Los Angeles

AN ABUNDANCE OF DANZA In 1994, Tania Pérez-Salas founded Compaí±í­a de Danza in Mexico City. Since then, her company has become unrivaled in the arena of Mexican contemporary dance, and Pérez-Salas has not only proven herself to be Mexico’s premiere contemporary choreographer, but her troupe has made many global appearances. Thanks to Glorya Kaufman Presents…

MUSICALS LIKE THIS OCCUR  ONCE EVERY 100 YEARS In 1947, when Brigadoon confirmed the mutual genius of Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe, timing was everything: A second global conflict had just ended, leaving in its wake postwar angst and searing doubts that the millions of deaths had made no difference. Hoping that faith could move…

IN HARLEM’S WAY We never meet the titular Our Lady of 121st Street, a no-nonsense New York nun who had a profound effect on the characters in Stephen Adly Guirgis’s 2003 play. Nor do we meet, as it were, the plot. At rise, a middle-aged boxer shorts-wearing white man’”his suit is conspicuously missing the pants’”stands…

LUMBER Workshopped once onstage in 2000, Stephen Fechter’s The Woodsman had its play form set aside while Fechter and director Nicole Kassell turned it into a screenplay that won the 2001 Slamdance screenwriting competition. The 2004 film was about as good as most movies starring Kevin Bacon, whose luck cruelly runs out every time he…

THE SUM OF THESE Pí„RTS It really was a bit of a revelation. I was always interested in choral music, from Barbershop four-part harmonies to the more intricate passages of Tallis, but I distinctly remember the thrill when first I heard the work of the modern Estonian composer Arvo Pårt. A friend popped a cassette…

COMMERCIAL WITHOUT COMMERCIALS Imagine if the ‘70s sitcom Good Times did not hit TV until 2007. Now imagine a 3-episode arc about the coming out of a black man who brings his white boyfriend home for his brother’s wedding. Toss into the racial and gay humor some dysfunctional family drama revelations and old-fashioned sight gags,…

THE LATEST FASHION Since its founding in 2004, Vs. Theatre Company has upped the ante for storefront theater in Los Angeles, offering both original works and LA premieres with the kind of love and professionalism I associate with Chicago theater (the best in the nation). Among Vs.’s productions are In Arabia We’d All Be Kings,…

GO FACE THE MUSIC+DANCE Assuredly, Artistic Director Lincoln Jones’ American Contemporary Ballet (ACB) has become the go-to organization for thrilling dance in Los Angeles. Along with his muse Theresa Farrell (ACB’s associate director), Jones offers two programs that are always accompanied by live music. The polished technique of the company’s dancers combined with highly original…

MOVIES THE WAY THEY WERE MEANT TO BE SEEN 28 years ago, a handful of volunteers from The Los Angeles Conservancy, a nonprofit that recognizes, preserves, and revitalizes the historic architectural of L.A. County, dreamt up Last Remaining Seats, a summertime program which presents classic films and live entertainment in historic movie palaces. The brilliantly…

ON HENRY  AND HISTORY Henry IV Part 1 opens with a lengthy speech delivered by King Henry IV himself: “So shaken are we, so wan with care:” begins James Sutorius, one of the double-cast actors to play the King. “No more the thirsty entrance of the soil / Shall daub her lips with her own children’s…

FINDING JUST A BIT In his solo show, playwright Nicholas Guest describes his life and travels around the world.   He’s accompanied by Hillary Smith on the cello and by Tony Carafone on the guitar (in the play, not his travels) – and they turn out to be a helpful pair, too, because Guest intersperses his…

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…