The return of Tim Dang to East West Players, where he served as Artistic Director for 23 years until retiring from the organization in 2016, was one born out of a new transition for East West Players: the appointment of his predecessor, Snehal Desai, as Artistic Director of Center Theatre Group.

“He had contacted me to find out if I was interested and available to take on this project. He was slated to actually direct this play,” said Dang in a recent conversation.” The play in question is Spring Awakening, the musical that won 8 Tony Awards for its original production in 2006 and whose 2015 revival was critically acclaimed (and in my opinion, a much better production). The East/West Players production of Spring Awakening officially opens this weekend where it will play through November 19th.

If you’d like to see the interview with Tim Dang, please go to our YouTube channel.

If you haven’t seen Spring Awakening, Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater’s musical is based on Frank Wedekind’s 1890 play that depicted teenagers in all their angst navigating self-doubt, sex, sexuality, suicide and the parents and teachers who fail miserably to be of comfort or use. It was those themes that interested Dang the most.

“It was a very intriguing idea in terms of how East West players could bring something different to Spring Awakening post-pandemic,” he revealed. “And with all the things that are happening in America that actually parallel the play which takes place in 1890 Germany.”

Dang elaborated the parallels which are shockingly still being addressed over 125 years later.

“When you talk about oppression and the power structures back in 1890 Germany, whether it was religion, the education system, the treatment of women, and then you draw parallels today where you still have oppression of religion, you have the overturning of Roe versus Wade, the banning of books, discrimination against the LGBT community… all of these themes are also very relevant today. If we are able as a company to really have robust dialog about some of these themes, I think we will have succeeded in what I think the creators of Spring Awakening originally intended with giving the youth rebellion that opportunity to change the world.”

To make sure that conversation was possible, Dang had to first determine the best way for it to start.

“With East West players being primarily an Asian-American theater, we are actually going through this concept of being very race specific in our casting as opposed to just being colorblind or being multicultural or diverse. We thought that was very important to bring to this production that would make it unique.”

But it wasn’t only race issues, but growing up through a worldwide pandemic that informs his cast and this production. Dang contrasted his own youthful period to the recent lives of many of his company members.

“I believe that all members of our cast are Gen Z,” he said. “They have gone through this period of isolation. They were attending college during COVID; attending classes by Zoom. Colleges were supposed to be the best years of their lives in terms of social interactivity and they did not have that. So when you talk about those themes of isolation and mental health, a lot of our cast members were very honest and forthcoming in terms of how traumatized they were during COVID. Not just because of fear of catching the virus or anything like that. But just in terms of their own mental health, in terms of being able to socialize and to network and to be with other people during this time where they thought they could be free.”

Given that Dang had different experiences of this time than his company, he realizes he has to rely a lot on what his cast has to say and not just be a director with a vision for them to follow. One area where that is of utmost importance is race.

“We talk more and more about intersectionality. In our company of 16 performers, nine of them – including our lead – are of mixed heritage. If you’re familiar with Spring Awakening, [we follow] Melchior’s journey through adolescence and coming of age. [Thomas Winter] is actually half-Japanese and half-white. Having cultural backgrounds in two worlds makes this character’s intersectionality a little bit more different than other productions of Spring Awakening. He doesn’t look Japanese enough or Asian enough to fit into auditioning for Asian roles or he doesn’t look white enough because he has Asian features. That’s a new intersectionality that this production deals with [that] weighs very big in terms of our production.”

Long before Dang was a director he appeared in a 1987 East West Players production of A Chorus Line in the role of Richie, a role described on various casting websites as African-American, basketball player, funny, enthusiastic. Surprised by the reference to a role he played 36 years ago, Dang spoke about how unique it was to have an all-Asian cast doing this wildly popular musical.

“As I recall back in 1987, we kept all the dialog the same. There were there was a little bit of confusion. There’s all these Asian people and there’s Richie, there’s Diana Morales. But after five or ten minutes, we just became those classic iconic characters of A Chorus Line and I think that was the goal.”

What was the goal in the late 1980s is a completely different practice in theater today. The end result for actors who get to take on roles originally written for other ethnicities is ownership and identity.

“Whether it is a performer of color or a person who is from the LGBT community, it is very important that when they embody a character, that they bring 100% of themselves to that character.”

Though great strides have been made since Dang was onstage singing “gimme the ball,” he’s not terribly optimistic that these conversations will one day be relics of a different time and place.

“I don’t think it’s going to go away. Identity just keeps on changing over and over and over again. There’s just so much to unpack in it. America really is this diverse place. I think [this] conversation is really important and that we actually keep on talking about it. Because the more that we talk about it and the more aware we are, I think the more we are accepting of our differences as well. That we can live together in a society where people accept and respect what everyone else is thinking.”

To watch the full interview with Tim Dang, please go here.

Main Photo: Mia Sempertegui, Thomas Winter and Marcus Phillips from Spring Awakening (Photo by TJ Ramirez/Courtesy East West Players)

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Watanabe originated several roles in the original production of Pacific Overtures. In addition to appearing in a regional production of Pacific Overtures, Kaokept has also played the role of Toby in Sweeney Todd (also a regional production). Watanabe and Kaokept now find themselves onstage together in the East West Players production of Assassins. Kaokept plays the dual role of The Balladeer and Lee Harvey Oswald. Watanabe plays Charles Guiteau (the man who killed President Garfield).

Both were getting ready to open Assassins when the pandemic forced everything to be closed. Both actors waited patiently and hoped, dreamed perhaps, that this opportunity to appear in the musical would return. We spoke with both actors just before everything shut down in 2020 and again recently just before previews began. What follows are excerpts from those conversations that have been edited for length and clarity.

What made Assassins and this production of it so appealing to you?

Kaokept: A friend who had worked at East West [Players] before told me about it. We started daydreaming about playing the Booth/Oswald scene together. It just got in my head and I hadn’t been excited about a piece in quite a while. I started listening to the cast recordings and imagining what it would be like to play this part. Being Asian American and getting to play these characters that are not Asian American is a rare opportunity. 

Watanabe: I really love it, but it’s tough. It’s a pretty odd harmonies and stuff like that, but there’s always a reason for it. We are having fun and really excited about it. It is so interesting in this day and age to see where this fits in. I’ll be interested to see how people feel about this.

Assassins was a failure when it first opened. Time, however, has allowed a reassessment of what Sondheim and his collaborator John Weidman were doing. Has time allowed people to catch up with the show?

Watanabe: Well why did it take so much time to catch up to Pacific Overtures? I think Mr. Sondheim probably is way ahead of his time. Most of the theater you love and adore and find intelligent is way ahead of its time. The grace of it is people catch up to it. There is something very valuable to that. It’s probably a negative on the box office, but on the artist it’s a different experience. 

Kaokept: It’s not a family production. You don’t bring your children to see this show and have a great time at the theater. It’s a piece that makes you think and challenges you. I just feel like socially we’ve grown and expanded in a way that we are more understanding and open to different kinds of people and different ways of thinking.

It seems like many of themes in Assassins will resonate more now today than they did when the show debuted in 1990.

Kaokept: I feel the show very much applies to what’s happening now. People are still wanting to be famous. Think about what’s been happening in the past couple decades with these mass shootings. It’s a reality and really sad. Maybe we’ve shifted from assassinating a president, but it’s people wanting more attention. They are disillusioned by what their life has become. People want to be seen and people just want to feel like they have some worth. I think that’s a completely human need for everyone. I think people need connection. We need a way to be heard and ultimately in the show it is people who feel they aren’t heard.

Watanabe: That’s what’s so radical about Assassins right now. During rehearsals when we were doing the read-through I said, “You know, probably all of our characters would have been there on January 6th.” I think all of these characters were probably part of that. You know, the insurgents and everything like that. I think they would have been totally misled people. 

Gedde you had a front row seat watching a new Sondheim show come into existence. What stood out to you most about him and the way he worked?

Watanabe: God I was so young. I was nervous, but he seemed always calm to me. Or he was tired, I can’t figure it out. But he was just always calm and completely different energy than Hal Prince had. They both kind of took on the role of father figure. “Someone in a Tree” was beguiling to me. I’m having a flashbacks doing the work on Pacific Overtures. I’m having flashbacks because of the rhythms and the notes; they weren’t easy. I was surprised I could do it. They are scary. They are good and they are also very nostalgic for me. 

We are living in angrier times. The assassins in this musical make the argument that “Everybody’s got the right to be happy.” Do they?

Kaokept: Absolutely. I feel very in tune with the Balladeer. It’s just idealism and hope and having that. I’ve had some hardships in my life, really really tough times. Like anything in life it is how you respond. The one thing you have control of is how you decide to deal with the ups and downs of your life. For me, I have chosen to take it and learn from it and keep going. I believe that this life is beautiful and we all deserve to be living great lives. If I can have any say in not just my own life, but those I meet and help them find their way, then I’ve found my purpose.

You are now performing Assassins after Sondheim’s death. What impact has that had on you as an artist?

Kaokept: I probably had at least three days where I was playing [his music] nonstop in my car and singing the songs. Here is a genius who created some of the most incredible works that I’ve been able to be part of. Honestly it’s his work that really excites me and keeps me with that one foot in this career because any opportunity to read this material is just a gift. If there’s any opportunity to do a Sondheim show I will definitely be there. 

Watanabe: Maybe it was Elaine Stritch that said when you do a Sondheim show there’s nothing like it. You can’t do anything else. You know, his shows are just so resonant. Sometimes I’ll be walking down the street and I’ll be thinking of one of his lyrics. It’s like a bible of wisdom and insight. So we’re definitely going to miss him.

Assassins will be playing at East West Players through March 20th. For tickets and more information, please go here.

Main Photo: Kym Miller, Gedde Watanabe, Adam Kaokept and Joan Amedilla in Assassins (Photo by Steven Lam/Courtesy East West Players)

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I first spoke to Snehal Desai, Producing Artistic Director of East West Players in Los Angeles, on February 21, 2020 about his then soon-to-open production of the Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman musical Assassins. We all know what happened. It took two years for Desai to finally be able to open the production.

So much has changed in the performing arts, in this country and around the world during that delay. Nonetheless Desai persevered.

Assassins, which opened this weekend, is a musical that depicts the men and women who either tried or succeeded in assassinating U.S. presidents. John Wilkes Booth, Lee Harvey Oswald, Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme and John Hinckley are amongst the characters appearing in a show Sondheim said* was, with the exception of one moment, “perfect. Immodest that may sound, but I’m ready to argue it with anybody.”

Just as new rehearsals were about to begin, I spoke again with Desai (who is directing a Sondheim musical for the first time). What follows are edited excerpts from our original conversation two years ago and our most recent one. His answers have been edited for length and clarity.

Let’s start with Sondheim’s own opinion of the show. Would you argue with him or do you think Assassins is a perfect musical?

It is such an interesting piece. What’s been fascinating is how we’ve been unpeeling the onion. The layers that are there go much deeper and further than any other musical I’ve worked on. Particularly the breadth and scope of the conversation it is looking to have. It’s looking to investigate the idea of the American dream and the disillusionment of it. It hits gun violence. It hits on politics, on history, celebrity. There are so many things intersecting and they do it seamlessly. It is a perfect piece in that it requires everyone who is a collaborator to step up and be at the top of their game. 

With the two-year delay have you had time to consider what this show means today?

When we initially programed the play we were in the midst of an election. Donald Trump was president. It was just a very different world. I think the programing of the musical was to kind of confront the anxieties we were all having going into that election year in terms of what was happening in the world.

Now we’re in this moment where we’ve had this pandemic for two years. We’ve had January 6th which just had its one-year anniversary and we have a lot of rage and frustration. We’re also having lots of conversations about freedom and liberty and what we’re entitled to of the American dream. So those are the things that are resonating now in a more personal way. When we look at this now I’m looking at this group of assassins and it’s less about the individual acts, but more of who is this collective body of Americans who have to resort to this or feel that they have to resort to this violence to be seen and heard.

I’ve seen several productions of Assassins and it seems the biggest challenge any director faces is getting the tone of the show right.

I think it is the tonal shifts and the kind of radically move between worlds. The world of the play happens in this limbo space. The challenge is to define what that limbo space is and then what is the line that connects these acts to this limbo space. These individuals are pretty wild; they do crazy things. I have to do two things: not make it in the first moments so we write them off as crazy and weird. The other is not to forget the other side of the equation: the victims and the people who are affected by what happened. 

When we spoke two years ago I asked you everybody has the right to be happy. You said they did. Obviously we’re going to have to come together for everyone to be happy. Do you have faith we can do that? Or is that something that just broke us?

I think there are questions of what it will take to bring us together. And I think what we know is that the things that bring the country together are a tragedy or war. Are we really at that moment where it’s going to take something so cataclysmic for us to to come together? Or are there other ways that we can find to bridge the divides that we’re in? Everyone has the right to be happy, but it’s also the whole gauntlet and range of human emotions that you’re going to go through in life. It’s not binary, right? You’re not just happy or sad or happy or mad. And it’s not just when you’re happy you’re always happy. I think it’s how we work with each other, what community is and how resilient we are that’s going to play a really key role in how we come together.

East West Players has had considerable success putting on productions of Sondheim’s musicals. What would you like people to understand about the significance of who Stephen Sondheim was and how does Assassins represent that perspective?

I think the biggest thing we saw since his passing is just how generous an artist he was and as a human being. Lin-Manuel Miranda said, “Our living Shakespeare has passed.” That’s not an understatement when you dig into this work. It is complex, layered, thoughtful work on a level that no one else is doing and has done for a very long period.

These are musicals that endure and they’re weird tales. They are eerie and disturbing when you think about Assassins or Sweeney Todd, but they hit somehow about human experience in ways that really penetrate us. I think that is something we’re going to see. I think this piece perfectly encapsulates who he is and the complexity of who he was as a man and as an artist.

He has just been so supportive of the Asian-American artistic community. We have folks like Gedde Watanabe, who was in the original Pacific Overtures, in this production. So it just feels like a very fitting tribute and bookend to to his legacy and connection with us.

Assassins continues at East West Players through March 20th. For tickets and more information, please go here.

Main photo: The cast of Assassins (Photo by Steven Lam/Courtesy East West Players)

*This quote is taken from the Stephen Sondheim book Look, I Made a Hat: Collected Lyrics (1981-2011)

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Also on tap are two great (and very different ballets); two great jazz concerts; a contemporary classical music festival; a celebration of playwrights and a reading of a rare comedy from the 17th century that seems as topical as ever.

Here are our Top Ten Best Bets: June 11th – June 14th

*TOP PICK* MUSICAL REVUE: Show of Titles – Broadway’s Best Shows – June 13th – 7:00 PM ET/4:00 PM PT

What exactly is a Show of Titles? Simply put, a show featuring title songs from some of Broadway’s biggest musicals. For instance, Oklahoma has a well-known title song. Dear Evan Hansen does not. The Light in the Piazza does. Gypsy does not.

The cast of Broadway stars performing in this show, directed by Lonny Price, includes Annaleigh Ashford, Stephanie J. Block, Kerry Butler, Len Cariou, Glenn Close, Gavin Creel, Darren Criss, Dame Edna, Santino Fontana, Kelsey Grammar, David Alan Grier, Jake Gyllenhaal, Joshua Henry, Isabelle Huppert, Norm Lewis, Patti LuPone, Rob McClure, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Melba Moore, Jessie Mueller, Eva Noblezada, Kelli O’Hara, Laura Osnes, Steven Pasquale, Michael Rupert, Ernie Sabella, Lea Salonga, Phillipa Soo, Will Swenson, Aaron Tveit, Leslie Uggams, Vanessa Williams and Patrick Wilson.

There will also be special appearances by Debbie Allen, Broadway Inspirational Voices, Candice Bergen, Danny Burstein, Bryan Cranston, Tony Goldwyn, Adam Guettel, John Kander, Angela Lansbury, John Leguizamo, John Lithgow, Lindsay Mendez, Phylicia Rashad, Chita Rivera, Ben Stiller, Charles Strouse, Richard Thomas, Blair Underwood, BD Wong, and Florian Zeller.

The link to this event goes to Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles. There are two options for tickets: a $29 ticket allows purchasers to view Show of Titles on demand for 96 hours. (An appropriate number with the film adaptation of In the Heights opening this weekend. A show that not only has a title number, but also a song called 96,000).

A $39 ticket will include a ticket to stream Sarah Ruhl‘s Dear Elizabeth which begins on June 17th and reunites Kevin Kline with Meryl Streep (they appeared on screen together in Sophie’s Choice and Rikki and the Flash). That ticket also allows you to stream it for, you guessed it, 96 hours.

JAZZ: Coltrane: A Love Supreme – Jazz at Lincoln Center – Now – June 16th

Many many years ago I attended the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. One of the concerts I went to – not on the fairgrounds – was a performance by Wynton Marsalis and his band. They were the last of several performers and concluded their main set around midnight. As an encore he announced they would be performing A Love Supreme.

I’m well-acquainted with John Coltrane’s masterpiece and assumed he meant they would perform one of the tracks (they all include A Love Supreme as part of their title). I was wrong. They performed the entire album from start to finish. It was exhilarating and one of the best concerts I’ve ever attended.

Marsalis will once again perform A Love Supreme with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra as the final concert of their virtual season.

This performance will be feature big band arrangements with saxophonist Camille Thurman serving as guest soloist. Sherman Irby will lead the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra.

Tickets are $20 and allow for streaming through June 16th. Tickets can be purchased here.

BALLET: Giselle of Loneliness – Ballez/The Joyce Theater – Now – June 23rd

Perfectly timed for Pride Month is this presentation of Giselle of Loneliness by Ballez. The decade-old dance company is comprised of queer, transgender, non-binary and gender non-confirming artists.

As you might imagine from the title, Giselle of Loneliness uses a key moment from that classic ballet as its inspiration.

The dancers in this work, choreographed and directed by Katy Pyle (founder of Ballez), are all auditioning to win the title role of Giselle. To do so, they have to come up with their own version of the insanely challenging mad scene from that ballet.

In what seems to be a bit of a nod to and a twist on A Chorus Line, the dancers have to come face-to-face in this work with their desire to perform within an industry that doesn’t welcome them. It begs the question, how much personal degradation and rejection of your identity will you undergo to continue to do what you love.

The dancers performing in Giselle of Loneliness are Charles Gowin, Meg Harper, Maxfield Haynes, Matthias Kodat, Deborah Lohse, MJ Markovitz, Janet Panetta, Ash Phan, Alexandra Waterbury, and Nat Wilson.

Tickets are $25 and allow for viewing through June 23rd at 11:59 PM ET/8:59 PT.

BALLET: Balanchine and Robbins – Royal Opera House – Debuts June 11th – 2:30 PM ET/11:30 AM PT

The Royal Ballet will live stream their June 11th performance of a trio of works under the title Balanchine and Robbins. Which means, of course, that the works were either choreographed by George Balanchine or Jerome Robbins.

The evening begins with a performance of Apollo by Balanchine set to the music of Igor Stravinsky.

Four dancers are featured in this work which had its world debut in 1928. In this performance the ballet will be danced by Matthew Ball, Claire Calvert, Melissa Hamilton and Fumi Kaneko.

Next up is another work by Balanchine entitled Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux. No need to tell you who wrote the music. This short work had its world premiere in 1960. For this performance the dancers are Vadim Muntagirov and Marianela Nuñez.

The performance concludes with Jerome Robbins’ Dances at a Gathering. This hour-long work, set to the piano music of Frederic Chopin, had its world premiere at New York City Ballet in 1969. Reece Clarke, Teo Dubreuil, Benjamin Ella, James Hay, Fumi Kaneko, Mayara Magri, Yasmine Naghdi, Anna Rose O’Sullivan and Romany Pajdak are the dancers.

Tickets are $18.50. The performance will remain available for streaming through July 11th.

JAZZ: Brian Blade and the Fellowship Band – SFJAZZ – June 11th – 8:00 PM ET/5:00 PM PT

This week’s Fridays at Five concert from SFJAZZ features a 2016 performance by Brian Blade and the Fellowship Band.

Drummer Blade formed this band in 1997 with pianist Jon Cowherd, bassist Chris Thomas, saxophonists Myron Walden and Melvin Butler, guitarist Jeff Parker and pedal steel guitarist Dave Easley.

All but Easley join him for this show that features a five-song set featuring two traditional songs arranged by Blade and three original compositions by Cowherd.

Those songs are Landmarks found on the album of the same name from 2014; Duality from their 2017 album Body and Shadow and Return of the Prodigal Song from their 2008 album Season of Changes.

There is an encore showing of this concert on Saturday, June 12th at 1:00 PM ET/10:00 AM PT. Tickets for either show require either a monthly digital membership ($5) or an annual membership ($50).

If you join to watch this Brian Blade concert you will also have access to a special matinee broadcast on Sunday featuring Marcus Shelby and His Orchestra in a tribute to Duke Ellington. That concert will stream at 2:00 PM ET/11:00 AM PT. You can find details about that show here.

CONTEMPORARY CLASSICAL MUSIC: Kronos Festival – June 11th – 10:00 PM ET/7:00 PM PT

The renowned Kronos Quartet launches a virtual festival this year on Friday with a 45-minute concert. Included in this program are several world premieres and one classic work closely associated with Kronos.

Works by Nicole Lizée (Are You From Here Or Just Visiting?), Soo Yeon Lyuh (Tattoo), Hawa Kassé Mady Diabaté (Wawani) and Mahsa Vahdat (Vaya, Vaya) are given their debut performances.

Stacy Garrop’s Glorious Mahalia; Clint Mansell’s Lux Aeterna; Jlin’s Little Black Book and Pete Seeger’s Where Have All the Flowers Gone? are also being performed.

There is no charge to watch this, or any, performance. There is also a kids concert on Sunday, June 13th at 2:00 PM ET/11:00 AM PT.

The festival will continue with performances on Wednesday, June 16th at 10:00 PM ET/7:00 PM PT and Friday, June 18th at 10:00 PM ET/7:00 PM PT. The evening concerts are 45 minutes and the kids concert is 30 minutes.

All performances will remain available for viewing online through August 31st.

PLAY/FUNDRAISER: Connections – Ojai Playwrights Conference – June 12th – 8:00 PM ET/5:00 PM PT

The works of playwrights Luis Alfaro, Jon Robin Baitz, Father Greg Boyle, Bill Cain, Culture Clash, Stephen Adly Guirgis, Danai Gurira, Samuel D. Hunter, David Henry Hwang, Julia Izumi, James Morrison (with his son Seamus), Jeanine Tesori and Charlayne Woodard will be performed in this 90-minute celebration from the Ojai Playwrights Conference.

Liza Powel O’Brien is also contributing a piece.

Performing their work will be a mix of the playwrights themselves and some well-known actors: Brian Cox, Culture Clash, Eileen Galindo, Danai Gurira, Francis Jue, James and Seamus Morrison, Tony Okunghowa, Rose Portillo, Samantha Quan, John C. Reilly, Israel López Reyes, Nikkole Salter, Samantha Sloyan, Jimmy Smits, Phillipa Soo, A. Zell Williams and Charlayne Woodard.

The theme of the show, as the title would suggest, is human connections moving forward in a post-pandemic world.

This is a one-time only event. There is a requested donation of $20 to watch Connections.

Looking forward the Ojai Playwrights Conference New Works Festival will take place August 5th – August 15th.

PLAY: 1 Hour Photo – East West Players – June 12th – 11:00 PM ET/8:00 PM PT

Tetsuro Shigematsu’s 1 Hour Photo had its world premiere in 2017 at Vancouver’s The Cultch. The ostensibly one-man play tells the story of Mas Yamomoto, a man who owned and operated multiple Japan Camera stores which promised processing of film in one hour. (Remember those? Remember film?)

His conversations with Mas, a much older man, covered a lot of territory of personal and racial history of the 20th century. What starts as a humorous catch-up to outdated 1970s technology riff turns into a very personal and emotional story.

To help tell the story Shigematsu incorporates models, miniatures and some very interesting effects.

Shigematsu has now created a 75-minute film version of 1 Hour Photo and East West Players in Los Angeles will offer five virtual screenings of the film beginning on Saturday, June 12th. (Additional shows are on Sunday, June 13th; Friday, June 18th; Saturday June 19th and Sunday June 20th – times vary). Tickets are $34.99.

BROADWAY VOCALS: Matthew Morrison – Seth Concert Series – June 13th – 3:00 PM ET/12:00 PM PT

I’ve seen Matthew Morrison in three Broadway musicals: Hairspray, The Light in the Piazza and South Pacific. Perhaps the only thing they have in common is that he appeared in all three.

For many people Morrison may be best known for his role as Mr. Schuester on Glee.

All four projects allowed him to showcase one thing he does very well: sing. As will this weekend’s Seth Concert Series with Seth Rudetsky.

Yes there will be some conversation sprinkled amongst the performances, but it will mostly be about the music.

If you are unable to see the live stream on Sunday at 3:00 PM ET, there is an encore showing at 8:00 PM ET/5:00 PM PT the same day. Tickets for either are $25.

PLAY READING: Volpone, or The Fox – Red Bull Theater – Debuts June 14th – 7:30 PM ET/4:30 PM PT

17th-century playwright Ben Johnson may not be the best-known writer today, nor are his works commonly performed, but time hasn’t dulled his quick wit and ability to skewer the foibles of human behavior.

Take for example Volpone, or the Fox. The title character loves nothing more than gold. And he will stop at nothing to get as much of it as he can. With the assistance of his servant Mosca, the men of Venice who should know better inevitable fall for his schemes and his charm. It seems as nothing can outwit Volpone.

André De Shields (who won the Tony Award for his performance in Hadestown) plays Volpone. He’s joined by Jordan Boatman, Sofia Cheyenne, Franchelle Stewart Dorn, Clifton Duncan, Amy Jo Jackson, Peter Francis James, Hamish Linklater, Roberta Maxwell, Sam Morales, Kristine Nielsen and Mary Testa for this reading.

Jesse Burger, the Founder and Artistic Director of Red Bull directs. He and Jeffrey Hatcher have made some tweaks to Johnson’s play. (The press release calls them “emendations & elaborations.”)

After the live performance on Monday, June 14th, the show will be available for streaming through June 18th at 7:00 PM ET/4:00 PM PT. There is a suggested donation of $25.

A small bit of trivia: Larry Gelbart, who co-wrote Tootsie and was instrumental in the long-running television show M*A*S*H, wrote an updated version of Volpone that went by the name Sly Fox. It had its Broadway debut in 1976 with George C. Scot in the title role.

That concludes our official Top Ten Best Bets: June 11th – June 14th. But a few reminders before we go:

The film version of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s In the Heights is now in theaters and streaming on HBO MAX.

Los Angeles Opera’s Signature Recital Series has now unveiled all five recitals for streaming with Russell Thomas, Susan Graham, Christine Goerke, Julia Bullock and J’Nai Bridges. They will remain available through July 1st. You can find details here.

The Los Angeles Philharmonic has added a newly-announced episode for the second season of Sound/Stage. Debuting on June 11th is a performance by the LA Phil with the Youth Orchestra Los Angeles and the band Weezer. They will be performing songs from their album OK Human. Rob Mathes leads the LA Phil and did the orchestrations.

This weekend’s offerings from the Metropolitan Opera are the 2012-2013 season production of Thomas Adés’ The Tempest on Friday; Verdi’s Falstaff from the 2013-2014 season on Saturday and the 2017-2018 season production of Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte on Sunday.

Monday the Met begins a week of operas to celebrate Father’s Day. The first production being streamed is Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra from the 1994-1995 season. We’ll have the full schedule and clips on Monday.

What inevitably follows another opening is another closing. Here ends this weekend’s Best Bets: June 11th – June 14th.

Update: This post has been updated to include newly announced participants in Connections

Photo: Jake Gyllenhaal in Sunday in the Park with George (Photo by Matthew Murphy/Courtesy IBDB.com)

The post Top Ten Best Bets: June 11th – June 14th appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

On tap (no pun intended) is a wonderful tap performance from New York’s Joyce Theater by Ayodele Casel; a musical where popular princesses from animated films imagine a different definition of “Happily Ever After;” the return of Tony Award-winner Lena Hall with some new “Obsessions;” a live performance from The Royal Opera House of work by Brecht and Weill; a concert performance of one of Verdi’s least-performed operas and the first of a two-part live performance of a play adapted from Milton’s Paradise Lost.

My top pick this weekend comes from San Francisco Opera. Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher inspired an unfinished opera by Claude Debussy and a newer work by Gordon Getty. Both operas are being streamed this weekend and their rarity easily makes this the most interesting option for the weekend.

I’ll begin with my top pick for the week and the balance of my Best Bets: April 9th – April 12th are listed in the order in which they are available.

Here are my Best Bets: April 9th – April 12th:

*TOP PICK* OPERA: House of Usher – San Francisco Opera – April 10th – April 11th

Conducted by Lawrence Foster; starring Brian Mullian, Jason Bridges, Antony Reed, Jamielyn Duggan, Jacqueline Piccolino, Edward Nelson and Joel Sorensen. This David Poutney production is from the 2014-2015 season.

You know Cultural Attaché covers operas on a very regular basis. So it’s exciting to let you know about two one-act operas that are rarely performed and have not, to my knowledge, been streamed before this offering from San Francisco Opera.

Composers Claude Debussy and Gordon Getty each wrote operas inspired by Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher. Poe tells the story of Roderick Usher through the eyes of his friend and reveals what may or may not have happened to Usher’s sister Madeline.

Debussy’s work, La chute de la maison Usher, is an unfinished opera that he worked on from 1908-1917. The opera was completed and orchestrated, based on the composer’s draft, by Robert Orledge in 2004. The premiere of the completed opera was in 2014 paired with Getty’s version at the Welsh National Opera. It is this production that came to San Francisco Opera with different casting.

Philip Glass also composed a work inspired by The Fall of the House of Usher. A film, directed by James Darrah, is available for streaming from Boston Lyric Opera for $10. These two one-act operas, our top pick for the weekend, are available for free but only through Sunday, April 11th.

BALLET: Concerto – Royal Ballet – Now – April 25th

This work by legendary choreographer Kenneth MacMillan was one of two pieces that premiered at the first performance after he was named Director of Berlin’s Deutsche Opera Ballet in 1966. For Concerto he used Dmitri Shostakovich’s Piano Concert No. 2 in F as his inspiration.

This new post came after his wildly successful years at Sadler’s Wells Theatre Ballet where he created nine new ballets.

This Royal Ballet performance is from 2019 and features soloists James Hay, Mayara Magri and Anna Rose O’Sullivan. They are joined by principals Ryoichi Hirano and Yasmine Naghdi.

Sarah Crompton, writing in The Guardian, said of this production: “…a plotless piece of sharp geometric angles and airy leaps, danced to Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No 2. Set by Jürgen Rose against a perfect pale lemon backdrop, with the dancers in orange, russet and yellow, it has a breezy sophistication, with a delicate cross work of steps for soloists and a large corps de ballet. It seems simple but is devilishly complicated.”

The performance is available now for streaming. The price is £3 which equals $3.47.

PLAY READING: Angry, Raucous and Shamelessly Gorgeous – Broadway’s Best Shows – Now – April 12th

Sisters Debbie Allen and Phylicia Rashad star in the reading of Pearl Cleage’s 2019 play Angry, Raucous and Shamelessly Gorgeous which is being read as part of the Spotlight on Plays series from Broadway’s Best Shows.

After their production of scenes from August Wilson’s Fences ignited a major controversy actress Anna Campbell and director Betty Samson fled to Amsterdam for what they thought would be short-term assignment. 25 years later they are invited back to the United States where their version, nicknamed Naked Wilson, is going to open a women’s theater festival. But the festival wants to work with a much younger actress than Campbell. You don’t think that’s going to go over well, do you?

Also participating in the reading are Heather Alicia Simms and Alicia Stith. Camille A. Brown directs.

Tickets are $15 with proceeds going to the Actors Fund. The show will remain available through Monday, April 12th.

DANCE: Chasing Magic – The Joyce Theater Foundation – Now – April 21st

Fans of tap dance will definitely want to check out Chasing Magic by Ayodele Casel streaming now from The Joyce Theater in New York. I saw the film and it’s simply amazing.

For this world premiere, Casel has collaborated with director Torya Beard, dancer/choreographer Ronald K. Brown, singer/songwriter Crystal Monee Hall, composer/musician Arturo O’Farrill, percussionist Sent Stoney and composer Annastasia Victory.

Viewers can expect both traditional tap and also a contemporary style of tap – both of which will put a smile on your face, just as it does the dancers performing.

Tickets are $25/household.

BALLET: Carmen – State Street Ballet – Now – April 14th

Georges Bizet’s opera Carmen serves as the inspiration for this work by William Soleau (Co-Artistic Director of State Street Ballet). The work had its premiere in 2014 and this is a film from a performance at The Granada Theatre in Santa Barbara from that year.

For those unfamiliar with the opera, here is the synopsis:

Set in Seville, Spain, Carmen is a gypsy who has caught everyone’s eye. A soldier, Don José, plays coy and gives her no attention. Her flirtation causes troubles for both when Don José’s girlfriend, Micaëla arrives. Tensions escalate between the two women and after a knight fight, José must arrest Carmen. When she seduces him it sets off a series of events that will not end well for the gypsy woman.

Leila Drake dances the title role. Ryan Camou dances the role of Don José. Randy Herrera dances the role of the Toreador Escamillo and Cecily Stewart MacDougall dances the role of Micaëla.

There is no charge to watch the performance which will remain available through midnight on April 14th.

CHAMBER MUSIC: Simone Porter and Hsin-I Huang – Soka Performing Arts Center – Now – June 30th

As part of their Signature Encore Series, the Soka Performing Arts Center is making this 2019 concert by violinist Simone Porter and pianist Hsin-I Huang available through June 30th.

Their performance features works by Mozart (Sonata No. 24 in F Major, K. 376); Leoš Janáček (Violin Sonata, JW VII/7); Esa-Pekka Salonen (Lachen Verlent); Ernest Bloch (“Ningun” from Baal Shem); Maurice Ravel (Tzigane) and Sergei Prokofiev (3 pieces from Romeo & Juliet, Op. 64).

This concert is free to watch on both the Soka website and also their YouTube channel.

CLASSICAL MUSIC: The Heart of the Matter – St. Louis Symphony Orchestra – Now – May 8th

Three of the four pieces being performed in this concert by the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra are very well known to classical music fans.

Edward Elgar’s Serenade for Strings; Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Andante cantabile and Giacomo Puccini’s I crisantemi (The Chrysanthemums). The last work was written originally for string quartet, but is rarely heard in that version.

Less known is the first piece on the program: Within Her Arms by composer Anna Clyne.

This work has been compared to Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings for the depth of its emotion. It’s a composition that inspired violinist Jennifer Koh to tell the New York Times, “Sometimes things reach you and it’s colorful or intricate or structured in an interesting way or the orchestration is wonderful. But the extraordinary thing about Anna’s music is that it is incredibly moving. And I hadn’t had that reaction for a long time.”

Stéphane Denève leads the SLSO in this performance. Tickets are $15.

MUSICAL: Disenchanted – Stream.Theatre – April 9th – April 11th

Cinderella, The Little mermaid, Pocahontas, The Princess Who Kissed the Frog and Snow White are just some of the princesses who are changing the definition of happily ever after in this musical with book, lyrics and music by Dennis T. Giacino.

Disnenchanted opened off-Broadway in 2014 and was the recipient of numerous nominations including Best New Musical. The production that is streaming this weekend is from England.

The cast or women playing the princesses are Courtney Bowman, Natalie Chua, Allie Daniel, Shanay Holmes, Sophie Isaacs, Aisha Jawando, Grace Mouat, Millie O’Connell, Jenny O’Leary, and Jodie Steele. Tom Jackson Greaves directs.

There are only three performances. The show will be streamed at 2:30 PM EDT/11:30 AM PDT on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Tickets are £18 (including service charges) which equals almost $25.

OPERA/DANCE: The Seven Deadly Sins and Mahagonny Songspiel – Royal Opera House – April 9th – 2:30 PM EDT/11:30 AM PDT

The Royal Opera House offers its first live broadcast of the year with this double bill of works by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill.

The Seven Deadly Sins is called a ballet chanté. That means it is a sung ballet. The work had its world premiere in Paris in 1933. As you might imagine from the title, each of the seven deadly sins (envy, gluttony, greed, lust, pride, sloth and wrath) is explored through the story of two sisters: Anna I and Anna II. The first Anna (Stephanie Wake-Edwards) is a singer and the second a dancer (Jonadette Carpio).

Also in the company are Tenors Filipe Manu and Egor Zhuravskii; baritone Dominic Sedgwick, and bass Blaise Malaba who are joined by dancer Thomasin Gülgeç.    

This is satire at its best and it was also the last significant collaboration between Brecht and Weill.

Mahagonny Sonspiel premiered in 1927 in Baden-Baden, Germany. A perfect companion piece to The Seven Deadly Sins, Brecht and Weill were offering their opinion on the pursuit of pleasure. Amongst the songs in this work is The Alabama Song which many will know from the version recorded by Jim Morrison and The Doors.

For this performance, mezzo-soprano Kseniia Nkolaieva will sing the role of Bessie.

Choreographer Julia Cheng has kept the streaming experience in mind while creating this production.

Tickets are $11.53. The performance will be available for streaming through May 9th.

COCKTAILS AND CONVERSATION: Virtual Halston – Cast Party Network on YouTube – April 9th – 5:00 PM EDT/2:00 PM PDT

I adore Julia Halston and her Friday soirees have been a staple of my winding down and getting ready for the weekend. So I’m sad that this weekend, her 40th episode, will be her last for the time being.

However, I’m thrilled that she’s going on a hiatus to work on a new theater project.

For this episode Halston will welcome producers Ruby Locknar and Jim Caruso for a look back on those 40 episodes that have featured everyone from Charles Busch to Jane Monheit to Michael Urie and so many more.

The show is free to watch but donations to the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation are encouraged.

BROADWAY VOCALS: Lena Hall: Obsessed – April 9th – 7:00 PM EDT/4:00 PM PDT

When Tony Award winner Lena Hall (Hedwig and the Angry Inch) launched her Obsessed series of EPs in 2018, she offered her versions of both well-known songs and deep-tracks of such artists as Beck, David Bowie, Nirvana, Pink, Radiohead, Jack White and more.

Given her voice, it was probably a surprise she didn’t also record the music of Heart – the duo best known for songs like Baracuda, Crazy on You and Magic Man.

But she’s going to be singing their songs in a live concert on Friday night. This video, from a Broadway Sessions performance at the Laurie Beechman Theatre gives you a taste of what she can do with this music (it does contain some profanity):

Does this foreshadow a second Obsessed series? This is a one-time only concert. There will be no streaming if you can’t see it as it happens. And you should. Lena Hall rocks!

Tickets are $20 and $50. The higher-priced VIP tickets allows for interaction with Hall during the concert.

JAZZ: Claudia Villela: The Music of Jobim – SFJAZZ – April 9th – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

There are certain artists who can use just one name and you know immediately who it is. Brazilian composer Jobim is one of them. (For the record his full name is Antônio Carlos Brasileiro de Almeida Jobim).

Amongst his best-known songs are Corcovado, Desafinado and The Girl from Ipanema.

Singer Claudia Villela will pay tribute to Jobim in this concert from 2019. She is joined by special guest guitarist Chico Pinheiro. Her band includes Celso Alberti on drums and percussion; Gary Brown on bass; Gary Meek on saxophone and flute and Jasnam Daya Singh on piano and keys.

There will be an encore presentation Saturday, April 10th at 1:00 PM EDT/10:00 AM PDT.

This concert is available to digital members of SFJAZZ. Membership is $5 for one month of programs or $60 for one year.

CHAMBER MUSIC: Beethoven Serioso – Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra – Debuts April 9th – 9:30 PM EDT/6:30 PM PDT

As they did with their most recent episode of Close Quarters, the camera moves in and amongst the musicians in this performance of Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 11 in F minor, Op. 95 nicknamed Serioso. The orchestration is by Gustav Mahler. Margaret Batjer leads LACO in this performance.

Given the significance the camera plays in this film, I want to give attention to cinematographer Michael Thomas whose deft work breathes new life into ensemble performance. Visual artist Ken Honjo also contributed to this episode.

If you haven’t checked out this terrific series, all previous videos are available for streaming. There’s no charge to watch Beethoven Serioso or any of the other videos.

DANCE: Awakening – Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company – April 10th – 7:30 PM EDT/4:30 PM PDT

For over 30 years, New Jersey’s Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company has been at the forefront of creating works that express through contemporary dance that long history of the Chinese American cultural tradition.

This program will find the company offering two world premieres (Luminescence and Shadow Force) along with two works from 2019 (Truth Bound and Introspection). The works are united in their exploration of ideas we have all probably faced during the pandemic: identity, information, optimism, outside forces that complicate our lives, truth and more.

Tickets are $10 to watch the performance. If you are a member of the South Orange Performing Arts Center, you can watch for free.

THEATER: From Number to Name – East West Players – April 10th – April 11th

Wednesday afternoon I published an interview with the provocative performance artist Kristina Wong who is helming From Number to Name.

Through a series of interviews and over the course of six-and-a-half weeks, Wong and her collaborators have put together this dramatic show that explores the impact of incarceration on the Asian/Pacific Islander community in America. It is a story filled with shame, regret and finds those who are released from prison rarely having a familial support system to reintegrate into society.

There are two performances of From Number to Name. The first is on Saturday at 10:00 PM EDT/7:00 PM PDT. The second is on Sunday at 5:00 PM EDT/2:00 PM PDT.

Tickets begin at $5 and go up in price based on your ability to include a donation to East West Players.

CHORAL: Amore della Vita, Love of Life – The Verdi Chorus – April 11th – 1:00 PM EDT/10:00 AM PDT

For those clamoring for all things Italian, this weekend’s virtual concert by The Fox Singers from the Verdi Chorus will delight. They will be performing a program of Italian art songs.

Amongst the composers are Ruggero Leoncavallo (best known for his one-act opera Pagliacci), Pietro Mascagni (best known for Cavalleria rusticana), Gioachino Rossini (best known for the theme song to The Lone Ranger*) and Paolo Tosti (best known for his over 50 art songs).

Featured performers in this concert are sopranos Tiffany Ho, Megan Lindsey McDonald and Sarah Salazar; mezzo-soprano Ariana Stultz; and tenors Elias Berezin and Joseph Gárate. Anne Marie Ketchum leads the ensemble with Laraine Ann Madden accompanying.

If this concert (and perhaps Stanley Tucci’s Searching for Italy) makes you hungry, The Verdi Chorus is publishing The Verdi Chorus Pandemic Cookbook. How many of the recipes are Italian, I couldn’t tell you. But if they can cook like they sing…. The book is available for pre-order here.

CABARET: Ali Stroker – Seth Concert Series – April 11th – 3:00 PM EDT/12:00 PM PDT

Ali Stroker won a Tony Award for her performance as Ado Annie in the 2019 revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s musical Oklahoma! She became the first performer in a wheelchair to win a Tony Award. (She was paralyzed in an automobile accident when she was two years old.)

This wasn’t her first Broadway performance. She appeared in the 2015 revival of Spring Awakening. This was the Deaf West Theatre production that was first performed at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts.

She is Seth Rudetsky‘s guest for this weekend’s concert and conversation.

I saw Stroker in both shows and she is simply amazing. This will be well worth watching.

In addition to the live concert on Sunday afternoon there will be an encore showing Sunday at 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT. Tickets for either showing are $25.

OPERA: Atilla Highlights in Concert – Lyric Opera of Chicago – April 11th – 3:00 PM EDT/12:00 PM PDT

Giuseppe Verdi’s Atilla had its world premiere in Venice in 1846. The opera tells the story of Atilla the Hun (how many other Atillas do you know?) and his ill-fated relationship with Odabella, a prisoner whose father died at the hands of Atilla. Foresto and Ezio, having their own reasons for wanting revenge on Atilla, defer to Odabella who will stop at nothing to see Atilla die.

Atilla is not amongst Verdi’s most popular nor the most commonly-performed. In fact, the Metropolitan Opera only staged Atilla for the first time in 2010. The Lyric Opera of Chicago staged their first production ten years earlier.

On Sunday they will premiere a concert of excerpts from Atilla that will feature bass-baritone Christian Van Horn singing the role of Attila, soprano Tamara Wilson singing Odabella, tenor Matthew Polenzani singing Foresto, and baritone Quinn Kelsey singing Ezio. Pianist William C. Billingham and Jerad Mosbey accompany the singers.

Enrique Mazzola leads the concert which will be available on the Lyric Opera of Chicago’s YouTube channel and Facebook page.

CLASSICAL MUSIC: A Tour of Iran – New West Symphony – April 11th – 6:00 PM EDT/3:00 PM PDT

Michael Christie leads the New West Symphony in a performance of work exploring the influence of Iranian poetry and music on the West. Joining the performance are mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke and two Iranian instrumentalists: Pejman Hadadi (tombak and dad) and Masoud Rezaei (setar).

The program features a mix of classical works by Mozart (The Magic Flute Overture), Rameau (Suite from Zoroastre), Handel (“Ombra mai fu” from Xerxes) and Gounod(selections from Faust) with works by Iranian composers Khayam (Seven Valleys of Love for Strings), Ranjbaran (Enchanted Garden: Joy) and excerpts from Rezaei’s album Nothingness.

Tickets to stream the concert are $25 per household and will include a post-performance reception with Christie and the guest artists.

CLASSICAL MUSIC/CONTEMPORARY CLASSICAL MUSIC: Jennifer Koh Solo Recital – Shriver Hall Concert Series – April 11th – 5:30 PM EDT/2:30 PM PDT

Violinist Jennifer Koh appears in this very intriguing concert which finds her playing two compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach and peppering the concert with twelve new compositions that she commissioned in 2020 for her Alone Together project.

Bach’s Partita No. 3 and the Sonata No. 3 are sharing space with works by Kati Agócs, Katherine Beach, Hanna Benn, Patrick Castillo, Vijay Iyer, Angelica Negrón, Andrew Norman, Ellen Reid, Darian Donovan Thomas with electronics by Layale Chaker, Ian Chang, George Lewis and Cassie Wieland.

Tickets are $15. The recital will remain available through April 18th.

PLAY: Smokefall – Goodman Theatre – April 12th – April 25th

Critics found themselves searching for superlatives when Noah Haidle’s Smokefall opened in 2013. From the writing to the performances and the production, the acclaim was universal.

In Haidle’s play, Violet is pregnant with twins and anticipating a major shift in her life. What she doesn’t know is that her husband is getting ready to leave her.

Adding to her worries is that her daughter has chosen not to speak and her father is suffering from senility. Just what an expectant mother wants in her life as she’s about to give birth to twins.

Starring in Smokefall are Catherine Combs, Anne Fogarty, Katherine Keberlein, Guy Massey, Mike Nussbaum, Eric Slater. (In case you are wondering, two of the actors play Fetus One and Fetus Two). Directing is Anne Kaufmann.

There’s no charge to stream Smokefall, but you do need to reserve your streaming opportunity.

PLAY READING: Paradise Lost – Red Bull Theater – April 12th – 7:30 PM EDT/4:30 PM PDT

John Milton’s Paradise Lost, an epic poem about temptation and the fall of man seen through the eyes of Adam & Eve and Satan, was probably something you read in college.

It has proven to be catnip for playwrights who want to find a way of putting this extraordinary work on stage.

Enter Michael Barakiva who offered up a 13-hour adaptation in 2013 with Upstart Creatures.

New York’s Red Bull Theater is offering a live reading of the play with the first part on Monday. (I’m betting that the play has been edited since its first presentation eight years ago). The second part will be performed live on Monday, April 26th.

Starring as Satan is Jason Butler Harner. Said Arrika Ekulona is God. The cast includes Stephen Bel Davies, Sheldon Best, Gisela Chípe, Robert Cuccioli, Carol Halstead, Gregory Linington, Daniel José Molina, Sam Morales, Howard Overshown and Cherie Corinne Rice. Barakiva directs.

Tickets are pay what you can. After the initial live performance, the livestream will remain available until 7:00 PM EST/4:00 PM PST the Friday immediately following the live performance.

CABARET AND CONVERSATION: Jim Caruso’s Pajama Cast Party – April 12th – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

Joining Jim Caruso for this Monday’s Pajama Cast Party are up-and-coming musical theater performer D’Marreon Alexander, Jackie Burns (Wicked), singer Jacob Daniel Cummings and country singers Chase McDaniel and Emily West.

The show is free to watch and if you can’t make it Monday night, the show (and Virtual Halston for that matter) will remain available for streaming on the Cast Party Network on YouTube.

That’s my official list of Best Bets: April 9th – April 12th. But you know I always have a few reminders:

The Metropolitan Opera continues its From Page to Stage series with their 2013-2014 season production of Shostakovich’s The Nose on Friday; their 2007-2008 season production of Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette on Saturday and their 2017-2018 season production of Verdi’s Luisa Miller on Sunday.

Monday the Metropolitan Opera begins a series of operas based on fairy tales called Once Upon a Time. They start with the 2017-2018 of Massenet’s Cendrillon. I’ll have the full line-up for you on Monday.

This is your last weekend to watch Christopher Durang’s Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike free on Broadway on Demand. The Lincoln Center Theater production stars Billy Magnussen, Kristine Nielsen, David Hyde Pierce and Sigourney Weaver. If you need a good laugh this weekend, this play will offer you many of them. (Use code VANYAFREE on the BOD website)

Also be sure to check with previous Best Bets to find other options that might still be available. As you can see from this week’s list, there are always shows you can watch well after this weekend is over.

That’s officially a wrap on this week’s Best Bets: April 9th – April 12th. Enjoy your weekend!

Photo: An image from House of Usher (Photo by Cory Weaver/Courtesy San Francisco Opera)

*You don’t think I’m serious do you?

The post Best Bets: April 9th – April 12th appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

Understanding that idea is going to be important in recognizing what Wong is doing with From Number to Name, an online event co-presented by East West Players and API Rise this weekend that she has helped create and is directing. The subheading for the show is “Re-imagining the Criminal Justice System with Real Stories from the API Community of Life on the Inside.”

Earlier this week I spoke with Wong about the show, creating drama out of this subject and also about cancel culture. After all, we spoke on the same day that the Los Angeles Stage Alliance disbanded after mishaps during their awards show where the name of an Asian-American actress was mispronounced and the photo that accompanied her was actually of another Asian-American woman. In short, we had a lot to talk about.

What follows are excerpts from that conversation that have been edited for length and clarity.

What are your goals for From Number to Name, both as a form of entertainment and a form of advocacy?

There’s a lot to say I want one show to do. But on the most basic level I want to create a very human experience for the audience. Where the Asian American audience is hearing about the effects of incarceration on the Asian American community – which is something we never talk about. I think a lot of us don’t even think about it. There’s so much shame and stigma around incarceration – the idea that anyone in our community could have done anything bad enough to go to jail.

We have one woman who was incarcerated in our group. Her family doesn’t talk to her anymore. Some of the people who were incarcerated are able to return to their family, but the dynamics have switched. One of them, Kirn Kim, who got out eight years ago, was an honor roll student at 16 when he went to jail. His family had to live with the stigma of “our son is in prison.” The family structure fell apart.

How do you create something dramatically from these stories?

We had no script. We would do these exercises on Zoom and the folks in our group just opened their mouths and wow, “You talk the way playwrights dreams they could write, but you’re just talking about your life.” Four rehearsals in we felt we had enough information to shape the script. We would also find the connections people had with each other. I’m wowed that we got it together so quickly – this will be a six-and-a-half week process – but I also had complete faith having been in conversations with all these people. The subject is so rich, we barely scratched the surface with this. I still feel like there are ten more shows to get to all the issues in this.

You regularly add “Constantly Crushing the Model Minority Myth” to your Twitter posts. How fiercely entrenched is that idea amongst non-API people?

I have no idea but it exists. There are those who think, “We did this, we pulled it off, we adjusted.” It think that is shifting with all the violence against us. This idea has now rendered us invisible as if we took stuff from people and got jobs and got ahead and now people resent us for that and target us for violence.

We need to confront this. We have to come forward with all these things we’re ashamed of before someone else who isn’t us tries to bring it forward to try to represent our flaws for us.

Speaking of that violence, what will it take for the damage comments like calling Covid the “Chinese Virus” and “Kung Flu” did to be mitigated?

We need more of our stories out there to show us as human beings with a full range of emotions and colors. We don’t just deliver Chinese food. We’re not just interesting people on dating apps. So much has to be done. Asian Americans also need to shift. We have to take a side. My parent’s generation said “We don’t want to get involved, we don’t want to rock the boat.” We’re going to have to rock the boat otherwise we’re going to get killed. We have to speak up against the violence. We have to protect ourselves. But we also have to acknowledge the work of the civil rights movement was lead by Black and Brown people who are still getting the worst of it. We have to support them and we can’t be fighting each other. We have to figure out how to dismantle and defeat racism. We have a long way to go.

Los Angeles Stage Alliance announced on Monday that it was disbanding. Do you have any concerns that the current environment calls not just for heartfelt apologies, but for complete cancellation of those people or organizations who make mistakes both large and small?

I empathize with every theater institution in America who is running with not enough staff and not enough support. But I think structurally there’s something that wasn’t working with that organization and those problems happened. I also don’t want to diminish East West Players or organizations of color who are feeling hurt and tell them they are over-reaching. If they truly feel this organization wasn’t working to represent them and they had to leave, I want to support that.

I felt, wow they burned it all down. Do we have a contingency plan? The thing I’m witnessing is that folks, BiPOC artists, they don’t want to be just hanging out on the side. I don’t know what the new structure will be. We’ll start all over again. I could wait for the system that fell apart to come back or we’re Robinson Crusoe right now and we’re just going to make a new system. I do know that if there’s that much passion to shut it down there will hopefully be just as much passion to start whatever the new model is that really thinks about equity and inclusion.

From Number to Name will be streamed live twice. The first performance is Saturday, April 10th at 10:00 PM EDT/7:00 PM PDT. The second performance is Sunday, April 11th at 5:00 PM EDT/2:00 PM PDT. Tickets begin at $5 and the event will take place via Zoom. For tickets go here.

Kristina Wong can be found on Twitter @mskristinawong

Photo: Kristina Wong (Courtesy East West Players)

The post Kristina Wong Crushes the Model Minority Myth appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

BREAKING NEWS: Disney’s musical Frozen has closed on Broadway.

American Ballet Theatre has canceled their 2020 Season at the Metropolitan Opera. The shows included are ABT Then and Now, the New York premiere of Of Love and Rage, as well as productions of La Bayadère, Romeo and Juliet, Giselle, The Sleeping Beauty, Jane Eyre and Swan Lake.

Antaeus Theatre Company has canceled all remaining performances of Measure for Measure and their Classic Sundays reading of The Roaring Girl. 

Bob Baker Marionette Theatre has announced postponement of all scheduled performances and events. No tentative re-opening date has been provided.

Boston Court Pasadena has postponed all performances through May 27th.

Their production of Assassins been rescheduled for September 10th – October 18th

The Broad Stage has announced the suspension of all remaining performances in their 2019-2020 season.

Mnozil Brass on March 26th.

Hiromi: Solo on March 28th

Red Hen Press: New Traditions on March 29th

National Geographic Live: Hidden Wild: Secrets of the Everglades on April 9th and 10th

Dee Dee Bridgewater and Bill Charlap on April 11th.

Dance for All on April 13th

USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance April 17th – April 19th

Beethoven, Bagels & Banter on April 19th

Angel’s Bone (co-presented with LA Opera Off Grand) May 1st – May 3rd

Diana Damrau & Nicolas Testé on May 16th

Lynn Harrell, cellist on May 17th

*Broadway in Hollywood has announced the cancellation of SpongeBob Musical at The Dolby Theatre.

The Illusionists, scheduled to play April 14th – April 19th at the Dolby Theatre has been rescheduled for January 12th – January 17th.

The tour of Mean Girls, scheduled to play the Dolby Theatre April 28th – June 7th, 2020 will be rescheduled.

The tour of My Fair Lady, scheduled to play the Dolby Theatre June 12th – July 5th will be rescheduled.

The tour of The Band’s Visit, scheduled to play at the Dolby Theatre July 7th – July 26th, has been suspended.

*The Cher Show is postponing its tour until 2021. Not official announcement yet, but this may impact the Spring 2021 booking at the Dolby Theatre.

*All Broadway Shows in New York have been suspended through September 6th.

Hangmen, which had gone into previews, will not re-open. A revival of Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf will not re-open.

Beetlejuice, which was set to close at the Winter Garden on June 6th, is now officially closed. Though a 2021 tour is planned, there are still discussions of moving the show to another theatre.

*Disney’s musical Frozen has officially closed. It is the first long-running show to close as a result of the pandemic. The official closing day is March 11th, the last day of performances before Broadway suspended all performances. The show had 26 previews and 825 performances.

CAP UCLA has announced the suspension of the remainder of the 2019-2020 season.

Center Theatre Group has announced that all remaining shows in the 2019-2020 season have been postponed. This includes 1776 scheduled at the Ahmanson Theatre, King James at the Mark Taper Forum and Sakina’s Restaurant at the Kirk Douglas Theatre.

They join the previously announced postponements of Once on This Island, The Antipodes and the annual Block party.

As it relates to Once on This Island, CTG is working on rescheduling the show. Producers have canceled this show’s tour, but the possibility of a reduced tour post-Coronavirus is being explored.

Cirque du Soleil has announced the cancellation of all performances of Volta scheduled at the Orange County Fair and Events Center in Costa Mesa.

Colburn School has canceled all performances and events through April 12.

East West Players has announced a postponement of the entire run of Assassins. They have also announced postponement of the 54th Anniversary Visionary Awards Gala.

The Echo Theater Company is canceling performances of Poor Clare, scheduled to open March 14, through the end of March. Performances resume April 3. 

*The Ford Theatres summer 2020 season has been canceled.

The Fountain Theatre has suspended the world premiere of Human Interest Story. The April 25 Los Angeles premiere of If I Forget has been postponed to later date yet to be determined. 

Geffen Playhouse has announced the following:

Bernhardt/Hamlet, scheduled to begin previews on April 7th, has been canceled.

Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at the Music Center has announced the cancellation of the Pina Bausch’s Palermo Palermo as Tantztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch canceled their tour.

Malpaso Dance Company has canceled its spring tour of the United States. Therefore the engagement at the Ahmanson Theatre on May 15th – May 17th has been canceled.

Goodspeed Musicals has postponed their April production of South Pacific. Their fall production of Candide has been canceled.

*The Hollywood Bowl 2020 season has been canceled.

The Industry’s Sweet Land has canceled all remaining performances. They will be offering a filmed version being streamed starting March 23rd.

Laguna Playhouse has made the following announcements:

Hershey Felder’s Monsieur Chopin, originally scheduled for April, has been moved to October of this year.

Rocky Mountain High, a Tribute to John Denver has been rescheduled to January 7th – January 10th of 2021.

They are trying to reschedule Ann sometime in the coming year.

The world premiere of To Sir, With Love, has been canceled.

The La Jolla Playhouse has announced that all performances by or at La Jolla Music Society, La Jolla Playhouse, San Diego Opera and San Diego Symphony will be canceled and/or postponed through the end of March 2020

La Mirada Theatre has announced postponement of all shows through May 10th.

The following shows have been rescheduled:

The Sound of Music will play May 15th to June 7th.

Mamma Mia will play June 12th to July 5th.

They will be rescheduling the following shows:

Bossa Nova Wave (originally scheduled for April 3)

Classic Albums Live – Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours (originally scheduled for April 4)

Circus Science Spectacular (originally scheduled for April 5)

The Center of the Universe (originally scheduled for April 9)

The Brubeck Brothers (originally scheduled for May 12)

La Mirada Symphony (originally scheduled for May 17)

Dance, Dance, Dance! (originally scheduled for May 22)

Sol de Mexico (originally scheduled for June 27)

*LA Opera has canceled the final performance of Roberto Devereux scheduled for March 14th.

Angel’s Bone, scheduled to be performed May 1st – May 3rd, has been canceled as The Broad Stage canceled their remaining events for the 2019-2020 season.

Pelléas and Mélisande, scheduled for May 2nd – May 23rd, has been canceled.

Rodelinda, scheduled for May 8th, has been canceled.

*The Marriage of Figaro, scheduled for May 6th – May 28th, has been canceled.

*Saturday Mornings at the Opera, scheduled for June 6th, has been canceled.

*Great Opera Choruses, scheduled for June 7th at The Soraya, has been canceled.

Lincoln Center in New York has announced that the musical Flying Over Sunset has been moved to the fall as has the opera Intimate Apparel. Both were previously scheduled to open this spring.

Long Beach Opera has postponed until next season its production of The Lighthouse.

*Their planned productions of Billy the Kid (scheduled for May 3rd – May 10th) and Frida (scheduled for June 20th – June 28th) have been canceled.

Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra has announced postponement of this weekend’s concert, Border Crossings, scheduled for March 12th at the First Presbyterian Church of Santa Monica and on March 13th at The Huntington.

They have also announced cancellation of the Ravel, Strauss + Contreras concerts on March 28th and 29th.

Beethoven + Mendelssohn scheduled for April 30th and May 1st has been canceled.

Sheku plus Eroica scheduled at multiple venues for May 15th – May 18th, has been canceled.

The Los Angeles LGBT Center is postponing its production of Hair that was scheduled to open on March 27th.

Los Angeles Master Chorale has announced the following cancellations:

The Fauré Requiem performances at Walt Disney Concert Hall on March 28th and 29th have been canceled.

The performance of Lagrime di San Pietro at the Musco Center for the Arts at Chapman University on March 19th has been canceled.

Come Away to the Skies: A Celebration of Alice Parker, scheduled for May 17th, has been canceled.

Los Angeles Philharmonic has announced the cancellation of all performances for the rest of the season at Walt Disney Concert Hall. (All concerts through June 6th.)

Manhattan Theatre Club has postponed their planned revival of How I Learned to Drive until next season.

MCC Theatre in New York has announced the All The Natalie Portmans played its final performance yesterday. Hollywood Dreams, which was to have begun previews next week, will be rescheduled.

They also announced that their Miscast 20 gala has been rescheduled from April 6th to June 15th

The Metropolitan Opera has canceled all performances for the rest of this season. This includes all scheduled Live in HD presentations

The McKittrick Hotel in New York, home to Sleep No More, The Woman in Black and Speakeasy Magick, has suspended all performances through April 12th.

Musco Center for the Arts has canceled all performances through early May.

The Music Center has announced that all venues (The Ahmanson Theatre, Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Mark Taper Forum and Walt Disney Concert Hall) will be closed until further notice. This impacts the Los Angeles Philharmonic, LA Opera, Center Theatre Group, the Los Angeles Master Chorale and Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at the Music Center.

A Noise Within has announced the following cancellations:

The remaining performances of The Winter’s Tale, Alice in Wonderland, and all other public events have been canceled through the end of April.

Alice in Wonderland will now open their 2020-2021 season August 22nd – September 13th.

Sweeney Todd, has been rescheduled for September 27th – November 15th.

The Odyssey Theatre is canceling performances of The Serpent through March 29 with performances resuming April 3.

The Old Globe has announced that their productions of Little Women and Faceless will be postponed.

The Open Fist, currently in residence at the Atwater Village Theatre, has suspended all performances of Rorschach Fest.

The Outer Critics Circle Awards, scheduled for May 21st, have been postponed.

The Pacific Symphony has announced the following in relation to their schedule:

Pink Martini on March 13th and 14th has been postponed. They have been rescheduled for June 17th and 18th.

Nowruz on March 28th has been postponed.

The Texas Tenors on April 3rd and 4th has been cancelled.

Verdi’s Otello on April 23rd, 25th and 28th has been cancelled.

Windborne’s the Music of the Rolling Stones: Mick Jagger and Keith Richards 1969, originally scheduled for May 1sts and 2nd, has been rescheduled to June 19th and 20th.

Yang Plays Rachmaninoff, scheduled for May 7th – May 9th has been canceled.

Beethoven’s Razumovsky Quartet, scheduled for May 10th has been canceled.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame with live accompaniment by organist Dennis James, scheduled for May 10th, has been canceled.

Pacific Symphony Youth Ensemble concerts scheduled for May 9th, 11th and 12th has all been canceled.

*The Pantages Theatre has announced suspension of performances of Hamilton through September 6th.

The Pasadena Playhouse has announced that all performances through May 31st.

Ann, scheduled for May 27th – July 28th has been postponed.

Their production of Annie Get Your Gun, scheduled for July 28th – August 23rd has been canceled.

*The Pasadena Pops has canceled their 2020 summer season and will reschedule the following concerts for their 2021 summer season:

Sway with Me: Latin Rhythm and Swing scheduled for June 19
Road to Motown scheduled for July 10
Fleetwood Mac: A Tribute scheduled for July 24
Michael Feinstein Sings Sinatra’s Songbook scheduled for August 14
100 Years of Broadway scheduled for August 28 

The Pasadena Symphony has rescheduled their March 21st Mozart & McGegan concert to May 23rd.

The Public Theatre in New York (and the adjoining Joe’s Pub) has canceled all performances through April 12th.

*Chicago’s Ravinia Festival has canceled their 2020 season.

Roundabout Theatre in New York announced that their productions of Birthday Candles with Debra Messing and Caroline, Or Change will open in the fall. Both shows were on the cusp of starting previews when Broadway theatres shut down.

San Francisco Opera has canceled their summer season scheduled to run June 7th to July 3rd.

*The Segerstrom Center has announced the following postponements, rescheduling and cancellations:

Orange County Millennial Choirs and Orchestras on April 1st has been rescheduled to June 2nd

Shen Yun from April 3rd – April 12th has been postponed

Ailey II on April 11th has been postponed

Chicago from April 14th – April 19th has been canceled

Sibelius Piano Trio on April 17th has been canceled

Clayton Brothers Quintet on April 18th has been canceled

Earth Day Celebration on April 18th has been canceled

Distinguished Speakers Series: President George W. Bush on April 20th has been postponed

Tuesday Night Dance Lessons on April 21st and 28th has been canceled

Laura Benanti from April 23rd – April 25th has been postponed

Best of Dance on April 25th has been canceled

Beckman Arts and Science Family Festival on May 2nd has been postponed.

Paper Planet on May 2nd and 3rd has been canceled.

Celtic Woman on May 2nd has been canceled.

*Les Misérables, scheduled for May 5th – May 17th and rescheduled for October 6th – October 18th has been canceled.

Emerson String Quartet on May 7th has been postponed.

Silent Disco on May 8th has been postponed.

Rock, Paper, Scissors: CUMBIA! on May 15th has been postponed.

Swing Under the Stars on May 29th has been canceled.

*Mean Girls, scheduled for June 16th – June 28th, has been postponed. The venue is hoping to reschedule.

*The Band’s Visit, originally scheduled for August 12th – August 23rd has been rescheduled for April 13th – April 25th, 2021.

*The Lion King, originally scheduled for September 2nd – September 27th, has been canceled.

*Ain’t Too Proud to Beg – The Life and Times of The Temptations, scheduled for November 17th – 29th has been rescheduled for September 14th – 26th, 2021.

*The Donna Summer Musical, originally scheduled for January 12th – 17th, has been cancelled due to a rescheduling of the show’s tour.

*The Cher Show, originally scheduled for April 13th – April 25th has been canceled due to a rescheduling of the show’s tour.

Shakespeare in the Park in New York has canceled this summer’s season.

Soka Performing Arts Center has announced the postponement of the remainder of its 2019-2020 season.

The Soraya has announced the following cancellations and postponements:

The Jerusalem Quartet on April 5th has been canceled.

The Count Basie Orchestra on April 9th has been postponed.

Amir El Saffar on April 16th has been canceled.

Bollywood Boulevard on April 19th has been canceled.

Randy Newman’s Faust on May 9th has been canceled.

Violins of Hope, which was postponed, will have an opening night concert by the Los Angeles Jewish Symphony on January 14th.

South Coast Rep has announced the cancellation of all performances of Outside Mullingar beginning March 13th. (They are “working to make the performance available online. More details will be announced in the coming days.”)

*San Francisco’s Stern Grove Festival has canceled their 2020 season.

Tonality has postponed their A Call to Restore concert that was set to take place on March 15th. Another date will be announced shortly.

The Tony Awards, scheduled for June 7th, have been postponed.

The Verdi Chorus has canceled their Opera Gets Real performances scheduled for April 18th and 19th.

*The Wallis has announced the cancellation of all performances through June 30th.

If you have an event that has been postponed or canceled and would like it included in this list, please send the details to contact@Culturalattache.co

Photo “Comedy/Tragedy on Keys” by Craig L. Byrd

The post Coronavirus Cancellations & Postponements – Updated 5/14/20 appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

Anna Moench’s play Man of God had its world premiere at East West Players in January of last year. A new production of the play is currently in previews at the Audrey Skirball Kenis Theatre at the Geffen Playhouse. The official opening night is March 12th and the production will run through April 12th.

In Man of God, four girls are in the midst of a trip to Thailand. While there they discover that their Pastor (Albert Park) has been peeping in on them after having installed at camera in their bathroom. They obviously discover they can’t trust this “man of God.”

How they respond to his actions is an individual decision as each girl has her own way of wanting to process and/or handle what has happened. Three of the girls think about it in terms both practical and emotional. Samantha (Shirley Chen) feels a deep sense of personal betrayal. Jen (Camry Kim) looks at this in terms of how it will impact her ability to get into the college of her choice. Kyung-Hwa (Jenapher Zheng) frankly doesn’t expect anything different from men. Mimi (Natasha Tina Liu), wants revenge.

What the girls ultimately realize is that men are always looking at women. That’s what they do. But they come up with a plan to teach men a lesson or two.

Maggie Burrows directs Man of God.

For parents there is a cautionary note on the website for the show that indicates this production contains adult language, adult themes, depicted violence, loud music, the smoking of an electronic herbal cigarette, strobe lighting effects, and is not recommended to those under the age of 14.

Man of God has a running time of 90 minutes with no intermission.

For tickets go here.

Photo: Albert Park, Jenapher Zheng, and Shirley Chen in Man of God. (Photo byJeff Lorch/Courtesy of the Geffen Playhouse)

The post Man of God – POSTPONED appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

I’ll try to sum the play up differently than I did in March.

The coaches of both an American and Chinese basketball team face off against each other for an exhibition game in 1989. Old animosities and unresolved issues rise to the surface and have nothing to do with their respective teams. One US player’s actions draw unnecessary attention to the game, the coaches and the player himself.

Wong, who was a Tony Award winner for his performance in the original production of M. Butterfly, played the part of the Chinese coach in New York and also in San Francisco. He’s well acquainted with the play.

The cast is Grant Chang, Justin Chien, James Eckhouse and Christine Lin.

Along with Cambodian Rock Band, Yee’s The Great Leap is one of the most-produced plays of the year.

This production of The Great Leap is a co-production with East West Players. The show runs  two hours which includes a 15-minute intermission.

For tickets go here.

Photo of Justin Chien and James Eckhouse by Jenny Graham/Courtesy of the Pasadena Playhouse

The post The Great Leap by Lauren Yee appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

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