Los Angeles

FAR MORE EDENIC THAN I  EXPECTED You would think that if Stephen Schwartz (composer/lyricist of Pippin and Wicked)  wrote a musical with John Caird (adapter of Les Misérables  and Candide), we would have seen a production of it — or at least heard of it. But shows that haven’t played Broadway rarely make it into the public consciousness….

NUNBEARABLE Deloris, a   pushy, smart-alecky, malopropism-spouting black woman, is disguised as a nun as she awaits a court date to squeal against her gangster boyfriend. Her background as a nightclub entertainer makes her perfect to convert a convent of silly oddball sisters into a kick-ass choir — one which turns a cash-strapped church into a…

FENCES THIS AIN’T We are taught that tolerance is a virtue, that common ground is not only findable but a state of mind. We are taught that our obligation is to our neighbor as much as to ourselves. We learn in school, or in church, that home is the foundation of community. We know it….

FOLLOW THE EVIDENCE WHEREVER IT LEADS Evidence, A Dance Company  is recognized nationally and internationally for its fusion of African dance with contemporary choreography and storytelling that combines Cuban, Caribbean, West African and modern American dance movement. A selection of signature works from its repertory will be performed to tell the story and mark the extraordinary…

YOU WANT  THE SLEUTH..? The kind of intimate theater I saw Sunday is targeted for elimination by Actors’ Equity Association: Low-tech projects, produced of donated resources without hope of profit. One of Equity’s arguments, repeated recently by its president, is that a proliferation of tiny nonprofits puts the development of commercial theater at a disadvantage. The…

THERE WILL BE BUZZ ABOUT THIS PLAY, BUT IT’S ALL STING AND NO HONEY As honey bees gather pollen and nectar for their survival, they pollinate crops such as cranberries, melons and broccoli. “A World Without Bees,” Time’s cover story in August of 2013, brought to light a frightening occurrence: In recent years, there have…

A FUNHOUSE NOT MEANT TO PRODUCE You must run to the Fountain Theatre to see the delightfully quirky oddity, Tennessee William’s last play A House Not Meant to Stand. Fasten your seatbelts, slam down a mint julep, and keep all arms, legs and gaping mouths inside the McCorkle’s Southern Gothic living room at all times….

THE THIRD TIME’S THE CHARM When Mahler visited Sibelius in 1907, the two composers talked about “the essence of symphony.” Mahler rejected his colleague’s creed of severity, style and logic, saying that “a symphony must be like the world. It must embrace everything.” 12 years earlier, at work on his Third, he had remarked that…

I’LL BE THERE WITH BELL ON Many know that Academy of St Martin in the Fields is a touring and recording chamber orchestra founded by Sir Neville Marriner in 1958. But did you know that since 2011 the world-renowned virtuoso violinist Joshua Bell has been their Music Director? Next to Marriner, who turns 92 in…

TRIFONOV’S DEBUT RECITAL AT DISNEY HALL All it took was one performance from Daniil Trifonov (dan-EEL TREE-fon-ov) to resoundingly validate for me why he is the current Big Thing of the piano world. The Liszt-like master’s rendition of Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 2 at the Hollywood Bowl with the Los Angeles Philharmonic (followed by a…

TOWARD A SAFE THEATER In 2015 Bathsheba Doran’s The Mystery of Love & Sex opened to mixed notices Off  Broadway, which seems to be the exact pipeline for shows to get produced at L.A.’s Mark Taper Forum a year or so later. It fits the bill for new-millennial regional theater production in pretty much every way:…

CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE STAGE Every time I see Leon Russom I wish I had his body. Lean like a dancer, he uses the solidity of his shoulders, the slimness of his hips to create character and emphasize moment. The Coen Brothers like to cast him as movie cops, but I first saw him onstage…