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Los Angeles
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Highly Recommended Theater: FIDDLER ON THE ROOF (starring Jason Alexander at La Mirada Theatre)
L’Chaim. “To Life” indeed. There’s a ton of it, not to mention humor, sorrow and wisdom in the 1964 Stein/Harnick/Bock musical triumph, Fiddler on the Roof, which opens soon at La Mirada Theatre, the only So Cal location that truly creates Broadway-style productions (their recent outing, Waitress, was an eye-popping marvel). This exciting new revival…
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Concert Review: FROM MEXICO TO HOLLYWOOD: GOLDEN AGE CINEMA (LA Phil at Disney Hall)
FROM MEXICO TO HOLLYWOOD TO DISNEY HALL, THIS PROGRAM OF FILM SCORES ENTHRALLED With John Williams’s name attached to the program that played last weekend at Disney Hall, I knew had to attend. From Mexico to Hollywood: Golden Age Cinema contained some of the most memorable scores from the best films of Mexico’s Época de…
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Highly Recommended Screening: NOSFERATU, A SYMPHONY OF HORROR (Disney Hall on Halloween)
A SILENT SCREAMS One of the spookiest horror films ever made was completed before most of today’s audiences were born. Nosferatu, a 1922 German Expressionist horror film about the vampire Count Orlok directed by F. W. Murnau may be far better known for its creepy-ass make-up given to the vampire, but horror buffs understand that…
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Theater Review: THE PIANO LESSON (A Noise Within)
A WELL-PLAYED PIANO Though the surface plot of August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson is fairly simple ’” an estranged brother and sister argue over whether to sell or keep a beautiful piano that has been in the family for generations – that simplicity is very deceptive. For the piano is not only a valuable instrument…
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Highly Recommended Concert: RHAPSODY IN JAZZ: ORIGINAL 1924 VERSION OF RHAPSODY IN BLUE & MORE GERSHWIN (Conrad Tao; Christopher Rountree/wild UP; The Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra at The Soraya, Saturday November 16)
GERSHWIN’S RHAPSODY IN JAZZ Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue turns 100 this year, so the piece is receiving a fair amount of attention: Just this week, CBS Sunday Morning ran this segment, and earlier this year, columnists for the The New York Times and Los Angeles Times debated the merits of a work entrenched in the American psyche….
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Theater Review: THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST (Antaeus Theatre Company in Glendale)
WICKEDLY WITTY WILDE Sometimes you just need to take refuge from the contemporary world with a classic play. And when it’s delivered as delightfully and professionally as Antaeus Theatre Company’s season opener, Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest, rejoice and feel the load lifting off your shoulders, if only for two-plus hours. While the…
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Theater Review: I’LL BE WITH YOU SHORTLY (NEO Ensemble Theatre at The Loft Ensemble Theatre)
A BUMPY RIDE INTO THE AFTERLIFE Like many small, non-profit theatre groups, NEO Ensemble Theatre is nomadic by nature, moving from theater to theater to present modern, socially relevant plays or offering online programming on a pay-what-you-want basis. Their latest, staged in-person production is the world premiere of Michael Merton’s dark comedy I’ll Be With…
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Theater Review: THE CIVIL TWILIGHT (Broadwater Studio Theatre in Hollywood)
CIVIL UNREST When I walked into the very small and incredibly intimate Broadwater Studio Theatre, I immediately thought about Sam Shepard’s Fool for Love, about a couple of loners looking to connect, given the small, Western-style motel room designed by Joel Daavid. But the world premiere of Shem Bitterman‘s The Civil Twilight, directed with emotional…
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Recommended Concert: OPENING NIGHT WITH BERNADETTE PETERS (Pacific Symphony Pops at Segerstom Concert Hall)
Let her entertain you! Legendary Broadway, film and TV star Bernadette Peters returns to Pacific Symphony at Segerstrom Concert Hall for two nights — Friday-Saturday, Nov. 1 and 2, at 8 — to open the 2024-25 Pops Season, led by Principal Pops Conductor Enrico Lopez-Yaí±ez for the second year. Dazzling with show tunes and masterpieces…
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Theater Review: RENT (Jaxx Theatre)
It’s amazing that this earnest, energetic, enthusiastic ensemble doesn’t spontaneously combust navigating the tiny playing area between viewers on both sides in an alley theater configuration. It’s truly a remarkable feat while executing the large crowd scenes and tight choreography. Rent has a romantic history: Jonathan Larson, its author and composer, died suddenly of an…
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Highly Recommended Theater: HOME ALONE-LY HEARTS CLUB BAND (The Troubies at the Colony in Burbank)
I’M DREAMING OF A PSYCHEDLIC CHRISTMAS Well, Halloween is here soon, but you know what’s really scary ’” aside from Christmas items for sale at Costco before Valentine’s Day? By Thanksgiving, tickets will no doubt be sold out for The Troubies’ newest Holiday Show, Home Alone-ly Hearts Club Band, which plays December 5-22, 2024. For those…
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Theater Review: GLORIA (Chance Theater)
GLORIA, HALLELUJAH! Unless you can see Gloria at The Chance Theater tonight or tomorrow, this may be a review of record, as it ran only two weeks after opening night, but I tell you this is what theater should be: unique, sharp, funny, adventurous. The author, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, continues to be one of contemporary theater’s…
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Music Review: LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA (Edward Gardner, conductor; Randall Goosby, violin; The Soraya)
GOOSBY + GARDNER = GOOSEBUMPS There was a happening at The Soraya in Northridge on October 10. I call it that for three reasons: The London Philharmonic Orchestra; violinist Randall Goosby; and The Soraya itself. This strikingly beautiful concert hall on the campus of CSUN easily has the best sound of any large performance venue…
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Dance & Music Review: INFERNO & BURLESQUE (American Contemporary Ballet at Television City)
ACB’S FANTASTIC JOURNEY INTO HELL-OWEEN In the same Television City soundstage that The Price is Right and The Carol Burnett Show was recorded, American Contemporary Ballet began its current season on Oct. 11 with a revival of its original works, Inferno and Burlesque. A third work, The Rite [of Spring], alternates with Inferno. Entering the…
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Theater Review: KIMBERLY AKIMBO (National Tour, Pantages)
YOUR GREAT ADVENTURE AWAITS If you rearrange the letters of “progeria,” you can get “opera rig,” or “rigor ape,” or “prior age.” That last one is befitting. Progeria is an incredibly rare syndrome that causes people to age faster than normal. Though the turmoil of high school, a troubled home, and growing up in New…
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Theater Review: ROBBIN, FROM THE HOOD (Road Theatre)
A rich man is nothing but a poor man with money. — W. C. Fields I highly recommend the World Premiere of Robbin, From the Hood, which opened last Friday at Road Theatre. It is playwright Marlow Wyatt’s creative protest to American capitalism. It’s entertaining and timely with surprising plot twists. In Wyatt’s re-imagined tale, corporate…
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Highly Recommended Theater: SYMPHONY OF RATS (West Coast Premiere, The Wooster Group at REDCAT in Los Angeles)
In Symphony of Rats, a President of the United States has strange encounters of the phantasmagorical kind. Surrounded by his presidential aides, he plunges into a series of incidents where he meets otherworldly beings, among them a giant rat with a special message. October 18-20 & 22-23, 2024, the legendary Wooster Group transforms REDCAT in downtown L.A. into a sort of mad laboratory for their latest deliriously trippy production Symphony of Rats, directed by Elizabeth LeCompte,…
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Theater Review: THE WISDOM OF EVE (Whitefire Theatre)
BACKSTAGE BROADWAY BACKSTABBING: ALL ABOUT THE WISDOM OF EVE Any fan of film noir most assuredly has seen the 1950 major motion picture All About Eve, which shares the story of a young Broadway hopeful who schemes her way into the backstage life of an established star just to replace her in the ingenue role…
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Music Review: LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA (Edward Gardner, conductor; Patricia Kopatchinskaja, violin at Segerstrom Concert Hall)
SHOSTAKOVICH AND TCHAIKOVSKY Under the expert direction of its principal conductor Edward Gardner, London Philharmonic Orchestra recently graced Segerstrom Concert Hall in Orange County with an enthralling performance. Known for his energetic and nuanced interpretations, Gardner masterfully drew out the orchestra’s full expressive capabilities, allowing every note to resonate deeply with the audience. This concert,…
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Theater Review: GREEN DAY’S AMERICAN IDIOT (Deaf West and Center Theatre Group at Mark Taper Forum)
IDIOT IS AS IDIOT DOES Unlike the jukebox musicals Mamma Mia and Escape to Margaritaville, which invented stories around the songs of ABBA and Jimmy Buffett, American Idiot ’” inspired by the eponymous 2004 rock concept album by the American punk rock band Green Day ’” has a book by lyricist Billie Joe Armstrong and original director Michael Meyer with about…
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