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Los Angeles
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Theater Review: RIDE THE CYCLONE (Chance Theater)
WHAT A RIDE! NOTHING GOES OFF THE RAILS IN THIS CALIFORNIA PREMIERE Ride the Cyclone is a 2008 musical by Canadians Jacob Richmond and Brooke Maxwell. Originally written as a song cycle for the Atomic Vaudeville Theatre Company, it was retooled for its 2015 critically lauded US premiere at Chicago Shakespeare Theater. Since then, the…
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Recommended Cabaret: SEVEN LOVES (Getty Villa)
A CABARET TO LOVE SEVEN TIMES MORE THAN ANY OTHER Getty Villa Museum presents Seven Loves, a Valentine’s cabaret that brings together well-known, amazing performers singing songs from Broadway, based on Greek and Roman myths, to explore the full range and complexities of love. Songs will be performed from musicals including The Boys from Syracuse, Hedwig and…
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Highly Recommended Music: CAMERATA PACIFICA (Feb. 12-17, Ventura, Pasadena, DTLA & Santa Barbara)
Camerata Pacifica is far and away the most programmatically original chamber outfit I know. In addition, the quality of the players is stunning (see my review of a program earlier this season). Based in Santa Barbara, CP performs a monthly series of concerts in Santa Barbara, Ventura, San Marino (at the Huntington), and DTLA’s Zipper…
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Highly Recommended Theater: MEAN GIRLS (National Tour at Segerstrom Center for the Arts, March 7-19)
Direct from Broadway, MEAN GIRLS is the hilarious hit musical from book writer TINA FEY (30 Rock), composer JEFF RICHMOND (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt), lyricist NELL BENJAMIN (Legally Blonde) and director CASEY NICHOLAW (The Book of Mormon). The story of a naïve newbie who falls prey to a trio of lionized frenemies is a “thoroughly enjoyable musical, as…
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Music Review: AX –¢ KAVAKOS –¢ MA (Disney Hall)
A QUEST FOR MUSIC AND HUMANITY On a delightful Saturday afternoon, January 28th, Los Angeles was graced by three masters at Walt Disney Concert Hall. Billed simply as Ax ’¢ Kavakos ’¢ Ma, the eponymous concert title did little to convey the content of the concert because, let’s face it, whatever these three will be…
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Opera Review: GIRLS OF THE GOLDEN WEST (John Adams and the LA Phil at Disney Hall)
HOW THE WEST WAS LOST AND BORING Under the baton of California’s own celebrity composer, John Adams, the LA Phil performed his Girls of the Golden West in a concert setting on Friday, January 27th. Premiered in 2017 by the San Francisco Opera, the work was conceived and co-created by librettist, culture maker and long-time…
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Music Recommendation: KODO ONE EARTH TOUR: TSUZUMI (North American Tour)
A POUND OF CURE Since 1981, KODO, Japan’s taiko performing arts ensemble, has brought the gloriously life-affirming art form of taiko to 46 countries around the globe. Under the banner of One Earth Tour, Kodo exemplifies why percussion is the primal source of all movement and rhythm. The newest production, Tsuzumi, is touring North America…
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Music Review: HECTOR OLIVERA (Organ Recital at Walt Disney Concert Hall)
HEIGH-HO, HECTOR! The full house at Walt Disney Concert Hall buzzed with excitement as fast-paced whispers reverberated through the crowd when Hector Olivera opened his solo organ recital by walking directly to the remote console on stage, placing his stuffed Kermit the Frog doll next to him, where the frog appeared to be waiting for…
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Music Review: RAVEL, DAWSON & PROKOFIEV (LA Phil, Guest Conductor Roderick Cox)
DAWSON GETS HIS DUE IN LA PHIL’S FIRST PERFORMANCE OF HIS NEGRO FOLK SYMPHONY The swellegant Maestro Roderick Cox returned to Disney Hall with the LA Phil last weekend. Even knowing the talent of the conductor, players, and guest violinist Karen Gomyo, there were some surprises at this stupendous program. The first came before the…
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Theater Review: GREASE (La Mirada Theatre)
GET READY TO BE GREASED UP The year is 1959, when rock and roll was giving birth to the Sexual Revolution and the turbulent 1960s were about to burst on the scene. Record companies were releasing over a hundred singles every week and the country was about to radically change. In its original raunchy incarnation,…
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Theater Review: GUESS WHO’S COMING TO DINNER? (Theatre 40)
GUESS WHAT SHOULD BE ON BROADWAY? A hit at their home theater on the Beverly Hills High School campus, Theatre 40’s production of Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? has been remounted at the gorgeous Greystone Mansion on a Beverly Hills bluff overlooking L.A., a choice setting for the Bay Area hilltop home of a wealthy…
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Theater Review: BROTHERS PLAY (Legacy LA)
A LOST TRIBE OF BROTHERS Because a child who has been sexually abused often knew and trusted the perpetrator, only about a third of the cases are reported. Many remain silent. As if the act itself wasn’t traumatic enough, childhood abuse often has a wide range of effects in adulthood — drug use, impulsive risky…
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Theater Review: TO THE BONE (Open Fist Theatre Company Remount at Theatre 68 Arts Complex)
WICKED GOOD [Editor’s Note: TO THE BONE will be remounted at Theatre 68 Arts Complex, 5112 Lankershim Blvd. in North Hollywood March 4 – March 26, 2023. Tisha Terrasini Banker, Alice Kors, Kacey Mayeda, Jack David Sharpe and Amanda Weier reprise their roles in Butterfield’s dark comedy about family, baseball and genetics. We reprint our…
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Music Review: SHEKU PLAYS HAYDN (Sheku Kanneh-Mason & Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra)
SHEKU INHABITS HAYDN I hear an old soul in his playing. English cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason, aka Sheku, is a decent, heartfelt, unpretentious performer, and his music follows suit. He evokes some kind of sacred spirit in his cello playing, which is dreamy and soothing while being exhilarating. He does Casals, Du Pre & Rostropovich proud,…
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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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