Ojai Music Festival Appoints New Artistic Director by Artsjournal1

"Chad Smith, the Los Angeles Philharmonic's chief operating officer, ... will take over in Ojai for Thomas W. Morris, who is retiring in 2019 after 16 years in the position. Smith will conti…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 2:04pm on March 21, 2018☆⚑

With heart and humanity, this 'Raisin in the Sun' still hits home by F. Kathleen Foley

The current production at A Noise Within is a chance to experience a near-optimum staging of an American classic.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 8:40pm on March 20, 2018☆⚑

Lauren Yee, playwright on the verge by Steve Appleford

A real moment of dread came early in the rehearsals for "Cambodian Rock Band." In Lauren Yee's new play, a musician trapped in a country ripped apart by revolution and genocide announces fro…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 8:15pm on March 20, 2018☆⚑

Americans Have Signed Up For Streaming Services At A Phenomenal Rate by Artsjournal

In less than a decade, the percentage of U.S. households subscribing to a paid streaming video service surged 450% " from just 10% in 2009 to 55% in 2017.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 6:20pm on March 20, 2018☆⚑

LA's MoCA Still Silent About Firing Of Head Curator (So We'll Speculate) by Artsjournal

Christopher Knight: "Today, about a week later, we still have no answer as to why MOCA Director Philippe Vergne fired chief curator Helen Molesworth " and we likely won't. I have a few specu…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 6:01pm on March 20, 2018☆⚑

Every Winner Of This Year's National Book Critics Circle Awards Is A Woman by Artsjournal1

"Joan Silber took the fiction prize for her novel Improvement. ... The nonfiction prize went to Frances FitzGerald for her book The Evangelicals: The Struggle to Shape America, a sweeping hi…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 9:03am on March 20, 2018☆⚑

In praise of musical tourism: Huayin Shadow Puppet Band and Cloud Gate Dance Theatre by Mark Swed

If it's Tuesday, this must be Huayin, a scenic village in Northern China on a tributary of the Yellow River at the foot of Hua Mountain. OK, it was a Thursday. And it was Santa Barbara. But …

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 8:00am on March 20, 2018☆⚑

The Bay Area Kid Who Became A Superstar In China, And Returned To Hollywood For A Blockbuster Action Movie by Artsjournal2

Daniel Wu's life is not well-known in the U.S., even though he's a Cali native. Why? He randomly took a trip to Hong Kong after he got an architecture degree, and in Hong Kong, he was discov…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 10:00am on March 18, 2018☆⚑

Let's Get Rid Of These Stereotypes On Screen by Artsjournal2

Are you writing a role for a woman on the phone, just holding out for info about her man? What about a hapless yet winsomely inspiring girl (the child kind, not the girlfriend kind)? Stop it…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 7:00am on March 18, 2018☆⚑

The 99-Seat Beat: Are we ready for some plays about moral responsibility? by Philip Brandes

This week's picks from L.A.'s small-theater scene: "All's Well That Ends Well" at ISC Studio, "Pigs and Chickens" at Ensemble Studio Theatre/LA, "An Undivided Heart" at Atwater Village Theat…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 9:00am on March 16, 2018☆⚑

Frank Gehry Tapped To Design Major Expansion Of LA's Colburn School Across From Disney Hall by Artsjournal

The project, to be announced Wednesday by Colburn President and CEO Sel Kardan, also includes a 700-seat studio theater for dance and vocal performance, a 100-seat theater for smaller-scale …

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 3:29pm on March 15, 2018☆⚑

The curious care and feeding of Olaf the snowman in Broadway's 'Frozen' by Jessica Gelt

Olaf the snowman is an important character in "Frozen" the musical. He's also a complicated puppet that requires careful care and maintenance. We meet Greg Hildreth, the actor tasked with ma…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 11:00am on March 15, 2018☆⚑

Why is a master of Shakespeare directing the musical 'Frozen'? Because 'Let It Go' isn't too far from the Bard by Jessica Gelt

"We're standing on the same stage where 'Oklahoma!' premiered," says British director Michael Grandage, gesturing at the flooring beneath his feet inside the historic St. James Theatre on We…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 11:00am on March 15, 2018☆⚑

Taylor Mac on gay history, 'Hamilton' and his epic 24-hour extravaganza at the Ace by Charles McNulty

The performance artist sits down with Times theater critic Charles McNulty to discuss "A 24-Decade History of Popular Music," which explores oppression and resistance throughout American his…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 9:19am on March 14, 2018☆⚑

Taylor Mac on gay history, 'Hamilton' and his epic 24-hour extravaganza at the Ace by Charles McNulty

The professors and university mandarins having lunch at an elegant UCLA campus restaurant the other day had no idea that seated inconspicuously among them was a cultural revolutionary. Weari…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 9:00am on March 14, 2018☆⚑

Director Of MOCA In L.A. Fires Chief Curator by Artsjournal1

"Helen Molesworth, the chief curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art whose exhibitions have included the critically acclaimed 2017 Kerry James Marshall retrospective that was also a rare p…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 8:32am on March 14, 2018☆⚑

'Sell/Buy/Date,' an exploration of the sex industry, is a must-see one-woman marvel by Margaret Gray

The writer and actress Sarah Jones is gorgeous, about 8 feel tall (at least it seems that way) and rail thin, with a wide mane of hair. When she walks onstage at the Geffen Playhouse, where …

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 11:50am on March 13, 2018☆⚑

Joffrey Ballet dazzles in L.A. Opera's 'Orpheus and Eurydice' by Mark Swed

Gluck's "Orpheus and Eurydice" may be based on the Greek myth of a singer capable of beguiling even hell's furies, but the opera has long been catnip to choreographers. One of the defining e…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 9:40pm on March 12, 2018☆⚑

In the Joffrey Ballet's 'Romeo and Juliet,' love isn't the only thing to get lost by Laura Blieberg

Despite dancing talent and a beloved story, the production at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles is proof that a ballet company doesn't need to update every classic work.

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 4:45pm on March 11, 2018☆⚑

When Your Cousin Is A Playwright And Suddenly, A Whole Trilogy Of Plays Is Out There About A Mirror You by Artsjournal2

At the center of Quiara Alegría Huedes' Elliot trilogy of plays - Elliot: A Soldier's Fugue; Water by the Spoonful; and The Happiest Song Plays Last - is the former soldier. But Elliot is…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 8:00am on March 11, 2018☆⚑

The 99-Seat Beat: 'Bingo Hall,' 'Proof,' Pat Kinevane and women fighting back by Margaret Gray

This week's offerings on SoCal's smaller stages: "Bingo Hall" from the Native American theater company at the Autry, "3 Plays by Pat Kinevane" at the Odyssey, "The Madres" at Skylight and th…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 9:00am on March 9, 2018☆⚑

L.A. Opera and Joffrey Ballet give the Orpheus myth some new moves and a different ending by Catherine Womack

What happens when the soprano has trouble with her pointe shoes? We go into rehearsal with L.A. Opera and the Joffrey as they prepare for Saturday's opening of "Orpheus and Eurydice," LA Ope…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 2:30pm on March 8, 2018☆⚑

Buyers Of Weinstein Company Back Out Of Deal After Discovering Millions More In Debt

"Three sources close to the investor group, led by former Obama administration official Maria Contreras-Sweet, said Tuesday that it found at least $50 million in undisclosed liabilities on t…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 9:02am on March 7, 2018☆⚑

The Unfashionable Mr. Lloyd Webber Writes A Memoir

It is fashionable among theater intellectuals to look down on Lloyd Webber's musicals: their catchy tunes, their ripe orchestrations, their puzzling stories ("The story of Evita is simple" i…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 5:03pm on March 6, 2018☆⚑

Is this Andrew Lloyd Webber 'Unmasked' in a new memoir? Mmm, not quite by Margaret Gray

The composer has some dishy tidbits to share in his new autobiography, but in matters such as his falling out with lyricist Tim Rice, Webber pulls back. What the man behind "Phantom," "Cats,…

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times at 9:00am on March 6, 2018☆⚑