A happy ceremony for La Cérémonie (1995) at Laemmle Anniversary Classics

Film
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ed. note: To mark the 30th anniversary of French auteur Claude Chabrol’s dark masterpiece, La Cérémonie (1994), Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classic Series present a special screening of the film followed by a with a conversation between host Stephen Farber and actress Jacqueline Bisset, in person, at the Laemmle Royal Theatre in Santa Monica. ...

Standing ovation for Salonen from San Francisco Symphony players

Music
esa-pekka salonen acknowledges orchestra’s standing ovation at Disney Hallphoto courtesy brian lauritzen An unusual scene on view by a quick-witted photographer taken at curtain call after a concert by San Francisco Symphony conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen — this moment coming only days after his startling announcement that at the completion of his five-year contract, in ...

Japanese cinema-viewing art, ‘benshi,’ in global tour, soon in Los Angeles

Film
There are all kinds of ways that presenters of silent movies augment their films, or not, ranging from a rinky-dink upright piano with a guy pounding it out at the side of the screen, to the kinds of full orchestral accompaniment we have enjoyed in recent years. But the Japanese tradition, Benshi, is something new ...

Four-year residency for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater completes first lap at Music Center

Dance · Reviews
AAADT in Kyle Abraham’s ‘Are You in Your Feelings?’ photo by Paul Kolnik The hyper-popular Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater closed a seven-performance run, March 20-24, 2024, at the Los Angeles Music Center’s Dorothy Chandler Pavilion yesterday — kind of a new post-COVID booking-high in southern California — bringing immense joy to myriad audience members ...

Poised for paw prints at TCM Classic Film Fest 2024: Jodie Foster

Film
Hollywood has special affection for kid actors. The best of them are survivors, and craftspeople for whom the presence of a a movie camera is nearly an extension of their own selves. And that well describes the natural way that Jodie Foster, grabbed attention at age ten in her first movie, Alice Doesn’t Live Here ...

He’s just Ken. But, Ryan Gosling and Mandy Moore, Jack Cole has a name too. 11

Dance · Film
Jack Cole (1911-1974) creator of “Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend”was so bad-assed you’d think people would show respect. Instead, one of American-dance’s most original creators was stolen from, even in his lifetime–and he knew it. Nineteen million people watched, on Sunday night, when, at the 96th Oscar Award ceremony, actor Ryan Gosling, looking hot ...

Three ‘wows’ and ten years of arts leadership from Thor Steingraber 1

Dance · Ideas & Opinion · Music
“Three wows” sold Thor Steingraber on The Soraya. Steingraber’s long interview process in the fall of 2013 and winter of 2014 to become top executive of Cal State Northridge’s newish theater culminated in a site visit. As he marks ten years as The Soraya’s executive and artistic director, he remembers this moment as his first ...

Key ingredient in Ebony Rep’s STEW? Family!

Theater
She’s equal parts Mildred Pierce, Julia Child, and Danai Gurira. She’s in her muu-muu with house slippers. Her hair is wrapped, and she’s cooking. She’s Greta Oblesby, playing “Mama,” in a marvelous, alive production of Zora Howard’s Pulitzer Prize-shortlisted play, STEW. Newly produced by Ebony Repertory Theater and directed by Jade King Carroll, it’s now ...

Spend National Women’s Month in the dunes

Film
Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series present Hiroshi Teshigahara’s Oscar-nominated erotic drama, Woman in the Dunes, to be screened in multiple Laemmle Theaters in Los Angeles. Actually, the film was nominated in two separate years. In 1964, when it won the Special Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, it was one of the ...

REVIEW: Chilly Nimoy night warmed by jazz duo Goldings & Koonse

Music · Reviews
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photo credit: bob barry It’s a quiet Saturday night on Westwood Boulevard, and all that’s left of the latest rainstorm is a light mist. The Nimoy Theater marquee is the brightest thing on the street, and it draws some people inside. Organist Larry Goldings and guitarist Larry Koonse are playing jazz duets tonight, under the ...