Group/Ahmanson Theatre; Broadway in Hollywood/Pantages Theatre; Pasadena Playhouse; The Soraya, Chromolume Theatre ^NEW, and 5-Star Theatricals. We just added Chromolume Theatre as our intimate theatre subscription — we subscribed there pre-pandemic when they were at their West Adams location, but they died back in 2018. They started back up last year (but we had seen all their shows); this year, their season is particularly interesting: The Color Purple, If/Then, Elegies (during Hollywood Fringe), and Roadshow (nee Bounce) [by Steven Sondheim]. Mind you, these are all in the intimate theatre setting, and this will be the first time Roadshow has been done in Los Angeles, to my knowledge. Information on purchasing their 2026 season is here. Our previous intimate theatre, Actors Co-Op, seems to be on hiatus.

Want to find a show: Check out the Theatre Commons LA show list. Other good lists are the Theatre in LA listings; the TodayTix listings; OnStage 411 (use the “shows” drop down); and Theatermania.

I used to do more detailed writeups; here’s my current approach.

Upcoming

♦ Theatre / ♣ Music / ◊ Other Live Performance – Next 90ish Days (⊕ indicates ticketing is pending).

• February: ♦ Amadeus at Pasadena Playhouse; ♣ Preservation Hall Jazz Band at The Soraya; ♣ Mandy Gonzalez in Concert: Broadway and Beyond at Broad Stage.
• March: ♣ Noel Paul Stookey at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts;  MoTAS Brotherhood Seder at Temple Beth Hillel; ♦ The Color Purple at Chromolume; ♦ The Play That Goes Wrong at 5-Star Theatricals;  ♦ Here Lies Love at CTG/Mark Taper;  MRJ Man of the Year Dinner at Temple Beth Hillel;  MoTAS Poker Tournament; ♦ Spamlot at BIH/Pantages.
• April: ♦ Kim’s Convenience Store at CTG/Ahmanson; ♦ Ride the Cyclone at The Main; ♣ Jeremy Jordan at The Soraya;  California Science and Engineering Fair at CLU; ♦ Flower Drum Song at East/West Players; ♦ Real Women Have Curves at Casa 0101
• May: ♦ Anyone Can Whistle at El Portal Theatre; ♦ The Sound of Music at BIH/Pantages; ♦ Brigadoon at The Pasadena Playhouse; ♦ Hells Kitchen at BIH/Pantages.

The march of time continues. It’s hard to believe we’re at the end of January already; time is relentless in marching forward. As always, I’ve been spending the time reading the news and looking for articles related to California Highways, saving them away for this headline post. This post will also mark the start of working on the next round of updates for the highway pages: I typically do two to three headline posts in each update round. Speaking of the “March of Time”: 2026 marks the 30^th Anniversary of the California Highways website. The changelog for 1996 shows the first “official” changes in October 1996, although it notes that “Changes before early 1996 were not specifically noted, although this site, in various forms, dates back at least as far as 1992, and possibly as early as 1986. Searching on Google Groups uncovers an early posting of the state highway list in December of 1992 to the Usenet Group ca.driving. In 1995, there was a posting of the highway list in response to a question, showing a last modified date of 1994. By October 1996, postings were being made showing the existence of the California Highways page off of Pacificnet.The earliest capture of the site on the Wayback Machine is in December 1998.” So welcome to the start of the 30^th Anniversary year, or perhaps the 40^th Anniversary year, of California Highways!

The timing of the switch to highway site updates is good, as I just finished writing the last episode of Season 4. We’re starting to plan a few bonus episodes that don’t take as much research and writing; after which I’ll turn my attention to Season 5, covering Routes 15 through 23. I particularly like ep 4.12, which covers the unbuilt freeways of the San Fernando Valley, using the first segment of Route 14 as the starting point.

Season 4 of the podcast continues, and we’re now using new recording software  (Zencaster). I think it sounds better, but I would love to hear from the listeners. Let us know what you think. It looks like the regular audience is between 60-70 folks, and I’d love to get that number up (as of today, we’re at 53 for 4.06, 56 for 4.05, 51 for 4.04, 68 for 4.03, 79 for 4.02, and 121 for 4.01), although the numbers don’t included those who listen directly from the CARouteByRoute website (as I don’t know how to get those stats). I have no idea why there was so much interest in Route 8 in San Diego. You can help our listening audience grow. Please tell your friends about the podcast, “like”, “♥”, or “favorite” it, and give it a rating in your favorite podcatcher. Share the podcast on Facebook groups, and in your Bluesky and Mastodon communities. For those that hear the early episodes, the sound quality of the episodes does get better — we were learning. If you know sound editing, feel free to give me advice (I use Audacity to edit). As always, you can keep up with the show at the podcast’s forever home at https://www.caroutebyroute.org , the show’s page on Spotify for Creators, or you can subscribe through your favorite podcatching app or via the RSS feeds (CARxR, Spotify for Creators) . The following episode has been posted this month:

• January | CA RxR 4.06: I-10: San Bernardino Freeway. Episode 4.06 continues our exploration of Route 10.  Episode 4.05 covered the first segment of Route 10: The Santa Monica Freeway between Route 1 and the I-5/US 101 junction. This episode, 4.06, covers the second segment of Route 10, from US 101 to the Arizona Border. Along the way, we explore the former I-110 segment, Route 10S, and do a deep dive into the US highways that shaped this segment of I-10: US 60, US 70, and US 99. We explore the historical routing of those highways across this segment. We also look at some of the names on the highway, and current projects along the highway.In the next episode, 4.07, we’ll turn our attention to Route 11. We’ll start by exploring LRN 11, and then look at the original Sign Route 11. This was originally tied closely with the development of US 66, and became today’s Route 110. We’ll also talk about the current Route 11. (Spotify for Podcasters)
• January | CA RxR 4.05: I-10: Santa Monica Freeway. With Episode 4.05, we turn our attention to Route 10. This first episode on Route 10 starts with an exploration of the 10th route (the last ordinal route we’ll do), which was the Emigrant Gap Highway, and became the basis for LRN 37. This became part of the Lincoln Highway, then US 40, and is now part of I-80 from Sacramento to Nevada. We look at LRN 10, which became Route 198 from US 101 near San Lucas to Sequoia National Park. We then explore Sign Route 10 (which we discussed in our episode on I-5 in Los Angeles county), which ran from US 101A to US 101, later becoming Route 42 and US 101 Bypass, and eventually I-105 and I-5. Lastly, we turn to post-1964 Route 10, which is today’s I-10. In this episode, we focus on the first segment:  “From Route 1 in Santa Monica to Route 5 near Seventh Street in Los Angeles”, which is today’s Santa Monica Freeway. We look at its origins as Sign Route 6, which became Sign Route 26 along LRN 173, LRN 166, and LRN 171. We focus on LRN 173 (LRN 166 and LRN 171 were discussed in our episode on I-5 in Los Angeles county, as well as our episode on Route 6), which was Olympic Blvd. We explore the history of the Santa Monica Freeway segment, the experiments tried along this highway, some significant projects along this segment, and some significant names on this segment.We will complete our exploration of Route 10 in Episode 4.06, which explores the San Bernardino Freeway: Its origins in LRN 26 and LRN 64 and the Ramona Airline. The history and strange intertwinings of the US highways that were signed on Route 10: US 60, US 70, and US 99. The transition to I-10 and the story of Route 10S. Lastly, we’ll cover projects and names on the segment. (Spotify for Creators)

As a reminder: One of the sources for the highway page updates (and the raison d’etre for for this post) are headlines about California Highways that I’ve seen over the last month. I collect them in this post, which serves as fodder for the updates to my California Highways site, and so there are also other pages and things I’ve seen that I wanted to remember for the site updates. Lastly, the post also includes some things that I think would be of peripheral interest to my highway-obsessed highway-interested readers.

Well, you should now be up to date. Here are the headlines that I found about California’s highways for January 2026.

Key

[Ħ Historical information | ＄ Paywalls, ＄＄ really obnoxious paywalls, and ∅ other annoying restrictions. I’m no longer going to list the paper names, as I’m including them in the headlines now. Note: For ＄ paywalls, sometimes the only way is incognito mode, grabbing the text before the paywall shows, and pasting into an editor. See this article for more tips on bypassing paywalls. ＄＄ paywalls require the use of archive.ph. ☊ indicates an primarily audio article. 🎥 indicates a primarily video article. ]

Highway Headlines

• Calif. mountain highway used by millions ‘destroyed’ by heavy rainfall (SF Gate). Toward the end of August, outdoorsy Angelenos rejoiced when the entirety of the region’s 66-mile forest highway finally reopened after a yearslong section closure. But now, just a few months later, a chunk of the highway is already closed again — and likely will be for a while. Angeles Crest Highway, also known as state Route 2, is currently closed between Cedar Springs, near its intersection with the long-closed northern end of state Route 39, all the way east to where the highway hits state Route 138 near the Cajon Pass. In total, it’s a roughly 27-mile closure, pocked by washed-out roads, crumbled asphalt and other recent storm damage.
• New traffic light in operation at State Route 32 and County Road P in Glenn County (Lake County News). Caltrans reported that the newly installed traffic signal at the intersection of State Route 32 and County Road P in Glenn County was activated on Wednesday and is now fully operational. Drivers traveling through the intersection should be alert to the new traffic pattern and obey all signal indications. The signal installation is part of a safety improvement effort to improve traffic operations and reduce collisions along the SR 32 corridor between Orland and Hamilton City. The project also included shoulder work, pavement improvements, Americans with Disabilities Act upgrades and roadway striping.
• 🎁 Congestion pricing after one year: How life has changed (The New York Times – Gift Article). One year after the start of congestion pricing, traffic jams are less severe, streets are safer, and commute times are improving for travelers from well beyond Manhattan. Though these changes aren’t noticeable to many, and others feel the tolls are a financial burden, the fees have generated hundreds of millions of dollars for public transportation projects. And it has probably contributed to rising transit ridership. The program, which on Jan. 5, 2025, began charging most drivers $9 during peak travel times to enter Manhattan below 60th Street, has quickly left its mark. To assess its impact, The New York Times reviewed city and state data, outside research, and the feedback of more than 600 readers with vastly different views of the toll.
• New Traffic Pattern – Route 47 (FB/Port of Los Angeles). ⚠️ Reminder: A new traffic pattern is coming to the SR 47 Interchange at the Port of Los Angeles. Get project information and traffic updates here: https://portofla.org/sr47
• ＄ The best public U.S. transportation museums to visit in 2026 (East Bay Times). Some folks yearn to see Michelangelo’s “David” at the Galleria dell’Accademia. For others, basking in awe over a Union Pacific “Big Boy” — the largest steam locomotive ever built — is as high as art can get. For dads and their hapless families who get dragged into such stuff, Yahoo has published a helpful guide to the “Best Transportation Museums to Visit in the U.S.” The list spans from institutions for U.S. Air Force war machines to Hollywood-movie vehicles in Las Vegas. (The Batmobile!) It includes two museums in California: a classic-cars mecca in San Francisco, and a trove of historic sea vessels in San Diego.
• ＄ Thrill-seekers, residents clash as the Mulholland ‘Snake’ reopens – Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles Times). Its serpentine curves have entranced drivers for decades, and even lured some to their death. For motorcycle and car enthusiasts, riding the hair-raising turns of the 2.4-mile section of Mulholland Highway known as “the Snake” can feel akin to a religious experience. When the road reopened after a nearly seven-year closure in December, its devotees returned in droves. “It is so gratifying, so tactual, it clears my head and reinvigorates my soul,” said Malibu resident Doug Baron, who fell in love with the canyon road while cruising it alongside childhood friend Chad McQueen in the late 1970s.
• El Camino Real sees renewal project (The Bay Link Blog). Caltrans will begin construction on the State Route 82 (El Camino Real) Roadway Renewal Project this winter, marking a major rehabilitation to a vital section of SR-82 traversing Burlingame, Hillsborough, San Mateo and Millbrae. Over the coming months and years, the $173 million State Highway Operations and Protection Program (SHOPP) effort will deliver critical infrastructure upgrades, including improved visibility for drivers, enhanced drainage to mitigate localized flooding, and upgraded sidewalks, curb ramps, and pedestrian facilities to ensure full compliance with Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) guidelines. The project is included in the MTC’s Bay Area Regional Transportation Plan (RTP) and Plan Bay Area 2040. Aging eucalyptus trees along the sidewalks will also be removed, and the canopy reinvigorated with more than 300 new trees, preserving the historic significance of the Howard Ralston Eucalyptus Rows.

The book and musical and movie of Wicked all start from the simple question: “Are people born evil, or do they have evilness thrust upon them?” Although Patrick Page, in his one man show All The Devils Are Here (which we saw last night at the Broad Stage in Santa Monica), doesn’t mention Wicked, he does address the question through the eyes of perhaps the greatest storyteller of them all, William Shakespeare.

Page’s premise is that Shakespeare invented the villain as we know him: a character with an underlying motivation to do evil. Before Shakespeare, per Page, there were bad guys, but they were very broadly and shallowly drawn. They were the vices in morality plays, existing solely to tempt the good guys and demonstrate why one should follow a particularly moral path. But then came Shakespeare and Richard III.

Page walks the audience chronologically through Shakespeare’s villains, and shows how Shakespeare’s characterization of them changed and deepened over time. In the early days they were often based on physiognomy: if one looks bad, than one must be bad. Richard III was the first with his deformities, but then there were Jews and Moors and others that fits the stereotypes of the time. For each of these, Page not only explains the Shakespeare, but expertly does one-man scenes from the plays in question to demonstrate his point.

He then goes on to show how Shakespeare’s understanding of the villain changed over times, especially after he had his poetry period during the plague. By the time we get to Hamlet, we’re having villains we depth and underlying motivations, who often turn the stereotypes of the time around. As one moves towards the Scottish Play, the exploration of true sociopaths appear. He talked about the traits of a sociopath. He quoted a book, but I had to use Dr. Google, who had something similar: “Sociopath traits, part of Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD), include a significant disregard for rules and others’ rights, lack of empathy or remorse, manipulative and deceitful behavior, impulsivity, shallow emotions (like anger), and a tendency towards irresponsibility, often masked by superficial charm. They may exploit others, struggle with relationships, act aggressively, and have a weak conscience, but can differ from psychopaths in being more erratic and less calculating.” He pointed out that in our audience of 500 or so, there should be about 13 sociopaths, and he was sure we knew such people in our lives, or are seeing them in the political news. Here’s a more detailed list I found.

He spent a bunch of time discussing the characters and the motivations in the Scottish Play, doing a number of scenes therefrom. One of the things he pointed out is how Shakespeare did things different than other playwrights: Other authors created characters to make a point or teach morality. Shakespeare created characters that held the mirror up to ourselves, enabling us to see them as the flawed characters we all are. No one is the 100% noble hero or the 100% villain (well, except for the true sociopaths): we all have some heroic aspects, and some villainous aspects. Perhaps that is why Shakespeare’s characters resonate so.

Another thing that Page did was explain why Shakespeare was doing what he was doing. He showed where Shakespeare used conventions of the day, and where he explicitly broke those conventions in a way that Elizabethian audiences would recognize. He showed where the characters were using rhetorical tricks to make particular points. He showed the comparison to Shakespeare’s contemporaries. It truly was a master class in understanding a master, and it did make me want to go see some more Shakespeare (I haven’t seen all that much, and what I tend to see are his lighter comedies, vs. the darker plays). That unfamiliarity did hinder me at a few points where I got lost in the language.

Page also made an effort to map Shakespeare’s character archetypes to contemporary dramas. I don’t remember them all (because I don’t watch them all), but I remember him mentioning characters like William White and Tony Soprano as being drawn directly from Shakespearian characters, as well as folks like Scar in the Lion King.

All The Devils Are Here is a show well worth seeing. It will teach you a lot about Shakespeare, as well as helping to identify those sociopaths among us (and those we elect to public office). It runs at the Broad Stage in Santa Monica until January 25. GO SEE IT. Tickets are available through the Broad Stage.  There was a talkback after the show, which was also fun.

About my only regret is that we didn’t get a chance to run into Patrick Page’s wife, Paige Davis. I’m a long term fan of hers, and both she and my wife are gluten free, and they would have had fun talking about that.

Credits

All The Devils Are Here: How Shakespeare Invented the Villain. Created and performed by Patrick Page.  Directed by Simon Godwin.

Production Team: Arnulfo Maldonado Scenic Design; Emily Rebholz Costume Design; Stacey Derosier Lighting Design; Darrow L. West Sound Design; Natalie Hratko Production Stage Manager; Stewert Productions / Bethany Stewert Tour Production Manager; Joe Burt Assoc Scenic Design; Avery Regan Lighting Supervisor; Rayn Matthew Hall Assoc Sound Design; Bryan Hunt Tour Producer; Mara Isaacs Executive Producer.

Administrivia

I am not a professional critic. I’m a cybersecurity professional, a roadgeek who does a highway site and a podcast about California Highways, and someone who loves live performance. I buy all my own tickets, unless explicitly noted otherwise. I do these writeups to share my thoughts on shows with my friends and the community. I encourage you to go to your local theatres and support them (ideally, by purchasing full price tickets, if you can afford to do so). We currently subscribe or have memberships at: Center Theatre Group/Ahmanson Theatre; Broadway in Hollywood/Pantages Theatre; Pasadena Playhouse; The Soraya, Chromolume Theatre ^NEW, and 5-Star Theatricals. We just added Chromolume Theatre as our intimate theatre subscription — we subscribed there pre-pandemic when they were at their West Adams location, but they died back in 2018. They started back up last year (but we had seen all their shows); this year, their season is particularly interesting: The Color Purple, If/Then, Elegies (during Hollywood Fringe), and Roadshow (nee Bounce) [by Steven Sondheim]. Mind you, these are all in the intimate theatre setting, and this will be the first time Roadshow has been done in Los Angeles, to my knowledge. Information on purchasing their 2026 season is here. Our previous intimate theatre, Actors Co-Op, seems to be on hiatus.

Want to find a show: Check out the Theatre Commons LA show list. Other good lists are the Theatre in LA listings; the TodayTix listings; and Theatermania.

I used to do more detailed writeups; here’s my current approach.

Upcoming

♦ Theatre / ♣ Music / ◊ Other Live Performance – Next 90ish Days (⊕ indicates ticketing is pending).

• January: ♦ Jewish for Dinner at the Santa Monica Playhouse; ♣ Tom Chapin @ McCabes.
• February: ♦ Applause at MTG; ♦ Amadeus at Pasadena Playhouse; ♣ Anat Cohen at the Soraya; ♣ Preservation Hall Jazz Band at The Soraya; ♣ Mandy Gonzalez in Concert: Broadway and Beyond at Broad Stage.
• March: ✡ MoTAS Brotherhood Seder at Temple Beth Hillel; ♦ The Color Purple at Chromolume; ♦ The Play That Goes Wrong at 5-Star Theatricals;  ♦ Here Lies Love at CTG/Mark Taper; ✡ MRJ Man of the Year Dinner at Temple Beth Hillel; ✡ MoTAS Poker Tournament; ♦ Spamlot at BIH/Pantages.
• April: ♦ Kim’s Convenience Store at CTG/Ahmanson; ♦ Ride the Cyclone at The Main; ♣ Jeremy Jordan at The Soraya; 🧬 California Science and Engineering Fair at CLU; ♦ Flower Drum Song at East/West Players; ⊕ ♦ Real Women Have Curves at Casa 0101
• May: ♦ Anyone Can Whistle at El Portal Theatre; ♦ The Sound of Music at BIH/Pantages; ♦ Brigadoon at The Pasadena Playhouse; ♦ Hells Kitchen at BIH/Pantages.

This entry was originally posted on Observations Along the Road as Villainy and Human Natures | "All the Devils Are Here" @ Broad Stage by cahwyguy. Although you can comment on DW, please make comments on original post at the Wordpress blog using the link to the left. You can sign in with your LJ, DW, FB, or a myriad of other accounts. Note: Subsequent changes made to the post on the blog are not propagated by the SNAP Crossposter; please visit the original post to see the latest version. P.S.: If you see share buttons above, note that they do not work outside of the Wordpress blog.

When the 2025-2026 season for Broadway in Hollywood was announced, there was a mixture of shows I was excited to see (Suffs, Stereophonic), the usual retreads on tour (Sound of Music), and the anticipatory “mehs”.  In the “meh” category was The Notebook, a weepy chick-flick turned musical, based on the original novel by Nicholas Sparks (i.e., it technically wasn’t based on the 2004 movie, but played on the familiarity of the intellectual property. I’ll note that I’ve never seen the movie; it is not the type of movie to which I’d allocate one of my few movie slots a year.

Well, I saw The Notebook last night at the Pantages.

First and foremost, it wasn’t the weepshow I expected (I think back to my reactions to The Bodyguard or Ghost: The Musical). It certainly wasn’t bad. It had an engrossing story that was easy to follow (certainly easier than Stereophonic). The performances were excellent. But overall it wasn’t … memorable. Of course, this is odd for a musical that is at its heart about memory.

The Notebook  is about a couple, Noah and Allie. When we first meet them, Noah is reading a story to Allie, who is in  a home with some form of severe memory loss or dementia, probably Altzheimers. She doesn’t know who Noah is. The story he is reading is their story: how they met, fell in love, had kids, and so on. He believes that when he finishes the story, she’ll come back to him (remember him). That story, is essentially, the musical.

This is not a jukebox musical. The music and lyrics are by Ingrid Michaelson. They are pretty. They also don’t stick in your head; when you walk out of the theatre they are gone. Most of the songs are slower ballads. There are few high-energy numbers, and this isn’t a dance show.  I had gotten the album previously. If I had to compare it musically to something, perhaps it would be Light in the Piazza or Bridges of Madison County. Both of those are mostly slow numbers, and if you asked me to recall the music from those shows afterwards I’d be hard pressed to do so.

What does stick with you afterwards is the performance, especially Beau Gravitte as the Older Noah and Sharon Catherine Brown as the Older Allie. They are a believable couple, and Brown (especially) has the mannerisms down. The part of the story that really touches is her performance: It isn’t the love that touches, it is the loss of life that touches. She brings that to the stage, and Gravitte brings the love. The middle and younger Noahs and Allies bring the youth and energy, but it is the performances of the older Noah and Allie that you leave with. They are the heart and soul of this show.  Also notable was the performance of understudy Makenna Jackson as the younger Allie; she brought a lot of vitality to the role.

One additional thought: During the last song, “Coda”, which is all about remembering life and people, what came to mind was: a parallel with Dear Evan Hansen. DEH has, as one of its things, remembering people. Being seen and not forgotten. The Notebook is also about remembering people and not forgetting them.

Should you go see it? That’s a harder question. You won’t hate it if you see it, and it isn’t polarizing like Stereophonic was. But it is also forgettable. If you’re into weepy love stories, you’ll love it. If you have a parent who is suffering from memory degradation, this might hit too close to home.

The Notebook continues at Broadway in Hollywood through January 26. Tickets are available through the Pantages website.

Credits

The Notebook: The Musical. Book by Bekah Brunstetter. Music and lyrics by Ingrid Michaelson. Based on the novel by Nicholas Sparks. Directed by Michael Greif & Schele Williams. Choreography by Katie Spelman.

Cast [underscores indicate “at our performance”; strikeouts indicate “not at our performance”; ↑ indicates “swung up”]: Beau Gravitte Older Noah; Ken Wulf Clark Jesse Corbin Middle Noah; Kyle Mangold Younger Noah; Sharon Catherine Brown Older Allie; Alysha Deslorieux Middle Allie; Chloe Cheers Makenna Jackson Younger Allie; Annie Tolpegin Mother / Nurse Lori; Connor Richardson Johnny; ↑ Jesse Corbin Nick Brogan Lon / others; Jerome Harmann-Hardeman Father / Son / others; Rayna Hickman Nurse Joanna / others; ↑ Makenna Jackson Samantha Rios Sarah / Grandaughter / others; Caleb Mathura Fin / Grandson / others; Grace Ohwensadeyo Rundberg Georgie / Concierge / others. Swings: ↑ Nick Brogan, Aaron Ramey, Shari Washington Rhone, ↑ Samantha Rios, Emily Some, Joe Verga.

Music Department  (♯ indicates local):  Carmel Dean Music Supervision, Co-Orchestrations; John Clancy Co-Orchestrations; Tina Faye Conductor / Keyboard; Mary Grace Ellerbee Assoc. Conductor / Keyboard 2; Gioia Gedicks Violin / Viola; Sarah Fuller Harp; Quinten Hansen Reeds; Michael Karcher, Michiko Egger Guitar; Chris Sutherland Percussion; ♯ Jen Choi Fisher Violin / Viola; ♯ Brian LaFontaine Guitar 2 (Steel String / Nylon String Acoustic / Mandolin); ♯ Brad Gardner Keyboard 2; ♯ Eric Heinly Music Contractor; Kimberlee Wertz Music Coordinator; Billy Jay Stein and Hiro Iida for Strange Cranium Electronic Music Design; Christopher Petti and Harrison Roth Mainbrain / Ableton Programming; Adam Wiggins for Strange Cranium Tour MainStage Programming; Megan Sperger for J&J Music Preparation Music Preparation 

Production and Creative: Ingrid Michaelson Music and Lyrics; Bekah Brunstetter Book; Nicholas Sparks Original Novel Author; Michael Grief Director; Schele Williams Director; Katie Spelman Choreographer; David Zinn Scenic Design; Brett J. Banakis Scenic Design; Paloma Young Costume Design; Ben Stanton Lighting Design; Nevin Steinberg Sound Design; Mia Neal Hair and Wig Design; Lucy MacKinnon Video Design; Claire Warden Intimacy Director; Samantha Rios Dance Captain; Justin Myhre Production Stage Manager; Melissa Richter Stage Manager; Egypt Dixon Asst. Stage Manager; Asmeret Ghebremichael Assoc Director; Emily Madigan Assoc Choreographer; The Telsey Office Casting; Neuro Tour Physical Therapy; Hudson Theatrical Associates Production Management; Theatre Matters General Management; Michael Camp Company Manager; The Booking Group Tour Booking Agency; Allied Global Marketing Tour Marketing & Press; And That’s Showbiz Social Media.

Administrivia

I am not a professional critic. I’m a cybersecurity professional, a roadgeek who does a highway site and a podcast about California Highways, and someone who loves live performance. I buy all my own tickets, unless explicitly noted otherwise. I do these writeups to share my thoughts on shows with my friends and the community. I encourage you to go to your local theatres and support them (ideally, by purchasing full price tickets, if you can afford to do so). We currently subscribe or have memberships at: Center Theatre Group/Ahmanson Theatre; Broadway in Hollywood/Pantages Theatre; Pasadena Playhouse; The Soraya, Chromolume Theatre ^NEW, and 5-Star Theatricals. We just added Chromolume Theatre as our intimate theatre subscription — we subscribed there pre-pandemic when they were at their West Adams location, but they died back in 2018. They started back up last year (but we had seen all their shows); this year, their season is particularly interesting: The Color Purple, If/Then, Elegies (during Hollywood Fringe), and Roadshow (nee Bounce) [by Steven Sondheim]. Mind you, these are all in the intimate theatre setting, and this will be the first time Roadshow has been done in Los Angeles, to my knowledge. Information on purchasing their 2026 season is here. Our previous intimate theatre, Actors Co-Op, seems to be on hiatus.

Want to find a show: Check out the Theatre Commons LA show list.

I used to do more detailed writeups; here’s my current approach.

Upcoming

♦ Theatre / ♣ Music / ◊ Other Live Performance – Next 90ish Days (⊕ indicates ticketing is pending).

• January: ♦ All the Devils Are Here at The Broad; ♦ Jewish for Dinner at the Santa Monica Playhouse; ♣ Tom Chapin @ McCabes.
• February: ♦ Applause at MTG; ♦ Amadeus at Pasadena Playhouse; ♣ Anat Cohen at the Soraya; ♣ Preservation Hall Jazz Band at The Soraya.
• March: ✡ MoTAS Brotherhood Seder at Temple Beth Hillel; ♦ The Color Purple at Chromolume; ♦ The Play That Goes Wrong at 5-Star Theatricals;  ♦ Here Lies Love at CTG/Mark Taper;  ✡ MRJ Man of the Year Dinner at Temple Beth Hillel;  ✡ MoTAS Poker Tournament; Spamlot at BIH/Pantages.
• April: ♦ Kim’s Convenience Store at CTG/Ahmanson; ♦ Ride the Cyclone at The Main; ♣ Jeremy Jordan at The Soraya; 🧬 California Science and Engineering Fair at CLU; ♦ Flower Drum Song at East/West Players

This entry was originally posted on Observations Along the Road as 🎭 What Age Takes Away | "The Notebook" @ BIH/Pantages by cahwyguy. Although you can comment on DW, please make comments on original post at the Wordpress blog using the link to the left. You can sign in with your LJ, DW, FB, or a myriad of other accounts. Note: Subsequent changes made to the post on the blog are not propagated by the SNAP Crossposter; please visit the original post to see the latest version. P.S.: If you see share buttons above, note that they do not work outside of the Wordpress blog.

And with the flipping of a calendar page, 2025 is in the rearview mirror. It was an eventful year. I retired from Circle A ranch in July, and haven’t missed either the daily grind or the cybersecurity field. My only remaining involvement is ACSAC (Annual Computer Security Applications Conference),  which will continue for a few more years. We had a successful ACSAC in Hawaii this year (with attendance roughly equal to last year, which given the current environment says something); the next two years will be here in Los Angeles (making logistics easier). I’ve been keeping very busy with the highway pages and the podcast. I attended the mandatory holiday movies, and even squeezed in some theatre and concerts. Lastly, but not leastly, politics-wise, 2025 was very stress inducing; hopefully, 2026 will bring some hope for the future (especially in November). But we have to make it through the campaign season first, and I predict that will be a messy spring, summer, and fall. The other messy question for 2026 is: Do I upgrade my Windows 10 machine (purchased at the end of 2018) to Windows 11, or just buy a new Windows 11 machine? Each option has its own fears, stresses, and headaches.

I’m continuing to work on podcast episodes. I’ve completed the first episode on Route 12, and will complete the remaining two on Route 12, one on Route 13, and one on Route 14 after the last round of updates for 2025 are posted. For those, all that remains is incorporation of this headline post, and then it is time to generate and post. Episode 4.05 is also recorded and pending editing, so that should go up around the end of next week.

Season 4 of the podcast continues, and we’re now using new recording software  (Zencaster). I think it sounds better, but I would love to hear from the listeners. Let us know what you think. It looks like the regular audience is between 60-70 folks, and I’d love to get that number up (as of today, we’re at 37 for 4.04, 61 for 4.03, 69 for 4.02, 93 for 4.01, and 72 for 3.15), although the numbers don’t included those who listen directly from the CARouteByRoute website (as I don’t know how to get those stats). You can help. Please tell your friends about the podcast, “like”, “♥”, or “favorite” it, and give it a rating in your favorite podcatcher. Share the podcast on Facebook groups, and in your Bluesky and Mastodon communities. For those that hear the early episodes, the sound quality of the episodes does get better — we were learning. If you know sound editing, feel free to give me advice (I use Audacity to edit). As always, you can keep up with the show at the podcast’s forever home at https://www.caroutebyroute.org , the show’s page on Spotify for Creators, or you can subscribe through your favorite podcatching app or via the RSS feeds (CARxR, Spotify for Creators) . The following episode has been posted this month:

• December | CA RxR 4.04: Route 9: Pre-1964 – Milpitas to Castro Valley. Episode 4.04 is our second episode exploring Route 9, which in its post-1964 version runs from Santa Cruz to Saratoga and Los Gatos. Before 1964, Route 9 continued N up to the Mountain View area, and then across to Milpitas, and up to the Castro Valley. The previous episode covered post-1964 Route 9 (and the first segment of pre-1964 Sign Route 9) from Santa Cruz to Saratoga and then into Los Gatos, as well as all the 9^th State Route and LRN 9. This episode (4.04) covers the pre-1964 Route 9 portions N of Saratoga: Sign Route 9 through Mountain View, Milpitas, and up through Hayward and the Castro Valley. This portion of Sign Route 9 became Route 85, Route 237, Route 17/I-880/I-680 (in portions) and Route 238. The next pair of episodes will be covering I-10, with episode 4.05 covering the Santa Monica Freeway portion, and episode 4.06 covering the San Bernardino Freeway portion. (Spotify for Creators)

As a reminder: One of the sources for the highway page updates (and the raison d’etre for for this post) are headlines about California Highways that I’ve seen over the last month. I collect them in this post, which serves as fodder for the updates to my California Highways site, and so there are also other pages and things I’ve seen that I wanted to remember for the site updates. Lastly, the post also includes some things that I think would be of peripheral interest to my highway-obsessed highway-interested readers.

Well, you should now be up to date. Here are the headlines that I found about California’s highways for December.

Key

[Ħ Historical information | ＄ Paywalls, ＄＄ really obnoxious paywalls, and ∅ other annoying restrictions. I’m no longer going to list the paper names, as I’m including them in the headlines now. Note: For ＄ paywalls, sometimes the only way is incognito mode, grabbing the text before the paywall shows, and pasting into an editor. See this article for more tips on bypassing paywalls. ＄＄ paywalls require the use of archive.ph. ☊ indicates an primarily audio article. 🎥 indicates a primarily video article. ]

Highway Headlines

• ＄ New ramp meters along Highway 101 in Sonoma and Marin counties to be activated Tuesday (Petaluma Argus-Courier). New Highway 101 ramp meters in Sonoma and Marin counties will be activated starting Tuesday to help manage traffic flow, according to Caltrans. Caltrans will turn on seven meters, which are traffic signals at onramps, in Sonoma County and five in Marin County in both northbound and southbound directions, the agency said in a Wednesday news release. All of the Sonoma County meters and both Marin County northbound meters will be switched on Tuesday. Three southbound Marin County meters, which are located along the Marin-Sonoma Narrows project area, will be turned on after some additional drainage and electrical work is completed, likely in early 2026, Caltrans spokesperson Matt O’Donnell said in an email Wednesday. The meters — located in Petaluma, Novato, Sausalito and Mill Valley — will be active at varying hours Monday through Friday. Signs will be placed ahead of the meters, letting drivers know of the new traffic signals.
• Work begins on Richmond-San Rafael Bridge ‘open-road tolling’ project (Richmond Standard). The Richmond–San Rafael Bridge is entering a new era of tolling. The Bay Area Toll Authority (BATA) announced that pre-construction work for a full conversion to “open-road tolling” (ORT) begins this week, weather permitting. When construction is fully underway, drivers can expect overnight westbound lane closures, with full overnight closures expected for the gantry installation (dates to be determined). This marks the first ORT conversion among the seven BATA-managed bridges. When the structure is built, vehicles will no longer need to slow for toll booths. Instead, overhead equipment will automatically detect FasTrak tags or license-plate accounts as drivers pass under at freeway speeds.
• The Bay Bridge, Nearing Age 90, Gets a Physical (KQED). For most of the past year, Caltrans contractors have conducted a far-from-routine physical on an 89-year-old patient: the monumental western span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. In a process completed in September, engineers opened up the massive main cables that support the bridge’s double-deck roadway between Yerba Buena Island and San Francisco’s Rincon Hill to check on conditions inside. The results from that exam are due by early next year. The last time crews looked inside the cables was in 2003, during a major seismic upgrade project. The Metropolitan Transportation Commission said this year’s checkup was the first systematic investigation of the 25-inch diameter cables since the Bay Bridge was completed in 1936.
• ＄ ‘The Snake’ stretch of Mulholland Hwy. reopens after 6 years (Los Angeles Times). For more than six years, adrenaline junkies have yearned for the moment that, once again, they can careen around the serpentine corners of a stretch of Mulholland Highway with the crisp mountain air rushing through their hair. Their wait came to an end Tuesday as a 2.4-mile section of the road known as “the Snake” slithered back to life. The area of the highway roughly between Kanan Road and Sierra Creek Road has been closed to vehicle traffic since early 2019 after it was charred in the Woolsey fire and further damaged by winter rains.
• Mulholland Highway’s Iconic 2.4-Mile Winding Stretch ‘The Snake’ Has Officially Reopened — After Almost Seven Years (Secret Los Angeles). Mulholland Highway is one of Los Angeles’ most iconic roads, famous for its winding curves and breathtaking views that make it a must for any scenic drive. Its serpentine path has become a symbol of the city’s adventurous spirit and laid-back lifestyle. So ingrained is it in L.A.’s identity that it even inspired the title of David Lynch’s cult classic film. For decades, locals and visitors alike have flocked to this legendary route to experience a drive that feels uniquely Californian. Everything changed in 2018 when the devastating Woolsey Fire swept through the area, followed by heavy rains and landslides that forced the closure of the iconic section. For nearly seven years, drivers had to bypass “The Snake,” leaving a gap in one of L.A.’s most celebrated scenic routes. Now, according to the L.A. Times, the narrow 2.4-mile stretch has officially reopened, restoring a beloved piece of the city’s landscape.
• New report paints damning picture of California’s aging infrastructure (SF Gate). In 1989, as the Loma Prieta earthquake shook the ground up to 60 miles from its center, a section of the Bay Bridge collapsed. The bridge failure was a visible representation of California’s vulnerable infrastructure; a 53-year-old span that hadn’t been retrofitted adequately to withstand a disaster. A recently released report shows just how much of California’s infrastructure is in dire need of repair or replacement. The report, which assigns a grade to 17 different categories of infrastructure and is compiled by the American Society of Civil Engineers, gave the state’s cumulative infrastructure a C-, unchanged since 2019, but below the nation’s C grade. Since 2019, grades for aviation, energy, hazardous waste, levees, ports and rail all improved, while the state’s dams, drinking water, schools and stormwater declined. The study is completed about every six years.
• ＄ Plans to raise Vincent Thomas Bridge rejected by state (Los Angeles Times). Construction on the Vincent Thomas Bridge near the Port of Los Angeles is slated to begin next month, but the project will not include a 26-foot bridge hoist that port officials were hoping for. Port Executive Director Gene Seroka proposed raising the bridge earlier this year amid existing plans from the California Department of Transportation to re-deck the emerald green overpass connecting San Pedro to Terminal Island and Long Beach. Raising the bridge would allow larger, more efficient ships to travel underneath carrying cargo. About 40% of the port’s cargo capacity is beyond the bridge, which sits at 185 feet high.

As you know, it is a halachic tradition to see a movie on Christmas Day, followed by Chinese Food. We arranged the Chinese Food through our synagogue’s brotherhood, but it was up to us to pick the movies. Normally, we’re live theatre folks: If you follow my blog at all, you know that we see live theatre or other forms of live performance almost every week (on average). But movies, in a movie theater? That’s reserved for the week around Christmas. I also don’t feel the need for full writeups (as I do with stage shows) for movies, especially given the size of the production team compared to live theatre production teams. That’s why IMDB exists. So here are some thoughts about the movies we saw this holiday season.

Wicked: For Good

GIven that last year’s holiday movie was “Wicked: Part 1“,  it is probably no surprise that this year’s pair of holiday movies started out with “Wicked: For Good” on Erev Christmas. Before we get started on the movie itself, a small bitch about the titles: I get that the producers changed their mind on the title after the first movie was released, but the fact that there’s a Part 1 without a Part 2 just gnaws at my brain. If an autauer as great as George Lucas can retitle “Star Wars” to “Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope” after its release, then you can fix the title mismatch. Rename one of the parts of make things consistent. Ideally, the solution would be something along the lines of: “Wicked (Act 1): Defying Gravity” and “Wicked (Act 2): For Good”. With that off my chest…

This is a movie. This means that much of the audience was unfamiliar with the original musical by Winnie Holzman and Stephen Schwartz, let alone the original books by Gregory Maguire. This also means that they went into the movie expecting a continuation of the lightness and humor of the first movie. They didn’t get it. I felt bad for the family sharing our row at the theatre who brought their smalls (under 10 years old) with them. They were scared by the darkness, and bored by the love story, and as a result, were crying and couldn’t sit still. Folks: Act 2 of “Wicked” is dark. It was extremely dark in the original book, and just a bit lighter in the stage production, but is dark none-the-less. Folks should expect this, even given the MGM film. The focus of the story, the “Wicked Witch”, dies in the end. This can’t be a light story where the two girlfriends go skipping down the path together.

Gregory Maguire wrote his original book (which was the first of four in the series) as a political allegory during the Clinton administration. According to Wikipedia, while living in London in the early 1990s, he noticed that while the problem of evil had been explored from many different perspectives, those perspectives were seldom synthesized together. He wondered whether calling a person evil might be enough to cause a self-fulfilling prophecy. He decided to use the milieu of Oz to explore the story: hence, “Wicked”. His politics got more pointed in the later books: In particular, his second book in the series “Son of a Witch”, explores the political torture of the second Bush administration. The musical changed the story quite a bit (especially the ending), but kept the political themes, and the Act 2 movie leaned into that even more.

I mention this all because this really shows the adaptability of Oz. L. Frank Baum wrote the original story (before he started the rest of the children book series) as a political allegory about the McKinley administration and the silver standard (hence the silver shoes). Maguire wrote his first story exploring what makes people evil, as well as the nature of the power of propaganda and attacks on class. Yet viewing the story today, it is a wonderful commentary on the Trump administration, the administration’s manipulation of “truth”, and of the harnessing of hatred of a particular subclass of citizens to gain and retain power. The Wizard’s song “Wonderful” exposes this well, and is perhaps the political heart of the story (the emotional heart, as always, is the relationship between Elphaba and Glinda). I’m sure that much of the audience was unaware of this political message going in: Hopefully, they will learn from it. We are still dealing with the Carney who is running a government based on carnival flim-flam alone (and no real skills, other than charm), who is making up and selling a story, and who is abusing contributing citizens to gain and retain power. Children’s stories are often used to teach adult lessons in disguise.

The performances in the movie were outstanding. Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande were great, and bought distinct personalities and exceptionally strong singing voices to the role. I always love Ethan Slater (who I’ll always think of a Spongebob from the Spongebob Musical), and Jonathan Bailey made a great Fiyero.

The movie made a number of changes to the original story (for example, Elphaba’s father was originally an itinerant preacher). The movie also expanded a number of parts of the story, and made many aspects of the connection to the 1939 movie a lot more explicit (certainly more explicit than in the musical). The transformations of the Tin Man and Scarecrow were particularly strong. I did like how the ending ties well to the original story and map of Oz (and that’s all I’ll say).

Lastly, as I noted in my original comment on Facebook, it is amazing how many people it takes to make a movie, especially when compared to a stage production. The production team for the stage consists of perhaps 20 to 30 people, with perhaps another 20 in the costume and scenery shops. The Wicked movies listed at least 200 people, I’d guess.

One article I read noted that this movie was key for Universal, which viewed the movie as a tentpole franchise. Unlike their action movie or animation franchises, this movie appeals to women and brings them into the theaters. Hence, the intense and almost overwhelming marketing blitz for the pair of movies, which continues unabated. I’ve already heard rumors that there will be more movies in this franchise, although it is unclear in what direction they will go. It is hard to imagine them continuing with Maguire’s remaining 3 books (“Son of a Witch”, “A Lion Among Men”, and “Out of Oz”), simply because of their darkness, political intrigue, and work required to musicalize them. More likely would be Oz-adjacent stories set in the Maguire/Holzman universe, with new music. I’m not sure those will succeed, but given the desire of the audience, they probably will. Get ready for “Wicked: The Sparkly and the Furious”.

An excellent movie, well worth seeing. I predict that this pair of movies will continue to be shown and reshown on your television screens for a long time, just like the ubiquitous “Back to the Future”.

Song Sung Blue

When I first heard about the movie “Song Sung Blue” and saw advertising for it, I was afraid it would be another Neil Diamond bio-pic. This didn’t interest me at all, as I had recently seen the excellent “A Beautiful Noise” at the Pantages. I also had no interest in seeing Jackman, whose musical star was tainted by the mess with Sutton Foster (who I think is a wonderful Broadway artist). But when my daughter was in town last week, she suggested that we go see “Song Sung Blue”, indicating that my concerns were misplaced. In particular, it was NOT a Neil Diamond bio-pic; rather, it was a story about two real Neil Diamond interpreters and was based on real life.

In parallel, I started reading some stories in the NY Times about Kate Hudson’s performance,  and how it was particularly strong.  As that article starts:

She’s a middle-aged, blue-collar amputee who sings backup in a kitschy Neil Diamond cover band. “I don’t want to be a hairdresser,” she says with a heavy Wisconsin accent. “I want to sing and dance.”

It’s not exactly a role that shouts Oscar. At first glance, it reads more like Razzie bait.

But the right actress in the right part: As played by Kate Hudson in the musical bio-dramedy “Song Sung Blue,” arriving in theaters on Christmas Day, the character, Claire, transcends her movie-of-the-week attributes — so much so that Hudson could land in the best actress race at the Academy Awards.

This sounded intriguing. I could overlook Hugh Jackman for that. So we booked tickets for this movie as our Christmas Day movie. I’m really glad we did.

This movie tells the story of Mike and Claire Sardina, who became famous as Lightning and Thunder, a group that interpreted Neil Diamond music at state fairs in the midwest, going so far as to open for Pearl Jam (yes, that’s true). Mike was a down-on-his-luck cover impersonation artist. He meets Claire, another such artist, and falls for her professionally and emotionally. The movie explores their ups and downs, and how music was the heart of their relationship. It is based mostly on real life, although there were a few changes from the real story of the Sardina’s. I found the story compelling, although the way the director presented the story there was almost too much foreshadowing. Some of the plot beats were predictable from the telegraphing alone (unlike real life). The movie would almost have been stronger without them (although it does make me curious to see the original 2008 documentary).

Hugh Jackman’s performance was good, and he makes a credible Neil Diamond impersonator. However (and this is especially true listening to the soundtrack of the movie in isolation), his Australian accent comes slightly through (e.g., at times I thought I was listening to Peter Allen singing Neil Diamond). If you don’t get that reference, Hugh Jackman burst onto the stage as a singer through the musical “A Boy from Oz“, which tells the story of Peter Allen). I don’t recall that accent coming through in “The Greatest Showman”, but now I’ll listen for it. His acting was very strong. For those that know him only from Wolverine, this might be a shock. For those that know him from stage or Showman, it is less of a surprise. He does bring quite a bit of depth to the role.

Kate Hudson is remarkable. I had no idea she was that strong of singer: she handles both the Neil Diamond and the Patsy Cline numbers with aplomb. Her performance, as the Times noted, was Oscar-worthy. She becomes Claire Sardina — and unlike a lot of actresses, is unafraid to do scenes sans makeup and showing her real age and vulnerability. She brings the character alive through performance alone. In some ways, this is unsurprising given her parents. But it also shows that she has been underestimated by the Hollywood machine. Hopefully, this will open more doors for her and a wider range of options.

Other performances were equally strong: I didn’t realize until the credits that Jim Belushi was involved. I was also particularly taken by Ella Anderson as Rachel (Claire’s daughter) and King Princess (as Angelina, Mike’s daughter) and their relationship to their parents. Hudson Hensley was also strong as Dana, Claire’s other child. Dana’s status is quietly male in the movie: In the articles I’ve seen about the real-life Dayna, I’ve seen all sorts of pronouns being used. Again, this is a movie that will play to middle-America, perhaps making a statement about acceptance they don’t realize they are getting.

Again, this is a movie I strongly recommend.

And thus, our two movies for 2025 are achieved. We now return you to your regularly posted theatre reviews.

This entry was originally posted on Observations Along the Road as Holiday Traditions: Wickedness and Music | "Wicked: For Good" and "Song Sung Blue" by cahwyguy. Although you can comment on DW, please make comments on original post at the Wordpress blog using the link to the left. You can sign in with your LJ, DW, FB, or a myriad of other accounts. Note: Subsequent changes made to the post on the blog are not propagated by the SNAP Crossposter; please visit the original post to see the latest version. P.S.: If you see share buttons above, note that they do not work outside of the Wordpress blog.