Tony Frankel

KOSKY’S QUEEN AND CASTLE On the surface, there isn’t much that unites Henry Purcell’s 1688 Dido and Aeneas and Béla Bartók’s 1918 Bluebeard’s Castle, except perhaps that men are not to be trusted. But when you see Barrie Kosky’s fiery fabrication of these two short operas, presented by LA Opera beginning Saturday, expect to be…

ABDURAIMOV TRIUMPHS IN DISNEY HALL DEBUT In the past five years, I have encountered only a handful of fresh-to-the-scene soloists who completely enraptured’”those who combine the old-school magnetic quality of superlative technique with energetic experimentation, soul, and discovery. Among the electrifying performers that have made me literally lean forward in my seat are cellist Alisa…

FOR BETTER OR WORSE Based on her own experience with a dying father and marital breakup with playwright Hamish Linklater (whose The Vandal  is currently running in Chicago), Jessica Goldberg created Annie, a restaurateur whose troubled marriage is put on the back burner when she returns to her family’s Ohio home to bid farewell to her…

JOURNEY ON Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes comes to Disney Hall this weekend, October 9-12, to join conductor Gustavo Dudamel, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the Los Angeles Master Chorale in an assuredly uplifting program: The Beethoven Cycle Finale. By presenting Beethoven’s Fifth and final Piano Concerto, Andsnes offers the final leg of The Beethoven…

TRICKSTERS WHO ARE A TREAT From Vegas extravaganzas to intimate parlors, my favorite magicians are those with personality and humor. Even when tricks are well-rehearsed and mindboggling, slick illusionists tend to omit the magic that comes from a rapport with the audience. Regardless of impressive sleight-of-hand or how many animals emerge from a coat pocket,…

SWAN IN A MILLION Featuring a live orchestra, The Australian Ballet’s Swan Lake comes to the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion this weekend, October 9-12, 2014. While this is one of the world’s favorite ballets, expect this rendition’”created by Australian choreographer Graeme Murphy’”to be unlike any that have come before. This dazzling production is one of The…

A TRANS-PORTIVE EXPERIENCE AWAITS YOU When I saw the trio of headliners who will be performing for one night only at the Hammer Museum in Westwood, I had to do a Little Rascals double-take. I have considered myself lucky to have seen each one separately, but to have all three together is a confluence of…

REAWAKENING In one of the bios for Deaf West’s production of Spring Awakening, actress Ali Stroker thanks the company for stepping out of the box, and turning what some may think as a ‘limitation’ into an opportunity. The “limitation” here refers to her wheelchair as well as deafness’”particularly, her cast mates who are deaf appearing…

COME HOME TO THE TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL The Trip to Bountiful, Horton Foote’s plaintive 1953 teleplay (adapted for Broadway and for the 1985 film with Geraldine Page), paints a picture of rural America in the 1940s that gently reminds us that there was (and may still be) a place in this country where people tip…

POP DOES OPERA  BIG, INTIMATELY Under Artistic Director Josh Shaw’s hands-on guidance, Pacific Opera Project has become L.A.’s most exciting new opera company. In just three years since POP began with the teeny-tiny production of Bernstein’s Trouble in Tahiti, I sensed that this would be the company to make quality opera more accessible, approachable, and affordable….

HERE’S CHARLEY This Sunday, September 21, Musical Theatre West will begin the Reiner Staged Reading Series fifth anniversary season with a one-time only performance of Where’s Charley? (1948), based on Brandon Thomas’s wildly successful Charley’s Aunt (1892), which had an original London run of 1,466 performances. Where’s Charley?, Frank Loesser’s first Broadway score, is one…