Carmageddon & ABT’s communist caper-ballet 5
Despite best efforts, California authorities (the people who brought you Ronald “Tear down this wall, Mr. Gorbachev!” Reagan) could not put the kibosh on American Ballet Theatre’s “The Bright Stream,” choreographed by their new in-house guy, Alexei Ratmansky. Clearly controlled by Soviet agents, ABT foisted a clever piece of communist propaganda on our sunny climes. ...
Wicked comedy by Lubitsch at LACMA 1
Jul
16
2011
It was pure pleasure, in the waning days of the LACMA weekend classic film series, as curator Ian Birnie trotted out yet another sublime film pairing, this time a comedy duo: the first film, Preston Sturges’ social commentary/classic, “Sullivan’s Travels,” topped by Ernst Lubitsch’s insane, zany, perfectly scripted, outrageous and brilliant “To Be or Not ...
A Paul Taylor premiere at ADF, always a joyous event
Jul
14
2011
**LATE BREAKING NEWS ** UPDATE ** LATE BREAKING NEWS ** UPDATE** The Paul Taylor Dance Company announced today that its upcoming 2011-12 three-week New York season will be held at the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center from March 13 – April 1, 2012. “I am looking forward to seeing my amazing dancers perform ...
Dear David Hallberg’s ankle …
Jul
14
2011
BREAKING NEWS * BREAKING NEWS * BREAKING NEWS * This just in from Renae Williams Niles, Director, Dance Presentations, Los Angeles Music Center: It was just confirmed that he [Hallberg] will not be dancing this week. Dear David Hallberg’s ankle, Please, dear Mr. Ankle, be a very nice and kind ankle, and be healed so ...
Party on, Fay McKenzie!
Jul
13
2011
Fay McKenzie, the hard-working child actress of the prior post, now 93 years old, is perhaps best known for her uncredited appearance in the party scene of “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” in which she alternately laughs, then cries, into a mirror. McKenzie’s husband, comedy writer Tom Waldman, was a frequent collaborator of Blake Edwards. He wrote ...
Fay McKenzie, child actress … in 1924! 1
Jul
12
2011
Supplementing the Academy’s “Summer of Silents” series, which last night screened the marvelous early Western feature film, “The Covered Wagon” (1923), was programmer Randy Haberkamp’s extremely delightful interview with Fay McKenzie. Born in a trunk in 1918, the still funny and alert actress was the daughter of the actors Robert McKenzie and Eva McKenzie. All ...
Elo elicits elevated illumination
Very pleased that HuffPo arts page found the tale of Jorma Elo, the Finnish-born freelance choreographer who’s about to premiere a new work commissioned for the Aspen Santa Fe Ballet, sufficiently newsworthy to grant banner headline status ! Read it here.
Roland Petit est mort 2
Jul
11
2011
Choreographer Roland Petit, a giant of contemporary ballet — he more or less pioneered the genre — died this weekend. Petit’s lifelong involvement with ballet, creating 100+ works, gave him two enduring credits: Carmen (1949) and Le Jeune Homme et la Mort, a dramatic ballet set to a Bach passacaglia, with scenario by Jean Cocteau ...
Celebrating classic film at LACMA 1
Jul
10
2011
We spun in classic film heaven at LACMA this weekend. The first installment of curator Ian Birnie’s final series — his last picture show — which is devoted to “audience favorites,” offered four stellar international films — one, each, by directors from Germany (Murnau), the U.K. (Powell/Pressburger), again Germany via France (Ophuls) and Italy (Antonioni). ...
Miguel Gutierrez vs. American Ballet Theatre 1
Jul
9
2011
Informed that his upcoming performances at Los Angeles’s Alexandria Hotel will go toe to toe (he, barefoot, they, in pointe shoes) with American Ballet Theatre’s “The Bright Stream” at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Guggenheim fellow Miguel Gutierrez said: “Shit! It’s always between me and those fuckers!” [Would I make that up?] So, who are you ...