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Tony Frankel
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Chicago Music Preview: KISSIN PLAYS BEETHOVEN, PROKOFIEV, CHOPIN & LISZT (Symphony Center)
YOU’LL FIND BLISS IN KISSIN If you haven’t heard, Evgeny Kissin is positively the best pianist alive. In the sense of the grand pianistic tradition that some say died with likes of Arrau, Cliburn, and Rubinstein, Kissin is a living legend who, basically since infancy, has been caretaker to the “Golden Age” of the piano….
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Chicago Theater Preview: CAROUSEL (Lyric Opera)
CAROUSEL COMES TO LYRIC OPERA Lyric Opera of Chicago’s stunning new production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel opens tonight and runs through May 3, 2015 at the Civic Opera House in Chicago. The production is directed and choreographed by Tony, Emmy, and Olivier Award winner Rob Ashford. It stars Steven Pasquale (The Bridges of Madison…
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Chicago Theater Review: LA BíŠTE (Trap Door Theatre)
A GOOD BÊTE Even though it’s written in mostly rhymed couplets of iambic pentameter, David Hirson’s 1991 play, La Bête, is by far the least avant-garde presentation at Trap Door I have seen. That means those who have been reticent to sample the East European alternate theater company can rest assured this is a most accessible…
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Chicago Music Preview: TRIFONOV PLAYS RACHMANINOV (Chicago Symphony Orchestra)
TRIFONOV, BYCHKOV & RACHMANINOV All it took was one performance from 23-year-old Daniil Trifonov (dan-EEL TREE-fon-ov) to resoundingly validate for me why he is the current Big Thing of the piano world. The Liszt-like master’s rendition of Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 2 at the Hollywood Bowl (followed by a jaw-dropping encore of Stravinsky’s Firebird for…
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Chicago Dance Preview: RIVER NORTH DANCE CHICAGO (25th Anniversary Season Spring Engagement at The Auditorium Theatre)
UNLEASHING THE BEAST River North Dance Chicago (RNDC) is blasting into The Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University as part of the “Made in Chicago” Series on Saturday, March 28, 2015 at 7:30. This amazing program includes two world premiere pieces in a single evening: “Beast,” the choreographic debut of RNDC company member Hanna Brictson, and…
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Chicago Dance Preview: GIORDANO DANCE CHICAGO (Spring Series at the Harris Theater)
“FEELIN’ GOOD SWEET,” INDEED! Giordano Dance Chicago (GDC), America’s original jazz dance company, returns to the Harris Theater for Music and Dance for its spring engagement, March 27-29, 2015. The inexhaustible hot-footed hoofers of GDC offer an exhilarating program that includes the world premiere of “the only way around is through,” an inspiring nine member…
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Chicago Music Preview: MAX RAABE & PALAST ORCHESTER: A NIGHT IN BERLIN (Symphony Center)
HEAVEN, YOU’LL BE IN HEAVEN The public’s fondness for songs has an extensive and nearly unbroken history, and one of the acmes of this history took place in America from the 1910s into the 1950s. During this time, songsmiths created ditties that were so well constructed in melody, so sympathetic and amenable in word construction,…
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Regional Theater Preview: NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT (National Tour at Segerstrom Center for the Arts)
LAST CHANCE TO GET THIS WORK Get ready for this 1920s-era feel-good musical, complete with extravagant dance numbers, glittering costumes and an unlikely love story between a wealthy playboy and a rough and tumble lady bootlegger. This lighthearted crowd pleaser is set against the backdrop of classic Gershwin hits like “Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off,”…
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Los Angeles Theater Preview: HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING (Musical Theatre West)
MUSICAL THEATRE WEST KNOWS HOW TO SUCCEED Reams can and have been written about the glories of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. With music and lyrics by Frank Loesser, and book by Abe Burrows, Jack Weinstock & Willie Gilbert, the 1961 musical satire that landed virtually unanimous raves would go on to…
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Regional Dance Preview: THE SLEEPING BEAUTY (American Ballet Theatre at Segerstrom Hall)
REAWAKENING A TIMELESS BEAUTY Costa Mesa’s Segerstrom Center for the Arts once again proves itself as one of the country’s most exciting dance centers by presenting Alexei Ratmansky’s all-new full-length production of American Ballet Theatre’s The Sleeping Beauty, the classic 1890 ballet originally choreographed by Marius Petipa at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg. ABT’s…
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Los Angeles Theater Review: THE NIGHT ALIVE (Geffen Playhouse)
LOVE THAT GOES BUMP IN THE NIGHT Conor McPherson’s plays are so rooted in the characters that plot is really revelation. With unforced warmth, he captures loneliness in the act of self-effacement, and love as the best way to prove we’re really here. Geffen Playhouse’s offering The Night Alive is no nocturne’”much in the vein of McPherson’s…
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Book Review: SHORTS AND BRIEFS: A Collection of Short Plays and Brief Principles of Playwriting (Gregory Fletcher)
LET ME BE BRIEFS The title of Gregory Fletcher’s Shorts and Briefs doesn’t refer to an underwear drawer but rather to a collection of nine short plays along with sixteen brief chapters that share advice, tips, and principles on playwriting. Although the book’s primary focus is on playwriting, there’s plenty of good advice that applies to…
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Los Angeles Theater Preview: HELLMAN V. MCCARTHY (Theatre 40 in Beverly Hills)
A FAMOUS LITERARY FEUD MAKES GREAT DRAMA In a 1980 television interview with Dick Cavett, novelist and literary critic Mary McCarthy made an especially biting comment about her longtime adversary and fellow writer, playwright and memoirist Lillian Hellman, saying that “every word she writes is a lie, including ‘and’ and ‘the.’” Unfortunately, Hellman was watching…
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Los Angeles Music Preview: ALL-SCHUBERT PROGRAM (Le Salon de Musiques at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion)
NOTHING FISHY ABOUT THIS PROGRAM Former music critic and Chicago Symphony Orchestra program annotator Phillip Huscher wrote that Anselm Hí¼ttenbrenner, one of Franz Schubert’s regular drinking partners, loved to tell the story of the night he invited the composer over to share some bottles of Szekszárd, a Hungarian red wine he had received as a…
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Regional Theatre Review: TRISTAN & YSEULT (Kneehigh Theatre Company at South Coast Rep)
THEATRICAL TRICKERY TRUMPS A TRAGIC TALE Cheeky, goofy and sassy, Tristan & Yseult at South Coast Rep affectionately mocks and contemporizes a classic love tragedy and literary legend while respecting English performing arts tradition, from music-hall and panto to Peter Sellers and Ealing Studios. This irrepressible import from Kneehigh, that brassy Cornish theater company which…
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Los Angeles Music Preview: BRUCKNER NINTH WITH BLOMSTEDT (LA Phil at Disney Hall)
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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Regional Music Preview: SZYMANOWSKI QUARTET WITH JOSEPH KALICHSTEIN, PIANO (Samueli Theater in Costa Mesa)
EXCITING QUARTET COMES TO SEGERSTROM I’ve been on a chamber music kick for about four years now. From intimate salons in living rooms to concert halls, I’m discovering composers I’ve never heard of who have’â€for reasons beyond their amazing work’â€frustratingly not become ensconced in the repertoire. I’ve also been introduced to pieces by well-known composers…
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Los Angeles Theater Preview: COMPANY (Cabrillo Music Theatre in Thousand Oaks)
IN GOOD COMPANY “It’s a revue, but not a revue,” Stephen Sondheim said about Company when he was interviewed at Segerstrom in 2013. This surprised me because the groundbreaking 1970 musical is a concept musical, meaning that the themes of a show (in this case, marriage and commitment) are woven throughout the play, but do…
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Los Angeles Opera Preview: ¡FIGARO! (90210) (LA Opera at Barnsdall Park in Hollywood)
¡FIGARO! ¡FIGARO! ¡FIGARO! An updating of The Marriage of Figaro took New York by storm in 2013. Taking the debate over immigration reform, a multi-cultural English/Spanglish adaptation by Vid Guerrerio turns the title character into an undocumented worker at a present-day Beverly Hills mansion owned by a slimy real-estate tycoon. Having been given concert and…
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Event Preview: KODO ONE EARTH TOUR: MYSTERY (North American Tour)
A POUND OF CURE Ever since man could bang a stick on a rock, percussion has been a way for humans to express themselves. From your teenager’s bedroom to the battlefield to the theater, percussion has evolved from communicative and ritualistic purposes into an art form. We take for granted the use of percussion as…
Off-Broadway Review: ARIAS WITH A TWIST (HERE Arts Center / NYC)
by Kevin Vavasseur | September 23, 2026
in New York, TheaterTheater Review: LEGALLY BLONDE (Berkeley Playhouse / Berkeley)
by Chuck Louden | September 21, 2026
in San Francisco
(Bay Area), TheaterTheater Review: TEXAS SODOMY (Whitefire Theatre / Sherman Oaks)
by Michael Landman-Karney | September 20, 2026
in Los Angeles, TheaterTheater Review: THE GLASS MENAGERIE (Center REP / Walnut Creek)
by Chuck Louden | September 20, 2026
in San Francisco
(Bay Area), TheaterTheater Review: HANGMEN (Long Beach Playhouse)
by Michael Landman-Karney | September 19, 2026
in Los Angeles, TheaterTheater Review: THE HUMANITIES (Victory Gardens Theater / Chicago)
by Croydon Fernandes | September 19, 2026
in Chicago, TheaterTheater Review: BEGIN AGAIN (World Premiere Musical / The Old Globe / San Diego)
by Milo Shapiro | September 19, 2026
in San Diego, TheaterTheater Review: JEKYLL & HYDE (Kokandy Productions / Broadway Playhouse / Chicago)
by Emma S. Rund | September 19, 2026
in Chicago, TheaterTheater Review: MARISOL (Open Fist Theatre Company / Los Angeles)
by Lawrence Lucero | September 18, 2026
in Los Angeles, Theater
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