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Los Angeles
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San Diego Theater Review: CAMPING WITH HENRY AND TOM (Lamb’s Players Theatre)
THREE GREAT MINDS MAKE FOR INTRIGUING THEATER There’s a game where you get to pick three famous people and go to dinner with all of them. In Mark St. Germaine’s Camping with Henry and Tom, it’s kind of like that game, except it’s based on a true story. And you only get to watch the…
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Music Preview: CÉCILE MCLORIN SALVANT (The Soraya and Irvine Barclay)
CÉCILE MCLORIN SALVANT IS PRECISELY WHAT YOU’VE BEEN LOOKING FOR Hooray and hallelujah! Long before her newest disc, Dreams and Daggers — a live double-CD set that won the 2018 Grammy for Best Jazz Vocal Album — I have always been a fan of jazz vocalist and song interpreter extraordinaire Cécile McLorin Salvant. But seeing…
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Los Angeles Theater Review: GUYS AND DOLLS (Musical Theatre West in Long Beach)
A BEAUTIFUL DOLL It’s amazing. Were this masterpiece from Broadway’s golden age an actual guy or doll, he or she would be scoring Social Security. But make no mistake, this 1950 hoofer is no worse for the wear, thanks to Frank Loesser’s timeless score and Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows’ cheeky book about strippers and…
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Los Angeles Theater Preview: SIX CHARACTERS IN SEARCH OF A PLAY (Celebration Theatre)
SHORES ‘NUFF Texas-born playwright Del Shores, best known for his romp Sordid Lives (the hilarious play and movie that also introduced us to Leslie Jordan) is coming to the Celebration Theatre with the West Coast premiere of his one-man show, Six Characters in Search of a Play. In this 90-minute cavalcade of characters, Shores will introduce you to…
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Los Angeles Event Preview: THE LINCOLN LEGACY: THE MAN AND HIS PRESIDENCY (Tony Kushner and Sarah Vowell: In Conversation at UCLA)
HIS AND HERS HISTORY Looking for some inspiration? From Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tony Kushner and lauded author Sarah Vowell comes a powerful examination of one of American history’s most singular figures: Abraham Lincoln. Presented by CAP UCLA, the dynamic duo will appear at Royce Hall this Thursday, February 22. Best known for his play Angels…
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Cabaret Preview: MY KINDA 60’S (Charles Busch)
MY KINDA CABARET ACT It was the decade that changed our nation forever. What began as nothing but promise — victors of a World War and a young forward-thinking President — suddenly shifted with JFK’s assassination. A time of innocence and hope soon began to look like a time of anger and violence. Americans protested: End…
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Los Angeles Opera Preview: CRUZAR LA CARA DE LA LUNA (The Soraya in Northridge)
A MAGNIFICENT MARIACHI OPERA COMES TO THE SORAYA It was by sheer luck that I was in Chicago and happened upon the world’s first mariachi opera, Cruzar la Cara de la Luna (To Cross the Face of the Moon). Even though it immediately became one of my favorite operas, I knew that this type of…
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Los Angeles Theater Review: IRONBOUND (Geffen Playhouse in Westwood)
THE JOY OF SURVIVAL Marin Ireland is mesmerizing and deeply moving in Ironbound. She plays Daria, a Polish immigrant. To my ear, her accent is impeccable — and most importantly, entirely consistent. We believe she is searching for the best English words to express herself, and often her syntax has an authenticity of its own….
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Los Angeles Music Review: BERNSTEIN’S MASS (Los Angeles Philharmonic and Gustavo Dudamel)
A MASSIVE MASS FOR THE MASSES It’s a happening in Disney Hall. And there’s no better way to salute Leonard Bernstein in his hundredth year than a humongous and awesome presentation of his rarely produced Mass. How did a secular humanist Jewish composer come to write a a modernized interpretation of sacred Mass texts, including…
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Los Angeles Music Preview: BERLIN PHILHARMONIC WIND QUINTET WITH STEPHEN HOUGH (The Wallis)
HOUGH AND PUFF The glorious Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet is coming to The Wallis in Beverly Hills as part of a very short, nine-stop North American tour. As if having this prestigious ensemble on February 10 isn’t exciting enough, the great pianist Stephen Hough (pronounced “Huff”) will be playing with the Quintet here in Beverly…
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San Diego Theater Review: THE LAST WIFE (Cygnet)
THE LAST WIFE GETS IT RIGHT Historical fiction can be a dicey game, let alone a modernization of historical figures. When the results are as captivating as Kate Hennig’s The Last Wife, be prepared for some stimulating theater while brushing up on your history lessons. When speaking of British History, Katherine Parr may not be…
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Concert Review: MEOW MEOW (with Pink Martini’s Thomas M. Lauderdale)
THE DIVINE MISS MM When you hear the words “performance art,” do you envision a motionless Marina Abramovic allowing a 10-foot boa constrictor to wrap itself around her head? And when you hear the term “cabaret,” do you think of tired patter, same-old showtunes, and folks who’re trying to jump-start their career? Well, prepare to…
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Los Angeles Theater Review: THE HOTHOUSE (Antaeus Theatre in Glendale)
A TRAGI-COMEDY OF VIOLENCE Harold Pinter’s The Hothouse is exactly the kind of play I hope to see at the Antaeus Theatre Company. It is a classic to some but not to others, and there’s a lot of leeway in the text for bold choices, its themes are relevant ’” some might say eerily so…
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San Diego Theater Review: THE FULL MONTY (San Diego Musical Theatre)
THE FULL MONTY IS WORTH BARING IN MIND When the main factory in town shuts down and only menial work, far below previous pay grade, can be found, what’s a man supposed to do? For the two central men in The Full Monty, the answer is to create a one-night-only strip show to compete with…
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Los Angeles Theater Preview: CANDIDE (LA Opera)
YES, WE CANDIDE There isn’t much I could say about the musical Candide that hasn’t been written about before. What I can say is never miss an opportunity to catch a production, especially when it’s a full-on spectacle like the one opening tonight with LA Opera. Leonard Bernstein created one of our greatest Broadway scores when he…
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Los Angeles Dance Preview: ASTAIRE DANCES (American Contemporary Ballet)
I’LL TAKE ASTAIRE’S WAY TO PARADISE The great ballet choreographer George Balanchine compared Fred Astaire to Bach, and Baryshnikov claimed Astaire gave him an inferiority complex. Katharine Hepburn once said about his partnership with Ginger Rogers: “He gives her class, and she gives him sex.” Astaire himself said, “I don’t make love by kissing, I…
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Los Angeles Music Preview: ARTURO SANDOVAL JAZZ WEEKEND (The Wallis in Beverly Hills)
ARTURO SANDOVAL’S AMAZING JAZZ WEEKEND IS HERE! He moves easily across many varieties of jazz and instruments — using his trumpet to produce a fiery assortment of resonances, interchangeably stately, amusing and starry-eyed. The mighty, vibrant, effervescent Cuban trumpet player, big band leader, and composer Arturo Sandoval — a protégé of Dizzy Gillespie — is…
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Los Angeles Music Review: DUDAMEL CONDUCTS BRAHMS (Los Angeles Philharmonic)
A WEEKEND OF FIRSTS Gustavo Dudamel returns to the podium this weekend — Thursday through Sunday, January 25-28, 2018 — to lead the LA Phil in a concert easily predicted to be a stunner. Brahms First Symphony, on which he labored for so long (over 14 years), is an openly passionate work, the last great…
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Los Angeles Theater Review: THE CHOSEN (Fountain)
LOVE AND “COMPASSIONATE SILENCE” We are living through an era that seems to value greed, hypocrisy, narcissism and blatant dishonesty over truth and meaning. This makes the journey into the world of Aaron Posner and Chaim Potok’s The Chosen that much more satisfying. It feels as impactful as a dear friend’s determined embrace, the kind…
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Los Angeles Theater Review: A DELICATE SHIP (Road Theatre Company in North Hollywood)
THESE THINGS MUST BE DONE DELICATELY If you lose your way trying to navigate the enigmatic journey Anna Ziegler wants to take us in her well-written but thematically dense A Delicate Ship, keep your eye on Josh Zuckerman – it’ll be impossible not to – because he has found the human trajectory that Nate, one of…
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