La Mirada Theatre's Best Night This Fall Wasn't on the Schedule

As Los Cerritos Community News reported, the theater made an announcement before the curtain went up on the season's first Sunday matinee. Matthew Taylor Smith, the understudy for Seymour Krelborn, hadn't yet completed a full rehearsal in the role. He was going on anyway. The formal rehearsal was scheduled for the following week.

What followed became the moment local critics kept coming back to. In that review, Stepheny Gehrig called Smith's turn "one of the strongest lead performances I've seen on the La Mirada stage." Not a hedge, not a compliment softened for an understudy. The best Seymour of the run, delivered by the man who technically wasn't supposed to be ready yet.

That's the story worth knowing if you live near the theater at 14900 La Mirada Boulevard. The printed program tells you who's supposed to be on stage. It doesn't tell you that some of the best nights this fall will happen on the dates nobody circled in advance.

What actually opened on September 19

La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts, in partnership with McCoy Rigby Entertainment, opened its 2026-27 season with Little Shop of Horrors on September 19, following two preview performances that started September 18. Michael Matthews directs, with choreography by Clarice Ordaz and musical direction by Jennifer Lin. The show runs through October 11.

The cast around the understudy's breakout moment includes Grace Stockdale as Audrey, Thomas Hobson as Seymour on most nights, Jay Brian Winnick as Mr. Mushnik, and Travis Joe Dixon as the sadistic dentist Orin Scrivello. Audrey II, the plant that drives the whole plot, is voiced by Wilkie Ferguson III and puppeteered by Betsy Zajko. Tickets range from $28 to $115, with discounts available for La Mirada residents, groups, students, and military.

Performance times run Thursdays at 7:30 p.m., Fridays at 8 p.m., Saturdays at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m., and Sundays at 1:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Parking is free.

The nights you can't get back

A regular run of a musical repeats itself six times a week for a few weeks and then it's gone. This one has three kinds of special event beyond the regular performances.

Talkbacks with the cast and creative team happen exactly twice, on September 24 and October 8, both at 7:30 p.m. An open-captioned performance is scheduled for a single date, Saturday, October 3, at 2 p.m. And on Sunday, September 27, at 5 p.m., the theater hosted Karaoke on the Patio, a one-time event tied to the run rather than a recurring feature of the season.

For the remaining events, check the theater's own event page before you go.

The theater's quieter connection to the material

There's a detail here that most people driving past the marquee wouldn't guess. Little Shop of Horrors is based on Roger Corman's 1960 film, but La Mirada Theatre has its own earlier tie to Corman that has nothing to do with a man-eating plant. In March 2023, the theater staged an original musical called "Did You See What Walter Paisley Did Today?", built on Corman's 1959 film "A Bucket of Blood," with book, music, and lyrics by Randy Rogel of Animaniacs fame. It's the kind of thing you'd only know if you'd been going to this specific stage for a while, and it's part of why this season's opener feels less like a random booking and more like a theater returning to a genre it already understands.

Where the night starts before the curtain

The Courtyard Café at the theater reopened after renovation and now runs 90 minutes before showtime for most performances, serving sandwiches, small snacks, desserts, and beverages. Outside food and drink aren't permitted inside, so the café is the option if you're arriving straight from work.

For a full meal, the theater's own list of nearby spots along Rosecrans Avenue includes Cabo Taco Baja Grill, Ginzaya Sushi, Panera Bread, and two Starbucks locations, one of them tucked inside the Albertsons a few doors down. If you'd rather sit down somewhere with a bar attached, 12Sixty Modern Pub & Kitchen, inside the Holiday Inn at 14299 Firestone Blvd, runs 24-plus craft beers on tap and a kitchen led by Executive Chef Ruben Gonzales, whose path to the stove ran through a shortened professional soccer career in Guadalajara before culinary school. None of these require a reservation weeks out. They offer options for a meal between five and seven on a weeknight.

The one weekend the historic house opens its doors

The same logic that made the understudy's matinee worth catching applies to something a few miles from the theater. The George House at the historic Neff Estate isn't generally open to casual visitors. Public tours have to be arranged through the La Mirada Activity Center. The exception is Halloweenfest, when the house opens for anyone who shows up.

This year that's Saturday, October 31, from 4:30 to 8 p.m. The event includes a haunted maze, costume contest, carnival-style games, crafting activities, and a trick-or-treat area, and pets are welcome. It's a free city event, and it's also the one predictable day each fall when a building most residents have never walked through becomes walkable.

What closes the loop

Little Shop of Horrors closes October 11. The season's next production, the Southern California regional premiere of Dear Evan Hansen, opens October 30, one night before Halloweenfest. That means the last weekend of October carries two access points back to back: a major regional theater premiere and the single annual day the Neff Estate opens its doors to the public. After that, the season moves to a stage adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird, running February 5 through 28, 2027.

None of this requires planning months out. It requires checking the theater's calendar the same way you'd check a farmers market schedule, because the dates that matter this season are the ones that only happen once.

If you're weighing what it actually feels like to live somewhere with a working regional theater a short drive from your front door, rather than a listing description of one, Tony Real Estate Group can talk through what daily life in La Mirada looks like beyond the calendar of any single fall.