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Los Angeles
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Theater Review: A PUBLIC READING OF AN UNPRODUCED SCREENPLAY ABOUT THE DEATH OF WALT DISNEY (Odyssey)
M-I-C-K-E-Y (WHY-OH-WHY-OH-WHY?!) When I saw Lucas Hnath’s name attached to A Public Reading of an Unproduced Screenplay About the Death of Walt Disney – a boldly-titled play now getting its West Coast Premiere at the Odyssey Theatre in Los Angeles – I jumped at the chance to review it. The playwright’s been on my radar…
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Music Recommendation: MEHTA CONDUCTS BRUCKNER & BERG (LA Phil; April 7-10, 2022)
AN EXPERIENCE NOT TO BE MISSED On a website which attempts to list every Anton Bruckner orchestral recording offered to the public (www.abruckner.com), the discography collector and annotator John F. Berky states that the Austrian composer “expanded the concept of the symphonic form in ways that have never been witnessed before or since. When listening…
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Theater Review: CAN’T PAY? DON’T PAY! (The Actors’ Gang)
A PLAY THAT’S A RIOT WILL MAKE YOU WANT TO RIOT While loading items into my trunk after shopping at a Fortune 500 store recently, I realized that an item had gone unchecked by the cashier. My instinct, naturally, was to make a 360 and go back into the store. Then I halted. This item…
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Theater Review: THE GIN GAME (Starring JoBeth Williams and Joe Spano at the Rubicon Theatre in Ventura)
DEADWOOD OR GIN? Fine actors of stage, television, and film, JoBeth Williams and Joe Spano unite their decades of work and talent to kick off a national tour of The Gin Game at the Rubicon Theatre Company in Ventura. Yet even with such names filling the stage in this intimate two-hander, D. L. Coburn’s tragicomedy…
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Film Screenings: KINUYO TANAKA; PEDRO ALMODÒVAR; HAYAO MIYAZAKI & MORE (Spring, 2022, The Academy Museum)
WHAT A LINE-UP! In addition to The Academy Museum’s ongoing series ’” Available Space, Branch Selects, Family Matinees, and Oscar ® Sundays ’” you will find some awesome screenings this spring, including a series on French filmmaker Chris Marker; films by directors Pedro Almodóvar and Spike Lee; six films by Kinuyo Tanaka; and encore presentations of movies by Hayao Miyazaki. Films are shown in 35mm,…
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Dance Tour: LUXERíŽA (Barcelona Flamenco Ballet)
Suspense, intrigue, sex, scandal, love: Luxurí®a (“Lust”), the latest flamenco dance-theater sensation from Spain’s internationally renowned Barcelona Flamenco Ballet. As part of a global tour, one performance only is set for The Alex Theatre in Los Angeles (Glendale) on Saturday, April 16 at 8pm. David Gutiérrez — photo by unniks.com Award-winning Barcelona Flamenco Ballet artistic directors, choreographers and ballarines principals (principal dancers) David Gutiérrez and Paula…
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Music Review: HILARY HAHN and PAAVO Jí„RVI (LA Phil) RANDALL GOOSBY and RODERICK COX (LACO)
Randall Goosby with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Roderick Cox conducting Now, why isn’t Samuel Barber’s Violin Concerto played more often? It’s ridiculously beautiful in the first two movements, and fiery in the last. In fact, this may be the best solo work with orchestra of the three that Barber wrote. And Hilary Hahn performing…
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Dance Review: S.O.S. SIGNS OF STRENGTH (DIAVOLO & The Veterans Project at The Wallis in Beverly Hills)
LIKE A ROCK To name S.O.S. SIGNS OF STRENGTH just a dance piece is like calling a geode just a rock, since there are many elements that make up the masses of mineral matter secluded within. As with war, there’s hardness on the outside, but there is beauty to be found deep inside. At The…
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Theater Review: TRAYF (Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles)
SCHISM BUDDIES “Are you Jewish?” Spoken by the leading players in playwright Lindsay Joelle’s Trayf, the question could also be relevant for the audience itself. Before you walk away dejected, know this: if you’ve never greeted anyone with “shalom” or heard of a “Mitzvah tank,” you’re probably (surprisingly) the play’s target audience – or at…
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Music & Dance Review: ST. MATTHEW PASSION (LA Opera)
THE LATEST PASSION IS NOT THE GREATEST PASSION It’s been a busy time in Los Angeles for the visiting dance company Hamburg Ballet. First, its company debut performance at The Music Center, Bernstein Dances, based on the music and spirit of the multi-talented composer Leonard Bernstein, was a truly enjoyable evening. But last Sunday, the…
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Dance Review: ABT FORWARD (The American Ballet Theater at Segerstrom Hall in Costa Mesa)
WITH TWO WINNERS OUT OF THREE WORKS, ABT’S PROGRAM STILL SOARS AT SEGERSTROM Bursting with happiness, joy and beauty, The American Ballet Theater opened its program last night at Segerstrom Hall in Costa Mesa. The opening number, Bernstein in a Bubble, was set to Leonard Bernstein’s rarely performed Divertimento (1980) — eight bagatelles, mostly running…
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Theater Review: ASSASSINS (East West Players)
THANKS TO SONDHEIM’S SONGS, THIS MUSICAL WILL NEVER DIE The cast is quite terrific with some extraordinary standouts in East West Players’ revival of Assassins, but it is Snehal Desai‘s awesomely inventive staging (and Preston Mui & Jasmine Rafael‘s movement direction) that betters John Doyle and his recent Off-Broadway outing. Not withstanding the company’s incredible…
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Theater Review: THE PLAY YOU WANT (Road Theatre)
THE PLAY WE NEED What starts as a joke ends in a laugh — all the way to the bank! — in The Play You Want, a world premiere comedy by Bernardo Cubría. Directed by Michael John Garcés, the play is a product of The Road Theatre Company’s playwriting workshop, Under Construction. I don’t know…
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Music Review: JAY CAMPBELL + INTI FIGGIS-VIZUETA (LA Phil New Music Group at Disney Hall)
Concerts in the L.A. Philharmonic’s Green Umbrella new music series are always an adventure. Typically curated by the (often young) contemporary musicians and composers whose work is featured in the performances, these programs offer an eclectic array of unpredictable encounters with the avant-garde art music of our moment. Some of them are highly engaging; others…
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Music Review: PROKOFIEV & SHOSTAKOVICH (LA Phil; Ludovic Morlot, conductor; Sergio Tiempo, piano)
Best known as the successful former Music Director of the Seattle Symphony, French conductor Ludovic Morlot led one of Shostakovich’s greatest symphonies last week, depicting the despair in his Tenth with an uplifting mournful passion. The opening movement can feel ponderous in the wron g hands, but here it exuded constant momentum. Even with a…
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Theater Review: SLAVE PLAY (Mark Taper Forum)
MORE LIKE POWER PLAY THAN SLAVE PLAY Boy, if you want audacious theater — even one with higgledy-piggledy results — than I’ve got one for you: Slave Play, which opened last week at the Mark Taper Forum after a Broadway run. Frankly, I can’t even say that I recommend it. The show is messy and…
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Theater Review: THE LEHMAN TRILOGY (Ahmanson Theatre)
DON’T MISS AT ANY COST… BANK ON IT Recently I saw a play which forced me to ask: with the amount of stellar entertainment available to us at home, why would anyone spend this much money to trek across town and see this drivel? Whatever “supporting the arts” or “supporting live theater” means shouldn’t feel…
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Theater Tour Announcement: YEMANDJA (Angelique Kidjo)
YEMANDJA, ANGÉLIQUE KIDJO’S FIRST FORAY INTO THEATER After the world premiere at MASS MoCA this week, the co-commissioned Los Angeles premiere of Yemandja will take place at The Broad Stage in Santa Monica April 14, 15, and 16 at 7:30pm before the new work continues on tour to Cal Performances at UC Berkeley on April 23. Inspired…
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Recommended Concert: MUSE/IQUE & RACHAEL WORBY: SUNRISE ON SUNSET (The Wallis in Beverly Hills)
Rediscover Los Angeles through a fabulous night of music and history… THIS WEEKEND ONLY! Saturday, March 12, 7:30 pm, and Sunday, 13, 2022, 3 pm and 7 pm. MORE INFO & TICKETS The program, MUSE/IQUE & RACHAEL WORBY: SUNRISE ON SUNSET, features an ensemble of L.A.’s finest instrumentalists and singers in a night of fabulous music…
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Theater Review: MARVIN’S ROOM (Actors Co-op)
A ROOM OF THEIR OWN Actors Co-op is reviving Scott McPherson‘s extraordinary play Marvin’s Room. While it has always been one of my favorite plays, it’s a daunting choice for any company. The play requires a delicate touch so the sentiment doesn’t turn into bathos and the black humor stumble into vulgarity. Under Thomas James…
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