REVIEW: Private dancer gone public: TINA, the musical, at The Pantages 1

Dance · Music · Reviews
The audience at TINA – THE TINA TURNER MUSICAL was mostly baby boomer. Which was fine by us. Because the audience was rapt. You felt the admiration, the place was oozing with it. With r-e-s-p-e-c-t for a formidable woman of entertainment, a force to be reckoned with: the late, great Tina Turner (1939-2023). The national ...

David Winters ‘Cool’ solo, in ‘West Side Story’

Dance · Film · Theater
Jets boys, David Winters at center in red In an interview with Toni Basil that includes rare footage of the original Broadway cast of West Side Story, Jerome Robbins protege David Winters (1939 – 2019) explains how he conjured his unusual solo in the role of “Baby John” in 1957. When it came time for ...

How Cali staves off COVID: by reviving the drive-in 2

Film
photo by danny nero Dateline: Downey, California July 11 2020 There is a certain group of go-go people in Los Angeles that even COVID-19 cannot keep down. They are F.O.C.s, also known as “Friends of Chris.” The man of the evening (he hosted the event), Chris Nichols, is a modern-day town crier, a staff journalist ...

Shake it! Bump it! Wiggle that Thing in the privacy of your living room — with Toni Basil

Dance · Film
COVID classes for the non-contagious contingent The last time we checked out Toni Basil, it was, ahem, a different world. Seated at her dining room table, I interviewed the high-energy, hugely eccentric dancer/choreographer about her amazing contribution to the look, feel, sound and spirit of Quentin Tarantino’s ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD (2019). My ...

Toni Basil ‘does the Pony, does the James Brown’ on CBS

Dance · Film
We loved seeing Toni Basil, 76, doing the pony and the James Brown on CBS Sunday morning on Oscar Day 2020.

Tarantino & Toni

Dance · Film
Toni Basil at home in Los Angeles.Credit Amy Harrity for The New York Times LOS ANGELES — When Toni Basil’s agent told her that an anonymous filmmaker from an unidentified production company wanted to chat, she was intrigued. It was something about the 1960s, she was told, so she mopped her dance-studio floor in case ...

Experimental films by Topanga Canyon creatives @ Los Angeles Filmforum

Film · Ideas & Opinion
An upcoming program at Los Angeles Filmforum — screening experimental and avant-garde film and video art, documentaries, and experimental animation — captures my interest. It’s the ninth installment of Filmforum director Adam Hyman’s extensive and rigorous 24-program exhibition of experimental films made in L.A. between 1945 and 1980. This survey fits neatly into the time ...

Hollywood’s dance super-agent, Julie McDonald, to be honored 3

Dance · Film
Julie McDonald, on the right, hanging out with a cool kitty, Toni Basil, and a cool cat, Kenny Ortega, both stellar clients of her body shop. That would be McDonald Selznick Associates, the premier talent representation agency for dancers and choreographers in television, commercials, music videos and film. Julie and her partner, Tony Selznick, created ...