Here are the six shows you need to see This Weekend in LA (6/22-6/24):
Scare Pair: Usher House/Canterville Ghost – LA Opera at The Broad Stage
June 22 & 24
Two one-act operas by Gordon Getty are on the bill for Scare Pair. The first is an adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher. The second is an adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s The Canterville Ghost. This program is part of LA Opera’s goal of reaching out to other parts of the city with opera productions (just as they did with Matthew Aucoin‘s Crossing recently at The Wallis.) Sara Jobin conducts and Brian Staufenbiel directs.
LA Writers’ Workshop Festival 2018 – Kirk Douglas Theatre
June 23
Over the course of approximately 8 hours on Saturday, Center Theatre Group is presenting the reading of three new works from up and coming playwrights in Los Angeles. The first reading is of A Kind of Weather written by Sylvan Oswald. The play deals with gender transition and how we define ourselves. Next up is New Life by Dan O’Brien. Two unlikely people, a war correspondent in Syria and a playwright battling cancer team up to pitch a television show. The final reading is of Zakiyyah Alexander’s How to Raise a Freeman which looks at a contemporary middle class Black family trying to raise their son. Tickets are available for individual readings or for the entire day. Breaks are built into the schedule and there is a reception before the first reading and one at the conclusion of the last.
That’s Entertainment: Gershwin to Sondheim – Pasadena Pops at the Arboretum
June 23
The Pasadena Pops, lead by Michael Feinstein, launches their summer season with a concert of jazz tunes, show tunes and modern classics ranging from Porgy and Bess to Follies and more. Special guests joining this concert include Liz Callaway, Brighton Thomas and Aaron Lazar (who will soon be part of the tour of Dear Evan Hansen.) These concerts take place at the LA Arboretum and allow for picnics on the grounds prior to the start of the concert.
Dianne Reeves – Walt Disney Concert Hall/KJAZZ Summer Benefit Concert
June 23
For it’s Summer Benefit Concert, local jazz and blues radio station KJAZZ (88.1 FM) has tapped Grammy winning jazz singer Dianne Reeves to headline. You might remember back in December Reeves had to cancel her appearance at Walt Disney Concert Hall due to illness and Dee Dee Bridgewater took her place. This opportunity to see this amazing singer and help one of our best local radio stations is the perfect way to make up for her missed appearance last year. Opening the concert will be what is billed as the KJAZZ All-Stars: Joe LaBarbera, Justo Almario, Eric Reed and Mike Gurrola. VIP tickets have sold out, but there are some general admission seats still available.
Marcy Heisler & Zina Goldrich – The Sorting Room at The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts
June 23
Composer Marcy Heisler and writer/lyricist Zina Goldrich have been working together since 1993. They have written several musicals together (Junie B. Jones, Dear Edwina) and have collaborated with Julie Andrews for a musical adaptation of her book The Great American Mousical and they also contributed songs to her show Julie’s Green Room on Netflix. But if you were to ask to name a song they wrote that everyone might know, it would no doubt be Taylor the Latte Boy. The duo will be in concert as the second attraction in this summer’s The Sorting Room series at the Wallis in Beverly Hills.
The Skivvies – Catalina Bar & Grill
June 24
You can’t be easily embarrassed if you attend this show, nor could you be shy if you wanted to perform with The Skivvies. They are so named because Lauren Molina and Nick Cearley, along with their bandmates, all perform in their underwear. This isn’t just a gimmick, they are seriously talented musicians. And if you are a special guest joining them, you’ll be expected to do the same. And they do have special guests lined up for this appearance on Sunday at Catalina Bar & Grill in Hollywood. They include Rachel Bloom, Brett Ryback, Megham Amram, Payson Lewis and several others. When they perform in New York they have had some of Broadway’s biggest stars join them. And some are more modest than others: