Tours

WELL MET BY MOONLIGHT Some plays are just too good to be easily staged.   In my experience Shakespeare’s most beloved comedy, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, has defied more directors than it has rewarded.   The thing requires so much attention, so much love, so much effort!   You’ve got to create living worlds for three sets of…

TOTAL IS LESS THAN THE SUM OF ITS PARTS The acclaimed Chinese-Austrian pianist Rueibin Chen is in the midst of a worldwide tour coinciding with the anniversary of Rachmaninoff’s birth 140 years ago, but there were three Rueibin Chens at his solo recital at the Wallis last Friday: There was Rueibin Chen, the fascinating interpreter…

A COLLAPSE IN JUDGEMENT Imagine a post-punk, slightly operatic band that is equal parts Captain Planet, The Cars, Jim Henson, Victor/Victoria, a Fisher-Price Glow Worm, Judy Garland, Al Gore, Bill Black’s Combo, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Liberace, Klaus Nomi, the Beach Boys, a midnight screening of Rocky Horror Picture Show, David Bowie’s “Let’s Dance,”…

A HARD-HAMMERED POUNDING FROM VAN HOUDT As part of his current U.S. tour, pianist Reinier Van Houdt stopped at REDCAT to perform concerti from three experimental composers: Jerry Hunt, Luc Ferrari, and Walter Marchetti. Van Houdt played both piano and various accompaniments for the works, each one unusually orchestrated with random small percussive instruments, a…

BECAUZE SHE’S LIZA My anticipation was high but my expectations were low as I entered Disney Hall for the performance of Simply Liza: Liza Minnelli. She has not been having a particularly good century so far and I feared I was about to see an icon fall from grace. My trepidation was not completely unfounded,…

OUT WITH THE NEW AND IN WITH THE OLD The popular saying “out with the old, in with the new” certainly does not apply to Parsons Dance Company, seen last Saturday at Valley Performing Arts Center. Choreographer David Parsons’ older repertoire well outshines his newer works, which lack ingenuity. Because four successful works (three from…

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 90 next…

COME JOIN THE CIRCA Brisbane-based Circa creates circus that moves the heart, mind and soul. The company discovers, cultivates and presents works and experiences from the living heart of circus, which makes it vital, challenging and delightful. The ceaselessly inventive outfit, guided by safe danger and fuelled by love and respect, will make its Broad…

CRY!BOYS AND INDIANS Let’s be honest:   Director Elizabeth LeCompte’s sometimes astonishing adaptation of Shakespeare’s Trolius and Cressida by the acclaimed Wooster Group of New York is indeed a bit of a misstep.   On the other hand, it is a simply brilliant failure.   The show crackles with ferociously presented and compelling ideas; gorgeously visual stagecraft; and…

THE LEGACY WILL HAVE YOU GEEKING OUT FOR GENE KELLY Gene Kelly’s widow, Patricia Ward Kelly, is touring with her retrospective multi-media presentation of Gene Kelly’s life and work, Gene Kelly: The Legacy, which plays through Sunday at the Pasadena Playhouse. Since meeting Kelly in the mid-1980s, Patricia has concurrently been his biographer, historian, and…

FUNK ME Director and choreographer Otis Sallid wants to illuminate how James Brown’s funky music and original dance styling has influenced contemporary culture. He engaged PHILADANCO (Philadelphia Dance Company) and then chose choreographers from around the world, letting each one choose from 33 of Brown’s songs and cultivate original works. The result is James Brown:…