LA PHILHARMONIC - courtesy photo
So don’t put off seeing these great ones.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED:
LA OPERA, "MADAME BUTTERFLY" – What a way to start the new season! With Korean soprano Karah Son in her signature role.And you can see it broadcast live to the Pier Saturday, free. Sat 6 p.m., next Thurs 7:30 p.m., Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, LA, $49-450.
THEATRICUM BOTANICUM: New political thought provoker – don’t be scared! They are always entertaining too. A few laughs too, I’m sure. It is another thing they are known for, one of their strengths. Grandpa Walton would be proud. "The Winter’s Tale" is one of Willie the Shake’s last, a tragi-comedy in five acts. He had at that point moved away from telling the stories of royalty, writing more about the emotions and lives of more everyday people. A terrific production. TB’s ever-evolving staple "A Midsummer Night’s Dream" has been performed by them every season, for more than half a century now. But you should probably come see this one again, because I have been told it has been reworked interestingly.Molière’s classic "Tartuffe" is brought forward a few centuries, and right into today’s headlines. How do you rid yourself of a persistent and clever con man? "Wendy’s Peter Pan" is typical of how TB takes a fresh look at things, and by title alone sounds like a lot of fun. I plan to see it and report back (but don’t wait for that). Sat 8 p.m. "Wendy," Sun 3:30 p.m. "Tartuffe," Sun 7:30 p.m. "Hispanic,"Mon 7:30 "Midsummer" Thurs, 7:30 p.m., $15-60.
HOT CLUB OF LOS ANGELES — You can go to the Cinema Bar any Monday night, 9-11:30, for more than a decade now, and hear these hot players run through Django Reinhart-style ‘30s jazz. This amazing ensemble is a treasure. Mon 9 p.m., Cinema Bar, Culver City, free.
RECOMMENDED:
Tonight - "THE SUBSTANCE OF FIRE" – is still getting glowing reviews, and packing them in at our local theater treasure, The Ruskin, at the airport, in this long run. Written in 1991 by Jon Robin Baitz while still in his 20s, he drew his characters lovingly and skillfully, even those decades past his age. Directed here by Mike Reilly, the first NY production starred Rob Rifkin and Sarah Jessica Parker. Lead Rob Morrow first performed it years ago, as the youngest son. Now he plays the aging Holocaust-survivor patriarch of a family business, a book publishing company not doing well and about to be taken over by a large foreign firm. His children want him to bend his principles and publish a best-seller, but he is intent on a six-book examination of Nazi medical experiments. It’s almost like two plays, first the family dynamics with his three very different shareholding children, and in the second part comes Marcia Cross as a psychiatric social worker, and a different territory opens up. Last three performances of this long run! Thurs, Fri, Sat 8p.m., Sun 2 p.m., Ruskin Group Theatre, SM Airport, $25-40..
LA PHIL –Free neighborhood concert, but a first class program, with conductor Rodolfo Barráez, performing Debussy, Still, Bartok, Romero, Piazzolla (including his marvelous "Four Seasons of Buenos Aires," Barber’s heart-wrenching "Adagio for Strings," Wed 7:30 p.m., South Gate Municipal Auditorium, free
COMING ATTRACTIONS (also recommended): DENGUE FEVER, Lodge, 9/20; Theatricum Botanicum - "Wendy’s Peter Pan" 9/21, 28, 10/4 - "The Hispanic/Latino/Latina/Latinx/Latine Vote" 9/22, 29, 10/3, 6, 12, 20 - "Tartuffe-Born Again" 9/22, 29, 10/5, 13 - "A Midsummer Night’s Dream" 9/23 - "The Winter’s Tale" 9/30; "THE SUBSTANCE OF FIRE," Ruskin Group Theatre, 9/21, 22, 23; LA PHIL Neighborhood Concert at South Gate Municipal Auditorium 9/25; LA PHIL Neighborhood Concert at Heart of Los Angeles 9/27; LA PHILGala Concert: DUDAMEL & LANG LANG, Disney Hall, 10/1; A Midsummer Night's Dream with DUDAMEL, Disney Hall, 10/3, 4; TOM JONES, Greek Theatre, 10/7; JONI MITCHELL and the Joni Jam, Hollywood Bowl, 10/19, 20; JEFF LYNNE’S ELO, Kia Forum, 10/25, 26; DAVID GILMOUR, Hollywood Bowl, 10/29, 30, 31; Halloween Organ, Film & Music: "Nosferatu,"Disney Hall, 10/31; LA SANTA CECILIA, Wiltern, 10/31.
Charles Andrews has listened to a lot of music of all kinds, including more than 3,000 live shows. He has lived in Santa Monica for 38 years and wouldn’t live anywhere else in the world. Really. Send love and/or hate mail to: mailto:therealmrmusic@gmail.com
