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Recommended Theater: INTO THE WOODS (Pasadena Unified School District and Pasadena Unified School District at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium)
DON’T MISS GOING INTO THESE WOODS The kickoff event for Pasadena Playhouse’s six-month celebration of Stephen Sondheim begins next week with Sondheim and James Lapine’s Into the Woods at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium, January 26 and 27, 2023. For six months now, the Playhouse has been collaborating with all of the high schools of Pasadena…
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Opera Review: ERCOLE SU’L TERMODONTE (Pacific Opera Project at the Highland Ebell Club)
AMERICAN PREMIERE OF VIVALDI’S HERCULES IN THERMODON: A WINNER PACIFIC OPERA PROJECT’S JOSH SHAW: THE HERCULES OF OPERA PRODUCTIONS The Four Seasons composer and violin virtuoso Antonio Vivaldi reckoned to have written 94 operas, yet only 49 have been identified by musicologists; of these, a mere 22 survive, most found in the Library of Turin….
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Theater Review: MEAN GIRLS (National Tour)
STILL TRYING TO MAKE FETCH HAPPEN The musical adaptation of the 2004 teen comedy film Mean Girls opened on Broadway in April 2018 and was one of the many victims of the Covid-19 pandemic, resulting in an early closure on March 11, 2020. The musical book and the original film are written by veteran comedian…
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Music Review: DEBUSSY AND MESSIAEN (Michael Tilson Thomas and the LA Phil at Disney Hall)
Michael Tilson Thomas (MTT) walked quickly to the podium at Disney Hall and when he arrived, he stood, frozen, for an extended period of time, as if he were calling upon a moment of silence and so, when the first bars of Claude Debussy’s Prélude í L’Après-midi d’un faune were heard, they seemed to emanate from the…
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Recommended Concert: MAHLER’S NINTH (Michael Tilson Thomas, LA Phil at Disney Hall; Jan. 13-15, 2023)
Mahler’s symphonic farewell, the Ninth, is remarkable and must be seen live. Beginning and ending with slow movements, the Ninth repeatedly flouts tradition, combining raw, raucous enthusiasm with heartbreaking gestures of acceptance and final goodbyes. Below is an overview of the monumental composition which will enlighten your experience when you see Michael Tilson Thomas —…
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Theater Review: THE EMPIRE STRIPS BACK (International Tour)
IT’S OK TO GET SAUCED FOR STUNNING SAUCY STRIPPERS AND SPECTACULAR SAUCERS, OR MAY THE TORSO BE WITH YOU Forget about Broadway or the latest Marvel Comic movie. The fun, hip and cool burlesque Star Wars parody ’” which isn’t just for fans of the franchise ’” is the show to see live onstage. Since the…
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Theater Review: JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR 50TH ANNIVERSARY TOUR (New Cast for 2022-2023 Tour)
ROCK ON I still have the soundtrack album that I bought when I was 14. I saw the movie when I was 16. I saw the Broadway Revival in my late teens. Today, just over fifty years after Jesus Christ Superstar premiered on Broadway, I had the pure pleasure of seeing it again at the…
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Film Festival Recommendation: FILM MAUDIT 2.0, 2023 (Highways Performance Space and Online)
The fourth edition of Film Maudit 2.0, a showcase and celebration of outré films, is coming to Highways Performance Space and also online @ watch.filmmaudit.org. Starting January 12, 2023, and running through February 11, 2023, you’ll find a treasure trove showcase of genre-driven cinema, inspired by the legendary artist Jean Cocteau’s 1949 festival, Festival Du Film Maudit, which…
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Theater Review: TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD (North American Tour)
THIS MOCKINGBIRD SOARS To Kill a Mockingbird is an American masterpiece that has transcended time and medium, and which will continue to impact our cultural zeitgeist, reflected by the opening night sold-out crowd for this 2018 theatrical wonder, a sell-out for its Broadway run and now on tour at Segerstrom Hall. Patrons responded audibly and…
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Opera Review: THE TRISTAN PROJECT (LA Phil)
A PROJECT MORE THAN A COHESIVE OPERA The heavily hyped revival of director Peter Sellars’ and video artist Bill Viola’s production of Wagner’s monumental opera Tristan and Isolde has landed at Disney Hall with a whimper rather than a bang. In Wagner’s own vision, his operas were to be staged as a “total artwork” (Gesamtkunstwerk),…
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Music Review: FESTIVAL OF CAROLS (L.A. Master Chorale featuring tenor Jonathan Antoine)
A SONOROUS CELEBRATION PEALS THROUGH DISNEY HALL Is there anything more festive than a soaring chorus singing carols during the holiday? Listening to the LA Master Chorale in the majestic Walt Disney Hall is the perfect way to do it. Under the direction of Grant Gershon, 62 singers, pianist, organist, and percussionist make beautiful music…
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Theater Review: LITTLE WOMEN, THE BROADWAY MUSICAL (Chance Theater in Anaheim)
LITTLE WOMEN IS A BIG TRIUMPH FOR CHANCE The four March sisters come alive on the stage of Bette Aitken theater arts Center in Anaheim. The Chance Theater’s returning production of Little Women, The Broadway Musical — book by Allan Knee, lyrics by Mindi Dickstein, music by Jason Howland — is a triumph, as well…
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Theater Review: THE BROTHERS PARANORMAL (East West Players)
WHO IS HAUNTING WHOM? Ghosts, paranormal investigators, and a loving couple that just moved to their new home — it sounds like a reality TV series for binge watching. The Brothers Paranormal at East West Players turns out to be anything but. Instead, audiences are treated to a wonderful, heartfelt, humorous and gut wrenching drama…
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Theater Review: CHARLES DICKENS’ A CHRISTMAS CAROL (A Noise Within in Pasadena)
A HOLIDAY GREETING CARD COME TO LIFE The story that encapsulates the spirit of Christmas perfectly has had countless adaptations, from The Muppets to Disney. This beloved novella, originally published in 1843, has stood the test of time and continues to be celebrated today. The film Spirited starring Ryan Reynolds and Will Ferrell adds to…
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Theater Review: THE EMPIRE STRIPS BACK (Montalbán Theatre in Hollywood)
MAY THE TORSO BE WITH YOU Forget about Broadway or the latest Marvel Comic movie. The fun, hip and cool burlesque Star Wars parody ’” which isn’t just for fans of the franchise ’” is the show to see this winter live onstage in Hollywood. No stranger to L.A., Burlesque started in the nineteenth century…
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Theater Recommendation: AIN’T MISBEHAVIN’ (Rubicon Theatre Company in Ventura)
ONE OF THE ALL-TIME FEEL-GOOD MUSICALS COMES TO RUBICON Ain’t Misbehavin’ is a sizzling celebration of Fats Waller’s music ’” songs that he made famous in a career that ranged from uptown clubs to downtown Tin Pan Alley to Hollywood and concert stages around the world. This delightful revue conceived by Murray Horwitz & Richard Maltby…
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Theater Review: CLYDE’S (Mark Taper Forum)
A TURKEY SANDWICH We are at a greasy spoon sandwich shop whose patrons are truckers making the long haul across Pennsylvania. The owner, Clyde, and her four sandwich makers are all ex-cons. But she’s the boss. While she enters and exits with orders and pick-ups, she humiliates her workers, who put up with her browbeating…
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Music Review: PROKOFIEV & SMETANA (LA Phil with Xian Zhang, conductor; Behzod Abduraimov, piano)
A FLABBERGASTING PERFORMANCE FROM ABDURAIMOV Is it possible that the great pianist Behzod Abduraimov has ten hands? Watching him last Sunday at Disney Hall performing Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 2 was so electrifying that it wasn’t until after the work that I wondered if I ever saw his hands in anything other than a blur….
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Music Review: MUSIKALISCHE EXEQUIEN [MUSIC TO ACCOMPANY A DEPARTURE] (L.A. Master Chorale)
HEAVEN AWAITS “Exequien” in German are funeral observances, and the three pieces of Heinrich Schí¼tz‘s Musikalische Exequien were originally performed in February 1636 for the funeral of Heinrich Posthumus von Reuss, a prince and diplomat who was a personal friend of the composer. Funeral arrangements are likely to weigh heavily on your mind if you’re…
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Theater Review: MINDPLAY (World Premiere at The Geffen Playhouse)
MIND FOR ALL ITS WORTH No one can deny that Brooklyn-based mentalist Vinny DePonto is a master showman. As with all magicians, the true context of any one-man show is not the tricks (and there are some beauties here) but the patter with audience members. At Geffen Playhouse’s smaller theater, the patrons barely have time…
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