Antonio Sanchez performs his Birdman score – Royce Hall/UCLA

February 16

Though his remarkable score for the Oscar-winning film Birdman was ruled ineligible for an Oscar nomination (due to the amount of source music also used in the film), it stood out as a remarkable and unique composition.  Antonio Sanchez, the man who wrote and performed the score, will be playing the score live while the film is projected. Unlike most live music to film presentations that are currently in vogue, his performance is not a note-for-note replication. As it is more jazz-like in construct, it will be his improvisation on what he did for the film. If you want to see what Sanchez has to say about the score now and how he tackles these live concerts, check out my interview with him here.  Also, he is performing with his band, Migration, on Saturday night at the Theatre at the Ace Hotel. They will be performing his Meridian Suite album in its entirety.

Salonen: Wing on Wing – Walt Disney Concert Hall

February 16-18

Fresh off last week’s four concerts featuring Esa-Pekka Salonen’s three concerti (for cello, piano and violin, respectively), is another round of concerts. These three  performances include Beethoven’s Violin Concerto (performed by Vilde Frang), Mozart’s The Impresario and Salonen’s Wing on Wing. It was for the opening of Walt Disney Concert Hall that Salonen composed the work. Frank Gehry’s architecture inspired the work and celebrated the realization of the concert hall.

Priscilla Queen of the Desert – Celebration Theatre

Opens February 17

In 2016, Celebration Theatre did what seemed outright impossible. They put on a production of one of the biggest, splashiest musicals Broadway had ever seen, The Boy From Oz, in their small theatre in Hollywood. It was a smash success, was highly-acclaimed and won several awards.  If at first you do succeed, try it again. And they are – with another big splashy musical (so big it played the Palace Theatre on Broadway): Priscilla Queen of the Desert. Based on the film of the same name, the show tells the story of two drag queens and a transgender colleague on a road trip across Australia. There is a secret reason for the road trip that threatens the relationship the three share. Amongst the songs featured in the show are such disco classics (no, that’s not an oxymoron) as “Don’t Leave Me This Way,” “I Will Survive,” “Shake Your Groove Thing” and “Hot Stuff.”

The Unauthorized Musical Parody of Jurassic Park – Rockwell Table & Stage

Now playing

When the UMPO series did musical parodies of films like The Devil Wears Prada and Home Alone, it was pretty easy to visualize what they might do. With their new show, poking fun at Stephen Spielberg’s Jurassic Park, I just wonder how many dinosaurs get songs and what they would be? Of course, the characters played by Jeff Goldblum (who makes regular appearances at Rockwell), Laura Dern and Sir Richard Attenborough at the ones most likely to break into song. But wouldn’t you love to hear a T-Rex do “Children of the Revolution” or “Bang a Gong?”

The New Colossus – The Actors’ Gang

Now playing

In light of the tragedy that occurred this week in Florida, perhaps there’s no better time to be asking the question, “Who are we as a nation?” The Actors’ Gang Ensemble and Tim Robbins put together The New Colossus, to ask that question, but as it pertains to immigration. By telling the stories of their own ancestors in a variety of languages, eras and with the incorporation of poetry, music and movement, this show not only asks the question above, but also reminds us that we are, and have always been, a nation of immigrants.

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