By Charles Andrews
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED:
Tonight! – HOT CLUB OF LOS ANGELES – This rockin’ quintet, known for Django Reinhardt-style ‘30s-’40s jazz (for starters, but they go way beyond), whose across-the-board virtuosity never fails to bring a smile. I have never heard anyone walk away from one of the HCOLA shows and say, “They’re pretty good.” Usually, it’s hard to say anything when your jaw is on the floor. Still at their years-long residency at the intimate Cinema Bar just outside Santa Monica, every Monday night. Lucky us. Take advantage. Now also at a new venue that looks pretty chill, once a month at Bar Jubilee (6/3), also no cover charge. Mon 9 p.m., Cinema Bar, Culver City, no cover.
GUSTAVO DUDAMEL Celebrating the Musicians of the LA PHIL – As well we all should, because even though our beloved creative innovative wunderkind turned world-recognized maestro is departing for the East Coast, we now have a very promising new music director and, most importantly, the shining LA Philharmonic. I often gave a HIGHLY RECOMMENDED to some performances of music I particularly revered even if The Dude was not on the podium. Our highly skilled driver is gone, but the Rolls Royce remains. This program of short pieces shows off the Phil players in small groups, and includes a John Williams world premiere (“Bravo Gustavo!”), a Rossini, Paganini, Mozart, Mendelssohn, Philip Glass, Andrés Martin, Gabriela Ortiz. Perfect. Thurs 8 p.m., Walt Disney Concert Hall, LA, $192-400.
GUSTAVO DUDAMEL Celebrating 17 Years – Our finest years, some would say. I would. His conducting is a marvel of emotion and communication, but sometimes overlooked is his artistic direction, that has brought so many dramatic, socially important programs; a book could/should be written. Both Dudamel and the Phil began an association with composer John Adams the same year, so it is fitting this performance leads off with him. And finishes with a Venezuelan composer he brought to our attention, Antonio Estévez. I very quickly learned that if I came to a performance anticipating a favorite composer of mine, and saw an unfamiliar name, usually a Latin one, it was cause for excitement. Gustavo has been quite the music teacher. A gift of inestimable value. Fri, Sat 8 p.m., Sun 2 p.m., Walt Disney Concert Hall, LA, $330-450.
MOZART, “THE MAGIC FLUTE,” L.A. OPERA – Allllllright, then! This is a pretty fine way to end the season (and order your season tickets for next year); it is a mind-bending production you have to see. I did see the same unique, marvelous stage design, a set evoking silent movies, and cartoonish figures. Absolutely delightful. I saw it in 2019, so can enthusiastically recommend it, without hearing the performers, but come on, is the LA Opera going to have anyone but the best? No more LA Opera until October. Only one performance this week, two next, and three the final week. As low as $49 – you paid more for parking at some other show you saw, and the costumes weren’t as good, and… maybe even the music was not as good. Bruce is The Boss, but this is Mozart the Master, for centuries. Still on the charts, tours raking it in. He’s held up, for a reason, several reasons, actually. Mozart was, once again, broke when he wrote this, in ill health; this would be his final opera, and perhaps his most popular. It had all the right elements, and a perfect place to run it, but he was gone within a couple of months after the opening. Sat 7:30 p.m., Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, LA, $49-440.
“ROMEO AND JULIET,” Theatricum Botanicum – Oh boy, oh boy, the TB summer season begins, with an obscure old love story, let me tell you what the tale is… OK, you know it, you’ve seen it so many times in so many forms but not like this. TB is known for its Shakespeare, and where else can you relax in Topanga Canyon on a balmy evening in an outdoor setting, and watch one of literature’s greatest love stories unfold? Sat 7:30 p.m., Theatricum Botanicum, Topanga Canyon, $15-60.
‘A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM,” ‘ Theatricum Botanicum – See above. Theory should be pretty good at this one because they performed it their first season in 1973, and every season since, so this is the 54th version of it. Always a crowd pleaser, and great for kids too. These days, so much better than the Kennedy Center. Sun 3:30 p.m., Theaticum Botanicum, Topanga Canyon, $15-60.
RECOMMENDED:
“GRANGEVILLE,” Ruskin Group Theatre – I’m going to see it Saturday, with a passel of cultured comrades who will glare at me, if not hit me, if it isn’t great, but after years of RGT productions I can confidently say we will not be disappointed. If you go right away, you might want a second look, during this long run. Fri, Sat, Mon 8 p.m., Sun 2 p.m., $40-45.
TOLEDO DIAMOND – Who’s been showing up even longer than the Hot Club, with a very different but also virtuosic show? His decades-long Sunday night residency at Santa Monica’s Harvelle’s, the oldest blues bar in LA (almost a century!), is the stuff of myth. Toledo choreographs a truly unique show, a blend of ‘50s hipster jazz and his dancing dames and a most modern smokin’ hot band that gets better all the time. Toledo is perhaps the longest running proof that Santa Monica is a City of the Arts. (Yes, you bet, this is art.) Sun 9 p.m., Harvelle’s, Santa Monica, $13.
TV RECOMMENDATIONS:
“THE DAILY SHOW” – I think they now have the best cast ever. (Apologies to Roy Wood Jr.) In fact… yelling, wildly gesticulating Jon Stewart is my least favorite host. Mon – Thurs 11 p.m., COMEDY CENTRAL.
“AMERICAN ON PURPOSE” – Craig Ferguson is back! I loved his old “Late Late Show” where he took playful, censor-friendly lechery to an art form, and loved his puppet friends. I didn’t so much love the horse or the skeleton. I even went once to a taping, with guest John Waters, a legend for my daughter Nicole; I’m such an awesome Dad. Ferguson was reliably quirky but, in no predictable direction. Still with his Scottish accent but a proud American citizen, he traverses the USA to speak with other Americans by choice, and it is enlightening for those of us fortunate enough to have been born here. There are only five episodes; don’t miss any. Sat 9 p.m., CNN, the next day on the CNN app.
COMING ATTRACTIONS (also recommended): HOT CLUB OF LOS ANGELES, Bar Jubilee 6/3, Cinema Bar 6/8, 15, 22, 29; TOLEDO DIAMOND, Harvelle’s Santa Monica, 6/7, 14, 21, 28; “GRANGEVILLE,” Ruskin Theatre, 6/5-7/12; MOZART “THE MAGIC FLUTE,” L.A. OPERA, 6/6, 11, 14, 17, 20, 21; ARTURO SANDOVAL, Blue Note, 6/6-8; CRAIG FERGUSON, “AMERICAN ON PURPOSE,” CNN, 6/6, 13, 20, 27, 7/4; PAUL SIMON, Hollywood Bowl, 6/7; “THIS LAND,” CNN, 6/7-7/12; MILES 100: A CELEBRATION IN AFRO-CUBAN JAZZ, Jazz Bakery, 6/13; LIBRARY GIRL, Ruskin Group Theatre, 6/14, 7/12, 8/9, 9/13, 10/11, 11/8;
Charles Andrews has listened to a lot of music of all kinds, including more than 3,500 live shows. He has lived in Santa Monica for 40 years and wouldn’t live anywhere else in the world. Really. Send love and/or hate mail to: therealmrmusic@gmail.com.
