Theater


Amy Freed

Bettering the Bard

May 2, 2018 • Amy Freed has thrown herself into an update of William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew by inserting a wiley female contemporary of the playwright into his Prologue, and then steering the debate into more acceptable contemporary currents for modern audiences. • READ

'Rock' and the Hard Place

April 18, 2018 • Playwright Lauren Yee first heard Dengue Fever, a contemporary band whose music is based in the Cambodian rock of the early 1970s, seven or eight years ago. It sparked a desire to tell the story of what happened to that country's original rock scene. In March 2018, the world premiere of Cambodian Rock Band, her new play with music, saw her vision land amid standing ovations. • READ


A Bountiful Trip to 'Orange'

March 1, 2017 • After South Coast Repertory's Literary Manager Kimberly Coburn gave the playwright a personal tour of Orange County, Aditi Brennan Kapil doubted it would be a locale in the script she had just been commissioned to write. No problem, write whatever you want. The result, a play called Orange and "one of the most personal plays I have ever written." • READ

Down for the Count

September 2008 • A non-actor assumes the role of James Tyrone, pivotal character in Long Day's Journey into Night, in the very room where occurred the events that inspired the play. • READ

Music


Terri Lyne Carrington

Leveling Fans and Playing Fields

November 14, 2018 • After flooring a jazz concert crowd with her celebration of legendary women at UCLA Terri Lyne Carrington launches a new Jazz and Gender Justice program at Berklee. Three contemporary vocalists onstage to interpret the music of Joni Mitchell, Tina Turner and Nancy Wilson, were Jazzmeia Horn, Ledisi, and Lizz Wright • READ

Charged Particles

August 1, 2018 • The maiden voyage for Jazz Generations members was a trip to Catalina's Jazz Club for a performance by Chick Corea Elektric Band in May 2018. Here's an appreciation of that night, with the reunited fusion powerhouse that includes Frank Gambale, Eric Marienthal, John Patitucci, and Dave Weckl. • READ

Billy Mitchell

Widening the Circle

July 30, 2018 • While jazz pianist-composer-bandleader Billy Mitchell, with his group The Circle of Friends, will perform at the Blue Jay Jazz Festival and the Sunset Jazz at Newport in August and September 2018, he is working year-round with students in Los Angeles and Long Beach to perform the vital role of educator and inspiration. • READ

The Time Beyond the Time

May 27, 2017 • Folk singer Art Podell, whose still-active career extends back to the dawn of the "Folk Music Revival" of the late-1950s, was part of JP Houston and Julie Van Dusen's "American Parlor Songbook" last month. With Houston, Van Dusen, and the comedy act Boomers on a Bench sharing the Lake Arrowhead Tudor House stage, it was a night of rich perspective. • READ

Donald Harrison's Jazz Gumbo

January 28, 2017 • New Orleans Favorite Son and Saxophonist Donald Harrison brings jazz heritage and a blazing new generation quartet to Catalina's Jazz Grille next week. An interview with the familiar face from HBO's "Tréme" and jazz great. Pictured left, center, with bassist Ron Carter and drummer Billy Cobham. • READ


A Jones for Miles

September 2016 • In 1988, Sean Jones was a 10-year-old learning to play drums in Warren, Ohio when he heard that his grandfather played trumpet during World War II. That, and copies his band instructor gave him of Miles Davis' landmark 1959 Kind of Blue and year-old Tutu, convinced him to switch instruments. • READ

John Mayall's Blues

April 20, 2016 • The 82-year-old 'Godfather of British Blues,' a Southern Californian since 1969, has a flurry of new recordings and tours as the Blues Hall of Fame inducts him. • READ

Dianne Reeves and Gregory Porter

January 18, 2015 • The veteran and the newcomer split the bill for an unforgettable introduction to a year of jazz at the Segerstrom Center and for many a first listen to Bakersfield's own Gregory Porter. • READ

Treasure Found

October 22, 2014 • Billy Childs' Tribute to Laura Nyro features three vocalists – Lisa Fischer, Moira Smiley and Becca Stevens – and a stageful of top musicians for this musical treasure. • READ

Features


Videographer/Cameraman Luis Fuerte

Cameraman Obscura

September 12, 2017 • Luis Fuerte's new memoir sheds light on KCET's historic 'California's Gold,' its host Huell Howser, Fuerte himself, and a friendship that began when the article's author first helped pull the camera-shy cameraman into the spotlight • READ


Down for the Count

September 2008 • A non-actor assumes the role of James Tyrone, pivotal character in Long Day's Journey into Night, in the very room where occurred the events that inspired the play. • READ
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