Wild! ‘Silent Disco’ at Segerstrom Center

Dance
Yeah, it’s spooky. A bunch of people zoned-out and twitching like Night of the Living Dead zombies, only, more or less, to a beat. Kick off next “Halloweekend” with a round of bootie-shaking at a silent disco. And help our planet have less noise pollution! It’s happening on the friendly public square at Segerstrom Center ...

Sane dance fans converge on Segerstrom for pleasing ‘Lines Ballet’ performance

Dance · Reviews
It was the United States of Segerstrom last night when the nation’s Capital of COVID-Containment relocated (for just one night, Dr. Fauci) to Costa Mesa, California. There, the much-vaunted performing arts center at least somewhat righted the pandemic cataclysm by launching its season with a knockout dance performance. An upbeat cluster of up to 1,500 ...

‘Hygiene theater,’ a good show at Segerstrom, others 1

Ideas & Opinion · Theater
Joan Crawford, Queen of Cleanliness There are copious stories in the New York Times and The Atlanta Monthly calling for the end to “hygiene theater,” that is the fake, fruitless, labor intensive, time-and-money consuming practice of keeping our shared public spaces scrupulously clean. Even the Centers for Disease Control is emphasizing that COVID-19 is spread ...

Thank you, Cesar Pelli, for your Orange County beacon

Architecture & Design
In my many years of trawling the San Diego Freeway southward seeking ballet at the Segerstrom Center, a literal beacon of my destination-arrival has long been a happy sight: architect Cesar Pelli’s masterful Plaza Tower. The master architect passed away July 19, 2019. Located on Anton Blvd. south of South Coast Plaza it stands in ...

Dorrance Dance to fill Segerstrom Hall with tap funk & noise

Dance
Dorrance Dance: “ETM: Double Down” at Segerstrom Center May 3, 2019photo by Christopher Duggan It’s all based on a single idea, a profound one; it’s the notion that tap dancers are also musicians. And upon that premise the acclaimed tap dancer/choreographer Michelle Dorrance is prepared to ‘double down.’ She’ll aptly illustrate her point while dancing ...

Stylin’ songs straight-ahead: Catherine Russell @ Segerstrom 2

Music
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Songstress Catherine Russell It’s very common for today’s young jazz singers to want to sound like instruments, instrumentalists, and/or innovative vocalists. There are legions of developing singers who worship at the altars of Betty Carter, Sheila Jordan and Mark Murphy. But each of those trend-setters evolved into very personal stylists only after years of trial-and-error. ...

Sending in the clowns for classical ballet renewal 2

Dance · Reviews
James Whiteside (Harlequin), Thomas Forster (Pierrot)photo credit: Andrea Mohin / The New York Times The tears of a clown rained down all weekend at Segerstrom Center for the Arts. It was the West Coast premiere of American Ballet Theatre‘s triumphant reconstruction, Harlequinade —and it was a pip. The dashing Commedia del’arte clowns pictured above, diamond-suited Harlequin and ...

A thoughtful, joyous Kurt Elling Christmas at Segerstrom

Music
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Two years ago, jazz singer Kurt Elling released The Beautiful Day: Kurt Elling Sings Christmas. As he’s a vocalist who likes to have his way with a song to the point of redesigning it, that CD was a bit of a surprise. But for anyone familiar with Elling’s background, it made perfect sense. The son ...

Osipova in premiere as Isadora Duncan at Segerstrom

Dance
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How will the California-born Isadora Duncan be remembered 50 years from now? As the woman whose barefoot, Greek-vase inspired abandon birthed the modern dance movement? Or for her shocking, free-love lifestyle in Europe and Russia and early tragic death – decapitated by scarf while riding in a Bugatti sports car? To the uninitiated, and by ...

REVIEW: Liza Minnelli, Michael Feinstein enchant at Segerstrom 5

Music · Reviews
I never saw Judy Garland in performance. I was fifteen in 1969 when she last played in Copenhagen. Now I wish I had gone. But Saturday night, I got a frisson of that Garland feeling, when in a first, I attended Liza Minnelli’s show at Segerstrom Center for the Arts. The legendary singer delivered a ...