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Los Angeles
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Theater Review ONCE (3-D Theatricals in Cerritos)
ONCE AGAIN, PLEASE Ironically, the real-life love affair between collaborators Glen Hasard, an Irish singer-songwriter, and Markéta Irglová, a Czech songwriter, fizzled after John Carney’s 2007 film became a success (well, it’s not called Once for nothing). But the Tony-triumphant 2011 stage musical, now offered in 3-D Theatrical’s soaring, enchanting, and bittersweet yet uplifting production,…
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Dance Review: LA BAYADÈRE (Mariinsky Ballet at Segerstrom Hall in Costa Mesa)
A TEMPLE FOR BALLET Segerstrom Hall is now filled with the gorgeous melodies of a late-blooming classical ballet from 1877. With an infectious score by Ludwig Minkus, La Bayadère premiered in St. Petersburg, Russia in 1877 at the Imperial Russian Ballet, choreographed by the great Marius Petipa (who would go on to greater glory with…
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Theater Review: THE MUSIC MAN (5-Star Theatricals in Thousand Oaks)
IT JUST KEEPS GETTING BETTER In 1994, 5-Star Theatricals (formerly Cabrillo Music Theatre) produced its first show: Meredith Willson’s The Music Man, which opened on Broadway in 1957 and became an instant hit. Now on their 25th anniversary, the show has returned to the Fred Kavli Theatre in Thousand Oaks and lightning has struck twice…
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Theater Review: THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA (LA Opera at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion)
PIAZZA EXPLODES LIKE TUSCAN SUNLIGHT From London’s Royal Festival Hall to L.A.’s Dorothy Chandler Pavilion comes a rapturous new production of the Tony Award-winning musical The Light in the Piazza. Presented by LA Opera under the helm of Olivier Award-winning director Daniel Evans and conductor Kimberly Grigsby, Piazza is an exciting return to of one…
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Dance Preview: GEORGE BALANCHINE’S JEWELS (Mariinsky Ballet at the Music Center)
STILL PRICELESS, BRIGHT AND SHINY The astounding Mariinsky Ballet from St. Petersberg is coming to the Southland for two engagements. The first at Segerstrom Center for the Arts this weekend will feature Petipa’s great Russian classic La Bayadère. Next weekend, October 24-27, The Music Center hosts the company — truly, one of the best globally…
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Music Preview: SALONEN CONDUCTS TCHAIKOVSKY AND BARTOK (LA Phil at Disney Hall)
REAWAKENING A FAMILIAR CONCERTO As you may know, Composer and Conductor Laureate Esa-Pekka Salonen is off to the Bay Area to become the San Francisco Symphony’s new music director. The Fab Fin will be leading a few concerts before he leaves. This weekend, he serves up the world premiere of his new work, Castor, a…
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Music Review: JONATHAN BISS (Recital at Soraya)
BISS IS IT What a splendid way to celebrate the 250th anniversary of Ludwig van Beethoven’s birth year (the Sagittarian was actually born December 17, 1770): The great pianist Jonathan Biss played two separate programs of sonatas this week at The Soraya. I caught the latter, and it was all I could do to keep…
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Review: 217 BOXES OF DR. HENRY ANONYMOUS (Freud Playhouse at UCLA)
UNMASKING A GAY HERO There is a method of political activism called a “zap.” Basically, zaps are militant but non-violent face-to-face confrontations with persons in positions of authority, but when used in tandem with a media alert, they can be powerful weapons when furthering a cause. Since gay activists in the late 1960s and early…
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Theater Review: ANASTASIA (National Tour)
ON ANASTASIA, AMNESIA, AND ANESTHESIA First came the Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia, the youngest daughter of Tsar Nicholas II, who was murdered in 1918 just after the Bolshevik Revolution, most likely by Vladimir Lenin’s secret police. Then came the rumors that she was still alive. Then came the imposters, keeping alive one of…
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Theater Review: A KID LIKE JAKE (IAMA Theatre Company at the Pasadena Playhouse)
CINDERFELLA The best play on any L.A. stage right now, Daniel Pearle’s 2013 A Kid Like Jake couldn’t be more relevant. The parents of a four-year-old boy are applying for a private primary school in Manhattan with the help of a pre-school admissions counselor, Judy (Sharon Lawrence), who gets caught in the crosshairs of the…
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Theater Review: THE ABUELAS (Antaeus Theatre Company in Glendale)
THE DIRTY WAR COMES HOME Stephanie Alison Walker’s The Abuelas at Antaeus Theatre is the story of a woman discovering that she is a child of the “Disappeared,” the approximately 30,000 people killed through state-sponsored terrorism during Argentina’s 1976-1983 Dirty War, when opposition to the military junta-led government was ruthlessly quashed. Two generations of women,…
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Theater Review: TRUE WEST (VS. Theatre in L.A.)
SHEPARDING OUT THE TRUTH Sam Shepard’s domestic disruption True West hasn’t left the theatrical landscape since it first premiered with Peter Coyote at San Francisco’s Magic Theater in 1980. Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre’s 1982 production with John Malkovich and Gary Sinise remains legendary and Roundabout’s Broadway outing with Ethan Hawke and Paul Dano just closed last…
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Music Review: DUDAMEL CONDUCTS MUSIC FROM THE AMERICAS (LA Phil at Disney Hall)
LA PHIL — IT’S WHAT’S FOR DINNER Argentina, Mexico, Venezuela and the U.S. were represented in the sensational concert last night at Disney Hall. The program Dudamel Conducts Music of the Americas has the conductor collecting pieces that were inspired by folk music and celebrate peoples who came before. Two of the four pieces —…
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Theater Review: THE VANDAL (West Coast Premiere at Chance Theatre)
WHAT LIES BURIED Actor Hamish Linklater’s funny, sharp and tender play The Vandal begins on a cold winter night as a down-on-her-luck middle-aged woman waits for a bus on a deserted street. A high-school boy appears and starts up a conversation. Precocious and lively, he quickly overcomes the woman’s reluctance to participate. He points out…
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Music Review: DUDAMEL CONDUCTS GERSHWIN AND COPLAND (LA Phil at Disney Hall)
THE ORIGINAL AMERICAN GRAFFITI It’s difficult to determine just what makes music American; and if a symphonic program is to be labeled “American”, which composers might be on the shortlist? Under the blanket title Dudamel Conducts Gershwin & Copland, this thrilling evening also included short works by Barber and Previn, all four composers giving us…
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Theater Review: YOGA PLAY (Laguna Playhouse)
THE CORE IS THERE, BUT THE POSE IS OFF Not only is yoga a gentle exercise and a Hindu spiritual discipline, it’s also an $83 billion international industry. Meet Joan (Susi Damilano), a new marketing director of Jojomon, a yoga merchandise conglomerate. She actually could care less about yoga; she’s going for numbers and new…
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Jazz Review: CHICK COREA TRILOGY W/ CHRISTIAN MCBRIDE & BRIAN BLADE (CAP UCLA at Royce Hall)
TRILLIANT The first time I saw Chick Corea play was at Disneyland on the Tomorrowland Stage in the mid-1970s. I was entranced watching the solo pianist with brown afro and mustache, as he was offering a type of jazz I had never heard before. My upbringing consisted of mostly big band and swing, so when…
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Theater Review: LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS (Pasadena Playhouse)
A GREEN NEW DEAL As Little Shop of Horrors teaches us: sometimes you just need fresh blood. In that vein, the Pasadena Playhouse more than delivers. Their audacious revival of the quirky cult classic – directed with exemplary vision by Mike Donahue – offers audiences something they may not have realized they craved. In this…
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Theater Review: BARNUM (Musical Theatre Guild at the Alex Theatre in Glendale)
I LIKE YOUR STYLE P. T. Barnum claimed there’s a sucker born every minute, but composers like Cy Coleman come along only once in a lifetime. His vigorous score was in the capable hands of musical director Jan Roper for Musical Theatre Guild’s staged reading of Barnum at the Alex Theater. Score, book and lyrics…
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Theater Review: NEVER IS NOW (Skylight Theatre in Los Angeles)
NEVER TAKE FOR GRANTED THE PHRASE “NEVER AGAIN” Wendy Kout, the playwright of Never Is Now asks the question, “What happens when people from diverse backgrounds experience the firsthand accounts of ten survivors who were labeled ‘undesirable’ and thrust into Hitler’s systematic genocide?” She shows us exactly what happens in a very powerful, emotional and…
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