[NoHo Arts District, CA] – A NoHo Arts theatre review of Avid Arkenstone’s Mona Lisa Missing! The Musical! directed by Christopher Strand, music and lyrics by David Arkenstone and Wayne Moore and book and lyrics written by Steven Vlasak, at the Hollywood Fringe Festival 2025.
There are always a few musicals at the Hollywood Fringe. This year, a few more than usual, which is wonderful! Mona Lisa Missing! The Musical! is one of the largest, with a sizeable cast band complete with an accordion. So the sound is perfect and perfectly French! Because of course, Mona Lisa Missing! The Musical! is set in Paris.
The story revolves around an American reporter, Karl, who is in Paris looking for a story to write about. His last big story got him in a lot of trouble, so he needs something unique and important to save his career. While he sits at his local cafe, people watching, as you do in Paris, he meets several of the local artists, Picasso being one! But this is 1911, and no one really knows who Picasso is and why he paints like a child and is always getting in trouble with the law!
It’s an exciting time to be alive. The world is on the cusp of so many things. Electricity, radio broadcasts, film, radical movements in Art and music, and of course, Europe is teetering on the edge of war. Into all of this chaos walks Lisa, an Italian beauty, in Paris to paint and to find her own new beginning. They become friends, then much more than friends, and then someone steals the Mona Lisa and it’s as if the world has ended for Paris, such is the love the citizens have for this particular Italian masterpiece.
And so the story evolves from there. Intrigue, love, politics and art…how could you go wrong!? Mix into all of this drama a huge song list, full of wonderful poetry and heartfelt melodies. The entire cast is the chorus and it brings to mind the famous French national pride and their intense love for their country and all its artistic endeavours.
The performances are really excellent. The characters compelling, believable and endearing. The actors’ voices soar in this wonderful big theatre at the Eastwood Performing Arts Center. It’s a great space for this truly enjoyable show.
Mona Lisa Missing! The Musical! is based on the true story of an Italian employee of the Louvre who walked out of the museum one night with the Mona Lisa hidden under his smock. He took it back to Italy, where he believed it belonged and it was discovered two years later and returned to Paris. It’s an incredible story, and I am not surprised it inspired these hugely accomplished writers to create something this good!
Let’s support emerging work and the Hollywood Fringe is the place to do it! Bravo to all for this ambitious show!
Tickets:
https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/11140?tab=tickets
When:
Saturday Evening Preview – June 7 at 8:00 pm
Saturday Opening Night – June 14 at 8:00 pm
Sunday Matinee – June 15 at 3:00 pm
Saturday Evening – June 21 at 8:00 pm
Sunday Closing Matinee – June 22 at 3:00 pm
Where:
Eastwood Performing Art Center
1089 N Oxford Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90029
Cast of Mona Lisa Missing! The Musical
KARL DECKER – Chad Anderson
LISA FLORENTINA –Jordan Mullins
MISTINGUETT – Alison Sinclair
ANDRE SALIS – Christopher Strand
PABLO PICASSO – Oliver Rotunno
LOUIS LEPINE – Michael Gabiano
VINCENZO PERUGGIA – Ross Brooks
EDUARDO VALFIERNO – Michael J. Gonzales
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