Los Angeles

RUSSIAN AVANT-GARDE AS SURREAL BURLESQUE Delightful wouldn’t be a word I’d expect to use when describing a Robert Wilson show. But The Old Woman, adapted by Darryl Pinckney from an absurdist story by Daniil Kharms, and performed by Mikhail Baryshnikov and Willem Dafoe, is just that. Whimsical, darkly funny, and disquieting throughout, Wilson’s striking spectacle…

THE HEART OF THE MATER Decca just released a 6-CD box set by the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra (CPO) of the complete symphonies and concertos of Antoní­n Dvořák, and I don’t remember when I’ve been quite so taken with any  interpretation of Dvořák’s work. Not only is the recording quality impeccable, but Maestro Jiří­ BÄ›lohlávek clearly has…

SLIDING BORES A or B? The question of Ken Levine’s title refers to the choice between two parallel universes set forth in his two-act two-hour two-hander. Played out simultaneously with flip-flopping scenes that last anywhere from 30 seconds to a few minutes or longer, this seriously regrettable dumbed-down rom-com concerns a comely woman who interviews…

COOL AS A CUCUMBER BUT NOT AS REFRESHING In Boys in the Band, the character of Harold states: “Although I’ve never seen my soul, I understand from my mother’s Rabbi that it’s a knock-out. I, however, cannot seem to locate it for a gander. And if I could, I’d sell it in a flash, for…

WHAT INDEED The title of Marí­a Irene Fornés’ 1989 quartet of one-acts recalls a two-verse Old Testament passage in Isaiah. The wandering Jews cry out from the midst of war, famine, every calamity: “What of the night?”, i.e. “What are our prospects?” The prophet returns: “The morning cometh, and also the night” – things will…

STAY FOR DINNER, WON’T YOU? She’s an ancient crone who lives in a tiny cottage deep in the forest, feared by those near and far.   She brews strange elixirs and ointments, and is rumored to have turned little boys into piglets to feed on during her midnight feasts.   Her rivals end up drowned in the…

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…

ORLANDERSMITH CAN SEE  FOREVER There is a timeless quality to stories about families, particularly families riddled with alcoholism, drug addiction, bitterness, hatred, sadness, and lost dreams. Whether in the canon of literature (O’Neill anyone?) or through personal experience held close to a shamed soul, these tales have a “forever” quality. Which brings us to Forever, Dael…

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…

SOME MAGIC IS ADDED, SOME MAGIC IS TAKEN AWAY South Africa’s Isango Ensemble is undoubtedly full of talented actors, singers, and musicians, but doesn’t quite have the specialized skills required to pull of Mozart’s masterful The Magic Flute (Impempe Yomlingo). While the production doesn’t aim for a straightforward rendering of the original, it does retain…

BITCHY, BITCHY If you like your camp served by the bucket, then this outlandish tour de farce is steaming with it. Imagine if you will one of those appalling movies from the 1990s in which a group of Mean Girls reign supreme and battle for the role of Top She-Devil in their school’s cheerleading squad….