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Los Angeles
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Music / Concert Review: AMERICAN RAILROAD (Silkroad Ensemble with Rhiannon Giddens; U.S. Tour)
TUNNEL VISION In this first program post-Yo-Yo Ma artistic directorship, the American Railroad national tour by Silkroad Ensemble presents an evening of newly composed and arranged music with a slew of fresh faces joining the illustrious ensemble. Under the direction of banjoist, fiddle player, vocalist and multi-Grammy winner Rhiannon Giddens, the ensemble features a cast…
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Theater Review: FREIGHT: THE FIVE INCARNATIONS OF ABEL GREEN (Fountain Theatre)
THE FREIGHT OF THE AMERICAN DREAM How fascinating that two bookending one-man shows opened in Los Angeles this past weekend. The first, Just for Us at the Taper, is a play with universalisms and stories through a Jewish lens to largely comedic effect. The second, Freight, contains universalisms and stories told through a Black lens…
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Theater Review: JUST FOR US (Alex Edelman on Tour at the Mark Taper Forum)
A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE WHITE SUPREMACIST MEETING If you’re looking for great night of humor about white supremacy and anti-Semitism (and who isn’t?), this is the show for you. Alex Edelman, Boston-born and -bred but now located in New York, brings his one-man show to the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles….
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Highly Recommended Concert: FRAGMENTS 2 (Alisa Weilerstein, cellist; presented by LA Phil at Disney Hall)
I have been following Alisa Weilerstein for over fifteen years, but until about five ago it was only on recordings and YouTube. Having seen her perform live four times since I can assert that the phenomenal American cellist has attracted attention worldwide because her playing combines a natural virtuosic command and technical precision with impassioned musicianship and…
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Highly Recommended Theater: WHITE (ALBUM) CHRISTMAS (The Troubies at the Colony in Burbank)
WHY DON’T WE DO IT IN THE ROAD WITH THE TROUBIES? Well, we just finished Halloween, but you know what’s really scary — aside from Christmas items for sale at Costco before Halloween? By Thanksgiving, tickets will no doubt be sold out for The Troubies’ newest Holiday Show, White (Album) Christmas, which plays December 8…
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Film / Music Review: E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL IN CONCERT (Gustavo Dudamel and the LA Phil)
HEARING A GREAT SCORE AGAIN FOR THE FIRST TIME The Walt Disney Concert Hall was the place to be the Friday after Halloween to experience the joy at a live screening of the film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial with the Los Angeles Philharmonic playing the full score conducted by Music & Artistic Director Gustavo Dudamel — in the…
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Theater Review: INHERIT THE WIND (Pasadena Playhouse)
LIKE HENRY DRUMMOND, I’M AN AGNOSTIC, BUT THIS PRODUCTION OF INHERIT THE WIND SENT ME TO THEATRICAL HEAVEN Inherit the Wind, a theatrical warhorse authored in 1955 by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, emerges as an eloquent narrative, artfully crafted around the historical backdrop of the infamous 1925 “Scopes Monkey Trial.” This legal saga…
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Cabaret Review: MANDY PATINKIN IN CONCERT: BEING ALIVE (Segerstrom and on Tour)
FINE AND MANDY! Mandy Patinkin, a venerable artist of 71years, known for his remarkable presence on the stage, in television, and on the silver screen, graced the esteemed Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall in Costa Mesa with his latest production, Being Alive. The title, a nod to the Stephen Sondheim song from the legendary…
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Film and Event Review: THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (The Ford)
ROCKY HORROR: THE PICTURE AND THE SHOW “IT’S ASTOUNDING” that a close to fifty-year-old movie about a transvestite from a planet Transexual in a galaxy Transylvania, replete with elbow sex, a dance called the “Time Warp,” and an act of cannibalism, should draw a full house in an outdoor venue on a chilly autumn night in…
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Music & Film Review: THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN WITH LIVE ORCHESTRA (Theatre at the Ace Hotel)
STITCHED TOGETHER WITH BRILLIANCE For Halloween this past weekend, LA Opera‘s hugely popular annual celebration of horror and live music at the breathtaking Theatre at Ace Hotel featured James Whale’s 1935 gothic horror classic The Bride of Frankenstein, accompanied by the LA Opera Orchestra. The Bride of Frankenstein with Live Orchestra was another resounding success…
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Theater Review: SLOW THUNDER (The Emerson at the Theatre 68 Arts Complex)
SO, WHERE’S THE THUNDER? What a strange and unsatisfying evening. As baffling as the title of the producing company, bAfA TheatreWorks, Suse Sternkopf’s Slow Thunder is all slow and no thunder. Even with the presence of two of my favorite actors — Ann Noble and Rob Nagle — Sternkopf as director fails to create the undercurrent…
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Music Review: HADELICH AND MENDELSSOHN (Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra)
It’s always fascinating to come for a headliner and be completely bowled over by other parts of the program. The draw for Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra’s two performances last weekend was Augustin Hadelich, one of the world’s greatest violinists, performing Mendelssohn’s melodic Violin Concerto in E minor at The Alex Theatre. I have seen the…
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Concert Review: SHEENA EASTON (Pepperdine Malibu)
THE SHEEN IS OFF Grammy Award-winning Pop and Broadway musical star Sheena Easton gave a disarrayed performance at the Lisa Smith Wengler Center for the Arts on the Pepperdine University Campus in Malibu last night, Thursday, October 26. Wearing a form-fitting short sparkling teal dress, she shared the stage with four musicians and a male…
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Dance Review: JUNGLE BOOK REIMAGINED (BroadStage, Santa Monica; U.S. opening of Global Tour)
MOWGLI, GET YOUR GUN Brilliant dancing gets waylaid by a chaotic and illegible narrative in this multimedia eco-morality play. Two words are redefining the medium of dance: Video Projection. In lieu of expensive and unwieldy portable sets, a new generation of traveling productions requires only a theater’s built-in scrim and cyclorama – and an animator…
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Theater Review: DEATHTRAP (International City Theatre in Long Beach)
CAUGHT IN A TRAP Without spoiling, there’s only so much I can say about Deathtrap. Written by Ira Levin, this 1978 Tony-nominated play is an imperfect, though relatively delightful thriller now getting an even more imperfect, though relatively delightful production at International City Theatre in Long Beach. Best known for Rosemary’s Baby and The Stepford…
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Highly Recommended Theater: TACOS LA BROOKLYN (Los Angeles Theatre Center)
Extended through Nov. 5: Multilingual comic dramaTacos La Brooklyn is quintessential L.A. at The LATC Appropriation: or appreciation? Latino Theater Company has extended its world premiere, multilingual production of Joel Ulloa‘s Tacos La Brooklyn for three additional performances through Nov. 5, 2023 at the Los Angeles Theatre Center. Sayaka Miyatani and Paul Dateh Esperanza America Chino, a young and ambitious Korean…
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Theater Review: BLOOD AT THE ROOT (Open Fist)
THE ROOT OF THE MATTER Hooray and hallelujah, for Open Fist‘s taut 80-minute production of Dominque Morisseau‘s Blood at the Root, dynamically directed by Michael A. Shepperd, and choreographed by Yusuf Nasir, has been extended until November 6, 2023 at Atwater Village Theatre. Easily the most powerful play on any L.A. stage right now, Blood…
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Highly Recommended Concert: AN ALPINE SYMPHONY WITH SALONEN (LA Phil at Disney Hall)
A WORLD PREMIERE AND ONE OF THE GREATEST TONE POEMS EVER WRITTEN I never knew this until researching the upcoming LA Phil program this weekend, but the connection between Nico Muhly and Philip Glass became established in the mid-2000s, when Glass employed Muhly as an assistant! Muhly certainly soaked up minimalism but he has never…
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Highly Recommended Concert: 40! (The Verdi Chorus Fall 2023 Concert in Santa Monica)
The Verdi Chorus’ 40th Anniversary season continues with its landmark Fall 2023 Concert, 40! Led by Anne Marie Ketchum, who is celebrating forty consecutive years as Artistic Director of the organization (now THAT deserves an exclamation point!), the Verdi Chorus is the only choral group in Southern California that focuses primarily on the dramatic and diverse music…
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Recommended Dance: THE NUTCRACKER (Inland Pacific Ballet, December 2-23, 2023)
Inland Pacific Ballet’s The Nutcracker comes to life this season with beautiful sets, dazzling costumes, Tchaikovsky’s classic score, and more than 80 dancers on stage. This annual holiday favorite tells the story of a young girl named Clara who receives a magical nutcracker doll on Christmas Eve and sets out on a wondrous journey to the…
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