Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for the Performing Arts — Attraction in Los Angeles

The amazing, fabulous, and beautiful Lea Salonga performed at the Soraya in front of a packed house this week. With every seat virtually filled with fans, Lea Salonga gave an enjoyable performance. Some of her song choices included songs her mother and brother chose. Other song choices were recommended by her manager “Josh.” Although Lea Salonga has a truly “beautiful voice” and she is an “amazing performer,” a few songs choices (not made by Mom and brother) should be reconsidered.

After the show, Lea Salonga was kind enough to sign autographs for her fans. Fans were running to line up in long lines in anticipation to see her and to get their memorabilia signed. Despite waiting in line 40 minutes after the show ended to see Lea Salonga, everyone waited patiently.

I highly recommend seeing Lea perform if and when she returns to the Soraya! The Soraya is a beautiful venue and it was another evening to remember. ✅

Previous review: Bravo! Singing in the Rain at the Soraya was fantastic, riveting, and captivating!! Every scene, every character, and every moment was entertaining. This was the best show we’ve see all year and we’ve seen 5+. If you get the opportunity to watch Singing in the Rain today (Sunday), grab tickets while they last. The cast of Michael Starr, Kimberly Immanuel, Brandon Burks, and Sara King were amazing. There were too many great scenes to mention, however, Michael Starr actually singing in the rain on stage is a must see!!! Jamie Torcellini and Peter Van Norden were great too, adding the right amount of humor and fun. Let’s not forget the rest of the cast, crew, and supporting staff that brought the show home! Go see Singing in the Rain

As for the Soraya, it’s the photos speak for themselves! We’re glad such a venue was...

The parking situation at this facility is beyond atrocious....by far, the worst at any venue in the LA area. And if you have any physical limitations, your handicap placard is basically useless unless you decide to show up 3 hours in advance. I attended an event at the Valley PAC on 9/30 and one at the Hollywood Bowl on 10/1 and the difference in the parking between the two venues is stark - at VPAC, we had to walk at least 3/4 of a mile to & from the car (since i was on crutches, i only had to do this once, but my partner had to park the car, walk the length of the parking lot to get to the kiosk to pay for parking, walk BACK to the car to put the parking receipt on the dashboard, then walk it AGAIN to get to the theater, then again after the show - outrageous), whereas at the Bowl (where there is generous handicap parking or the option to take shuttle buses directly to the main entrance from anywhere in the greater LA area) we were in our car and on our way home in minutes. And the event at VPAC maybe had 1,000 people in attendance, whereas the Bowl was sold out and 18,000 people were navigating the venue. Not to mention the VPAC lot was virtually pitch black at night, making a terrible situation even worse due to the dangerous conditions. Unfortunately we have tickets for another event at VPAC in two weeks - after that, God Himself would have to be on the bill before we'd consider returning to this place - with Streisand as His opening act. And...

tl;dr: Beautiful venue marred by excessive sound levels and inappropriate sound mixing. (note that I am an outlier on stuff like this.)

This review is about the venue, not the performer. I spent years performing in venues and working with sound systems of all sorts.

I went to see Samara Joy, who is billed as a jazz singer. Her quartet was acoustic -- primarily piano, acoustic bass and drums. She also brought her family onstage - singers plus electric bass. The pianist also switched to a Hammond B3 organ, but I consider this to be basically acoustic music.

I measured peak sound readings of 108db at the concert from my phone. The sound system was cranked and it negated the acoustic quality of the performance. When Samara pulled the mic a little too close it felt like a vocal ice pick in the ear. The mix was really "woofy" and various items were indistinct. Many of her family members' voices got lost entirely.

I'm glad I had attenuating earplugs with me. Unfortunately, because everything was so indistinct I was pulling them out and pushing them back in when the levels went up and down.

I was not close to the front. I shouldn't feel like thumping shockwaves of sound are hitting me at this sort of jazz holiday event. I should also be able to clearly hear all the musical elements; that's why you go to a purpose-built venue like the Soraya.

It's unfortunate that the Soraya did not know how to properly mix and present this...