Misha acts at Broad Stage, then Tavis Smiley chats him up

Dance · Reviews · Theater
I enjoyed watching Mikhail Baryshnikov prowl the Broad Stage, supple as an alert deer, in director Dmitry Krymov’s “In Paris.” Playing a rigid retired military man, Nikolai Platonovic, Barysh speaks mellifluous Russian, his mother-tongue, and Russian-inflected French. The 80-minute dance-drama, an adaptation of a Russian short story by Ivan Bunin, opened Wednesday night in Santa ...

Bone up on your classic theater at The Antaeus Company

Theater
An intriguing program — offering casual exposure to great theater-art — is on offer in ClassicsFest 2012 this spring. The Antaeus Company, L.A.’s classical theater ensemble, presents staged readings of six classics in six weeks.

Merrily TCM Classic Cruise rolled along . . .

Dance · Film · Theater
It was a wild & crazy cruise. Robert Osborne, usually a pretty tamped-down guy, skipped the light fantastic through the casino with Eva Maria Saint in tow. In this amazing shot by TCM photog, Ted Pio Roda, Ms. Saint, one of the silver screen’s most enduring method actors, looks not one day older than when ...

Chakiris, Tamblyn, Moreno cement their memories @ Grauman’s 1

Dance · Film · Theater
A touching trio of memories left behind at Grauman’s Chinese Theater on November 15, 2011, as three “West Side Story”‘ stars join the Hollywood ritual and deposit paws and hooves in cement. Long live the dancers! Like this? Read more: Enjoy arts·meme‘s “West Side Story” thread

Joseph Horowitz’s spoken-word exploration of Mahler marriage to precede Pacific Symphony’s Mahler Ninth symphony

Music · Theater
Our trek southward along the mighty 405 freeway this Thursday evening will be a journey in search of musical profundity. And like a good DVD, it comes with bonus material. We’re attending the Pacific Symphony performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 9, considered one of his greatest works, a sweeping musical exposition of the composer’s innermost ...

Genius. West Side Story.

Dance · Film · Music · Theater
Just in from seeing “West Side Story” projected on big screen — my first such viewing (big screen) since who knows when … or maybe ever. What a great movie. Robbins’s choreography is so stellar, so wicked, so spot-on and thrilling; it’s even scary —  in “Cool.” The “America” number on the rooftop, beyond brilliant. ...

Jack Cole danced in Pittsburgh 1

Dance · Music · Theater
Rummaging around the Internet, I found this priceless image of a program dating from the Nixon Theatre in my home town of Pittsburgh. [click image for detail] The Nixon Theatre was the top game in town — the place where circa 1971 I saw naked hippies writhe on stage in “Hair.” Not surprisingly, the hard-working ...

The divine meets the dogged: Tippi Hedren & Edith Head reunite

Fashion · Film · Theater
High Hollywood gets a sparkling rejuvenation when the divine Tippi Hedren will meet the determined Edith Head at a theater opening on October 28. It’s the restaging at the Odyssey Theater in West Los Angeles of the one-woman show, “A Conversation with Edith Head.” Ms. Head, who was petite, loomed large as a cinema costumer. ...

Oy. Harry. Would you please lighten up? Harry Houdini goes for a dip.

Theater · Visual arts
European financial system on the brink … Steve Jobs dead at 56 …. distraction and dissolution everywhere. It all feels so dire. Not sure whether this photo of major meshuggenah, Harry Houdini, will lighten your mood or not. Something in this shot of Mr. Ball-and-Chain spoke to me. Seems to suit the zeitgeist. World, could’ja ...

Segerstrom Center for the Arts: 25 years of stellar international dance

Dance · Theater
The Segerstrom Center for the Arts. Photo by RMA Photography, Courtesy SCFTA On California’s huge map, Costa Mesa forms a relative pinprick. But for the past 25 years, the Orange County city has been a beacon of international ballet, as world-class troupes perform at the House that Henry (Segerstrom) Built 45 miles south of L.A. ...