Gedde Watanabe

East West Players has unveiled its the 2024 Season. See full programming and lear how to purchase tickets!

Heathers the Musical, will be ushering in a new cast from 21st February at The Other Palace, with the show now booking until 3 September 2023.

The latest standings as of Monday, December 19th, have been released for the 2022 BroadwayWorld Los Angeles Awards! Nominations were reader-submitted and now our readers get to vote for their favorites.

The latest standings as of Monday, December 12th, have been released for the 2022 BroadwayWorld Los Angeles Awards! Nominations were reader-submitted and now our readers get to vote for their favorites.

The latest standings as of Monday, December 5th, have been released for the 2022 BroadwayWorld Los Angeles Awards! Nominations were reader-submitted and now our readers get to vote for their favorites.

The first live standings have been announced for the 2022 BroadwayWorld Los Angeles Awards! Nominations were reader-submitted and now our readers get to vote for their favorites.

East West Players has resumed LIVE performances with Stephen Sondheim’s Assassins (already opened). East West Players’ producing artistic director Snehal Desai directs the cast which includes Trance Thompson, Gedde Watanabe, Adam Kaokept, Joan Almedilla, Max Torrez, Christopher Chen, George Xavier, Astoncia Bhagat, Arvin Lee, Aric Martin, Kym Miller, Andrea Somera, Jalen Lum, Michael Cavinder and Maya Nahree McGowan. I had the chance to toss a few questions to Gedde, this enduring, steadily working actor, about his long relationship with East West and his various other acting gigs.

Los Angeles’s East West Players has a long and vibrant history with the musicals of Stephen Sondheim, making it hardly a news flash that the company would both take a – er – shot at the composer’s controversial 1990 work, ASSASSINS, and end up bringing it off so splendidly.

East West Players has released production photos from Assassins, which is running from February 17 through March 20, 2022. With music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and book by John Weidman, Assassins is directed by East West Players’ Producing Artistic Director Snehal Desai, and musical direction by Marc Macalintal. 

East West Players, the nation's longest-running Asian American theatre and the largest producer of Asian American theatrical works, is proud to announce the resuming of in person production with the award-winning Broadway musical Assassins from February 17 through March 20, 2022.

East West Players (EWP), the nation's longest-running Asian American theatre and the largest producer of Asian American theatrical works, is proud to announce the resuming of in person production with the award-winning Broadway musical Assassins from February 17 through March 20, 2022, with opening night scheduled for Sunday, February 20, 2022, at 5:00pm.

Shows presented throughout 2022 feature the long awaited EWP premiere of Stephen Sondheim’s darkly comic Tony-Award winning musical Assassins, Interstate, Melissa Li and Kit Yan’s Asian-American pop-rock poetry musical, the world premiere of Inda Craig-Galván’s The Great Jheri Curl Debate, and Prince Gomolvilas’ The Brothers Paranormal.

On this episode of West of Broadway Will Armstrong and Wendy Rosoff speak with Gedde Watanabe and George Xavier, two cast members of East West Players' Spring 2020 production of the award-winning Broadway musical Assassins.

East West Players (EWP), the nation's longest-running professional theater of color and the largest producing organization of Asian American artistic work, is proud to announce the cast and creative team for Spring 2020 production of the award-winning Broadway musical Assassins. With music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and book by John Weidman, Assassins will be directed by East West Players' Producing Artistic Director Snehal Desai, with musical direction by Marc Macalintal. Assassins begins performances on March 12th and runs through April 5th, 2020, with opening night on March 19, 2020.

Cancer Support Community Los Angeles (CSCLA) 5th annual Gilda Gala on Saturday, October 19, 2019 at the InterContinental Century City honored Ken Jeong, Dr. Annette Stanton, and Bedford Breast Center. The event benefited the comprehensive free of charge services, for cancer patients and their families, that CSCLA has provided since 1982.  The annual Gilda Gala is named for the late, legendary comedian Gilda Radner, an early participant and supporter of the CSCLA mission, with the belief that no one should face cancer alone.

East West Players (EWP) announces that its signature EWP Night Market fall event on Saturday, September 14, 2019 will honor actor and playwright Jeanne Sakata and actor Aaron Takahashi. EWP Night Market will feature tasting stations hosted by local restaurants, followed by an evening of performances. Proceeds of EWP Night Market support EWP's artistic and educational programs.

Lythgoe Family Panto (LFP) expands across America this holiday season, including a multi-year deal at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium beginning with their newest production - THE WONDERFUL WINTER OF OZ. It will be directed by Bonnie Lythgoe and choreographed by Napoleon and Tabitha D'umo (NappyTabs), with book by Kris Lythgoe and Michael Orland (American Idol) serving as musical arranger and supervisor. Casting is by executive producer Becky Lythgoe. This will be the seventh holiday season of Lythgoe Family Panto in Pasadena, and their second in this larger venue.

Casting News! Lythgoe Family Panto (LFP), in association with the Pasadena Civic Auditorium, announce the latest casting for their newest production, the world premiere of THE WONDERFUL WINTER OF OZ at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium, (300 East Green Street, Pasadena CA 91101) which will play a strictly limited engagement from December 15 through December 30.

The opening night celebration of THE WONDERFUL WINTER OF OZ on December 14 will also serve as a benefit for the GiveKidsPanto program.  Lythgoe Family Panto created GiveKidsPanto, a non-profit educational program, serving over 6,000 Title 1 students across America annually. For many of these students, this is their first opportunity to see live theater.  GiveKidsPanto raises funds, which allows each LFP production across the country to add a student matinee to their performance schedule.  The funds raised through GiveKidsPanto go to facilitate the student's bus transportation to and from the theater as well as buy the tickets to the performances.  Last year at the Pasadena Civic alone, over 2,000 students from the Pasadena and Greater Los Angeles area schools were brought in to see a performance of Beauty and the Beast: A Christmas Rose.  For more information please contact events@americanpanto.com

Breaking News! Lythgoe Family Panto (LFP), in association with the Pasadena Civic Auditorium, announce additional casting for their newest production, the world premiere of THE WONDERFUL WINTER OF OZ at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium, (300 East Green Street, Pasadena CA 91101) which will play a strictly limited engagement from December 15 through December 30. Singer, actress and dancer Mackenzie Ziegler (Dancing with the Stars: Juniors, Dance Moms) as Dorothy, Phil LaMarr ("Mad TV" and "Pulp Fiction") as The Tin Man, Jared Gertner (Broadway's The Book of Mormon) as The Scarecrow, and Hailee Payne and Valerie Rockey of So You Think You Can Dance join previously announced Kermit The Frog as the Wizard of Oz and Tony-Award winner Marissa Jaret Winokur (Celebrity Big Brother Winner and Broadway's Hairspray) as Glinda. The official press opening will be held on December 14, 2018 at GIVE KIDS PANTO, a benefit to raise monies for the student matinee performance serving Title One schools in the PUSD and LAUSD.