Star Wars fun, Alice Wang’s extraterrestrial art and more out-of-this-world L.A. culture
Hello and May the 4th be with you! From a cultural galaxy near, near by, the Essential Arts newsletter is back again, corralling the best in the museums, theaters and various stages around L.A. Let’s hit the turbo-thrusters and blast off into the arts beat this week ...
Best bets: What’s on our radar this week
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1. “Alice Wang: We Are Extraterrestrial”
I’m curious to see this show by multimedia artist Alice Wang, who divides her time between L.A. and Shanghai. Wang worked with a team of students, faculty and commercial fabricators to produce a new set of ceramic sculptures, which will be shown with prints, a film and glass sculptures. Said to be informed by everything from Mayan pyramids to Quantum computers, her work crosses fact and fiction for an extraterrestrial worldview.
Saturday-Aug. 3. Vincent Price Art Museum at East L.A. College, 1301 Avenida Cesar Chavez, Monterey Park. vincentpriceartmuseum.org
— Christopher Knight
2. “Sucktion”
Anne LeBaron’s erotic one-woman-and-vacuum-cleaner cyber-opera was ahead of its time — and a hit of a workshop — at REDCAT in 2008. It will be given a more extensive staging in Pasadena this weekend. Open Gate Theatre presents the work, which has a libretto by Douglas Kearney.
7 p.m. Sunday. Neighborhood Unitarian Universalist Church, 301 N. Orange Grove Blvd., Pasadena. opengatetheatre.com
— Mark Swed
3. “Blue Calls Set You Free”
Anne LaBaron, Part 2: The composer’s Orpheus-in-the-Mississippi Delta jazz opera just had its Russian premiere. An extraordinary performance took place in Tula, about 120 miles south of Moscow, as part of a festival of international women’s operas. The production must be seen to be believed, and you can do just that on the Lyrica Classic Entertainment YouTube channel.
youtube.com/watch?v=feFFqwMnHkE
4. Blu DeTiger at the Troubadour
Blu DeTiger is one of those L.A. session musicians and songwriters who is so virtuosic and versatile that it’s almost made her solo career a steeper climb (ask Victoria Monét what that’s like). The bassist and singer has performed and written with Olivia Rodrigo, Bleachers, Dominic Fike and Fletcher (among many others) and took off on TikTok. It’s high time her punky electro-rock gets its own acclaim. Her brand-new LP “All I Ever Want Is Everything” draws on her NYC club-kid roots for a brash 2020s revamp of indie sleaze (anyone who can get Chappell Roan and Uffie on as co-writers is a friend of ours).
7 p.m. Saturday. Troubadour, 9081 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood. troubadour.com
—August Brown
5. “Flashpoint: Protests, Policing, and the Press”
In a grim bit of perfect timing, L.A. Times Studios on Friday released its latest short documentary film, this one timed to World Press Freedom Day. The 22-minute “Flashpoint,” directed by Max Esposito, explores the disturbing trend of journalists covering civic demonstrations becoming targets of law enforcement’s rubber bullets and other forms of force. In one chilling clip, a man lying prone on the ground holds up his press pass, and an officer walking by casually spritzes the journalist’s face with what appears to be pepper spray. A production of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, “Flashpoint” asks compelling questions about modern journalism — and what our culture will lose if journalists are prevented from documenting history.
latimes.com/shortdocs
— Craig Nakano
The week ahead: A curated calendar
SUNDAY
“Alma” Playwright Benjamin Benne’s drama about an immigrant single mom and her teenage daughter navigating their differing views of the American dream.
3 p.m. Sunday, 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, through May 26. Chance Theater, Bette Aitken Theater Arts Center, 5522 E. La Palma Ave., Anaheim. chancetheater.com
Clay L.A. 2024 The marketplace event celebrates its eighth year with ceramics, shopping, air-dry clay activities and workshops.
11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday. Craft Contemporary, 5814 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles. craftcontemporary.org
TUESDAY
“Come From Away” The hit Broadway musical about Canadian hospitality in the aftermath of 9/11 arrives in its latest touring production.
7:30 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Saturday, 1 and 6:30 p.m. Sunday. Pantages Theatre, 6233 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood. broadwayinhollywood.com
“Disney’s Aladdin” The musical favorite, based on the 1992 movie about a young man with much to prove, a princess, a genie, a magic lamp and a flying carpet, gets a lift from songs by Alan Menken with lyrics by Howard Ashman and Tim Rice. 7:30 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, 1 and 6:30 p.m. Sunday. Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, Segerstrom Center for the Performing Arts, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. sctfa.org
WEDNESDAY
A Moon for the Daydreamers Primarily drawn from the Orange County Museum of Art’s permanent collection, this exhibition explores artists’ lunar inspirations and interpretations and our relationship with the cosmos.
Through Aug. 11. Orange County Museum of Art, 3333 Avenue of the Arts, Costa Mesa. ocma.art
THURSDAY
“Mix-Mix: The Filipino Adventures of a German Jewish Boy” The Latino Theater Co. and Playwrights Arena present the world premiere of Boni B. Alvarez’s World War II coming-of-age tale.
8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, 4 p.m. Sunday; through June 16. Los Angeles Theatre Center, 514 S. Spring St., downtown L.A. latinotheaterco.org
“Topsy Turvy (A Musical Greek Vaudeville)” Written and directed by artistic director Tim Robbins, this world premiere plays a limited engagement before heading to the Sibiu International Theatre Festival in Sibiu, Romania, next month.
8 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday, through June 8; 2 p.m. Sunday, May 26 and June 2. The Actors’ Gang Theater, 9070 Venice Blvd., Culver City. theactorsgang.com
“War Game” A preview screening and discussion of Jesse Moss and Tony Gerber’s new documentary, which follows a bipartisan group of U.S. defense, intelligence and elected policymakers as they participate in an unscripted future-set simulation of an American military coup.
7:30 p.m. Thursday. UCLA Hammer Museum, 10899 Wilshire Blvd., Westwood. hammer.ucla.edu
FRIDAY
Elīna Garanča The Latvian mezzo-soprano teams with conductor Karel Mark Chichon on works by Giuseppe Verdi and others.
7:30 p.m. Friday. Broad Stage, Santa Monica College Performing Arts Center, 1310 11th St., Santa Monica. broadstage.org
“Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” Three hundred years after the reign of Caesar (the chimp, not the Roman), simian king Proximus Caesar threatens his predecessor’s legacy in this fourth installment of the reboot series (10th overall).
Starts Friday (with Thursday previews) in theaters. 20thcenturystudios.com
“Slow” Marija Kavtaradze won the world cinema directing award at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival for this intimate romance between a contemporary dancer and a sign language interpreter.
Starts Friday, Laemmle Royal Theatre, 11523 Santa Monica Blvd., West L.A. kimstim.com
SATURDAY
Cruel World Duran Duran headlines this all-day festival of new wave, goth, post-punk and alternative oldies, featuring Blondie, Interpol, Simple Minds and the Jesus and Mary Chain.
Gates open 11:30 a.m. Saturday. Brookside at the Rose Bowl, Pasadena. cruelworldfest.com
Queen Esther The singer/multi-instrumentalist performs her repertoire of alt-country, jazz and Black Americana music.
8 p.m. Saturday. Broad Stage, Santa Monica College Performing Arts Center, 1310 11th St., Santa Monica. broadstage.org
SUNDAY
“Misalliance” Guillermo Cienfuegos directs George Bernard Shaw’s class satire set at an English countryside manor.
Through June 9. A Noise Within, 3352 E. Foothill Blvd., Pasadena. anoisewithin.org
Yuja Wang The virtuoso pianist performs works by Frédéric Chopin, Claude Debussy and others.
7:30 p.m. Sunday. Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 S. Grand Ave., downtown L.A. laphil.com
L.A.’s biggest culture news
Staff writer Jessica Gelt snagged an interview with the L.A. Phil’s newly named president and chief executive, Kim Noltemy, formerly of the Dallas Symphony Assn. Noltemy told The Times she’s excited to work alongside Gustavo Dudamel during his remaining time with the orchestra, and to head up the hunt for a new music director.
Theater critic Charles McNulty reviews the latest incarnation of Macbeth to come to the big screen. This cinematic interpretation of this Shakespearean drama stars theater leading man Ralph Fiennes, who plays the title character as an old warrior, battle-hardened yet weary of spirit. He brings new life and perspective to his character along with a great supporting cast. See it on Sunday in limited release, with an additional show Monday at the Laemmle in Santa Monica.
Writer Richard S. Ginell penned an obituary for Alex Hassilev, the last surviving member of the 1960s folk trio the Limeliters. Hassilev’s powerful chops on banjo and guitar gave the group’s music much of its rhythmic drive. He was 91.
Earlier in the week, McNulty gave us his critic’s breakdown of this year’s Tony Award nominees, announced in New York on Tuesday. They “paint a portrait of another year of transition on Broadway,” which saw little to no love for historic safe bets like the touted British imports “Cabaret” and “Patriots.” Leading the way were what McNulty dubbed the heavy favorites for best play, “Stereophonic,” and musical revival, “Merrily We Roll Along.”
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The European Court of Human Rights ruled that Italy does have the ability to seize the “Victorious Youth” statue, also known as the Getty Bronze, which is one of the most treasured antiquities on view at the Getty Villa in the Pacific Palisades. After the ruling Thursday, the Getty maintained that its ownership of the statue was “appropriate, ethical and consistent with American and international law.” Expect more legal wrangling to follow.
In happier Getty news, the museum announced it has acquired 17 new drawings, dating from the 16th to the 20th centuries, from seminal European artists including a nude by Edgar Degas, a pastel by Eva Gonzalès, a rare scene by the Italian Baroque painter Guercino and important sheets by Joseph Wright of Derby, Luca Cambiaso, Giovanni Boldini and Odilon Redon.
The American Theatre Guild has announced its 2024-25 Broadway in Santa Barbara season at the Granada Theatre, which is happening in conjunction with that theater’s 100th-anniversary celebration. Upcoming shows include “Clue,” “Mean Girls,” “The Addams Family” and “Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations.”
Cirque du Soleil announced it is returning to the Santa Monica Pier for the first time since 2014 with a show called “Kooza.” The Canadian-based circus without animals got its start in Los Angeles in the late 1980s, and its founders credit appearances in the city with the organization’s international success. Tickets for “Kooza,” which runs Oct. 19 to Dec. 1, go on sale May 6.
The winners of the 2024 Herb Alpert Awards in the Arts have been announced, and they are: Jonathan Gonzales, Mariana Valencia (dance); Nuotama Bodomo, Lucy Raven (film/video); Ruo Huang, Anna Webber (music); Robin Frohardt, Cannupa Luger (theater); Marina Rosenfeld, Marie Watt (visual arts). The awards go to 10 midcareer artists deemed to be challenging and experimenting with art in their various disciplines, and include unrestricted prize money of $75,000 and a residency at California Institute of the Arts.
— Jessica Gelt
And last but not least
With “Star Wars” Day looming, it’s an apt time to take stock of The Times’ reviews of each installment — movies and TV shows — in the ever-evolving, paradigm-shattering intergalactic franchise.
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