Broadway's 2014-15 season hits all-time high in ticket sales by Mike Boehm

Frank Sinatra isn't closely identified with the Broadway stage, but producers on the Great White Way were happy to be singing one of his refrains as they released attendance figures for the …

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 3:00pm on May 27, 2015☆⚑

South Coast Repertory's incoming artistic director has international connections and ambitions by Mike Boehm

South Coast Repertory looked to Louisville, Ky., for its new artistic director, Marc Masterson, but the Costa Mesa company and its audiences could be getting a national and even global conve…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 5:58pm on May 25, 2015☆⚑

Jerry Brown moves to modestly improve meager state arts budget by Mike Boehm

Gov. Jerry Brown has gone from an arts Scrooge in January to an arts Santa Claus of sorts in May.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 3:30pm on May 15, 2015☆⚑

Motown creator Berry Gordy charts his musical trajectory by Mike Boehm

Motown Records didn't release every indelible pop-soul hit from the '60s and '70s, although sometimes that's how it seemed. The Drifters' "On Broadway," for example, was one that got away, t…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 6:00pm on May 1, 2015☆⚑

Two views on the Actors' Equity wage hike for L.A.'s small theaters by Mike Boehm

For decades, the Los Angeles small-theater scene has operated under a single set of wage rules based on the willingness of professional, unionized actors to perform for token fees. Now this …

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 9:05pm on April 22, 2015☆⚑

Early reaction to new minimum wage for stage actors: 'Sad day' for L.A. by Mike Boehm

Leaders of small theaters across Los Angeles County began reacting to their new reality Wednesday morning: drastically increased costs from a new $9 hourly minimum wage imposed by leaders of…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 3:18pm on April 22, 2015☆⚑

Garcetti budget seeks to boost recession-hit Cultural Affairs Dept. by Mike Boehm

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti is proposing a 12.2% spending increase for the Department of Cultural Affairs, which would receive the biggest boost during what has been a very lean, recessi…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 11:04am on April 22, 2015☆⚑

Actors' Equity imposes $9 minimum wage on L.A.'s 99-seat theaters by Mike Boehm

National leaders of Actors' Equity Assn. on Tuesday imposed a $9 hourly minimum wage for members who perform in Los Angeles County theaters with fewer than 100 seats, overriding a recent vot…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 12:09am on April 22, 2015☆⚑

Producers make $102,860? Composers $63,560? Otis report on jobs and pay by Mike Boehm

Employment in Los Angeles County's creative industries rose by 6,000 jobs in 2013 after more modest gains the two previous years, according to the latest annual Otis Report on the Creative E…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 9:45am on March 12, 2015☆⚑

Stage actors' wage fight pits Tim Robbins against Charlayne Woodard by Mike Boehm

A play in which Tim Robbins and Charlayne Woodard squared off as antagonists would likely draw a sizable audience.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 11:00am on March 6, 2015☆⚑

David Geffen's $100-million gift in N.Y. raises arts-naming issues in L.A. by Mike Boehm

"What's in a name?" was a rhetorical question for Romeo when he was wooing Juliet, but David Geffen's $100-million gift to Lincoln Center in New York City demonstrates that it can be one of …

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 8:00pm on March 4, 2015☆⚑

L.A. drama critics pan pay hike plan for actors in small theaters by Mike Boehm

The Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle has roundly panned a plan to require a minimum wage of $9 an hour for actors who perform in dozens of small theaters in Los Angeles, saying it isn't just…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 10:46am on February 27, 2015☆⚑

L.A. County's small-theater community speaks out on proposed wage hike by Mike Boehm

An impassioned, two-hour, open-mike meeting about the future of Los Angeles County's small-theater community Saturday at the Renberg Theatre at the Los Angeles LGBT Center in Hollywood drew …

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 8:00am on February 23, 2015☆⚑

Actors' union mulls plan for bigger pay on smaller L.A. stages by Mike Boehm

To pay or not to pay, that is the question facing L.A.'s sprawling small theater scene, where dozens of stage companies provide a rich menu of choices for playgoers, along with the assurance…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 10:00am on February 21, 2015☆⚑

Arts barely on the radar in 2014 for top 50 U.S. philanthropists by Mike Boehm

Arts and culture were an even smaller blip on the radar of America's mega-philanthropists in 2014 than they were the year before, according to the Chronicle of Philanthropy's annual ranking …

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 3:10pm on February 12, 2015☆⚑

Long Beach Opera leader wins national award for opera trustees by Mike Boehm

Members of arts boards don't have nearly as many opportunities to be applauded as the performers whose work they support, but the chance has arrived for Sue Bienkowski, longtime board presid…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 6:43pm on January 13, 2015☆⚑

Gov. Brown's budget plan would slash state arts grant spending by Mike Boehm

Last spring, some heavy lifting in the California Legislature produced a budget bill that gave state arts funding its first legislated boost in more than a decade, albeit a modest one.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 2:45pm on January 13, 2015☆⚑

Between states: Ideas in the Civil War-set play 'The Whipping Man' by Mike Boehm

Martin Benson deferred his enlistment in Civil War drama for half a century, but now the stage director is bringing a zeal for realism to "The Whipping Man," his first assignment concerning …

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 7:00am on January 3, 2015☆⚑

Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins premieres 'Persephone' musical by Mike Boehm

Some rock fans of the mid-1990s may have thought Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins was dealing with ancient history when he wrote and sang the band's biggest hit, "1979."

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 4:36pm on December 9, 2014☆⚑

Hershey Felder gives Irving Berlin one-man-play treatment at Geffen by Mike Boehm

Hershey Felder may be the most efficient performing artist on the planet.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 6:00pm on December 6, 2014☆⚑

Mark Ridley-Thomas pushes planned $8-million Culver City arts center by Mike Boehm

With Gloria Molina and Zev Yaroslavsky, the members of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors who've been most active in pushing for government funding for cultural venues, about to ste…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 10:00am on October 29, 2014☆⚑

Music Center's Stephen Rountree plans exit, Center Theatre Group move by Mike Boehm

Stephen Rountree will step down after 12 years as president of the Music Center to take a more narrowly focused, less highly compensated job at one of its key tenants, Center Theatre Group, …

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 8:00am on October 15, 2014☆⚑

Cornerstone Theater Company gives local flavors to Shakespeare by Mike Boehm

For 10 summers Cornerstone Theater Company played Johnny Appleseed up and down California. Now it's harvest time.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 3:00pm on September 27, 2014☆⚑

Dale Franzen steps down as director of Broad Stage by Mike Boehm

Dale Franzen, who has led the Broad Stage in Santa Monica since its 2008 opening and helped spur its creation at Santa Monica College, has stepped down as its director in what she's calling …

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 8:51pm on September 24, 2014☆⚑

Music Center celebrates its 50th with Dudamel, L.A. Dance Project by Mike Boehm

Turning 50 compels some people to attempt a risky new adventure " sky diving, perhaps, or white-water rafting or, for extremists, running with the bulls at Pamplona.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 1:00pm on September 12, 2014☆⚑