To celebrate the 40th anniversary of his eponymous LINES Ballet, Alonzo King dug deep within himself to come up with a ballet that echoes back throughout centuries and resonates today. That ballet, Deep River, is being performed this Saturday at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa. They will also perform the ballet on June 9th and 10th at The Wallis in Beverly Hills.

For music, King turned to his regular collaborator for 14 years: Jason Moran. He uses vocals and is joined by singer Lisa Fischer*.

King also uses music by James Weldon Johnson, Maurice Ravel and Pharaoh Sanders to tell his story.

Last week I spoke with King about the ballet, its themes and how being silent, even in dance, is a path forward. What follows are excerpts from our conversation that have been edited for length and clarity.

When we think of a concept of a deep river or the Jordan River, we’re thinking of an idea of it being symbolic for spiritual rebirth. Did the creation of this work involve or signal a rebirth or a salvation for you or the company? Or did you have bigger ideas about who or what perhaps needed to think about rebirth?

I’m always going for the bigger ideas. I think that river is the bubbling brook or stillness.  In all mythologies the river, whether you are crossing the Styx or whether you’re going from life to death; whether there’s been a transition or there’s a change; or even the idea of a baptism – which actually originated in India to bathe in the Ganges for cleansing – rivers are symbolic and connected to the blood tributaries that are in all of us. It’s about ascension or a transformation into transcendence, hopefully.

We live in troubled times. I think we require transcendence to get out of the quagmires that we find ourselves in. Do you want to inspire people to re-think how we’re doing things right now?

In this difficult and brutal world there has to be a way out or there has to be another focus. Darkness and light. Light and shadow. They work in tandem in this world of duality. But the conundrum from human beings from the beginning of time is how do you merge out of duality back into oneness? That is the goal. That’s the gauntlet. How do you go from misery and identification with this small little form called the body back into the hugeness of oneness? How do you go from the teeny microcosm back into the macrocosm? That is our job, whether we know it or not. That is what most of us are blind to. We are hypnotized by the physical world. But there are other levels of thought and there are other directions. That’s our same task.

Is it the task of an artist to answer the questions that you just asked?

I think that the artist has to point to the light. And say this is what we’re forgetting. You have within you latent powers that would otherwise not be awakened if there wasn’t [sic] these catastrophes. There is a way in every enigma and in every puzzle, whatever the puzzle is, there’s a way to figure it out.

The same thing is within us and how we’re trained is to go external, to look outwards. We have gold mines inside of us. We have physiological centers that yogis took down thousands of years ago.

As we have come down the spinal column into what we call creation, there is a way to go back up that spinal column and get back to bliss. This is the constant message of everybody who had any interest or care about people. The escape is in consciousness. Where are you putting your mind? When you were reminding people that if there is negativity, there’s positivity. Which one do you want to focus on? Because they both work. They both are very effective. Which one do you want to dive into?

How important was it for you to use silence as part of getting this idea across in Deep River? 

The shocking realities of being in movement all my life is that it is stillness where transformation really begins. We have to be still. Isn’t it interesting that I’m involved in movement? Introspection takes you into silence. Meditation takes you into silence. Not begging the world to give me satisfaction. The doorway to the infinite is silence and stillness. Stillness denotes world peace. And without peace, we are wretched. It’s just how it is.

There is a video online of Lisa Fisher and Jason Moran performing Deep River. What made them the right partners for this project?

Their hearts and their minds. It’s who they are as people. They’re both brilliant. There’s that camaraderie of spirit and that nonverbal understanding of recognizing that we have gone to a place that’s familiar. It may be difficult to put into clumsy words, but we recognize that we’ve had that journey together. There’s a kindred spirit because you recognize that this person has an understanding that I’ve also tasted or has an understanding that I want to experience more.

I read an interview you did with the New York Times four years ago and you describe the collaborations that you that you most enjoyed as being the ones that seemed, “trickier or potentially perilous.” You’ve been working with Jason for 14 years. At the outset of that first collaboration was there something that seemed tricky or potentially perilous about working with him? 

I think that’s always there before you really work together. But when Jason [and I] had discussions, and when he sent me music, I just collapsed. When you find someone who fits and you get each other, it’s what you’ve been looking for your whole life. I could take up all of his time, but he won’t let me. 

These masters, they’re giving wisdom. They’re bringing light. When you find people who are saying, I want to put light on the subject, how do you not want to dance with and participate with that? Lay in that. Listen to that. Listening is when you’re not thinking a damn thing except becoming the sound that you’re hearing. That’s a lot of work. You want to listen to great music because music is consciousness.

It’s interesting that you brought up the idea that you don’t want to think while you’re listening to music, because don’t you tell your students “I don’t want to see you thinking, I want to see you dancing?” 

Often in education there’s a battle between being and doing. And in doing this sense of “I” stays prominent. I’m making this decision. I’m observing this. I’m experiencing that. In being you’re more in the present and you’re listening. You step away a little bit so that you’re in the passenger seat when you want to be and then you can switch and get back into the driver’s seat. It’s more of a dialogue instead of a soliloquy. There is give and take.

With music you don’t want to just follow the bouncing ball. You want to have something to say. You want to participate. Sometimes there’s this concomitant tension because you’re using your will and then to let go of your will and surrender. To see both of those things happening at the same time is a beautiful experience because you’re seeing Adam and Eve dancing together. You’re seeing a feeling in logic dancing together. You’re seeing science and nature dancing together.

We are edging ever so much closer to the tipping point as it relates to climate change. Given how connected your work is to nature, are you an optimist that the natural world can take care of itself?

We see nature not as a wonder, but something to be exploited. I think, to be really frank with you, it is the misunderstanding and the degradation of the term mother. We have no real respect for it, even though this was recently Mother’s Day. Mother Earth. Mother Nature. The idea of the progeny to the supplier. In our evolutionary progression, our first obsession is ourselves.

We’re involved in taking instead of giving or sustaining. Or looking at other cultures then say they didn’t know anything. Because if they knew anything, they would have exploited the land. It’s a mindset that is actually new compared to the life of the planet and how most people have lived. We have to become unselfish and un-greedy. Yet some people think they were smart because they got the money. We’ll look at the result. Look at the planet. There’s no respect for it as an entity. And what are we doing now? We’re moving into outer space, trying to collect land.

Paramahansa Yogananda wrote in Autobiography of a Yogi, “I look forward optimistically to a healthy, happy world as soon as its children are taught the principles of simple and rational living. We must return to nature and nature’s God.” I know you already agree with that, but it strikes me that we are moving further and further away from that concept. How would you like your work to remind us of that simplicity and rationality and that they are important tenets of our existence?

There are not words for that kind of sublime mastery. But in the same way that the Rosetta Stone opened up all this knowledge for us to understand that, Yogananda really is the Rosetta Stone for everybody in how to live life. And it’s one of the things that we’re missing. Art is being taken away from children unless you’re in wealthy environments. What is everywhere? Sports. People have no query about it. They understand the game. They played it from childhood. They learned all the rules, whether it’s soccer, football, basketball, you name it.

This is not the case with the arts and there’s a mistrust about it. It’s horrible. People look at dance and they don’t even know that it’s a language. They don’t understand that ideas are being communicated. They don’t understand that all the things that you and I have been discussing right now are actually on the stage. They look at it only in terms of esthetics. I’m not putting them down, but I’m saying that we are poorly educated in the United States of America. It’s not a rounded full education that’s addressing heart and mind. We are filled with intelligences and, better said, we’re filled with knowing. But the knowing, in a lot of people, has a lot of doubt. 

*Lisa Fischer will be performing live at the two performances at The Wallis.

Main Photo: Alonzo King LINES Ballet (Photo by RJ Muna/Courtesy The Wallis)

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Last May it was announced that Kevin McKenzie was stepping down as Artistic Director of the American Ballet Theater. Named to replace him was a woman who was stranger to ABT. She was, after all, a dancer with the company for many years and worked with them for a total of 32 years prior to this role. So when Susan Jaffe rejoined her former home, she inherited projects that were already well underway. This includes Christopher Wheeldon’s ballet based on Laura Esquivel’s novel Like Water for Chocolate.

The ballet has its North American premiere beginning tonight at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa, California. The New York premiere will take place at ABT’s summer home, the Metropolitan Opera House, from June 22nd to July 1st.

Last week I spoke with Jaffe about Like Water for Chocolate, the challenge of adding new ballets to the repertoire and what her priorities are in her new role at ABT. What follows are excerpts from our conversation that have been edited for length and clarity. To see the full interview, please go to our YouTube channel.

Laura Esquivel, the author of Like Water for Chocolate, believes firmly that cooking is a wonderful way of telling a story. Obviously, ballet is a wonderful way of telling a story. Are there parallels between telling stories vis-á-vis cooking or vis-á-vis dance?

Yes, in a way, because it’s the passing down of traditions. It has spirituality connected to it and a lot of humanity and emotional value in both cooking and ballet. 

Just to go into the ballet, the way that Chris has pulled out and magnified things within the story is astonishingly beautiful. You really get a sense of the cultural traditions in the story and in the physicalization of this story. Chris is a great storyteller. All of the acting and scenes are extremely clear in the storytelling and very exacting within the score and within the steps. He’s amplified some of the most amazing parts of the book and made this a visual celebration of parts of this story. 

Water for Chocolate gives you an opportunity to reach out to people who may think Giselle and Swan Lake are relics of another era. This is something that’s going to feel more contemporary. What are your priorities and the challenges you face in attracting new audiences, but still at the same time keeping your core supporters, donors andseason ticket holders satisfied that they’re going to get the ABT they know and love?

People love the story ballets. That’s what ABT is famous for. Our Giselles, our Swan Lakes, those are very famous over years because they speak to our humanity, they speak to our light sides, our dark sides. One of the reasons why people come back to Swan Lake and Giselle is because they know them. They know the music and they want to see the artists take them through this journey. 

In bringing new ballets to our public…They say in business if you’re not moving forward you’re moving backwards. It’s the same in any art form. We must progress forward with the newer choreographers of today, the [Christopher] Wheeldons, [Alexei] Ratmanskys, etc… Our technique has become so complex. Dancer’s technique, ballet technique, and a lot of it has melded with contemporary upper bodies in contemporary ballet. So we’re getting a very complex movement. I think a lot of people, especially people who know ballet very well, will look at these new works and say, “My goodness, that’s amazing!” 

You spent a good portion of your career dancing with ABT and other people I know who have been with dance companies have always had their own ideas as dancers: what they wish the company could be, what they wish the company would do, the choices the company would make. Now that you’re in the position of being able to make those choices, how does your thought process today compare to the thoughts that you were having when you were a dancer?

Of course, it’s always easy from the outside to be saying I would do this and I would do that. When you get inside it, you realize it’s just not as easy as a simple decision. There are many, many factors that go into, for example, even programing. You’re working with production and you’re working with the head of touring and you’re working with your executive director and you’re working with an entire team. Then you also have to be realistic. How many new pieces can you do? What’s your budget limit? What are the limits that you can do?

I guess one of the biggest things that I’m trying to do currently – and it’s a very different world now than it was when I was a dancer – is really increasing the diversity within the company, increasing diverse voices, choreographic voices. And women. More women choreographers. That doesn’t mean that I’m not hiring male white choreographers, obviously, but when we have new opportunities, I try as much as I can to to widen our voices. I think it’s been really great for the dance world to do those things. It’s an exciting time.

You mentioned in a May 2022 interview that you did with Sarah L. Kaufman at the Washington Post when your position was announced about your desire to revisit Le Corsaire and La Bayadere. But you’ll make changes, possibly adjusting the storylines and details, after undertaking research “so that we’re really hearing from audience members.”

I don’t normally look at the comments people leave at the end of a story, but I was curious what people said. There were comments like “just what I don’t want politically correct ballet” or “I’m very leery of taking a social warrior approach to improving ballet.” How do you see the challenges you face as navigating that balancing act that accompanies revising and revisiting classic works? 

Everything has to be done very thoughtfully and not [be] reactionary. With La Bayadere, which is the first one I want to work on, although that’s several years down the road, I’ve already started working with the designer and with Indian scholars and Hindu scholars. That’s just the beginning. I found out that there’s actually not that many adjustments that need to be made to La Bayadere.

We’re not going to suddenly put La Bayadere in the eighties in Las Vegas, for example. We are going to do La Bayadere with some adjustments which currently seem to be very doable and will not really make a huge change to the ballet, but will be more culturally appropriate.

As far as the people, it’s so easy to sit behind your screen on your computer and make comments like that. But I don’t really pay much attention to it because they’re not inside it. I feel very responsible for what we put out on stage and also responsible to the art form. I am a traditionalist and I want to preserve the traditions of ballet while not misappropriating, while not insulting, but also preserving. That is who I am. That’s who I always will be. I’m not going to turn the whole world upside down and suddenly everything’s going to be completely changed. But it will be adjusted. 

Do you find that the labels that we used to traditionally identify things are maybe falling a bit by the wayside? Is there a dissolving a little bit of what the term ballet means?

It depends upon what people think traditional ballet is. What I consider to be ballet is when it is balletically-based. So Like Water for Chocolate is balletically-based contemporary movement. We’re not talking about contemporary dance, but it has a contemporary feeling to it, but the legs are classical in their execution. For me, it’s the technique of ballet that that makes something what I would consider to be classical ballet. Maybe not classical, but ballet.

You’re a strong proponent of meditation. I want to ask you about something that T.S. Eliot wrote. “I said to my soul, be still and wait without hope for hope would be hope for the wrong thing. Wait without love for love would be love for the wrong thing. There is yet faith, but the faith and the love are all in the waiting. Wait without a thought for you are not ready for thought. So the darkness shall be the light and the stillness, the dancing.”

Where do you find dancing in the stillness and how important will it be for you to find that as you navigate your way through your time as Artistic Director of ABT? 

The stillness and the dancing. Well, you’re tying that to dancing ballet. I was thinking that it was dancing of the soul.

They both work for the question. 

They both work for the question. Good ballet, just like any good art, comes not from the technical execution of it, but the transformation of that technical execution into depth, authenticity, beauty, humanity. That’s what makes ballet or any art form really difficult. But you can’t access your authenticity if you don’t know who you are. For me, an artist’s responsibility is to not only know who they are from the depths of silence, but then be looking out.

When you’re meditating you really get to experience compassion towards humanity and for all our failures. We are a bunch of failures, failing up, sometimes failing down, but usually failing up even if it doesn’t look like that.

When you’re sitting in an audience and you feel, sense and experience those artists that are in the flow; being danced by a much higher energy. But from deep within is the real part. That’s a dancer’s journey. You can’t do anything on the surface because you will not move your audience and you will not move yourself. From the depths is where it’s the origin of the emotional force of dancing. 

And is it from those same depths that you have to rely to guide your way as artistic director?

100%. Because I’m in charge of all these people. I take that very seriously and I want everybody to grow. You still have to be honest. You still have to make sure that that everybody is growing, but also understanding where they need to grow. I think it’s a delicate art. Leading people is not for the faint of heart. It is a huge responsibility. And not only leading people, but also leading us into our new artistic vision and endeavors for our audience. So I take that very seriously and hopefully now I’m not taking myself too seriously because that would be tragedy. But yes, I do believe that deep thought and responsibility goes into these kinds of jobs.

To watch the full interview with Susan Jaffe, please go here.

Main Photo: Cassandra Trenary and Daniel Carmago in Like Water for Chocolate (Photo by Fabrizio Ferri/Courtesy Segerstrom Center for the Arts)

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There’s an old saying that there are no small roles, only small actors. But sometimes the right combination of actor and role, regardless of size, can have ripple effects that extend beyond the stage itself and into the real world. Enter Sam Simahk.

He’s currently playing the role of Freddy Eynsford-Hill in the touring production of My Fair Lady. The show, which is currently playing at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa, continues across the United States through August.

Hill is a character who is immediately smitten with Eliza Doolittle in the musical. Though he’s upper-class and Eliza is a cockney flower girl being groomed by Professor Henry Higgins to present as well above her status, Hill can’t help but want to spend every possible moment on the street where she lives.

As with all the actors who have played this role in the 2018 Broadway revival, Simahk represents a departure from traditional casting of the role. He told me just before the holidays his mother is “a New Englander with lineage on the Mayflower. And my dad is an immigrant from Thailand.”

The last thing he thought he’d do is play roles traditionally portrayed by white actors.

“I came out of college thinking I’m going to be cast in The King and I and Miss Saigon. And here are the other ethnicities that I can pretend to be on stage: I can probably play Latino. I can maybe play Italian. Maybe Middle Eastern – this is the frame of mind that I had coming into the industry and now things are flipped on their head. People are actively trying to cast nontraditionally and trying to to cast with diversity in mind. Granted, we’re making baby steps.”

Simahk’s timing couldn’t have been better. He’s been cast as Curly in Oklahoma!, Sky Masterson in Guys and Dolls and Anthony Hope in Sweeney Todd.

“Even if I’m from the backwoods of Massachusetts personality-wise, I’m more like Curly than the King of Siam. I have more of a cultural understanding of what it’s like to be Curly. I have cattle ropers in the family, for instance. So even though I understand that experience, casting directors 10-15 years ago, were not thinking that I had that experience because of the way that I looked. And audiences don’t expect me to have that experience, you know? But things are changing and I’m just so glad to be able to tackle that.”

He’s also tackling what might best be described as his character’s inherent creepiness, at least as judged by contemporary standards.

“In the post MeToo era I think it’s very tricky to have a guy waiting outside of a girl’s house for months. In the ’50s that was romantic. In today’s society it is creepy and weird. So how do you approach it? I think if you approach that purely through romantic means, if it comes from a genuine naivete and a sweetness, it softens the stalker-ism a little bit.”

Simahk believes it is best to approach a work like this from multiple perspectives.

“When it comes to the classics I think you have to look at it through three different lenses. The first is the literal. I think when most people see a show, they’re thinking they see it in a literal sense. We’re in 1913 London and there was a cockney flower girl who meets a professor of linguistics. This is the story that comes out and that’s literal. I think you have to view it through the lens from which it was written – 1956 New York. What’s going on at that point? Women have the right to vote, but they’re still not allowed in the workplace. And so that that comes out of that period. Then the third lens to look at it through is the lens through which it’s produced currently. I think it’s important to bring back these works that have a good amount of misogyny baked into them because of the culture that they came from. We view the way that we’ve changed as a society and the ways that we haven’t changed as a society. We need to think about how often are we Henry Higgins? And how often are we Eliza? And when can we be more like Pickering or Freddy?”

An additional way Simahk looks at it is how younger audiences might view him in this role and what that might mean to them.

“Some nights I look out and there’s an Asian family sitting in the front row with little kids and it just makes me really proud to be up there. This is good representation to show a kid – a kid who loved doing theater. Yes, you can be an actor and you don’t have to play a guy that works at a Chinese laundry. You can be a prince, you can be a cowboy, you can be a rich boy from Upper Class England. You don’t have to adhere to these stereotypes that have been set up for us for 100 years and more.

“That’s great for the kids, but I also think it’s necessary for the adults and for the country to see us on stage. To see black, brown, yellow, red, see people of all colors on stage and remind people that we are a part of the fabric of this country as well.”

George Bernard Shaw, whose play Pygmalion inspired My Fair Lady, said, “Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.” It’s a concept with which Simahk whole-heartedly agrees as he pursues not just a career, but a better industry.

“We all have flaws and I think we all try to be better. I think we all need to work at that. We all need to fight the demons and we all have demons of some sort. We all need to fight those demons because the world changes and the world adapts. And if we don’t adapt with it, then we die. I think that if every individual worked harder at adapting to a changing world then society would work along with those individuals. I don’t think that I’m perfect. I think I’m an incredibly flawed human being, but I try and fight those flaws as much as I can. I try and recognize them and give them space. Then I push past them – I hope to push past them. That’s all any of us can hope for.”

For details and tickets for the My Fair Lady national tour, please go here.

Photo: Sam Simahk in My Fair Lady (Photo by Joan Marcus/Courtesy Segerstrom Center for the Arts)

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At the ripe old age of 25, vocalist Veronica Swift was praised by Giovanni Russonello in the New York Times for “her startling command and improbably mature delivery.” That was the year that her album Confessions was released. Her next album, This Bitter Earth, was completed in late 2019, but with the onslaught of the pandemic she decided it wasn’t the best time to release new work.

Earlier this year the album was finally released. Swift is now touring to support it with performances this week at the Newman Center in Denver on Friday, two sets at the Samueli Theater at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa on Saturday and a fourth performance at the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts in Davis, California.

I discovered Swift when I first read about her shows at Segerstrom. That lead me to listen to three of her albums and I think she’s one of the finest young singers out there. One thing I admire is that she doesn’t fall into any one category. Her choice of material comes from the Great American Songbook, Broadway and bands you may never have heard of. What she does with all this material is to make each and every song completely her own.

Last week I spoke by phone with Swift about the record, her influences and the kind of songs that make her want to just sing. What follows are excerpts from that conversation that have been edited for length and clarity.

In 2019, you told San Francisco Jazz that for your previous album “each song on the album could be an entry from a diary.” When This Bitter Earth was recorded what does this audio diary reveal about who you were in that time and place? 

This Bitter Earth, instead of it just being a continuation, it’s really a social commentary record. Not a political record, but it’s just a reaction to all the things that we’re experiencing in this ever-changing world. Things were coming up in the news that were just so upsetting. Rather than just taking an escapism approach, I wanted do a record that was just an artistic reaction and observation to all that. 

Given the album’s delay due to COVID, how has your relationship to these songs and the way you perform them evolved?

All of these songs are completely different now, if not not in the way we play it, but the way I approach singing them. I had no idea what we were in for. But some of the material that the record had on it, it’s kind of some weird spiritual unveiling that happened. That’s why we held off to release it because it didn’t feel right to release any music and try to forward my career at a time when everyone was suffering so much. But after that, we kind of had a little glimpse into the future hope. That’s when I released the record, and it really reflects the songs well. It’s uncanny.

We’re not out of the woods on so many of the issues that inspired This Bitter Earth. Is it tough for you to remain optimistic?

I always call myself like a pessimistic optimist, but I think that’s being a product of my generation. My generation – just look at the pop music. I mean, it’s just all very dark. It’s just been going down a dark tunnel. The music is getting so evil and like giving up; all the songs are just about detaching from any kind of reality. And I want my music to inspire something else. I don’t want to have part of that.

How important is getting younger listeners to listen to what you and other artists do as you move on to greater success with your career? 

It’s always important to listen to what’s out there. I get a lot of young singers and musicians that are always asking me, ‘What should I listen to?’ I just think there’s no answer to that. You just listen to who you like and then you figure out who they listen to, then figure out who is kind of doing that in your present contemporary time. Our job, if you’re a musician or deejay, you’re in that industry, is to listen to every possible thing out there, whether it had already been recorded years and years ago, or if it’s current.

My buddies, Cyrille (Aimeé) Cécile (McLorin Salvant), we all talk about how it’s amazing how different we all are, and we have completely different stories and tales to tell and a purpose. Between us there’s like so much history in there, but also like completely current. We definitely belong in this time period doing what we do. 

The album ends with Sing, a song written and recorded by The Dresden Dolls 15 years ago. It’s a great recording and the song feels like it could have been written six months ago.

And it could have been written forty years years ago. I mean, that’s the beautiful thing about great music. The best music to me is timeless and ageless, especially with musicians that are inspired by music of different times. And that’s what I loved about that band. They were, you know, kind of like a mix between like hardcore punk mixed with like some 1930s old like Berlin cabaret and theater and this and that and jazz. There’s everything. But if you can make that a sound that is completely uniquely yours and write music also with this – this is like everything to me. A song that can transcend time. Like many of the great standards can. Many, not all. Many.

You spent four years performing as Frank ‘n’ Furter in The Rocky Horror Show in college. You’ve also stated a desire to play John Adams in a production of the musical 1776. How much does theater influence your performance style?

I can only hope to perform my fullest self for the audience. I don’t want to hold anything back. And for me, performance art and theater doesn’t have to mean you sacrifice a musical and artistic integrity of your musicianship or the lyric content. For me both enhance each other. It’s my dream to have props on stage and have the musicians be the characters – whatever the show we’re doing. Musical theater is always a huge part of my background. Whether you’re a musician or a writer everything comes down to story and narrative. And that’s why I like to call myself a storyteller more than a singer or a musician.

All photos by Matt Baker (Courtesy UnlimitedMyles)

The post Veronica Swift – Storyteller appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

What makes it so interesting? Imagine combining the amazing jazz music of legendary saxophonist Charles Lloyd with the piano stylings of the endlessly creative Jason Moran. Okay, maybe that’s not unique on its own. After all, they did release Hagar’s Song in 2013.

Now combine their brilliance with Alonzo King LINES Ballet and you have the main attraction on Saturday’s program, Azoth. Lloyd and Moran composed the music, performed and recorded it for this work by King which had its world premiere in 2019.

The title is defined by Merriam-Webster Dictionary as “mercury regarded by alchemists as the first principle of metals.” King takes the concept of transforming metals into creating spiritual gold by transforming hearts and minds.

Also on the bill at Segerstrom are works from their repertoire that feature music by Gabriel Fauré, Zakir Hussain and Edgar Meyer. This is a precursor to their 40th anniversary celebrations which begin next year.

I’m personally an enormous fan of both Lloyd and Moran’s work that seeing dancers move to it will certainly be the highlight of my weekend.

By the way, if you are a fan of Jason Moran and live in the Southern California area, he has an intimate show on Monday, September 13th at 2220 Arts & Archives (formerly the Bootleg Theater). The show is presented by Just Jazz Presents and LeRoy Downs. For tickets please go here.

On October 1st, Alonzo King LINES Ballet will perform at the San Francisco Symphony’s Re-Opening Night Gala. They will be performing Alberto Ginastera’s Estancia Suite. Also on the program are works by John Adams, Silvestre Revueltas and songs performed by Esperanza Spalding that were written by Wayne Shorter. Esa-Pekka Salonen leads the orchestra. This concert will also be performed on October 2nd.

For tickets at Segerstrom Hall please go here. For tickets to Re-Opening Night Gala at San Francisco Symphony, please go here. For tickets to San Francisco Symphony’s October 2nd performance, please go here.

To attend any of these events, including Moran’s solo piano show, you must show proof of vaccination.

Update: This post has been updated to more accurately reflect the COVID vaccination requirements at all three venues.

Photo: James Gowan of Alonzo King LINES Ballet (Photo by RJ Muna/Courtesy Alonzo King Lines Ballet)

The post Alonzo King LINES Ballet Dances Their Way through California appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

Indirectly celebrating this natal day are multiple options that fall under the category of a line from Hamlet, “The play’s the thing.” Beyond the Shakespeare options are five other plays.

If you want funky jazz, contemporary classical music, operas from Europe or modern dance, I’ve got that for you as well. They’re all so good, I can’t make one of them the top pick.

In As You Like It, these famous words are said, “All the world’s a stage and all the men and women merely players.” So in this spirit of this weekend’s Academy Awards, the nominees for great players in Best Bets: April 23rd – April 26th are:

THEATER: Neat – Manhattan Theatre Club – Now – April 25th

Charlayne Woodard’s one-person show Neat opened at New York City Center in a Manhattan Theatre Club production in 1997.

Lawrence Van Gelder, writing for the New York Times, said of Woodard’s play, “Ms. Woodard sings, she dances, but most of all she tells good stories, bringing them to life in ways that are poignant.”

Woodard revisits the work in this prevention as part of MTC’s Curtain Call series. The great thing is you can see this wonderful play and performance for free. All you have to do is register. But act quickly, the run ends on Sunday, April 25th.

DANCE: Digital Program 5 – San Francisco Ballet – Now – May 12th

Three archival performances make up this program from San Francisco Ballet. They include 7 for Eight from 2016 and Anima Animus and Snowblind from 2018.

Helgi Tomasson is the creator of 7 for Eight which is set to the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. David Dawson is the choreographer of Anima Animus which is set to music by Ezio Bosso. Cathy Marston is the choreographer of Snowblind which uses music by Amy Beach, Philip Feeney, Arthur Foote, and Arvo Pärt.

Tickets are $29 and allow for 72 hours of access to the program.

PLAY READING: Two Sisters and a Piano – New Normal Rep – Now – May 23rd ART IN AN EMAIL

Playwright Nilo Cruz is best-known for his Pulitzer Prize winning play Anna in the Tropics from 2002. Three years prior to that success he premiered Two Sisters and a Piano.

The play tells the story of two sisters under house arrest in Cuba in 1991. One sister is an author and the lieutenant keeping track of their case has fallen in love with her. The other is a pianist who finds her piano tuner falling head over heels for his client.

Cruz has directed a new reading of Two Sisters and a Piano with Jimmy Smits (Anna in the Tropics); Florencia Lozano (Rinse, Repeat), Gary Perez and Daphne Rubin-Vega (both of whom appeared in Two Sisters and a Piano at The Public Theater.)

In A.D. Amorosi‘s review of this reading for Variety, he says, “Cruz’s playful poetic language, even at its most harshly politicized, and his easy direction allow his actors a delicious freedom. Even when its characters are not free, enclosed in one cramped apartment with nothing but mangoes, rice and the occasional rum shot (and despite the virtual limitations of a laptop’s viewing screen), Two Sisters and a Piano is as open as a Havana landscape, with all of its flavors, scents and sensory overloads at full tilt.”

Tickets are $25 with $10 tickets available for students.

PLAY: The Royale – Private Reels: From the LCT Archives on Broadway on Demand – Now – May 16th

Real life boxer Jack Jackson (the first African-American world heavyweight champion) serves as the inspiration for the story of Jay “The Sport” Jackson in Marco Ramirez’s 2016 play The Royale. (He was also the inspiration for The Great White Hope).

The story is told in six rounds.

Rachel Chavkin, Tony Award-winner for Hadestown, directed this production. Starring are McKinley Belcher III (the 2020 revival of A Soldier’s Play), Khris Davis (Sweat), Montego Glover (Tony nominee for Memphis), John Lavelle (Catch-22) and Clarke Peters (Five Guys Named Moe).

As Ben Brantley said in his rave New York Times review, “…the great subject of The Royale, which has been given such original and graceful theatrical form, is the selfish single-mindedness required of champions, and the repercussions such a focus has when it’s exercised by a black man in a white man’s world.” 

There is no charge to watch The Royale, but you will have to register with Broadway on Demand.

THEATER: An Iliad – A Noise Within – Now – May 16th

Easily one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences I’ve had seeing a play was when I attended Denis O’Hare and Lisa Peterson’s An Iliad at the Broad Stage in Santa Monica. It’s a powerful work that is inspired by Homer’s Iliad.

This play, specifically called An Iliad because it isn’t the Iliad, calls for just one actor and a cellist and that actor has to be completely on top of his/her game.

A Noise Within is offering streaming performances of An Iliad with co-founder Geoff Elliott and actress Deborah Strang alternating performances. Joining them as both composer and cellist is Karen Hall. Julia Rodriguez-Elliott directs.

The link in the title will take you to the website so you can see which actor is performing in each performance. Tickets, which are $25 for an individual and $40 for a family, must be reserved a minimum of two hours before each performance.

To see what Denis O’Hare had to say about the show, check out my 2014 interview with him here.

OPERA: Jules Massenet’s Manon – Wiener Staatsoper – April 22nd – 1:00 PM EDT/10:00 AM

Conducted by Frédéric Chaslin; starring Nina Machaidze, Juan Diego Flórez and Adrian Eröd. This Andrei Serban production is from 2019.

Massenet’s opera was composed in 1883 and had its world premiere in January of 1884 in Paris. The libretto is by  Henri Meilhac and Philippe Gille.

They based the opera on the 1731 Abbé Prévost novel, L’histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut.

A young woman from a small town has an intense desire to lavish herself with all the riches and pleasures life has to offer her. But life doesn’t always work out the way we want. Sounds like a story that could be written today.

This is the first of Vienna State Opera’s productions I’ve included in our listings. Very much like the Metropolitan Opera, they offer a different production each day. There is no charge to watch the productions, but you do need to register on their website. Each production will be available for 24 hours.

MUSICAL: A Letter to Harvey Milk – Now – April 25th

The creators of this musical, Jerry James, Laura I. Kramer, Ellen M. Schwartz and Cheryl Stern were inspired by a short story of the same name by Lesléa Newman. A Letter to Harvey Milk opened off-Broadway in 2018 at the Acorn Theatre in New York.

The setting is San Francisco in the mid 1980s. Harry, a kosher butcher who has retired and is also a widower, is given an assignment to write a letter to someone who is dead. He chooses California politician Harvey Milk – the first openly gay politician elected in California who was later assassinated by Dan White in 1978. But why?

Members of the original cast has reunited for this streaming production. They include Adam Heller, Julia Knitel, Cheryl Stern who are joined by Michael Bartoli, Jeremy Greenbaum, Aury Krebs and Ravi Roth. Evan Pappas directs.

Tickets range from $10 – $50 with proceeds going to The Actors Fund and HIAS. All tickets purchased will allow viewing of the musical through Sunday, April 25th at 11:59 PM EDT/8:59 PDT.

SHAKESPEARE: Shakespeare Sonnet Slam – Gingold Theatrical Group – April 23rd – 6:00 PM EDT/3:00 PM PDT

Happy Birthday William Shakespeare. You don’t look a day over 450. The Gingold Theatrical Group is celebrating by holding a virtual open mic where Shakespeare’s sonnets or other material based on or inspired by the Sonnets will be performed. Everyone is invited to participate and you have three minutes to give it your all.

Joining in this celebration are Stephen Brown-Fried, Robert Cuccioli, Tyne Daly, George Dvorsky, Melissa Errico, Alison Fraser, Tom Hewitt, Daniel Jenkins, John-Andrew Morrison, Patrick Page, Maryann Plunkett, Tonya Pinkins, Laila Robins, Jay O. Sanders, Renee Taylor, Jon Patrick Walker and more.

You’ll have to come up with your own take on the Sonnets, but this is a free party! You can find the Shakespeare Sonnet Slam on Gingold Theatrical Group’s Facebook page.

CONTEMPORARY CLASSICAL MUSIC: Sonic Shift – Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra – Premieres April 23rd at 9:30 PM EDT/6:30 PM PDT

Composer Jessie Montgomery has curated this new episode of LA Chamber Orchestra’s Close Quarters series. On the program are works by composers Marcos Balter, Anna Meredith and Alyssa Weinberg. Each work explores the progression from acoustic music to electronic and electro-acoustic music with an emphasis on the wind section.

Will Kim provides the visuals that accompany the performance which is lead by Christopher Rountree of Wild Up! Nadia Sirota is the music producer.

This is the first of two Close Quarters episodes curated by Montgomery. I recently interviewed her about working with LACO. You can read that interview here.

There’s no charge to watch this performance. Donations are encouraged.

CHAMBER MUSIC: Neave Trio – Asheville Chamber Music Series – April 23rd – April 25th – Art in an EMAIL

Pianist Eri Nakamura, cellist Mikhail Veselov and violinist Anna Williams are the members in Neave Trio. Following on the heels of their 2019 album Her Voice, which featured female composers, their concert this weekend as part of the Asheville Chamber Music Series will also showcase female composers.

On the program is the Trio No. 1, Op. 33 by Louise Farrench; Rebecca Clarke’s Piano Trio and Cécile Chaminade’s Piano Trio No. 1, Op. 11.

Perhaps none of these composers is familiar to you. They aren’t to me. But Neave Trio’s passion for this lesser-known music makes this concert utterly compelling.

There are three performances: Friday, April 23rd at 7:30 PM EDT/4:30 PM PDT; Saturday at 7:30 PM EDT/4:30 PM PDT and Sunday at 3:00 PM EDT/12:00 PM PDT.

You can watch this concert for free, but donations are encouraged.

JAZZ: Sun Ra Arkestra – SFJAZZ – April 23rd – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

The name Herman Poole Blount probably doesn’t mean anything to you. But if told that was the birth name of Le Sony’r Ra who would later become known as Sun Ra, you might have a better idea who he was.

Experimental, free and avant-garde jazz was his specialty. It was always performed best by the Sun Ra Arkestra.

After Sun Ra’s death in 1993, alto saxophonist Marshall Allen starting leading the ensemble. As he does in this concert at SFJAZZ from 2017.

To get a sense of what might be in store for you in this Fridays at Five concert, here are some of the songs being performed: Space Loneliness, Saturn, Angels and Demons at Play and Space is the Place. It’s going to be trippy.

And you can take that trip for $5 (which offers one full month of digital membership or $60 (which includes a one year digital membership.)

There is an encore showing on April 24th at 1:00 PM EDT/10:00 AM PDT.

PLAY: Romeo and Juliet – Great Performances on PBS – April 23rd – Check Local Listings

You don’t expect just some stand-up sonnets for Shakespeare’s birthday, do you? Of course not. Let’s throw in some tragedy. As in the tragic love story of them all – Romeo and Juliet.

The National Theatre created this film which maneuvers its way from rehearsal into and around the Lyttleton Theatre. The cast are stuck in a theater that has shut down and act out the story of the Capulets and the Montagues.

Starring as the title characters are Josh O’Connor and Jessie Buckley. The cast also includes Fisayo Akinade, Ella Dacres, Deborah Findlay, Tamsin Greig, Ellis Howard, Lloyd Hutchinson, David Judge, Adrian Lester, Lucian Msamati, Alex Mugnaioni, Shubham Saraf and Colin Tierney. Simon Godwin is the director.

As with any show on PBS, I’d advise checking your local listings for exact airdate and time in your part of the country.

OPERA: Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte – Wiener Staatsoper – April 24th – 1:00 PM EDT/10:00 AM PDT

Conducted by Adam Fischer; starring Benjamin Bruns, Olga Bezsmertna, Íride Martínez, Markus Werba and Annika Gerhards. This Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier production is from 2015.

Mozart’s opera premiered in September 1791 in Vienna a mere two months before the composer died. It features a libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder.

Prince Tamino is asked by the Queen of the Night to free her daughter Pamina from Sarastro. Tamino, however, is impressed with Sarastro and the way his community lives in the world and wants to be a part of it. Both alone and together Tamino and Pamina endure multiple tests. If they succeed, what will happen to them? To the Queen of the Night?

MONOLOGUES: Whispers International – April 24th – 2:00 PM EDT/11:00 AM PDT

As you know, there was a massive blast in Lebanon on August 4th of last year. Almost 200 people were killed and over 6,000 people were injured.

Whispers International was created to raise money for the victims and to help in the rebuilding of the area around the blast site.

British playwrights Geraldine Breenna, Mike Elliston, Kim Hardy, Angela Harvey, John Jesper and Kate Webster have made their writing available to a company of Lebanese actors to perform.

Those actors are Nadine Labaki, Georges Khabbaz, Nada Abou Farhat, Talal El Jurdi, Bernadette Houdeib, Rita Hayek, Badih Abou Chacra, Dory Al-Samarany, Bshara Atallah, Sany Abdul Baki, Josyane Boulos, Agatha Ezzedine and Hagop Der Ghougassian 

Tickets are £13.52 which at press time equals approximately $18.75.

OPERA: Humperdinck’s Hänsel und Gretel – Weiner Staatsoper – April 25th – 1:00 PM EDT/10:00 AM PDT

Conducted by Christian Thielemann; starring Ileana Tosca, Daniela Sindram, Adrian Eröd, Janina Baechle, Michaela Schuster, Annika Gerhards

The Grimm brother’s fairly tale about a brother and sister who are lured to a house with sweets and candies only to find a witch who wants to eat the duo is the basis for this opera that had its debut in 1893 in Weimar. Richard Strauss conducted the premiere. A second production the next year in Hamburg was conducted by Gustav Mahler. Adelheid Wette, Humpderdink’s sister, wrote the libretto.

Hansel and Gretel has the distinction of finding much of its popularity not just through opera houses, but on the radio. It was the first opera broadcast on the radio in Europe when a 1923 Covent Garden production was heard over the airwaves. Eight years later in 1931, it became the first ever opera broadcast in its entirety by the Metropolitan Opera.

The opera is commonly seen and heard during the Christmas season. An odd choice, but librettist Adelheid Wette did soften some of the harsher elements found in the original Grimm tales for her brother’s opera.

CABARET: Mandy Gonzalez – Seth Concert Series – April 25th – 3:00 PM EDT/12:00 PM PDT

With the upcoming film version of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s In the Heights, it’s a great time to check in on one of the musical’s original cast members: Mandy Gonzalez, who originated the role of Nina.

Gonazalez is an insanely talented singer and actress.

I saw her in In the Heights. She’s also appeared in Wicked, Lennon, Dance of the Vampires and as Angelica Schuyler in Hamilton.

I’ve also seen her perform her cabaret act and it is impossible to express the amount of pure joy that comes out of her when she’s singing. (And she does a killer version of Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen.)

She is Seth Rudetsky’s guest in his concert series this weekend.

Tickets are $25 and you can watch the live performance at 3:00 PM EDT or the replay of the concert at 8:00 PM EDT. Whichever you choose, you will certainly have a good time.

IN PERSON: DANCE: Uniting in Movement – American Ballet Theatre – Segerstrom Center for the Arts – April 25th – 1:30 PM PDT

You could be ambivalent about the Academy Awards and go see a rare live performance of ballet in Costa Mesa. ABT has been creating a program of three different works that were filmed this week. On Sunday, they are opening up Segerstrom Center for the Arts for a limited number of people to see the performance live.

The works are Let Me Sing Forever More by choreographer Jessica Lang and set to the recordings of Tony Bennett (clearly the title comes from Fly Me to the Moon); La Follia Variations by Lauren Lovette set to music of the same name by composer Francesco Geminiani and Indestructible Light by Darrell Grand Moultrie which is set to music by Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Neal Hefti and Billy Strayhorn.

Hefti, by the way, composed the theme for the television series Batman.

At press time the only available tickets were $80 each. There are Covid-protocols in place for this performance.

For those willing to wait, Uniting in Movement will be available for streaming through Segerstrom Center for the Arts from May 12th – May 26th for $25.

CHAMBER MUSIC: Argus Quartet: noise/Silence – Five Boroughs Music Festival and The Noguchi Museum – April 25th – 7:30 PM EDT/4:30 PM PDT (Art in an email)

Cellist Audrey Chen, violinists Clara Kim and Gioncarlo Latta and violist Maren Rothfritz make up the Argus Quartet. Though they perform music from across all eras of classical music, they seem to excel in contemporary works.

This concert was filmed at one of my favorite museums in New York, The Noguchi Museum. It is being presented by the Five Boroughs Music Festival. The Argus Quartet will perform works by composers John Cage (String Quartet in Four Parts); Dorothy Rudd More (Modes for String Quartet), Rolf Wallin (several selections from Curiosity Cabinet) and Paul Wiancko (Vox Petra).

The concert will be available for free streaming on the Five Boroughs Music Festival YouTube channel through December 31st.

OPERA: Bizet’s Carmen – Weiner Staatsoper – April 26th – 1:00 PM EDT/10:00 AM PDT

Conducted by Andrés Orozco-Estrada; starring Anita Rachvelishvili, Piotr Beczala, Erwin Schrott and Vera-Lotte Boecker. This Calixto Bieito production is from 2021.

Georges Bizet collaborated with librettists Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy on this immensely popular opera. It was based on Propser Mérimée’s novella of the same name. 

When Carmen was first performed in Paris in 1875 it was considered both shocking and scandalous. 

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.

PLAY: Measure for Measure – Goodman Theatre – April 26th – May 9th

Here’s another opportunity to celebrate the bard. But this isn’t going to be your standard production of a Shakespearean play.

Director Robert Falls has transported this play from Vienna to New YOrk City circa the late 1970s (or as I like to describe it, before Disney moved into Broadway).

The story is still the same. Claudio is sentenced to death under an arcane law invoked by Angelo who has taken over for the Duke who has left rather than have to deal with morality issues in (originally Vienna). Claudio’s crime? Getting his girlfriend, Juliet, pregnant.

The Duke returns in disguise and becomes aware of the decisions Angelo has been making. Deception, bargains, bartering, love and death are all on the table in this fairly convoluted play.

Justin Hayford, in his review for the Chicago Reader, had mixed feelings about the production:

“It’s rare for one of Shakespeare’s plays to be ripped from its original setting, transplanted across centuries and continents—and still end up feeling vital, urgent, and utterly contemporary. At least for a while. If Falls and his stellar cast could maintain that vitality past intermission, they’d have a masterpiece on their hands.”

Nonetheless, I think the concept sounds interesting and worth checking out. What else are you going to do on a Monday night? (Of course, I have another option for you…)

Tickets are free, but require registration.

AUDIO PLAY: Brother, Brother – New York Theatre Workshop – Live Premiere April 26th – 7:00 PM EDT/4:00 PM PDT Art in an email

New York Theater Workshop is offering up a twist on audio plays. This will feature visuals, but not of the performers. Rather, artists Ibrahim Rayintakath​ and Liang-Hsin Huang have created imagery that will accompany Aleshea Harris’ play.

Brother, Brother tells the story of two brothers sharing a bicycle while making their way through Appalachia. They are actors headed to Tennessee. They start getting followed by a mysterious man in a maroon suit. At this moment the dreams they have for their future are confronted by the acts from their past.

Starring in this audio play are Amari Cheathom (terrific in August Wilson’s Jitney), André De Shields (Tony Award-winner for Hadestown), Gbenga Akinnagbe (To Kill a Mockingbird) and Owen Tabaka (Ratatouille: The Tik Tok Musical). Shayok Misha Chowdhury directs.

Tickets are $10. Brother, Brother will remain available for streaming through July 25th.

Those are my Best Bets: April 23rd – April 26th. But a few reminders (and a preview):

MasterVoices has debuted the 3rd part of Myths and Hymns, a series of short films set to Adam Guettel’s song cycle. For details about the series, go here. For my interview with MasterVoices Artistic Director Ted Sperling, go here.

Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Gala 2021 is available for streaming through Sunday. For details about the program and how to get tickets, go here.

Carnegie Hall’s Voices of Hope series continues with multiple new shows available for free viewing. For details go here.

The Metropolitan Opera streams Philip Glass’ Satyagraha on Friday (highly recommended); Beethoven’s Fidelio on Saturday and Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites on Sunday (also highly recommended). For details and previews go here.

Here’s a preview of next week at the Met where the theme is City of Light (all the operas take place in Paris). Monday’s opera is, what else, La Bohème by Puccini.

That truly is the full and complete list of Best Bets: April 23rd – April 26th. Enjoy your weekend!

Photo: William Shakespeare (By BatyrAshirbayev98/Courtesy Wikipedia Commons)

The post Best Bets: April 23rd – April 26th appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

Our top pick this week is Heartbeat Opera’s Breathing Free, a powerful 45-minute film that is having its West Coast debut courtesy of The Broad Stage. Opera, spirituals, movement and imagery combine to explore the challenges Black men have of simply breathing without fear. I saw the film last year and can tell you this is easily one of the strongest works you’ll see all year.

If you are a fan of The Supremes and want to catch quite possibly Mary Wilson’s last performance (she passed away earlier this week), you will want to catch A Catalina Soulful Valentine fundraiser on Friday night.

It’s not all dance and topical issues this week, in fact, our first listing might find you mixing your own cocktails. Get your ice out of the freezer, get your cocktail shaker on standby and dig in!

Here are my Best Bets: February 12th – February 15th (we’re including Monday since it’s also a holiday weekend):

PLAY: Dixie’s Happy Hour – Segerstrom Center for the Arts – Now – February 21st

Dixie Longate hosting a happy hour? That will certainly have heavy emphasis on the happy. And probably on the adult side, too. Dixie, though a Southern girl at heart, has a quick wit and is never shy about sharing her thoughts.

With everything that has gone on the world since Dixie was last selling Tupperware locally, I can only imagine what she’ll have to say.

And what drinks she’ll make. I don’t believe Dixie has been in the Alabama slammer, but I bet she knows how to make a fierce one! Actually, she does have a pre-show margarita recipe to share.

There are performances every night through February 21st at 7:00 PM PST. Tickets are $35.

BALLET: Digital Program 02 – San Francisco Ballet – Now – March 3rd $29 for 72 hour access

The world premiere of Colorforms, a new work by Myles Thatcher, is featured in San Francisco Ballet’s Digital Program 02. The work, set to Variations for Vibes, Pianos and Strings by Steve Reich, seeks to illuminate the parallels between the creation and consumption of art. The film, directed by Ezra Hurwitz, was shot in multiple San Francisco locations including the War Memorial Opera House where the San Francisco Ballet regularly performs.

Opening the program is Dwight Rhoden‘s Let’s Begin at the End which features music by Johann Sebastian Bach, Philip Glass and Michael Nyman. The work was created for SF Ballet’s 2018 Unbound and had its debut on April 26th of that year.

Closing out the program is Sandpaper Ballet by Mark Morris with music by Leroy Anderson. The work was created in 1999 for San Francisco Ballet. Composer Anderson is probably best-known for having written the popular holiday song, Sleigh Ride. Sandpaper Ballet was composed in 1954.

Tickets are $29 and allow for 72 hours of streaming.

BALLET: Raymonda Act III – Royal Opera House – Now – March 14th

Marius Petipa’s ballet, Raymonda, had its world premiere in St. Petersburg in 1898 and is set to the music of Alexander Glazunov. In 1948 the Kirov Ballet revived the ballet with new choreography by Konstantin Sergeyev. This latter choreography is the one most commonly used in performances of the ballet.

Ballet star Rudolf Nureyev dance the ballet with the Kirov. He would later stage a full-length version for the Royal Ballet in 1964. Five years later he tweaked the very popular third act. It is that version that will be seen in this film which comes from a 2003 tribute to Nureyev. (The event took place ten years after his death.)

The two acts leading up to the segment being presented depicts the story of two lovers, Raymonda and Jean de Brienne who plan to get married. Unfortunately Abderman shows up at her birthday party and makes his intentions clear. Jean de Brienne does not arrive for one more day. He does arrive just in time (in Act 2) to break up Abderman’s kidnapping attempt of Raymonda. A duel ensues between the two men and Abderman is killed.

So what’s left in Act III? A big celebration. The full ballet isn’t performed as often as is this third act.

Pavel Sorokin conducts with Natalia Osipova as Raymonda and Vadim Muntagirov as Jean de Brienne.

Tickets to stream this performance are £3 which at press time equals approximately $4.15

THEATRE TALK: Virtual Halston – Cast Party Network on YouTube – February 12th – 5:00 PM EST/2:00 PM PST

Fans of the original cast of The Producers will certainly recognize Julie Halston’s guests for this week’s Virtual Halston: Cady Huffman (who originated the role of Ulla and won both the Drama Desk Award and the Tony Award as Best Featured Actress in a Musical) and Brad Oscar (who originated the role of Franz Liebkind). Oscar would later assume the role of Max Bialystock (the role Nathan Lane created) as the show continued its successful run on Broadway.

The two will be reunited on this Friday’s virtual happy hour with Halston. It’s a holiday weekend, your work is being mostly done by remote, why not mix a drink early and join in the fun?

PLAY: Yorick, La Historia de Hamlet – REDCAT – February 12th – February 14th

Hamlet’s soliloquies form the basis for this one-man show created by and starring Chilean actor Francisco Reyes. Yorick, the late court jester in Shakespeare’s play, is the narrator of Yorick, La Historia de Hamlet. Co-creator Simón Reyes wrote the script.

Joining Reyes in the performance are puppets that he manipulates. The puppets were created by Ismael Reyes.

The film is also uniquely lit by only candlelight. Music was composed by Miguel Miranda with songs by Rocío Reyes.

The work is performed in Spanish with English subtitles. There are only three showings of this highly-acclaimed film by Reyes. Friday, February 12th at 8:00 PM EST/5:00 PM PST; Saturday and Sunday at 6:00 PM EST/3:00 PM PST. Tickets range from $8 for students up to $15 for general admission.

JAZZ: SF Jazz Collective – SFJAZZ – February 12th – 8:00 PM EST/5:00 PM PST

This weekend’s Fridays at Five concert celebrates the work of two very influential and different artists: Sly and the Family Stone and Miles Davis. As befitting such groundbreaking artists, this concert runs nearly two hours.

The San Francisco Jazz Collective, an octet, performs music from Stand! and Davis’ In a Silent Way. Both albums were released in 1969.

This concert, from November 2019, celebrates the 50th anniversary of both works. Stand! featured the songs I Want to Take You Higher and Everyday People. Davis was more austere with his recording – it only had two tracks, but ran 38 minutes.

The members of the SF Jazz Collective are bassist Matt Brewer; trumpeter Etienne Charles; drummer Obed Calvaire; vocalist Martin Luther McCoy; guitarist Adam Rogers; tenor saxophonist David Sánchez; pianist Edward Simon and vibraphonist Warren Wolf.

There is also a cameo appearance by Family Stone drummer Greg Errico. 

Tickets are $5 (which includes a one-month digital membership) or $60 (which includes an annual digital membership). This concert will stream just once.

JAZZ/CABARET: A Catalina Soulful Valentine – February 12th – 9:00 PM EST/6:00 PM PST

Los Angeles nightclub, Catalina Jazz Club, has been severely impacted by the pandemic. They are doing everything they can to keep the doors open and amongst them is Friday night’s A Catalina Soulful Valentine.

For weeks they have been touting the appearance of Mary Wilson of The Supremes as one of their performers. Of course, she passed away earlier this week. But, her set was filmed in advance and will be seen in its entirety to both support Catalina Jazz Club and to honor her.

Sally Struthers and singer/musician Mr. Chris Norton serve as hosts. The list of performers includes Lucie Arnaz, Carole J. Bufford, Linda Purl, James Snyder, Nita Whitaker and more.

The show will air on Catalina’s Facebook page and Chris Isaacson Presents’ YouTube channel. There is no charge to watch the concert, but donations are definitely encouraged.

JAZZ: Douglas J. Cuomo’s Seven Limbs featuring Nels Cline and Aizuri Quartet – CAP UCLA – February 12th – 10:00 PM EST/7:00 PM PST

Composer Douglas J. Cuomo’s Seven Limbs was meant to have its world premiere last year. We all know what happened to preclude that. This digital performance of the work had its world premiere earlier this week from The Moss Arts Center at Virginia Tech.

UCLA’s Center for the Art of Performance is making the film available on Friday with on demand opportunities beginning on Sunday for one week.

What is Seven Limbs? It is a 75-minute work for electric guitar and string quartet. Cuomo composed this specifically for the artists who perform it: Wilco guitarist Nels Cline and the Aizuri Quartet.

But what is it? Best to let the composer describe it for you:

“This piece is inspired by an ancient Buddhist purification ceremony called The Seven Limbs. It’s part of a meditation practice I do every day. The practice has lots of words; the piece has none. The feel of this ceremony is what I kept going to as I composed, and then at some point I realized I was setting text without using words. For me Seven Limbs is a dream-like piece; I can look inward to a new terrain and find out what’s there. Stillness, turmoil, suppleness, euphoria, high drama. I wrote it for Nels Cline and the Aizuri Quartet because, for composers, to write for great players is another kind of dream. Together, we offer you our dream, in the hope it makes some connection with you.”

CAP UCLA is making this performance free to view.

OPERA: Save the Boys – Opera Philadelphia – February 12th

Last week our top pick was musician/composer Tyshawn Sorey’s two-night gig at the Village Vanguard. He returns to our Best Bets this weekend with the debut of his twenty-minute song cycle Save the Boys.

Sorey uses Frances Ellen Watkins Harper’s 1887 poem of the same name as the inspiration for this work.

Harper was an Black women’s rights activist and abolitionist.

Performing Save the Boys is the vocalist for whom it was written: countertenor John Holiday. If his name sounds familiar, perhaps you saw him on the most recently concluded season of The Voice. In 2019 I interviewed Holiday. You can read that interview here.

Holiday is accompanied on the piano by Opera Philadelphia’s Grant Loehnig.

Tickets are $10 which allows for a seven-day rental.

OPERA: Cosí fan tutte – San Francisco Opera – February 13th – February 14th

Conducted by Nicola Luisotti; starring Ellie Dehn, Susannah Biller, Marco Vinco, Francesco Demuro and Philippe Sly. This revival of the 2004 John Cox production is from the 2012-2013 season.

Mozart’s Cosí fan tutte had its world premiere in Vienna in 1790. Lorenzo Da Ponte, who wrote the libertti for The Marriage of Figaro and Don Giovanni, wrote the libretto.

Ferrando and Guglielmo are vacationing with their fiancées, Dorabella and Fiordiligi. They are sisters. Don Alfonso challenges the men to a bet revolving around the women and their ability to be faithful. Using disguise, deception and a wicked sense of humor, Mozart’s opera ends happily ever after for one and all.

Joshua Kosman, writing for the San Francisco Chronicle, raved about Sly’s performance as Guglielmo , “In the ensemble cast of six, the standout performance was the precocious and phenomenally assured company debut of Adler Fellow Philippe Sly as Guglielmo. Adler Fellows don’t often get cast at this level, but then again, Adler Fellows this gifted and accomplished are rare indeed.

“Sly’s singing was at once robust and lyrical, with a beautiful range of tonal colors and the ability to combine virility and tenderness in a single phrase.”

CLASSICAL MUSIC: Anna Clyne’s Stride – Detroit Symphony Orchestra – February 13th – 7:30 PM EST/4:30 PM PST

It must be daunting for a composer to have a world premiere or relatively new work precede one of the stalwart compositions in classical music. Such is the status of British composer Anna Clyne who’s Stride will be performed by members of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra prior to their performance of Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 6 in B-flat Major, BWV 1051.

But it is Clyne’s composition that is most interesting about this concert. The Australian Chamber Orchestra commissioned Clyde to write a piece as part of their celebration of the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s Birth. The Covid-19 pandemic forced the cancellation of many of their performances last year, but they were able to return on November 14th with the world premiere of Stride.

The work weaves themes from Beethoven’s Pathetique Sonata throughout and also includes nods to other composers, most notably Bernard Herrmann (best known for his film scores for director Alfred Hitchcock).

Tickets are $12 to stream the concert.

DANCE: John Henry – Dance Theatre of Harlem on Stage Access – Debuts February 13th – 8:00 PM EST/5:00 PM PST

Dance Theatre of Harlem gave the world premiere performance of Arthur Mitchell’s John Henry on June 28, 1988. Before getting into her review, Anna Kisselgoff of the New York Times reported, “…its premiere at the company’s opening at the City Center Tuesday night roused cheering fans out of their seats during the curtain calls. Mr. Mitchell, the troupe’s founder and artistic director, stayed in the spirit of things by throwing himself into a choreographed clog dance to acknowledge the applause.”

With music by Milton Rosenstock, Dance Theatre of Harlem will make available, via Stage Access, a performance filmed in Denmark at Danmarks Radio. The performance will remain available through February 19th.

Stage Access offers up a 7-day free trial with two subscription options: an annual plan of $69.99 or a monthly plan of $7.99

TOP PICK: OPERA/MOVEMENT: Breathing Free – The Broad Stage – February 13th – 10:00 PM EST/7:00 PM PST

Earlier this week I published an interview with Michael Blakk Powell, a formerly incarcerated man who was a member of the Kuji Mens Chorus at Marion Correctional Institute in Ohio. Through his participation in that chorus, he found himself learning German to perform music from Beethoven’s Fidelio.

One of the two pieces in which that performance can be seen and heard is in Heartbeat Opera’s powerful Breathing Free. This 45-minute film combines movement and opera to explore the challenges Black men in particular face in simply being allowed to breathe freely.

Joining the Beethoven heard in Breathing Free are works by Black composers and lyricists Harry T. Burleigh, Florence Price, Langston Hughes, Anthony Davis and Thulani Davis. The project also uses Negro spirituals.

The cast includes bass-baritone Derrell Acon, tenor Curtis Bannister, soprano Kelly Griffin and dancers Randy Castillo, Tamrin Goldberg, Brian HallowDreamz Henry. Breathing Free was directed by Ethan Heard. Music Direction was by Jacob Ashworth and Daniel Schlosberg (who also did the arrangements of the music from Fidelio).

Tickets prices range from $10 – $75 based on what you can afford to pay. I strongly urge you to consider carving out time on Saturday night to see Breathing Free.

CABARET: Laura Osnes – Seth Rudetsky Concert Series – February 14th – 8:00 PM EST/5:00 PM PST

You have to be a pretty versatile performer to believably portray Cinderella in one musical and Bonnie Parker in another. Add to that the ability to be Nellie Forbush in South Pacific and Sandy in Grease. Broadway star Laura Osnes has done them all.

She received Tony Award nominations for her performances in Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella and also for Frank Wildhorn’s musical about the outlaws Bonnie and Clyde.

Osnes is Seth Rudetsky’s concert guest this week. In addition to Sunday’s live performance there is an encore presentation February 15th at 3:00 PM EST/12:00 PM PST. Tickets are $25 for either showing.

THEATRE: Justin Hicks’ Use Your Head for More – Baryshikov Arts Center – February 15th – March 1st

Looking at composer/creator/performer Justin Hicks’ website, he describes himself as “a multidisciplinary artist, and performer who uses music and sound to investigate themes of presence, identity, and value.” For this digital world premiere, Hicks has created a performance based on a transcript of a conversation he had with his mother. Use Your Head For More is offered up as a series of audiovisual portraits.

His work runs 30 minutes and was filmed at Hicks’ home in Bronx, New York. Two vocalists, Jasmine Enlow and Jade Hicks, collaborated with Hicks on Use Your Head for More.

There is no charge to watch Use Your Heard for More.

For those interesting in digging further into the project, there will be a live-streamed conversation between Hicks and Meshell Ndegeocello on February 24th at 8:00 PM EST/5:00 PM PST. You must register to watch the conversation. Registration for that opens up on February 15th.

CABARET/OPERA/JAZZ: Jim Caruso’s Pajama Cast Party – February 15th – 8:00 PM EST/5:00 PM PST

It’s sad that we don’t often have Monday listings, because Pajama Cast Party would be on the list every week. Which means you need to check out Jim Caruso and his fabulous guests. This week they include opera star Zachary James, jazz singer/songwriter Lauren Kinhan, actress/singer Avery Sommers and comedian Gianmarco Soresi. They will share stories, songs, jokes and more during the show.

Cast Party is a weekly ritual for New Yorkers and it takes place at Birdland. This is a modified version, but no less entertaining – just less physically tangible. It’s also the 45th episode Caruso has done…so far. No doubt he’d love to be back at Birdland as much as the rest of us would!

That’s the complete list of my Best Bets: February 12th – February 15th. But you know I’ve got a few reminders for you as well!

Pianist Richard Goode performs works of Bach and Claude Debussy on Saturday in a performance from New York’s 92nd Street Y.

The Metropolitan Opera concludes their second week of Black History Month with performances of Akhnaten by Philip Glass on Friday (strongly recommended); Berlioz’s Les Troyens on Saturday and Wagner’s Die Walküre on Sunday. Plus here’s an early preview of Week 49 at the Met. They will be celebrating Franco Zeffirelli and launch the week with the 2007-2008 season production of Puccini’s La Bohème.

This week’s episode of In Concert at the Hollywood Bowl is called Música sin Fronteras (Music without Borders) and concludes the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s series on PBS. (Check your local listings).

The films.dance festival continues with this week’s Pássaro Distante. They debut a new film, and one of my favorites, Match on Monday, February 15th.

That ends all my Best Bets: February 12th – February 15th. There’s culture to enjoy with the family; culture to enjoy with that special someone and certainly great options for those going solo this year. Whatever you choose, be safe and have a wonderful weekend.

Main Photo: An image from Breathing Free (Courtesy The Broad Stage)

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Quite a few of this week’s offerings are concerts. We have jazz, classical, Broadway vocals and one jazz/dance combination.

I’ve made a change to help you navigate my listings. Before each title there is a category that defines the genre of the listing. So if you only want to find jazz concerts, just look for JAZZ. For ballet or dance, look for DANCE. And in the case of our hybrid event, you’ll find DANCE/JAZZ combined. All listings are in order of when they become available.

Topping our list this week is the world premiere of a new work by composer Nico Muhly that is being performed by organist James McVinnie on Saturday.

Here are my choices as your Best Bets at Home: December 4th – December 6th.

PLAY: The Night of the Iguana – La Femme Theatre Productions – Now – December 6th

Tennessee Williams’ The Night of the Iguana gets an all-star reading from New York’s La Femme Theatre Productions.

Williams based the play on his own short story that in and of itself was inspired by his cousin. The Night of the Iguana had its Broadway debut in 1961.

Reverend Shannon has been forced out of his church after a sermon where he demonized God. He’s relegated to serving as a tour guide and accused of statutory rape of a 16-year-old girl.

While escorting a group of women to Acapulco and staying at a cheap motel, Shannon battles the pressures from the outside world and the demons within himself.

Dylan McDermott stars as Reverend Shannon; Phylicia Rashad plays Maxine; Roberta Maxwell as Judith Fellowes; Austin Pendleton as Nonno and Jean Lichty as Hannah, with Keith Randolph Smith, Carmen Berkeley, Eliud Kauffman, Julio Macias, Stephanie Schmiderer, Bradley James Tejeda and John Hans Tester. Emily Mann directs.

Tickets are range from $10 – $250 depending on your ability to pay. This reading serves as a fundraiser for The Actors Fund.

DANCE: in the absence of things – Baryshnikov Arts Center – Now – December 15th

In this ten-minute experimental dance short film, Somi Kakoma explores the impact the pandemic is having on her and her creative process.

Instead of being on the road, she returned home to Illinois and found herself wrestling with the the desire to create and perform and the need to just live.

Movement, art songs, spoken word and more are utilized to tell her story. Kakoma’s mother provides some of the film’s narration. There is also music from a recent live album, Holy Room – Live at Alte Opera with Frankfurt Radio Big Band in the film.

CLASSICAL: Beethoven’s The Creatures of Prometheus – The Philharmonia Orchestra of London – Beginning December 4th – 2:30 PM EST/11:30 AM PST

In February of this year, the Los Angeles Philharmonic had one of their most exciting concerts when Esa-Pekka Salonen, Simon McBurney and Gerard McBurney collaborated on The Weimar Republic: Salonen Conducts The Seven Deadly Sins.

Starting on Friday, Salonen and Gerard McBurney are once again collaborating on a concert. The Philharmonia Orchestra of London is performing Beethoven’s The Creatures of Prometheus.

Most concertgoers are familiar with the work’s overture; far fewer are familiar with the complete score Beethoven composed for this ballet that had its world premiere in Vienna in 1801.

McBurney has written a new script for this concert. There will be animation by Hillary Leben whose work has been seen in performance with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Silk Road Ensemble and more.

When you add that the narration will be performed by Stephen Fry, what else do you need?

The link takes you directly to The Philharmonia Orchestra of London’s YouTube page where this performance can be seen.

DANCE/JAZZ: waiting – 92nd Street Y – December 4th – 7:00 PM EST/4:00 PM PST

Dancer/choreographer Sidra Bell was working on waiting in anticipation of its world premiere performance in June of this year. That was postponed due to the pandemic.

The work is a collaboration with jazz composer/saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins.

Wilkins’ debut album, Omega, was named the Best Jazz Album of 2020 by the New York Times this week.

What is being shown is a work-in-progress of waiting. Sidra Bell and Immanuel Wilkins will participate in a post-performance Q&A.

Tickets are $10.

JAZZ: Christian McBride – Village Vanguard – December 4th – December 5th – 8:00 PM EST/5:00 PM PST

Bassist Christian McBride is joined by Marcus Strickland on saxophone; Josh Evans on trumpet and Nasheet Waits on drums for these two performances from New York’s Village Vanguard.

McBride’s most recent album is The Movement Revisited: A Musical Portrait of Four Icons.

On this record McBride celebrates Rosa Parks, Malcom X, Muhammad Ali and Martin Luther King, Jr.

He just received two Grammy Award nominations recently for Round Again (which finds him recording with Joshua Redman, Brad Mehldau and Brian Blade) and also for Trilogy 2 (which is a live recording with Chick Corea and Blade). He can’t win both awards unless there is a tie – he’s competing against himself.

Tickets are $10 for each performance.

JAZZ: Robert Glasper Acoustic Trio – The Kennedy Center – December 4th – 8:00 PM EST/5:00 PM EST

Composer, pianist, producer Robert Glasper is equally comfortable working in the hip-hop world (Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly, Maxwell, Common) and the jazz world (Terence Blanchard, Roy Hargrove, Christian McBride).

He has released albums that find him collaborating with such artists as Kamasi Washington, Terrace Martin, Phoelix and Herbie Hancock.

For this concert at The Kennedy Center he’s working in the trio configuration with Vicente Archer on bass and Justin Tyson on drums. As befits an artist who works in multiple genres, the trio will be joined by DJ Jahi Sundance.

I believe Glasper is one of our most interesting musicians and this should be a terrific concert.

After the performance, Glasper will be joined by Jason Moran for a conversation. Moran is the Kennedy Center Artistic Director for Jazz.

Tickets are $20 and the program will remain available for renting beyond this premiere showing.

PLAY/MAGIC: The Future – Geffen Stayhouse – December 4th – January 31st

It seems like only yesterday that magician Helder Guimarães just concluded his run of The Present with the Geffen Playhouse. He’s back with a new show and given its title I’m wondering if a trilogy is being planned.

The Future finds gambling at the core of Guimarães’ storytelling and perspective is the fulcrum through which we will view the story and guide its direction.

Frank Marshall returns as director. Will there also be a show next year called The Past?

Tickets are $95 with a majority of the performances already sold out. If you’re interested, act quickly. To do otherwise might gamble away your chance to get a look into The Future.

JAZZ: Pink Martini – SFJAZZ – December 4th – 8:00 PM EST/5:00 PM PST

This week’s Fridays at Five concert from San Francisco Jazz is a holiday concert by Pink Martini that was performed at the venue last December.

This seventeen-member ensemble successfully blends musical styles to create a sound all their own. For instance, did you ever think this rhythm would be part of “We Three Kings?”

Having watched many a concert from this Fridays at Five series, I’m always pleased with how good these shows look and how great they sound.

The concert will air only at this one time. Tickets are $5 for a one-month subscription or $60 for a one-year subscription.

BROADWAY VOCALS: Vanessa Williams: Live from the West Side – Segerstrom Center – December 5th – 8:00 PM EST/5:00 PM PST

In the third and final concert from the Women of Broadway series Live from the West Side, Vanessa Williams take to the stage.

Williams was a Tony Award and Drama Desk Award nominee for Best Actress in a Musical for her performance as The Witch in Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s Into the Woods revival from 2002.

She made her Broadway debut when she joined the cast of Kiss of the Spider Woman as Aurora/Spider Woman in 1994. Her other Broadway credits include 2010’s Sondheim on Sondheim and the 2013 revival of The Trip to Bountiful.

Beyond her Broadway career she’s had best-selling albums and singles including The Colors of the Wind from the Disney animated film Pocahontas.

Tickets are $30 and allow for additional viewings for 72 hours.

JAZZ: Arturo Sandoval Live from the Broad Stage – The Broad Stage – December 5th – December 13th

In October of this year, trumpeter Arturo Sandoval and a small ensemble of musicians came together to film a live concert at the Broad Stage in Santa Monica. The end result is 60 minutes of Latin jazz sure to entertain.

Sandoval is a 10-time Grammy Award winner who was born in Cuba. There isn’t enough space to list all the recordings he’s made and all the musicians with whom he’s recorded. But perhaps the names Bennett, Estefan, Keys, Monk and Sinatra might sound familiar.

Joining him are Will Brahm on guitar; Ricard Pasillas on percussion; Johnny Friday on drums; John Belazaguy on bass and Max Haymer on piano.

Tickets are $10 for non-members. Free for members.

JAZZ: Barbara Morrison: Standing on Their Shoulders – The Wallis – December 5th – 11:00 PM EST/8:00 PM PST

No jazz vocalist can claim not to have been influenced by Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan and Dinah Washington. Singer Barbara Morrison is no exception.

In this concert, part of the virtual version of The Sorting Room from The Wallis, Morrison will put her own stamp on the songs these women made famous.

Tickets are $25 and allow for viewing for 24 hours. There are more concerts in this series and package deals are available for viewing either half or all six of The Sorting Room series.

CLASSICAL: James McVinnie Live from Concert Hall ‘Latvija’ in Ventspils – December 6th – 12:00 EST/9:00 AM PST

In February of 2018 I saw and heard organist James McVinnie give the world premiere performance of Register by Nico Muhly. It was an amazing performance of truly fascinating music.

It wasn’t their first collaboration. Muhly wrote 2013’s Cycles for McVinnie. Muhly and McVinnie have collaborated again on Nativity Cycle.

This music was written specifically for this concert and for McVinnie by Muhly.

The composer was inspired by plainsong. That term refers to unaccompanied church music sung in medieval modes and free rhythm. The text is taken from liturgical material.

Each of Muhly’s pieces will include the plainchant at the end, but expect him to transform the original music into something that is at times, much simpler and at other times, much more complex. All of which suits McVinnie’s talents.

Tickets are €8 which is just under $10 as of press time. This does not include any service charges. There is a note on the website that says ticket prices will increase as the concert dates get closer.

JAZZ: Billie Holiday: A Concert Celebration – 92nd Street Y – December 6th – December 9th

On November 21st, the Emmet Cohen Trio was joined by singers Catherine Russell and Veronica Swift for a celebration of the music of Billie Holiday filmed at New York’s 92nd Street Y. That concert will start being available on Sunday at 3:00 PM EST/12:00 PM PST and remain available for renting through December 9th.

Also joining the concert is saxophonist Tivon Pennicott who joins for a special tribute to the collaborations Holiday had with Lester Young.

I wasn’t familiar with Swift before reading about this concert. She’s quite good. It will be exciting to see where she goes with her career.

The members of Cohen’s trio are Yasushi Nakamura on bass and Kyle Poole on drums. (Cohen, of course, plays piano.)

Tickets are $15.

BROADWAY VOCALS: Eva Noblezada Live from Adelphi – Adelphi PAC Concert Hall – December 6th – 5:00 PM EST/2:00 PM PST

Eva Noblezada has appeared on Broadway in two musicals: She played Kim in the 2017 revival of Miss Saigon. She originated the role of Eurydice in the Tony Award-winning musical Hadestown. She was Tony nominated for both performances. In other words, she’s gotten a nomination for every role she’s performed on Broadway. She hasn’t yet snagged one of the trophies, but just you wait.

You’ll be able to see what makes her so engaging in this live concert on Sunday. I’ve seen her in Hadestown. She’s very talented and this should be a great opportunity to see her shine.

Tickets are $15.

CLASSICAL: McGill/McHale Trio – Shriver Hall Concert Series – December 6th – 5:30 PM EST/2:30 PM PST

Clarinettist Anthony McGill and his flautist brother Demarre met pianist Michael McHale when they were artists-in-residence at Bowling Green University. The trio first performed together in 2014 and they’ve been making music together ever since.

For this program, which took place at New York’s 92nd Street Y last December, the trio will celebrate dance. The concert features works by Chris Rogerson, Francis Poulenc, Antonin Dvořák, Guillaume Connesson, Claude Debussy and Paul Schoenfield.

There will be a post-performance Q&A with the artists available after the concert.

Tickets are $15 and allow for continued viewing through December 9th.

BROADWAY VOCALS: Ana Gasteyer with Seth Rudetsky – December 6th – 8:00 PM EST/5:00 PM PST

Columbia, Elphaba and Mrs. Peachum are all familiar characters to fans of musicals. Martha Stewart, Celine Dion and Hillary Rodham Clinton are familiar to most people.

Saturday Night Live veteran Ana Gasteyer has played them all.

Her Broadway debut came in the 2001 Broadway production of The Rocky Horror Show. Several years later she played that oh-so-green woman in Wicked after having appeared in a new production of The Threepenny Opera with Alan Cumming.

She joins Seth Rudetsky for his concert series this weekend. The live performance takes place on Sunday. If you are unable to watch that performance, it will be re-streamed on Monday, December 7th at 3:00 PM EST/12:00 PM PST.

Tickets for either performance are $28.50 (which includes service charges).

That concludes my selections of the Best Bets at Home: December 4th – December 6th. But there are always going to be a few reminders:

Ute Lemper’s Rendezvous with Marlene has a final streaming performance on Saturday, December 5th at 2:00 PM EST/11:00 AM PST.

Larry Powell’s The Gaze…No Homo continues with new episodes at The Fountain Theatre’s website.

Greenway Court Theatre’s If I Should Wake makes both parts available for the first time beginning on Friday. The show ends its streaming on December 10th.

All concerts that are part of the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Sound/Stage series remain available for streaming. The Solitude episode, featuring works by Thomas Adés and Duke Ellington, will only be available through December 15th.

The Metropolitan Opera concludes its Stars in Signature Roles week with Elīna Garanča in Bizet’s Carmen on Friday; Jessye Norman, Kathleen Battle and Tatiana Troyanos in Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos on Saturday and Shirley Verrett, Luciano Pavarotti and Cornell MacNeil in Puccini’s Tosca on Sunday.

Now we’ve truly come to the end of the Best Bets at Home: December 4th – December 6th. Enjoy your weekend and enjoy the culture!

Photo: James McVinnie (Photo ©Magnús Andersen/Courtesy of McVinnie’s website)

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Benanti, who headlines this Saturday, appeared in the 2002 revival of Into the Woods with Vanessa Williams. Both received Tony Award nominations for their performances. Williams will close out the series on December 5th.

Benanti has, of course, starred in more than just these two shows on Broadway. She made her Broadway debut in the 1998 revival of The Sound of Music. She received her first Tony Award nomination for her performance in 1999’s Swing. After Into the Woods she appeared in the 2003 revival of Nine with Chita Rivera and Antonio Banderas. The Wedding Singer followed in 2006.

After Gypsy she appeared in the play In the Next Room. Tony nominated performances in Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown* and the absolutely delightful 2016 revival of She Loves Me followed. She next appeared in Steve Martin’s Meteor Shower in 2017 before living out her dream of appearing as Eliza Doolittle in the 2018 revival of My Fair Lady.

Ever the under-achiever, Benanti has appeared regularly as Melania Trump on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. She has released In Constant Search of the Right Kind of Attention in 2013. Her most recent album is the eponymous Laura Benanti which was just released on October 23rd.

I could go on and discuss her book, the #SunshineSongs project and her many film and television projects. All of this is just one way to make perfectly clear that with a new album and such a vast career, her only challenge in performing on Saturday will be narrowing down what to perform.

Whatever she chooses, I can assure you this will be an amazing concert.

I’ve had the privilege of seeing her in many of her Broadway roles (and cannot describe how wonderful she was in My Fair Lady). I’ve also seen her perform in concert. Fans of Broadway musicals and great singing will want to see this show.

This whole series, Live from the West Side, was created to raise money for both the performers and for a number of regional theaters around the country. In Southern California that venue is Segerstrom Center in Costa Mesa.

The complete list is: Boise State University, Broward Center, Cleveland Playhouse Square, Dallas Summer Musicals, Denver Center, Fox Theatre, Hennepin Theater Trust, Marcus Center, Northlight Theatre, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Overture Center, Paper Mill Playhouse, Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, RiverCenter, Segerstrom Center, Shea’s Performing Arts Center, Straz Center, Tennessee Performing Arts Center, The 5th Avenue Theater, Theatre Under the Stars, University of North Carolina School of the Arts, and Texas Performing Arts.

Tickets are $30 for the performance.

*Before trivia purists get after me, LuPone also appeared in Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown giving them another shared credit.

Photo of Laura Benanti by Rod Spicer/Courtesy Segerstrom Center

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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

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