THE STEPS TO SUCCESS They say that timing is everything. Timing certainly is everything in The 39 Steps, the English spy spoof that occupies a delightful, often amazing, and even suspenseful two hours at the San Francisco Playhouse. A fun-filled comedy slapstick farce based on the Alfred Hitchcock thriller The 39 Steps takes place in pre-WWII […]
If you’re among the savvy buyers of pianos, you recognize that your piano isn’t merely a beautiful piece of furniture, but a complex and intricately crafted instrument. To safeguard this significant investment and maintain the joy of playing a piano in top condition, regular maintenance is of utmost importance. Proper care not only ensures your […]
A PIPELINE TO GREAT THEATER Theater can do more than entertain. A good drama can not only pull at your heartstrings, it has the ability to educate, influence and inform. Pipeline, now playing in San Francisco at the Taube Atrium Theater, is the story of Nya, (Leontyne Mbele-Mbong) an inner-city public school teacher, dedicated to […]
The fourth floor of the American Museum of Natural History is like dinosaur heaven. It’s home to countless fossils of dinosaurs, sea reptiles and pterosaurs. The museum’s paleontologists, including Barnum Brown and Henry Fairfield Osborn, hunted around the world for fossils. They also enlisted natural history artists such as Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins to mount the […]
Some consider A Midsummer Night’s Dream to be one of William Shakespeare’s greatest tributes to love: both romantic and platonic. “Love looks not with the eyes but with the mind. And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.” Veronica Renner and Jamin Jollo At Shotgun Players, there is a lot of love for humanity in all […]
STRING THEORY Arnold Schoenberg‘s Verklärte Nacht (“Transfigured Night”), Op. 4, is a string sextet in one movement composed in 1899. Love him or hate him (some of his challenging later music is impenetrably inaccessible given his twelve-tone technique), there are times when Schoenberg’s system of composition can reach through your soul, creating an otherworldly sound. […]
ONE FOR THE NOTEBOOKS While specialty branded tissue boxes are sold for $5 at the merch stands, the ushers at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre should insert more in the playbill of The Notebook. Whether you have had a dear one suffer from conditions that affect memory and thinking, or if you are just a sucker for love […]
1974: THE YEAR THAT WAS Still haven’t heard of MUSE/IQUE, Los Angeles? I first discovered this prestigious outfit in 2012 on stage at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in a program called Ebony Meets Ivory, a celebration of the piano. Since then, I have thrilled at dozens of MUSE/IQUE events, and they just get more and […]
WOO-HOO, WOOTEN The idea behind this past weekend’s program at the Los Angeles Philharmonic was the influence of jazz on the orchestra, featuring three pieces that cover a span of nearly 125 years. For these two performances, the Phil brought in Thomas Wilkins, Principal Conductor of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, to conduct. First up was […]
FOR SOME, THIS GLASS IS HALF-EMPTY. MINE OVERFLOWETH. Although Philip Glass‘s works can be described as minimalist, he prefers to describe himself as a composer of “music with repetitive structures.” He also noted, “If I’m to be remembered for anything, it will probably be for the piano music, because people can play it.” He conceived […]