off Broadway

And he transmits the inanity to his characters, who speak, move and act as if they are all part of a stage play that would get laughed off Broadway before previews have even ended.

But as relatives arrived at the business off Broadway and 5th Street in downtown Los Angeles on Monday morning, the scope of the loss was clear; millions of dollars in gold and jewels were gone and it was written all over the owner’s face.

An hour later, Johnny and Beansie were at the Salvation Army storefront south of Canal off Broadway, volunteering to be street Santas, ringing bells, quarters clanking into their tin buckets.

The current production’s starry, appealing cast, who also performed in a 2022 Off Broadway run at New York Theater Workshop, helped make the show a must-see even before audiences discovered that they liked the story and the songs and found the show both affecting and artful.

He has also periodically worked Off Broadway, including as the first star of a 2019 “Little Shop of Horrors” revival that is still running, with a variety of well-known performers in leading roles, at the Westside Theater.