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John Todd

  • Music Commentary: CAN WE USE MUSIC TO INCREASE OUR STUDYING ABILITY?

    By John Todd | February 4, 2020
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    CAN MUSIC INCREASE OUR STUDYING ABILITY? Can music affect our ability to perceive and remember information? How does music affect our brain and psycho-emotional state? Well, we can divide all musical works into activating, tonic, and relaxing, soothing. The perception of music is closely connected with mental processes; it requires attention, observation, quick wit. Music,…

  • Music Preview: SONGS OF FANTASY (The Fox Singers in Santa Monica)

    By John Todd | January 10, 2020
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    A FOX FANTASY The Verdi Chorus is So Cal’s only choral group which centers around the dramatic and diverse music for an opera chorus. The Fox Singers, who constitute the professional ensemble of this wonderful chorus, are presenting, for one-night only on Sat. Feb. 1 at 7:30, a program devoted to all things fantastical. You…

  • Film Review: RAIN MAN (directed by Barry Levinson)

    By John Todd | March 10, 2019
    in

    GAMBLING WITH FAMILY Rain Main is a heart-warming Hollywood tale that explores the relationship between a slick, fast-talking Lamborghini salesman, Charlie Babbitt (Tom Cruise), and his autistic, yet extremely gifted brother, Raymond (Dustin Hoffman). When returning to Cincinnati to attend the funeral of his father, Charlie is disappointed to find that his inheritance consisted solely…

  • CD Review: RAMEAU: LE TEMPLE DE LA GLORIE (Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Nicholas McGegan)

    By John Todd | January 4, 2019
    in

    ORIGINAL OPERA SHOULD BE SEEN, NOT JUST HEARD I suspected even before opening this new recording that there was trouble ahead on what should have been a fascinating effort. The “world premiere recording” of the “original 1745 version” of Jean-Philippe Rameau’s Le Temple de la Gloire is a must for the collector (and you know…

  • Music Preview: CALLING ALL ANGELS (Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles Holiday Spectacular)

    By John Todd | November 24, 2018
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    MAKE THE YULETIDE GAY Attending GMCLA’s Holiday Spectaculars is more like a pilgrimage for me, and is a no-brainer when choosing my wintertime concerts. The musical extravaganza this year, Holiday Spectacular: Calling All Angels, plays at Glendale’s  gorgeous Alex Theatre for four performances Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 15 & 16, 2018. What better way is there…

  • CD Review: LIMITLESS (The Piano Guys)

    By John Todd | November 21, 2018
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    ACTUALLY, THERE ARE LIMITS You know The Piano Guys, right? Their YouTube channel is one of the most popular on the planet? Technically, it’s  the duo of pianist Jon Schmidt and cellist Steven Sharp Nelson, but there’s two more. The squeaky-clean 21st-century multimedia Utah-based empire is also producer Al van der Beek and videographer Paul Anderson,…

  • CD Review: WHO’S YOUR BAGHDADDY? OR HOW I STARTED THE IRAQ WAR (Original Cast Recording)

    By John Todd | October 10, 2018
    in

    THEY BAGH’D THIS ONE The Iraq War lasted seven years (2003 – 2011) and cost  $1.06 trillion, adding more than more than $1  trillion to the U.S. debt. I thought this was going to be a heavy-handed listen, but it’s a hoot to listen to the Original Cast Album about the war’s genesis. Seen Off-Broadway in 2015,…

  • CD Preview: THE BOY WHO DANCED ON AIR (Original Cast Recording)

    By John Todd | September 21, 2018
    in

    THE BOY WHO DANCED ON AIR, AN AFFECTING CHAMBER MUSICAL The Boy Who Danced on Air, Â a musical love story set in rural Afghanistan that was seen Off-Broadway last spring, Â will receive an original cast recording from Broadway Records. This musical about Â bacha bazi — “the ancient tradition where wealthy men buy boys from poorer families, train them…

  • CD Review: THE BEAST IN THE JUNGLE by John Kander (Original Score Recording)

    By John Todd | September 14, 2018
    in

    NO BEAST, NO JUNGLE, NO SONGS, JUST GREAT MUSIC The Beast in the Jungle, based on the Henry James novella of the same name, is an Off-Broadway dance-play that got fairly mixed reviews, but not because of this fascinating score from 91-year-old John Kander, who shows no signs of slowing down since the death of…

  • Theater Review: END OF THE RAINBOW (Laguna Playhouse in Laguna Beach)

    By John Todd | August 13, 2018
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    THE LEGEND THAT GOT AWAY No, this show isn’t how fans want to remember Judy Garland at the bittersweet end. End of the Rainbow, Peter Quilter’s sardonic salute to a star on the skids, is a sometimes-sadistic portrait of an imploding diva. A festering production at Laguna Playhouse, Quilter’s retro take on “Little Girl Blue”…

  • Theater & Film Preview: BANDSTAND (The Broadway Musical on Screen presented by Fathom Events)

    By John Todd | June 21, 2018
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    THE BOYS ARE BACK — BANDSTAND: THE BROADWAY MUSICAL ON SCREEN The Tony-winning musical Bandstand  will be screened nationwide for two nights next week.  Richard Oberacker and Robert Taylor’s ode to the 1940’s, musicians, and vets coming home from WWII won a Tony for director/choreographer  Andy Blankenbuehler (Hamilton) and his high-octane, heart-stopping, spectacular dancing.   The Boys Are Back…

  • San Diego Theater Review: BE A GOOD LITTLE WIDOW (Old Globe)

    By John Todd | May 20, 2013
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    HOME IS WHERE THE HEARTACHE IS Moments before the arrival of Hope (a domineering mother-in-law, not the aspiration), newly-married Melody jests with her handsome corporate attorney husband, Craig: “Don’t talk about your mother and then try to kiss me.” Although funny dialogue such as this may seem more sitcom than theatrical in Bekah Brunstetter’s Be…

  • San Diego Opera Review: AIDA (San Diego Opera)

    By John Todd | April 23, 2013
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    EYEING AMNERIS  IN AIDA In this well-loved 150-year-old Guiseppe Verdi classic of Grand Opera, it may be heretical to question the relationship of the principle characters and their so-called “love triangle.” But in the San Diego Opera production it is Amneris, the Pharoah’s love-sick daughter, who seems more the protagonist. After all, it is Amneris’ world…

  • San Diego Theater Review HICKORYDICKORY (Moxie Theatre)

    By John Todd | November 29, 2012
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    WASTED TIME In Marisa Wegrzyn’s Hickorydickory, all humans are born with a mortal clock encoded with the date and time of their death.   This mortal clock takes the form of an actual pocket watch.   For most people, it goes unnoticed because it is hidden behind their heart.   But for the “unfortunate few” the watch is…

  • San Diego Theater Review: A HAMMER, A BELL AND A SONG TO SING (San Diego Repertory Theatre)

    By John Todd | November 19, 2012
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    A FEW PROTESTS… Todd Salovey’s revue of mostly American songs of protest is buoyed by a fiercely energetic, multi-talented quartet of singers and musicians: Dave Crossland, Jim Mooney, Vaughn Armstrong, and the redoubtable Lisa Payton.   When Payton hits the money notes it’s enough to pop your sternum from its rib cage.   But the narrative, the…

  • San Diego Theater Review: AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS (Lamb’s Players Theatre)

    By John Todd | October 17, 2012
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    ADAPTATION NEEDS TO MAKE EVERY DAY COUNT Jules Verne channeled 19th century technological progress into wondrous stories that fueled the world’s imagination.   He took us to the center of the earth, to the bottom of the sea, to the moon and, in perhaps his most popular adventure, around the world in 80 days.   Even in…

  • San Diego Theater Review: SAM BENDRIX AT THE BON SOIR (La Jolla Playhouse at Martini’s Above Fourth)

    By John Todd | October 9, 2012
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    THANK GOD THE DRINKS ARE STRONG The secret to living in New York is knowing how to cross the street against the light.   Sam Bendrix (Luke Macfarlane) recalls having been given that advice when he first arrived in the city.   Now he tells us, from the cabaret stage of the Bon Soir, that he must…

  • San Diego Theater Review: THE EXIT INTERVIEW (San Diego Repertory Theatre)

    By John Todd | October 9, 2012
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    A PLAY THAT GROPES FOR AN EXIT William Missouri Downs’ The Exit Interview is a jumble of a play whose myriad directions are made more difficult to track by  its opening pronouncement:   Two exuberant cheerleaders (JoAnne Glover and Lisel Gorell-Getz), uniformed and pom-pommed, lead the audience in a spirited:   “Give me an “O”!   Give me an…

  • San Diego Theater Review: ALLEGIANCE (Old Globe)

    By John Todd | September 24, 2012
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    NEW MUSICAL TOO LUKEWARM TO PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE TO IT Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, FDR issued Executive Order 9066, authorizing “exclusion zones” which effectively allowed for the forced evacuation of persons of Japanese ancestry in California, Washington and Oregon. Two-thirds of the 120,000 internees were American citizens, and since it was indiscernible as…

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