Frank Arthur

VIVA LA POP’S MAMMA Bringing opera to a wider audience is the noble goal of many a musical entrepreneur, but few succeed as well as Josh Shaw (stage direction and production design) and Stephen Karr (music director and conductor), founders of Pacific Opera Project (POP). Major opera companies should take note of the upstart company’s…

AND NOW, WITH FURTHER ADO: Not only is it one of my favorite Shakespeare plays, but Much Ado About Nothing contains a favorite character: Dogberry. This bumbling constable arrives much later in the play than the famous sparring couple’”Beatrice and Benedick’”and adds an enormous amount of comic energy to a play that is already awash…

THE FUTURE LOOKS LIGHT For almost 40 years, The Groundlings has proved itself to be one of the premiere comedy troupes in the nation, creating more stars than the Big Bang. Performers showcase material that arises from improvisation workshops; their weekly shows range from all-improv to all-sketches and anywhere in-between. The current sketch comedy offering…

AN ABUNDANCE OF DANZA In 1994, Tania Pérez-Salas founded Compaí±í­a de Danza in Mexico City. Since then, her company has become unrivaled in the arena of Mexican contemporary dance, and Pérez-Salas has not only proven herself to be Mexico’s premiere contemporary choreographer, but her troupe has made many global appearances. Thanks to Glorya Kaufman Presents…

MUSICALS LIKE THIS OCCUR  ONCE EVERY 100 YEARS In 1947, when Brigadoon confirmed the mutual genius of Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe, timing was everything: A second global conflict had just ended, leaving in its wake postwar angst and searing doubts that the millions of deaths had made no difference. Hoping that faith could move…

THE LATEST FASHION Since its founding in 2004, Vs. Theatre Company has upped the ante for storefront theater in Los Angeles, offering both original works and LA premieres with the kind of love and professionalism I associate with Chicago theater (the best in the nation). Among Vs.’s productions are In Arabia We’d All Be Kings,…

EVERYONE’S INTERESTED IN THE LATEST PASSION The majority of Bach’s choral music dates from 1723 onward during his long tenure as Cantor of the St. Thomas Church in Leipzig. It was during that lengthy period, which lasted until his death, that he composed more than 230 cantatas (many lost to posterity) and five “passions,” of…

DELICIOUS ACTING, HALF-BAKED SCRIPT October has seen a great run for mothers on the Los Angeles stage: Lily Knight in Peace In Our Time at Anteaus, Denise Crosby in House of Gold at EST/LA and now Casey Kramer as an Irish matriarch in Theatre Banshee’s perfect mounting of the imperfect Dolly West’s Kitchen. The second…