Critical jottings: “Tiny Little Town” from TMB

Theater
‘plein air’ rehearsal, courtesy tmb Summertime and the living is meant to be easy …. so why doesn’t it feel that way? Not really loving the Congressional Hearings? Spending $120 at Trader Joe’s for a bag of stuff that recently cost half that much? Is it the fact that COVID just won’t stop — and ...

Italy’s Santarcangelo Festival counters apocalyptic narratives through dance

Dance
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Every July since 1971 the Italian borgo of Santarcangelo di Romagna, a town in the Apennines, six miles from the Adriatic Sea, becomes the European hub for cutting-edge performance. The summer 2022 edition of the Santarcangelo Festival, “Can you feel your own voice,” thankfully does not allude to pandemic nightmares (i.e., one’s own echoing voice ...

Movie mini-review, with a ‘Vengeance’

Film · Reviews
Ashton Kutcher, B.J. Novak in VENGEANCE photo: Patti Perret / Focus Features Brooklyn wokel meets Texas yokel in VENGEANCE, a cultural bake-off that hinges on the narrow premise of a savvy New Yorker getting pulled into the mysterious postmortem of Abilene Shaw (Lio Tipton), a young lady he claims he barely knew. (He only ‘serial-dated’ ...

Musical melange: ‘Moulin Rouge’ at Pantages

Reviews · Theater
It packs a wallop. But gosh, getting walloped this way is so much fun. I experienced a nearly constant state of joy witnessing the ballistic pageant of song, dance, and bombast better as Moulin Rouge: The Musical, now on at the Pantages Theater in Hollywood. Not since the ornate theater’s vaudeville days has its gilded ...

Michael Musto: musings on ‘Elvis’

Film
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ed. note: artsmeme is pleased to publish the pithy thoughts of journalist Michael Musto on Baz Luhrmann’s runaway hit movie, Elvis, now on screens nationwide. Musto’s long presence in cultural reporting beyond qualify him for his musings about The King. His longtime column in The Village Voice, La Dolce Musto, a compendium of gossip, nightlife, ...

Dudamel to lead stars of Paris Opera Ballet at Hollywood Bowl

Dance · Music
gustavo dudamel, courtesy los angeles philharmonic Our man at the helm of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Gustavo Dudamel, who was recently named Music Director of the Paris Opera, has invited a few of his new-found friends, stars of the Paris Opera Ballet (“etoiles”) to perform classic and contemporary ballet repertoire on the Hollywood Bowl stage ...

REVIEW: ‘La Binoche’ swaps partners, melts down, in ‘Both Sides of the Blade’

Film · Reviews
Why does a movie stick in your head and haunt you for days after viewing? That was my experience with director Claire Denis’ latest, BOTH SIDES OF THE BLADE (2022), opening in theaters July 8 and streaming July 23. It surely has to do with the shattering intimacy of Juliette Binoche‘s beautifully modulated performance as ...

Pianist Jamael Dean, jazz virtuoso, to tap spiritual vein @ Piano Spheres

Music
‘Sick.’ “Dig.’ ‘Respect.’ ‘Space Music.’ ‘Wow.’ ‘Just Wow.’ ‘Lovely.’ ‘Jamael is a beast.’ ‘That drummer is on fire.’ These and other laudatory comments are posted on youtubecom in response to a 2020 video, “Kronos” streaming above. The man behind this music, the keyboard cat in the long braids, is Jamael Dean, a jazz prodigy whose ...

Summer salsa ‘stravaganza swarms Music Center

Architecture & Design · Dance · Theater
There’s quite a bit of ‘competition’ out there. Los Angeles has performing arts centers in abundance–in Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, Long Beach, Costa Mesa, Northridge, and Malibu. But there’s only one mothership, and that is the Los Angeles Music Center, a cultural anchor in our city since 1964. Home to the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Ahmanson ...

Happy Queen’s Jubilee from the Commonwealth’s indigenous artists

Visual arts
Vincent Namatjira. Elizabeth and Vincent (on Country), 2021.  Acrylic on linen. 48 x 60 inches. © Vincent Namatjira/ Courtesy the artist and Fort Gansevoort A vibrant-looking, good humored show from an unusual clutch of artists — Vincent Namatjira, Kaylene Whiskey, and Tiger Yaltangki, three leading members of the indigenous Indulkana Community in the northwestern region ...