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Tony Frankel
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New York Theater: 75TH ANNUAL TONY AWARD NOMINATIONS
75TH ANNUAL TONY AWARD NOMINATIONS This year’s Tony nominees were announced this morning. I must say, it’s difficult to argue with the majority of the noms. As usual, it seems that some of the very best performances and a few designers were egregiously omitted, and that a few shows got the lion’s share of nom-nods,…
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Music Review: DUDAMEL LEADS ADÈS’S “DANTE” (Disney Hall)
DO NOT ABANDON HOPE; THIS GENERATION’S STRAVINSKY HAS ARRIVED I have great tidings, for English composer Thomas Adès has bestowed on us what is easily one of the greatest works of the twenty-first century. Under the aegis of its Gen X festival, LA Phil premiered his huge symphonic fantasia, Dante, last weekend at Disney Hall,…
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Music Review: JEFF GOLDBLUM & THE MILDRED SCHNITZER ORCHESTRA (Disney Hall)
THE MAN WITH THE GOLDBLUM CHARM Well, it’s my first time with Jeff Goldblum and his Mildred Schnitzer Orchestra, which played last night at Disney Hall. Here’s how it goes: Actor extraordinaire Goldblum plays kind of a compère, loosely introducing his friends in the house, or playing trivia between numbers. His incredible band evokes a…
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Off-Broadway Review: SEVEN SINS (Company XIV in Brooklyn)
SINS I FELL FOR YOU Mae West, the sage and sybarite from Brooklyn, used to say, “Let joy be unrefined,” a point of view that also suits Austin McCormick, artistic director and choreographer of Company XIV. His latest extravaganza, the delightfully ribald Seven Sins, slathers us in the boisterous risk-taking revelry he’s known for: bare…
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Broadway Review: THE MINUTES (Studio 54)
THE MINUTES WILL LEAVE YOU SLACK-JAWED AND SPEECHLESS Superbly civic, the vast council chamber created by set designer David Zinn reeks of rectitude. Filling the stage at Studio 54 is a coffered arched ceiling with hanging strips of fluorescent lights. In the hallway outside this imposing space is a bulletin board with children’s art, while…
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First Look: WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? (Geffen)
ALBEE DAMNED Previews begin tonight at The Geffen Playhouse for Edward Albee’s most famous and most vicious masterpiece Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? George and Martha, the American theater’s most notoriously dysfunctional couple, have invited the young and naïve Nick and Honey over for drinks. What begins as harmless patter escalates to outright marital warfare, with the…
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Off-Broadway Review: HARMONY (Edmond J. Safra Hall at the Museum of Jewish Heritage)
PUT YOURSELF IN HARMONY‘S WAY I can’t remember the last time I have been so entranced with a new musical. And while Harmony may be having its New York premiere in the Off-Broadway house that brought us the Yiddish version of Fiddler on the Roof, I’ll eat my kishkes if this winner doesn’t go to…
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Theater Review: BLUES FOR AN ALABAMA SKY (Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles)
DOWN IN HARLEM Following the quirky, audacious Slave Play (see review) — the first show of Center Theatre Group’s season at The Taper — the company has done a complete 180 with their production of Pearl Cleage’s 1995 Blues for an Alabama Sky, which opened last night. While Slave Play attempted to turn the conversation…
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Film Screening: SLEEPING BEAUTY (El Capitan and The Academy Museum in Hollywood)
EVEN MORE BEAUTIFUL ON THE BIG SCREEN Disney animators Andreas Deja and Floyd Norman will participate in a live Q&A at El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood before their Sleeping Beauty screening on April 15, 2022 at 7pm; Ted Thomas, the son of legendary Disney animator Frank Thomas will moderate the session. The film’s original prop…
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Dance Review: LAZARUS & REVELATIONS (Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater at The Chandler)
AILEY IS ALWAYS A REVELATION(S) Bringing with them three complete programs of dazzling dance, this 2022 edition showcases Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s (AAADT) vital verve, reminding audiences why they retain a love affair with this American institution. An unprecedented two-week, three-program showcase plays through April 10, 2022. Never, and I mean never, in all the…
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Off-Broadway Opening/Photos: ¡AMERICANO! (New World Stages)
After the acclaimed, record-setting run at Arizona’s Phoenix Theater Company, ¡Americano!, a new American musical, is now playing a 12-week limited engagement through June 19, 2022 at New World Stages. Official opening night is April 21 at 7PM. The original score is by acclaimed singer-songwriter Carrie Rodriguez, the book by Jonathan Rosenberg, Fernanda Santos, and…
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Music Recommendation: MEHTA CONDUCTS BRUCKNER & BERG (LA Phil; April 7-10, 2022)
AN EXPERIENCE NOT TO BE MISSED On a website which attempts to list every Anton Bruckner orchestral recording offered to the public (www.abruckner.com), the discography collector and annotator John F. Berky states that the Austrian composer “expanded the concept of the symphonic form in ways that have never been witnessed before or since. When listening…
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Theater Review: CAN’T PAY? DON’T PAY! (The Actors’ Gang)
A PLAY THAT’S A RIOT WILL MAKE YOU WANT TO RIOT While loading items into my trunk after shopping at a Fortune 500 store recently, I realized that an item had gone unchecked by the cashier. My instinct, naturally, was to make a 360 and go back into the store. Then I halted. This item…
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Broadway Opening: THE MINUTES (Steppenwolf at Studio 54)
THE MINUTES FINALLY GETS ITS TIME Steppenwolf’s production of The Minutes by Tracy Letts, directed by Anna D. Shapiro, will resume performances at Studio 54 on Broadway two years after its originally scheduled opening, previewing tomorrow April 2, 2022, and officially opening on Sunday, April 27, 2022. Check The Minutes on Broadway. This record-breaking hit production from Steppenwolf…
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Film Screenings: KINUYO TANAKA; PEDRO ALMODÒVAR; HAYAO MIYAZAKI & MORE (Spring, 2022, The Academy Museum)
WHAT A LINE-UP! In addition to The Academy Museum’s ongoing series ’” Available Space, Branch Selects, Family Matinees, and Oscar ® Sundays ’” you will find some awesome screenings this spring, including a series on French filmmaker Chris Marker; films by directors Pedro Almodóvar and Spike Lee; six films by Kinuyo Tanaka; and encore presentations of movies by Hayao Miyazaki. Films are shown in 35mm,…
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Film: A KETTLE OF HAWKS: 12 Films from Howard Hawks (American Cinematheque in L.A.)
ABOUT THE SERIES: Born to a wealthy Midwestern family, Howard Hawks arrived in Southern California around the same time that the movie industry did. With a relentless initiative and restless spirit, Hawks ensured his Hollywood career by quickly becoming a jack of all trades, taking on roles as screenwriter, producer and director by the end…
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Music Review: HILARY HAHN and PAAVO Jí„RVI (LA Phil) RANDALL GOOSBY and RODERICK COX (LACO)
Randall Goosby with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Roderick Cox conducting Now, why isn’t Samuel Barber’s Violin Concerto played more often? It’s ridiculously beautiful in the first two movements, and fiery in the last. In fact, this may be the best solo work with orchestra of the three that Barber wrote. And Hilary Hahn performing…
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Music Recommendation: UNDER THE INFLUENCE (SummerFest 2022, La Jolla Music Society)
UNDER THE INFLUENCE? I’M HIGH ALREADY! As an Angelino, I have many of the greatest music programs to choose from weekly. Yet even with the plethora of professionals here, I still find myself venturing down to see what La Jolla Music Society has going in the San Diego area. Under Music Director Inon Barnatan, the…
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Dance Review: S.O.S. SIGNS OF STRENGTH (DIAVOLO & The Veterans Project at The Wallis in Beverly Hills)
LIKE A ROCK To name S.O.S. SIGNS OF STRENGTH just a dance piece is like calling a geode just a rock, since there are many elements that make up the masses of mineral matter secluded within. As with war, there’s hardness on the outside, but there is beauty to be found deep inside. At The…
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Music & Dance Review: ST. MATTHEW PASSION (LA Opera)
THE LATEST PASSION IS NOT THE GREATEST PASSION It’s been a busy time in Los Angeles for the visiting dance company Hamburg Ballet. First, its company debut performance at The Music Center, Bernstein Dances, based on the music and spirit of the multi-talented composer Leonard Bernstein, was a truly enjoyable evening. But last Sunday, the…
Theater Review: MEN OF SOUL (Black Ensemble Theater / Chicago)
by Mitchell Oldham | July 1, 2026
in Chicago, TheaterWHY A BOX OFFICE HIT CAN STILL LOSE MONEY
by Leslie Rosenberg | July 1, 2026
in Extras, FilmTheater Preview: PROOF (El Portal Theatre / North Hollywood)
by pwsadmin | June 30, 2026
in Los Angeles, Theater
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