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Los Angeles
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Los Angeles Theater Review: BORN FOR THIS (The Broad Stage in Santa Monica)
THE MIRACLE OF LOVE: WINANS STYLE BeBe Winans was on-hand to enjoy a triumphant opening night for his coming-of-age stage musical Born For This, that takes him and his sister CeCe from young adulthood through several decades of their lives and legendary careers. The star-studded audience included Stevie Wonder, Cicely Tyson, Debbie Allen, Sidney Poitier,…
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San Diego Theater Review: GUYS AND DOLLS (The Old Globe’s Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage)
A FEW BLEMISHES CAN’T MAR THIS 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’…
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Los Angeles Music Review: ELLA AND DIZZY: 100 YEARS, 1,000 MEMORIES (Hollywood Bowl)
JAZZ SO HOT, IT MADE ME DIZZY The air was pure celebration at a crowded Hollywood Bowl Wednesday night as folks came from near and far to celebrate two of jazz’s greatest talents: Vocalist Ella Fitzgerald and trumpeter John Birks “Dizzy” Gillespie, both of whom would be celebrating their 100th birthday this year. For the…
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Los Angeles Music Review: BEETHOVEN’S NINTH & COPLAND’S “FANFARE FOR THE COMMON MAN” & “LINCOLN PORTRAIT” (Gustavo Dudamel, LA Phil)
SOOTHING, ROARING AND CHIRPING: FROM VIN SCULLY TO BEETHOVEN Of all the actors who have embodied the voice of Abraham Lincoln, the one that sticks out for me is Royal Dano, who Walt Disney personally selected as Lincoln’s voice in Disneyland’s Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln attraction; not only did Dano resemble the 16th POTUS, but…
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Dance Review: EZRALOW DANCE: PRIMO PASSO (The Wallis in Beverly Hills)
PRIMA PARTE PASSA, SECONDA È MIGLIORE Primo Passo explores life’s first steps through a compilation of dance features from choreographer Daniel Ezralow’s 30-year repertoire in a hit-and-miss retrospective that ranged from trite to enthralling. The seven pieces fit the theme of “new beginnings” well, showcasing movements that reflected an air of childlike curiosity or enthusiasm…
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Los Angeles Theater Review: THE DEVIL’S WIFE (Skylight Theatre)
A MARRIAGE MADE IN HELL Tom Jacobson’s latest play, The Devil’s Wife, is a droll take on old European tales regarding evil demons and feckless wives. Here, the Devil, in the guise of rich landowner Nicholas Mastema (Everette Wallin), invades the home of the three adult Ramirez sisters as they mourn for their newly passed…
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Los Angeles Music Review: I RISE (Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles at Disney Hall)
GIMME THAT NEW-TIME RELIGION I Rise was more than a concert. As shaped by artistic director and conductor Dr. Joseph P. Nadeau (below) it was a theatrical experience so provocative, so plaintive, so poignant, so palpable, so powerful and so profound that it devastated me. And when that happens in the arts, I’m inspired. Sadly, there were only…
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Dance Preview: THE RED SHOES (National Tour of Matthew Bourne’s Production)
MATTHEW BOURNE’S THE RED SHOES: U.S. TOUR BEGINS IN L.A. SEPTEMBER 15 Inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s beloved fairy tale and Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s legendary 1948 film The Red Shoes, Matthew Bourne and company (New Adventures) adapted the breathtaking story and created a theatrical ballet which took the U.K. by storm last year. After winding up its tour across…
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Los Angeles/Regional Theater Preview: THE TEMPEST (Shakespeare Orange County in Garden Grove)
ENCHANTED FORGIVENESS Shakespeare Orange County (SOC) has used local community members alongside professional actors to reinvent Shakespeare as a way to offer thoughts about inclusiveness and Southern California’s astoundingly diverse population with creative results. This way, the classical English literature combined with cultural aspects actually influences storytelling. And the community pride behind these productions is…
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San Diego Theater Review: ANIMAL CRACKERS (Cygnet Theatre Company)
A SWEET SAMPLING OF ANIMAL CRACKERS, ALBEIT A BIT DAY-OLD One can easily see why Animal Crackers was a Broadway hit from 1928-1929, followed by a successful movie version. Start with the zany Marx Brothers, add a variety of vaudeville style acts, connect it all with a wacky little plot and it has “Roaring Twenties”…
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Los Angeles Theater, Music & Dance Preview: CULTURE CLASH’S OG SUMMER DESMADRE (John Anson Ford Amphitheatre in Hollywood)
CURE YOUR POLITICAL HANGOVER WITH CULTURE CLASH Founded in 1984, L.A.’s very own veteran satirical Latino comedy troupe, “Culture Clash” (Herbert Siguenza, Ric Salinas and Richard Montoya) is headlining a one-night-only variety-extravaganza on Sunday, July 16, 2017 at the Ford Amphitheatre (newly revamped to the tune of $72.2 million), opposite the Hollywood Bowl. Now in their mid-to-late…
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Regional Theater Preview: THE GRAND TOUR (Pageant of the Masters in Laguna Beach)
TAKE A GRAND TOUR WITHOUT LEAVING YOUR SEAT Pageant of the Masters, now in its 83rd year, is a singularly unique entertainment that has perfected the art of tableaux vivants (“living pictures”). With world-class designers and over 600 volunteers (including actors and a research team), this elegant and classy outfit’”equal parts museum, play, concert, and lecture’”re-creates for…
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Los Angeles Theater Review: MARY POPPINS (Musical Theatre West in Long Beach)
MARY’S POPPIN’ OUT ALL OVER Not just the quintessentially “practically perfect” nanny, Mary Poppins is a kind of cosmic cure. Given the state of our disunion, we probably need to swallow helping and heaping spoonfuls of sugar. Courtesy of Musical Theatre West, Disney’s aggressively buoyant movie musicalization cavorts across the Carpenter Center stage, enchanted by director…
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Los Angeles Theater Review: THE ANDREWS BROTHERS (Glendale Centre Theatre)
BOOGIE WOOGIE BUGLE GIRLS OF THE U.S.O. Deanna Durbin is all but forgotten now, but there was a time when her movie musicals were so popular, they were said to have literally saved Universal from bankruptcy. In 1936, before Durbin became famous, MGM was choosing between two young singers under contract, and decided to drop…
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Los Angeles Theater Review: THE CAKE (The Echo Theater Company in Atwater Village)
TRIPLE-LAYERED CAKE Thirty-something Jen (Shannon Lucio) is torn. She wants her deceased mother’s best friend, Della (Debra Jo Rupp), a talented but struggling baker, to create her wedding cake. So with her betrothed she returns from New York to her hometown in conservative North Carolina, and finds that Della is tickled pink to honor her wish’”until…
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Los Angeles Concert Review: PENTATONIX FOURTH OF JULY WITH FIREWORKS (The Hollywood Bowl)
A TONIX FOR WHAT AILS YOU The fireworks went off both on and above the Hollywood Bowl stage last weekend. After five short selections by American composers performed by the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra and the U.S. Air Force Band of the Golden West, the entrancing and loquacious conductor Thomas Wilkins took a back seat after…
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L.A. Concert Review: THE CLIFTON’S CANTEEN (Clifton’s)
A BOOGIE-WOOGIE BLAST A one-time good-time event that will surely return next year, this sense-surrounding salute to USO shows of the WWII era was a perfect way to spend a Fourth of July holiday. Taking place on all four floors of the newly refurbished Clifton’s Republic in downtown, Clifton’s Canteen contained contagious crooning, dynamic dancing,…
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Los Angeles Theater Review: JACQUES BREL IS ALIVE AND WELL AND LIVING IN PARIS (Odyssey)
JACQUES IN THE BOX I think if I had been alive and living in New York in 1968, I would have been beguiled by Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris. Eric Blau and Mort Shuman translated some 25 of the Belgian singer/songwriter’s lyric-driven French songs and created a four-person revue. Its…
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Los Angeles Theater Review: LETTERS FROM A NUT BY TED. L NANCY (Geffen Playhouse in Westwood)
LETTER FROM A NUTTY CRITIC Dear Mr. Ted L. Nancy: You are a funny letter writer. In fact, you are the best letter writer who reads his own letters in a show with an actress reading replies to his letters and a mute clown waving a flag to national anthems that I have ever seen….
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Los Angeles Cabaret Review: HELLO AGAIN! THE SONGS OF ALLAN SHERMAN (Linden Waddell at the Stephanie Feury Studio Theatre)
MY DAUGHTER, THE CABARET SINGER This year’s Hollywood Fringe Festival has given me new hope for the art of cabaret: Black and White in Paris offered standards dripping in style; Psychosical deliciously revived oft-heard songs by casting singers as denizens of a loony bin; and now comes Hello Again!, Linden Waddell’s spot-on salute to arguably America’s greatest song…
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