So let’s get to it. Here are your Best Bets at Home: October 23rd – October 25th:

Zoot Suit – Center Theatre Group – Now – December 20th

Amongst one of the most memorable shows ever to appear at the Mark Taper Forum was Luis Valdez’s Zoot Suit. Upon its premiere in1978, it was immediately hailed as a masterwork. Zoot Suit returned to the Taper in 2017 for their 50th anniversary season.

Zoot Suit tells the story of Henry Reyna, the leader of the 38th Street Gang, who gets accused of the murder of José Williams at Sleepy Lagoon. Reyna and his gang were about to fight their rivals, the Downey Gang, when the mythical El Pachuco stops it. Police nonetheless arrive and arrest Williams and his gang. This sets in motion a very magical show that uses dance, Latin music and surreal moments to reveal what happens to Reyna and how El Pachuco guides the actions and reveals certain truths.

In collaboration with Los Angeles Theatre Works, Center Theatre Group is making their radio play version of Zoot Suit available for free listening.

Marco Rodriguez plays El Pachuco, Kinan Valdez is Henry Reyna, Daniel Valdez is Enrique Reyna and Alma Martinez is Dolores Reyna.

This is a wildly imaginative and entertaining play. Well worth your time to give it a listen.

Skeleton Crew – Atlantic Theater Company – Now – October 23rd

Playwright Dominique Morisseau’s Skeleton Crew had its world premiere at New York’s Atlantic Theater in 2016. It is the third play in her Detroit Cycle and depicts one auto plant department’s work family. Everyone has challenges in their own lives that will have to be navigated if the plant closes. In the middle of this is Reggie, the manager who was once one of the workers. He has to determine whether to be loyal to his work family or maintain the discretion required of his job.

As part of their Fall Reunion Reading series, Atlantic Theater is bringing most of the original cast back: Jason Dirden as Dez, Wendell B. Franklin as Reggie, Nikiya Mathis as Shanita and Adesola Osakulumi (choreographer and performer.) New to the company is Caroline Clay who takes on the role of Fay which was originated by Lynda Gravatt. Ruben Santiago-Hudson returns to direct.

Ben Brantley, in his New York Times review of that production said, “It is, in other words, a deeply moral and deeply American play, with a loving compassion for those trapped in a system that makes sins, spiritual or societal, and self-betrayal almost inevitable.”

I saw the Geffen Playhouse production of Skeleton Crew. It’s quite a good play. This should be an excellent reading.

There is no charge to watch Skeleton Crew, but reservations are required. A donation of $25 is suggested.

Beethoven Symphony No. 7 – LA Philharmonic Sound/Stage – Starts October 23rd

In this fifth episode of the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Sound/Stage series, Gustavo Dudamel leads the orchestra in a performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7.

Composed in 1811-1812, the symphony’s debut took place in 1813 in Vienna. There are four movements: Poco sostenuto – Vivace, Allegretto, Presto – Assai meno presto and Allegro con brio.

Dudamel and the LA Phil performed a full cycle of Beethoven’s symphonies in 2015 that earned rave reviews. Given that this work is orchestrated for 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets , 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani and strings it is perfect for a socially-distanced performance at the Hollywood Bowl.

Of course, it’s also great music.

dwb (driving while black) – Baruch College – October 23rd – October 29th

The New York premiere of Susan Kander and Roberta Gumbel’s dwb (driving while black) was meant to take place in March at Baruch Performing Arts Center. As a result of that postponement, they have created a directed-for-video performance of the work which will have its world premiere on October 23rd.

The 44-minute dwb portrays the dilemma every Black parent faces when his/her son is of age to drive. How do you both encourage him to enjoy the freedom that comes with the ability to drive while also making sure he’s fully aware of the challenges and anxiety that come with driving while Black.

Gumbel sings dwb. She is accompanied by Hannah Collins on cello and Michael Compitello on percussion. Chip Miller directed.

The work had its debut in Kansas City in 2019. The Pitch, the alternative newspaper, said of dwb, “In pinpointing and relating the terror racial biases and injustices cause, Kander and Gumbel created one of the most singularly devastating theatrical moments of the last year.”

You must register to watch the video of dwb. Baruch Students can watch for free. General admission is available and you can pay what you can to watch it.

Ravi Coltrane Quartet – Village Vanguard – October 23rd – October 24th

New York’s Village Vanguard has straightened out their streaming issues and returns with two performances by saxophonist Ravi Coltrane.

Coltrane had not even turned 2 when his father, John Coltrane, passed away. But he inherited true musical talent from both his father and his mother, Alice.

He became a bandleader and released his first album, Moving Pictures, in 1998. At this point in his career he had already worked with Geri Allen, Kenny Barron, Stanley Clarke, Steve Coleman, Herbie Hancock, Branford Marsalis, Pharoah Sanders, Carlos Santana and McCoy Tyner.

For these performances he will be joined by David Virelles on piano, Dezron Douglas on bass and Jonathan Blake on drums.

Tickets are $10.

Michael Tilson Thomas: Where Is Now – American Masters on PBS – Check Local Listings

Earlier this year, and perhaps not quite as ceremoniously as planned, Michael Tilson Thomas concluded a 25-year run as the Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony. It was just one accomplishment in a truly amazing career. He has 11 Grammy Awards, has received a National Medal of Arts and was a Kennedy Center Honoree. Not too bad for a guy who grew up in Los Angeles and accompanied musicals while a student at USC.

American Masters on PBS will presents Michael Tilson Thomas: Where Now Is on October 23rd. The 90-minute documentary by Susan Froemke and Kirk Simon follows his young life in Southern California to his time as a protégé of Leonard Bernstein through to his becoming one of the world’s most acclaimed conductors.

Amongst those appearing in the documentary are composer Steve Reich, architect Frank Gehry, LA Philharmonic’s CEO Chad Smith, Carnegie Hall’s Clive Gillinson and Thomas’s husband, Joshua Robison.

For me personally, Thomas was one of the most influential people discussing, creating and performing classical music as I was growing up. Watching him talk about this music instilled in me a great appreciation for it. I would turn to his many recordings on a regular basis from the classics to a live concert with Sarah Vaughan and the LA Phil – which if you haven’t heard, you must.

While scheduled for October 23rd, you should check your local listings.

Taj Mahal Quartet – SFJAZZ – October 23rd – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

This week’s Fridays at Five concert from SFJAZZ is one of the last concerts to take place this year before venues were required to shut down. Taj Mahal Quartet performed on February 28th, 2020 in the concert being shown.

Taj Mahal began his career in an ill-fated band called Rising Sons with Ry Cooder in 1964. When that failed to come together successfully, he recorded with a few artists before going on his own with his first album in 1968. 31 studio albums, 7 live albums and three Grammy Awards later, he is considered one of the best ambassadors for the blues. Of course, he does more than the blues. His influences range from soul music, international rhythms and so much more and all find their way into his music.

Fridays at Five requires you have either a one-month membership ($5) or a year-long membership ($60) to watch the performances.

Charles Lloyd Ocean Trio – Lobero Theatre – October 23rd – 11:00 PM EDT/8:00 PM PDT

Jazz legend Charles Lloyd just keeps performing. Aren’t we lucky? For this live performance from Santa Barbara’s Lobero Theatre he will be joined by pianist/composer Gerald Clayton and guitarist/composer Anthony Wilson. As Lloyd says in this video, he’s trying to keep live music alive.

Tickets are $15.

State of Darkness – The Joyce Theater – October 24th – November 1st

In 1988 choreographer Molissa Fenley debuted a solo project called State of Darkness. The 35-minute seriously intense work is set to the music of Igor Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring.

Anna Kisselgoff, writing in the New York Times in 1988, said of State of Darkness , “Molissa Fenley’s use of Stravinsky’s ‘Sacre du Printemps’ as music for a new dance solo succeeds beyond expectation. A dancer who has been unmatched on the experimental scene for her explosive, even primal, energy, Miss Fenley has found her true center here.”

For these performances, Fenley has restaged the work and will have seven different dancers performing State of Darkness. This weekend’s schedule is as follows:

Saturday, October 24th: Michael Trusnovec of Paul Taylor American Dance Company performs at 5:00 PM EDT/2:00 PM PDT; 2020 Juilliard graduate Jared Brown performs at 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT.

Sunday, October 25th: Annique Roberts of Ronald K. Brown/EVIDENCE performs at 5:00 PM EDT/2:00 PM PDT; Shamel Pitts (formerly of Batsheva Dance Company) performs at 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT.

There are three additional performances next week by Lloyd Knight of Martha Graham Dance Company, Sara Mearns of the New York City Ballet and Cassandra Trenary of American Ballet Theatre.

Tickets are $13 to watch each individual performance.

Le Nozze di Figaro – San Francisco Opera – October 24th – October 25th

Conducted by Patrick Summers; starring Phillippe Sly, Lisette Oropesa, Nadine Sierra, Luca Pisaroni, Catherine Cook  Greg Fedderly and John Easterlin. This Robin Guarino production is from the 2014-2015 season and is a revival of their 1982 production. Guarino was new to the production.

Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro is based on the 1784 play La folle journée, ou le Mariage de Figaro (translated: “The Mad Day, or The Marriage of Figaro”) by Pierre Beaumarchais. Lorenzo da Ponte wrote the libretto. La Nozze di Figaro had its world premiere in Vienna in 1786.

Figaro and Susanna are getting married. They are in a room made available to them by the Count who plans to seduce the bride-to-be based on an old law that gave permission to lords to have sex with servant girls on their wedding night. When Figaro gets wind of this plan he enlists several people to outwit the Count using disguises, altered identities and more.

Critics mostly lauded this production. Many were intrigued by a younger-than-usual cast that brought a freshness to Mozart’s oft-performed opera. Of particular interest to me is Oropesa as Susanna. She should be delightful in this performance.

Diana Damrau and Joseph Calleja – Met Stars Live in Concert – October 24th – 1:00 PM EDT/10:00 AM PDT

After some schedule changes, Met Stars Live in Concert returns this weekend with a performance by soprano Diana Damrau and tenor Joseph Calleja. Accompanied by pianist Vincenzo Scalera, they will be performing from Caserta, Italy.

The program will include three arias from Puccini’s Tosca, one from Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore, one from Verdi’s Un Ballo in Maschera, one from Rossini’s Semiramide, two from Bizet’s Carmen, Bach/Gounod’s Ave Maria and more.

Damrau made her Met Opera debut in 2005 in Ariadne auf Naxos. Since then she’s performed nearly 150 times at the Met. Calleja made his debut at the Met one year later in Rigoletto and has given almost 100 performances there.

Tickets are $20

Patti LuPone Live from the West Side – Segerstrom Center – October 24th – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT – $30

Two-time Tony Award winner Patti LuPone is the first of three performers in Live from the West Side: Women of Broadway series. The series features intimate live-streamed performances from New York’s Shubert Virtual Studios. Songs, stories and apparently questions responded in real time are all part of the show.

LuPone, as you certainly must know, is the two-time Tony Award winner for her performances in Evita and the 2008 revival of Gypsy. She has received five other Tony nominations. She was in rehearsals to open in a new revival of Stephen Sondheim’s Company when the pandemic forced the closure of Broadway.

If you watched Ryan Murphy’s Hollywood, you would have seen her as the strong-willed and risky Avis Amber.

This series will include two additional concerts: Laura Benanti (LuPone’s co-star in Gypsy and also a winner of the Tony Award) will perform on November 14th; Vanessa Williams (who appeared in the 2002 revival of Into the Woods with Benanti) performs on December 5th.

The three concerts are being held to help support 22 theaters around the country. In Southern California that venue is the Segerstrom Center for the Arts.

Tickets are $30 for each individual concert. A three-show package might be available depending on the venue. You will be able to stream the concert for an additional 72 hours after its completion.

Gateway to Cabaret: A Star Studded Virtual Event – The Cabaret Project of St. Louis – October 24th – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

Fans of musical theatre will want to catch Gateway to Cabaret from The Cabaret Project of St. Louis. Their line-up is impressive: Norm Lewis (The Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess), Faith Prince (Tony winner for the 1992 revival of Guys and Dolls), Brandon Victor Dixon (Shuffle Along or The Making of a Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed), Alexandra Billings (Wicked), Sidney Myer (Don’t Tell Mama), Christine Andreas (On Your Toes, Oklahoma), Tony DeSare (jazz singer), Capathia Jenkins (Caroline, Or Change), Billy Stritch (pianist/singer) and Steven Brinberg (Simply Barbra).

Tickets are $25/household.

Jeremy Denk Recital – Caramoor – October 25th – 3:00 PM EDT/12:00 PM PDT

I’ve written about Jeremy Denk before. I think he’s one of our most talent and interesting classical pianists. This program on Sunday from Caramoor in New York only proves how interesting he is. The program is scheduled to include: Mozart’s Piano Sonata in C Minor, K 457; Thomas “Blind Tom” Wiggins’s The Battle of Manassas; Joplin/Chauvin’s Heliotrope Bouquet; Tania León’s Ritual; Frederic Rzewski’s Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues
and Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No 32 in C Minor, Op. 111.

You’ll get two classical period compositions, ragtime, the work of a young Black man during The Civil War and the work of two contemporary composers. How’s that for diverse?

Tickets are $10 for non-Caramoor members. No charge for members.

LaChanze with Seth Rudetsky – October 25th – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

In 1990, LaChanze originated the role of Ti Moune in the Broadway production of Once on This Island. She was nominated for a Tony Award. In 2005 she originated the role of Celie in the original Broadway production of The Color Purple. She won the Tony Award. In 2018 she originated the role of Diva Donna in Summer. She received another Tony Award nomination. Throw in some Sondheim, Dreamgirls and being one of sixteen performers to play Fanny Brice in a concert presentation of Funny Girl and you’ve got someone with serious talent and certainly some great stories.

All of that is a good thing as she is Seth Rudetsky’s guest for this week’s concert and conversation. One more thing she can discuss: her daughter, Celia Rose Gooding, just received a Tony nomination for her performance in the musical Jagged Little Pill.

As usual, there will be an encore presentation of the show on Monday, October 26th – 3:00 PM EDT/12:00 PM PDT.

Tickets for either date are $25.

That’s our official list of the Best Bets at Home: October 23rd – October 25th. We do have a few reminders:

Last week we wrote about Shakespeare Trilogy on Film from Donmar Warehouse and St. Ann’s Warehouse. The series continues this week with an all-female version of The Tempest.

Charity, the final play in The Mexican Trilogy by Evelina Fernández, is now available from Latino Theater Company. For our preview of the trilogy, please go here.

This weekend’s Table Top Shakespeare: At Home includes Coriolanus, The Merry Wives of Windsor and King Lear. To read our preview, please go here.

The Public Theater’s Forward. Together. virtual fundraiser remains available through Saturday, October 24th. This was a terrific show. You can read our preview here.

The reading of Kenneth Lonergan’s This Is Our Youth remains available through Saturday, October 24th. Details can be found here.

SFJAZZ members can watch Terence Blanchard’s opera in jazz, Champion, through Sunday, October 25th. Our preview has all the details. You can read it here.

Metropolitan Opera’s week of Operatic Comedies concludes with Verdi’s Falstaff on Friday, Rossini’s Le Comte Ory on Saturday and Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier on Sunday. You can find our preview here.

The 1999 Broadway production of Death of a Salesman that originated at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre will be available through the weekend on Playbill. For more details, you can read our preview here.

That officially ends our Best Bets at Home: October 23rd – October 25th.

There are only 72 hours in a weekend. How can you possibly watch it all? You can’t, but wouldn’t it be great if you could?

Photo: Patti LuPone (Photo by Rahav/Courtesy Segerstrom Center)

​

The post Best Bets at Home: October 23rd – October 25th appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

Don (Jonathan Walker), a hard working husband and father, just manages to make ends meet. He works in an office where the things he’s used to being one way suddenly seem very different – from co-workers to the technology used to get the job done. There’s a lot of change in the country that challenges his essential core beliefs. A misunderstanding at work gets wildly out of hand and Don sets out to makes things as he feels they should be. But is that really what he should be doing?

Patricia McGregor, who co-wrote and directed Lights Out: Nat “King” Cole and directed Skeleton Crew at the Geffen Playhouse, directs. The cast features Adrian Anchondo, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Omozé Idehenre and Mike Sears.

Lee, in the program notes for What You Are, explains that his play is not a polemic piece of writing.

“Just because a work of art is political, that doesn’t mean it’s trying to convince you that a particular argument is correct or incorrect. The best political art dissects an issue, looks at it from all sides, and then leaves you with a lot of questions to wrestle with. Part of why I write the plays I do is that I’m really trying to understand something. So when we talk about art being political, I think that we have to step away from the idea that people are trying to convince us of something, and be open to the idea that we the artists may not know. We can explore together, which I feel like is more productive anyway.”

What You Are seems like a play that could be exactly what we need in this place and time in history. Something that inspires discussion, not argument, with the goal of understanding differing points of view.

There is a note on the website indicating this production contains strong language

All images courtesy of The Old Globe.

For tickets go here.

The post What You Are appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

Beyond his work on Lucifer, fans of Suits will also recognize him as Jeff Malone, the some-time love interest of Jessica Pearson. It’s been quite some time since Woodside appeared on stage. In our recent conversation he talked about Skeleton Crew, his passion for being on stage and whether cultural change can come from theatre.

We don’t learn much about Reggie and his relationship with his three employees until well into Skeleton Crew. How important is it for you to slowly reveal, not just through language, but through your performance, the depth of Reggie’s relationships with them?

I think it is all there on the page. I like that during the first act we don’t know too much about Reggie. We don’t know what’s motivating him. We start to understand where he’s coming from in the second to last scene of the 1st act when Faye confronts him about what he’s really doing. One of my favorite lines is “I don’t have a union to protect me.” Basically as horrible as it is for these guys, they are going to wind up with some kind of severance package. If Reggie loses his job the only thing he is hoping for is based on his work ethic and reputation that hopefully will get him transferred somewhere. I love the challenge and the second act is written so beautifully. We get to zero in and focus on the distresses that Reggie has to deal with and we really get to show the tight bond that Faye and Reggie have.

In Ben Brantley’s New York Times review of Skeleton Crew, he said “there’s a chip on his shoulder, but even he doesn’t know which way it leans.”  Do you agree with him?

I don’t think I agree. Reggie used to be one of them. Reggie started in the plant the same way. I don’t think he’s leaning. If there is such a chip it leans to his workers and his family. It doesn’t lean towards management at all. Reggie’s dilemma is that on one hand he wants to make sure his friends are taken care of. On the other hand he wants to make sure his family gets taken care of. I think it’s very human. One of the things as an actor I love to do is play characters that maybe on the page they can be perceived as unlikable and that could come across just reading Reggie. And it was my responsibility to give Reggie heart and help show people the turmoil that he’s going through trying to work both sides of the essential argument the play is trying to make.

Dominique Morisseau wants to change the perception of Detroit through this trilogy of plays. Did you have any misconceptions about Detroit before starting Skeleton Crew?

Not so much. One of the things I loved, I believe it was the second week of rehearsals and Dominique skyped the entire cast and one of the things she said about Reggie I found fascinating and I have also experienced. She said, “characters like Reggie have it harder than even characters like Dez. Reggie started out being poor and has worked his way up and has now just recently moved to the suburbs. Just because they have moved doesn’t mean they have been accepted. They get it from both sides. Their own think they sold out and middle class white people feel like that family doesn’t necessarily belong based on where they have come from.” I love how Dominique explained that and that really informs my interpretation of Reggie.

It would be grossly unfair to compare the lives of auto factory workers to actors, but haven’t you experienced that similar fear of not knowing if a job will come along and if it does how long it will last?

I’m not sure if the comparison is right only because I believe there was a time when you got a job at a plant like that where people were pretty sure they were going to have a job their entire lives. They saw generations do that and that’s why they went into it. The last 25 years links to what’s going on in our country. It’s been tragic and I wish and hope more Americans start paying attention to see what these workers are going through and how the middle class is being utterly destroyed.

But yes, that’s an actor’s lifestyle. As you come into that at a very young age you have ups and downs and that’s part of the business. I have a friend that used to always say, “It’s not just about loving acting, you have to embrace the actor’s lifestyle. That lifestyle is chaos and unpredictability.” If you don’t learn early on how to surf those chaotic waves you will wash up. That has very little to do with talent. There are very talented actors I know who aren’t working because they didn’t know how to surf that chaotic lifestyle.

You Tweeted on June 6th that it felt so good to be back on stage. And you’ve said you get an adrenalin rush from being in a play again. Do you think there will be less time between stage appearances going forward in your career?

Yes. That’s an easy question. I love television and film, but a lot of times you can just feel like a role player. Television, especially on the big four networks, they are not looking to be bold or courageous or push the norms. They want to be as vanilla as they possibly can because God forbid they come close to even offending a single human being. I like to be challenged and do things that are gritty and darker. And I understand why, it doesn’t fit into their business model. 

By depicting Black lives in a play like Skeleton Crew, do you think you can chip away at the prejudices that lead to the necessity of a Black Lives Matter movement? Can cultural change come from the theatre?

The quick answer is yes, but only in a small way. The great thing about the medium of theatre is that dynamic that is live. But you are only getting 500 people at a time. The great thing about film and TV is it has the capacity to reach millions of people at one time. I wish more shows really focused themselves to make a difference. I wish that networks tried to do more to help things out like Black Lives Matter. I think the medium is too powerful to be aiming to do just cheap entertainment. As much as I love theatre, can it make a difference? In a small way. It’s chipping away at something really small. 

The post DB Woodside Is the Boss of the “Skeleton Crew” appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

Starring in this production are Amari Cheatom, Caroline Stefanie Clay, Kelly McCreary and DB Woodside. The production is directed by Patricia McGregor.

Skeleton Crew is the third play in Morisseau’s Detroit Project. The first two plays are Detroit ’67 and Paradise Blue. Skeleton Crew had its first full production at New York’s Atlantic Theatre Company in 2016. The play was highly-acclaimed and Morisseau won the Edgerton Foundation New Play Award in 2015.

The post Skeleton Crew appeared first on Cultural Attaché.