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Los Angeles
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Concert Review: SHOENBERG’S “PIERROT LUNAIRE” (Camerata Pacifica)
Camerata Pacifica began its February program at the Huntington Library with Lara Morciano’s Embedding Tangles, with flutist Sébastian Jacot, who premiered the piece in 2014. I don’t often get to hear works for solo flute, so this sounded promising. Alas, my initial excitement was instantly killed when we got attacked by a torrent of notes…
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Theater Review: LOVE GAME (Last Call Theatre at The Virgil)
MEET MARKET Have you ever gone to a speed dating event where singles meet, spend a few minutes talking to one person, and then move on to the next person, each for a pre-arranged chat session time? For those who have, and especially for those who never tried it, Last Call Theatre is presenting Love…
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Opera Review: EL RELICARIO DE LOS ANIMALES (1979) (Long Beach Opera at Heritage Square Museum)
THE WHINE OF THE ANIMALS Long Beach Opera continued its season-long devotion to the work of Pauline Oliveros with El Relicario De Los Animales (The Shrine of the Animals), from 1979, with two performances last weekend at Heritage Square Museum, an open-air gem with eight Victorian-era buildings. Sara Andon and Sidney Hopson But before the…
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Theater Review: NOISES OFF (Geffen Playhouse)
ONE COULD GO ON AND ON, EVEN THOUGH IT’S A LITTLE OFF Ah, Noises Off, the ever-reliable theatrical farce that’s been delighting us for decades with its impeccable timing, pratfalls, and, of course, an ungodly number of sardines. Presented at L.A.’s Geffen Playhouse in cahoots with Steppenwolf Theatre—where Geffen’s new Artistic Director Tarell Alvin McCraney…
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Theater Review: BACON (Rogue Machine at The Matrix)
BACON SIZZLES If you’re in search of a play that simmers with tension before scorching the stage with raw, emotional fire, English playwright Sophie Swithinbank’s Bacon, currently searing audiences at the tiny Henry Murray Stage upstairs at the Matrix, will leave you thoroughly singed—and perhaps a little brittle. Bacon is less a coming-of-age story and…
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Theater Review: SONDHEIM’S OLD FRIENDS (Pre-Broadway Engagement at The Ahmanson in Los Angeles)
SONDHEIM MERRILY ROLLS ALONG, BUT OLD FRIENDS DOESN’T ALWAYS BOUNCE When a show is billed as a tribute to Stephen Sondheim, expectations are sky-high. His music isn’t just a collection of songs—it’s a theatrical language of its own, intricate, intelligent, and deeply human. Undoubtedly a love letter to the late master, the revue-on-steroids Old Friends…
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Music Review: ELEMENTS AND ENERGY (John Adams and the LA Phil New Music Group at Disney Hall)
Last season, the LA Phil premiered the first five of 16 etudes commissioned by Creative Chair John Adams, with the goal to have a piece for each instrument of the orchestra to show off as a soloist. On January 28, we got to hear three more premieres from the series. First was Quantum Ptarmigan, by…
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Dance Review: ALONZO KING LINES BALLET (“Mother Goose” and “Tribute to Alice Coltrane” at Segerstrom Hall)
Alonzo King LINES Ballet’s Double Bill of Ravel’s Mother Goose and King’s Tribute to Alice Coltrane presented a fascinating study of how two musical worlds—one rooted in French impressionism and the other in American jazz spirituality—can be bound together through movement. King’s choreography bridged these contrasting styles, creating an immersive experience of transformation. The evening…
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Concert Review: PACIFIC JAZZ ORCHESTRA WITH EVA NOBLEZADA (The Soraya)
A NIGHT OF FIRE, SILK, AND SWING Prior to Pacific Jazz Orchestra‘s (PJO) dynamite event at The Soraya—the start of “Jazz at Naz” festival’s fourth season—I already knew its guEst vocalist Eva Noblezada to be a bone fide star. And I don’t toss that word out often. The girl who started her career as a…
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Theater Review: JANE AUSTEN IN 89 MINUTES (Theatre 40 at Greystone Mansion)
WHAT FUN GETTING LOST IN AUSTEN Fresh from its smash hit engagement at Theatre 40, Jane Austen in 89 Minutes has moved into the artistically appropriate Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills for a limited 10-performance run. Performed by a cast of seven madcap ladies and gents who bring all six of Jane Austen’s beloved novels…
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Theater Review: THE WOLVES (Morgan-Wixson Theatre)
JOIN THE PACK In one of The Wolves’ final moments, one character’s mom explains that she has a swear jar at home that her daughter must put a quarter in every time she says “like.” If that jar was onstage for the duration of the play, with its characters bound to the same contract of…
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Dance Review: MEMORYHOUSE (Los Angeles Ballet at The Wallis in Beverly Hills)
KEEPING MEMORY ALIVE Memoryhouse, which premiered in 2023 as the first full-length ballet directed by Los Angeles Ballet’s new Artistic Director Melissa Barak, is an abstract work composed of vignettes commemorating World War II, all of which focus on aspects before, during, and after the Holocaust. Barak choreographed the ballet to Max Richter’s powerful 2002 album…
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Theater Review: SLEEPING GIANT (Road Theatre Company)
SLEEPING GIANT THINKS TOO BIG FOR ITS BRITCHES To live is to be in a constant state of suspension. One must cling to whatever helps establish a sense of permanence. A lover that won’t leave. A favorite keepsake. A belief system that promises purpose. When fear floods our homes through TV news (or its 21st-century-sibling,…
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Art Event: ART BAZAAR (Beyond the Street in partnership with Tlaloc Studios and curator Ozzie Juarez in Los Angeles)
This weekend only is the Art Market and Community Event ART BAZAAR, an impressive and exciting convergence of local LA artists—30+ of the city’s most visionary creatives—showcasing apparel, books, zines, ceramics, music, food, exclusive new products and more! ART BAZAAR Beyond the Street in partnership with Tlaloc Studios and curator Ozzie Juarez Saturday & Sunday,…
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Theater Review: THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG (La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts)
IN A YEAR WHERE EVERYTHING HAS GONE WRONG, THIS WRONG MAKES EVERYTHING RIGHT The Tony Award-winning The Play That Goes Wrong, also crowned Best New Comedy at the 2015 Olivier Awards, is a sidesplitting Broadway hit written by Mischief Theatre’s Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer, and Henry Shields. At La Mirada Theatre in Hackensack (kidding…it’s in…
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Theater Review: EVANSTON SALT COSTS CLIMBING (Rogue Machine at the Matrix Theatre in Los Angeles)
THE END OF THE WORLD COMES WITH A COFFEE BREAK There’s something eerily familiar about the way Michael Redfield and Hugo Armstrong zip and unzip their parkas in Will Arbery’s haunting new play Evanston Salt Costs Climbing by Rogue Machine Theatre. Like characters in a Samuel Beckett fever dream reimagined for our climate-addled era, these…
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Cabaret Review: JASON ROBERT BROWN WITH ANIKA NONI ROSE (Samueli Hall at Segerstrom Center for the Arts)
A MUSICAL PAIRING WRITTEN IN THE STARS AND THE MOON Jason Robert Brown, the revered composer-lyricist who is considered by many as the natural successor to the late great Stephen Sondheim, graced Samueli Hall at Costa Mesa’s Segerstrom Center for the Arts with a three-night cabaret engagement that felt as intimate as it was grand….
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Highly Recommended Dance: MEMORYHOUSE (Los Angeles Ballet at The Wallis in Beverly Hills)
YOUR MEMORY WILL NEVER BE THE SAME With its gripping ensembles, intense partner work and evocative movement, Los Angeles Ballet’s Memoryhouse tells personal and collective stories of loss, resilience, and the events of World War II and the Holocaust that forever altered history. Breaking traditional theatrical norms, this full-evening work by Melissa Barak combines contemporary ballet with stunning immersive…
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Theater Review: THE SEAGULL (Odyssey Theatre)
Seagulls, as you know, never falter, never stall. To stall in the air is for them disgrace and it is dishonor. — Richard Bach, Jonathan Livingston Seagull Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull, the first of his major plays, has achieved a stature akin to Hamlet in the pantheon. Watching tonight’s visiting production at…
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Theater Review: DEATH OF A SALESMAN (Panic! Productions at The Colony Theatre in Burbank)
ARTHUR MILLER’S CLASSIC DONE TO DEATH AT THE COLONY THEATRE What cachet Arthur Miller’s 1949 classic Death of a Salesman has in terms of power and artistry, nuance, subtlety and insight, is buried by Mark Blanchard’s ineffectual staging currently on display at the Colony Theatre. Neither the director nor most of the cast demonstrate anything…
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