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Some years you just have to get through.

I can’t pretend that 2025 delivered a banner crop of theater productions. Many of the best shows on this list came from elsewhere. And a higher than usual percentage were seen at the Ahmanson Theatre, which had a remarkably good year — perhaps the best of any local theater.

It was so good, in fact, that I left off Michael Arden’s revival of “Parade.” My self-consciousness about the high number of touring productions persuaded me not to include “Shucked” at the Hollywood Pantages, which lightened the summer with its country bumpkin merriment. And I also omitted “Here There Are Blueberries” at the Wallis not because it wasn’t one of the be

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