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Tony Frankel
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Music Preview: JAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER ORCHESTRA WITH WYNTON MARSALIS (SCFTA, Costa Mesa; The Soraya, Northridge)
Wynton Marsalis has received a plethora of awards from numerous countries, committees and academies for his talents and contributions to the world as a musician, arranger, composer, and cultural ambassador. In 2009, he received the Insignia Chevalier of the Legion of Honor from France; it’s the equivalent of attaining knighthood in the UK. French Ambassador Pierre Vimont…
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Theater Opening: MARY ROSE (Black Button Eyes in Chicago)
J.M. BARRIE’S MARY ROSE BECOMES WORLD PREMIERE MUSICAL Black Button Eyes Productions concludes its 2021-22 season with Mary Rose, a world premiere musical adapted from the same-titled play by J.M. Barrie (Peter Pan) that spins the tale of a haunted young woman named Mary Rose, and the mysterious supernatural connection between her, a manor house…
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Art Preview: LA ART SHOW (Los Angeles Convention Center)
LA ART SHOW RETURNS IN JANUARY, 2022 WITH ENVIRONMENTALLY FOCUSED PROGRAMMING Los Angeles’s Longest-Running Art Show Is Back With Returning Favorites and New Programming January 19, 2022 – January 23, 2022 Los Angeles Convention Center South Hall 1201 S Figueroa St, Los Angeles, CA 90015 The LA Art Show, the most comprehensive international contemporary art…
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Film Screening: BYE BYE BIRDIE (Ann-Marget & Bobby Rydell in person at The Montalban in Hollywood)
HELLO, BIRDIE! THE FILM BYE BYE BIRDIE PLAYS AT THE MONTALBAN IN L.A. ON FEBRUARY 14, 2022; ANN-MARGRET AND BOBBY RYDELL TO APPEAR IN PERSON Cinelounge Theatres and Cleopatra Records will present a special screening of the classic hit musical Bye Bye Birdie at The Montalban, 1615 N. Vine St., Hollywood, CA 90028 on Monday February 14, 2022…
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Theater Review: THE CHILDREN (Fountain Theatre in Hollywood)
SLOW TO DIE, OR FAST TO LIVE? The setting is the story in The Children, Fountain Theatre’s L.A. premiere. Set designer Andrew Hammer depicts a hand-me-down yet tidy seaside cottage off the east coast of England. This remote shelter, which gets power only after 10pm, stands on a cliff just outside an “exclusion zone,” the site of a…
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Theater Review: HEAD OVER HEELS (Pasadena Playhouse)
MY HEAD SAID “STAY” BUT MY HEELS SAID “RUN”, OR A BEAT OFF You may have never heard of the musical Head Over Heels, but this screwy mash-up of Sir Philip Sidney’s sixteenth-century poem Arcadia and the songs of the iconic 1980s’ female rock band The Go-Go’s has been around the block since 2015. From…
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Upcoming: PEE-WEE HERMAN RADIO SHOW (KCRW)
PEE-WEE HERMAN (ME!!) GETS A RADIO SHOW ON KCRW! Milky Way Galaxy, Planet Earth, Next to the Pacific Ocean, i.e. Santa Monica, CA: Dear most esteemed people, it’s Pee-wee Herman here and I am going to be a DJ on a new radio show airing on KCRW! I’m so excited, it’s my very first one!…
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Broadway Closing: CHICKEN & BISCUITS (Circle in the Square)
THIS MEAL WILL RETURN Following the recent announcement of a temporary suspension of performances due to COVID-19 cases within the company, producers of the Broadway play Chicken & Biscuits announce that the production will resume performances on Friday, November 19, 2021, before playing a final performance of its limited engagement at Circle in the Square Theatre (235 West 50th Street) on Sunday,…
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Music Preview: RAVEL, HIGGINS & COPLAND (Michael Tilson Thomas & Ludovic Morlot with the SF Symphony, Nov. 18-20, 2021)
LUDOVIC MORLOT JOINS MICHAEL TILSON THOMAS TO CONDUCT SF SYMPHONY NOVEMBER 18–20 Ludovic Morlot joins Michael Tilson Thomas (MTT) to conduct part of the November 18–21 San Francisco Symphony concerts at Davies Symphony Hall. Morlot — recently appointed Music Director of the Barcelona Symphony — will conduct the first half of the program, including Maurice…
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Film Review: LABYRINTH OF CINEMA (directed by Nobuhiko Obayashi)
LABYRINTH — NOW THERE’S AN UNDERSTATEMENT Film freaks and American cinephiles, have I got a beautifully weird one for you. Japanese filmmaker Nobuhiko Obayashi, who used the money he made doing ads to foment his inner indie spirit to create day-glo, bubblegum, psychedelic flicks like The Girl Who Leapt Through Time and House, now returns…
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Off-Broadway: THE SEARCH FOR SIGNS OF INTELLIGENT LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE (Opening at The Shed)
THANKFULLY, WE’RE STILL SEARCHING Is there life after Lily Tomlin? The Shed, the cool new space for theater and art in Hudson Yards, is about to prove that question with a resounding “yes”. Beginning December 21, 2021, a newly commissioned production of The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe, freshly revisited by…
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Album Review: HELLO, CRUEL WORLD! (Nick Balaban)
HELLO, NICK BALABAN! Nick Balaban is just now releasing his his debut album Hello Cruel World! (available now), which I HIGHLY RECOMMEND. Never heard of him? Well, neither did I. This Zelig of the music world has gigged with the likes of James Taylor, Carly Simon, Percy Sledge, Barrington Levi, Alton Ellis, Sugar Minott, Davis…
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Music Review: DUDAMEL CONDUCTS MAHLER (LA Phil)
THREE HOOTS FOR HOOTEN! Gustavo Dudamel’s formidable venture into Mahler’s symphonies with the LA Phil hit a real high mark with the magnificent performance of the Fourth Symphony the Fourth Symphony. The LA Phil is now one of America’s finest playing ensembles, and its amazing stratospheric association with Dudamel has already produced grand results. There…
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Album Review: EKUAL (Yumi Ito & Szymon Mika)
EKUAL TO NONE Wow. Can you imagine? When I hear “Polish-Japanese-Swiss vocal-guitar duo creates a universe of gentle harmonics, haunting chords, intricate melodies and explorative improvisations”, I assume we are in store for yet another mind-numbing minimalist soundscape. Wrong. Polish-Japanese singer Yumi Ito’s previous effort, Stardust Crystals, was described as neo-classical-art-pop-meets-jazz. Yes, but here, Ito…
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Music Preview: TCHAIKOVSKY AND SAARIAHO WITH Mí„LKKI (Los Angeles Philharmonic)
Italian pianist Beatrice Rana may be young (28!), but she’s already established herself touring the world and recording an amazing album catalog, including awesome attacks on The Goldberg Variations and Chopin. She also recorded the quintessential Russian piano concerto, Tchaikovsky’s Number One. Now, The LA Phil’s amazing Principal Guest Conductor, Susanna Målkki — who has…
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Broadway: CAROLINE, OR CHANGE (Roundabout at Studio 54)
CHANGE IS NOW We hear that that the only thing constant is change, yet we struggle against change, we fight against change, and some are even willing to succumb to the unyielding stress of determined apathy rather than change. We live in a world that must change the way it consumes and change the way it…
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Theater Review: POOR CLARE (Echo Theater Company)
THE THEATER IS RICHER DUE TO POOR CLARE Every once in a while, a bright shiny play comes along that absolutely restores my faith in theater as a place to be entertained, enthralled, and enlightened while nodding my head in agreement with the universal themes therein. It’s also a pleasure to discover a playwright with…
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Concert Preview: AN EVENING WITH BRANFORD MARSALIS (The Soraya)
MARSALIS IN WONDERLAND Exactly a year before the COVID shutdown, the Branford Marsalis Quartet had just released their new album, The Secret Between the Shadow and the Soul. The new album finds the celebrated ensemble at a new peak, addressing a kaleidoscope of moods with inspiration and group commitment. This quartet that saxophonist Branford Marsalis…
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Music Review: JONAS KAUFMANN, tenor, & HELMUT DEUTSCH, piano (The Broad Stage in Santa Monica)
THESE LIEDERS ARE NOW ON MY LISZT Something incredibly special is happening in Santa Monica. The Broad Stage has reopened this week with live performances from German Tenor Jonas Kaufmann last night and The Danish String Quartet last Saturday, both of whom are in extraordinary demand in their fields of opera and chamber music. Both…
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Dance Review: BODYTRAFFIC (Ethan Cohen “Recurrence”; Micaela Taylor “SNAP”; Hoffesh Shecter “Dust”; and Alejandro Cerrudo “PACOPEPEPLUTO” at The Wallis in Beverly Hills)
THAT’S AMORE! L.A.’s amazing dance company BODYTRAFFIC returned to The Wallis’s gorgeous Bram Goldsmith Theater in Beverly Hills last weekend with a three-night engagement of four outstanding works that proved why this L.A.-based contemporary company has continually taken the dance world by storm, easily surpassing LA Dance Project as our greatest homegrown modern dance company….
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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