By CHARLES ANDREWS
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED:
“HONOUR” – The first theatrical presentation, on the Kaplan Stage, at the beautiful new Ruskin Group Theatre at the airport, just a couple doors down from the old location, knocks it out of the park. Directed by Max Mayer, it’s small in scale with only four characters (Marcia Cross, Matt Letscher, Ariana Afradi, and Jude Mayer). I loved the writing, which takes a tense and confusing but fairly common family situation and touches on issues much larger. It was nearing the end of its run, but has been so in demand it has been extended a bit, through Sunday after next. Thurs, Fri, Sat 8 p.m., Sun 2 p.m., Ruskin Group Theatre, SM Airport, $20-45.
Tonight! – GLASS “AKHNATEN,” LA OPERA You haven’t seen this yet? Me either, and we are both running out of chances. I have been anticipating this one for a long time. It promises to be spectacular and memorable on every level. There are a lot of artists I love but don’t closely follow their careers. I loved Philip Glass from the first cosmic performance on a bare stage at UCLA, a long time ago. I was surprised to learn he has now written 28 operas, as many as Verdi. With this combination of music, spectacular sets and costumes, storytelling and history, I would run there anyway, but when the very reliable LA Times critic Mark Swed gives it an OK, that’s plenty good for me. Wed, Sat 7:30 p.m., Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, LA, $44-415.
HOT CLUB OF LOS ANGELES – The HCOLA don’t claim to play note-for-note Django, but they are the spot-on purveyors of his spirit, and I think if he were to walk into the Cinema Bar on a Monday night and sit in with them, they would all be smiling big. Just be sure to call me if that happens. Mondays 9 p.m., Cinema Bar, Culver City, always no cover.
RECOMMENDED:
Tonight! – THE BAD PLUS POTTER TABORN – It was years ago I saw them, not in a jazz club, and I remember thinking these guys are weird, and wonderful. Unlike anyone else I’ve seen, and that’s a huge compliment. Based on that, I am recommending them. Wed 7, 9:30 p.m., Blue Note LA, Hollywood, $55, 38.
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. Sun 9 p.m., Harvelle’s, Santa Monica, $13.
L.A. CAFE PLAYS – You’ve got to experience this. Or better yet, try your hand at it. Five writers (no experience necessary) come in the morning to get the prompt for what they will write, a short one-act play, which is handed off to a director and two or three actors, and 10 hours later, five new plays are presented on the Ruskin stage. Sun 7:30 p.m., Ruskin Group Theatre, SM Airport, $25 (only 5 bucks a play – what have you got to lose?)
MADELEINE PEYROUX – It might have been something she didn’t wish for, when early reviews of her first performances and album drew too-tight comparisons to Billie Holiday. There will only ever be one Lady Day, and I imagine Peroux understands that. It was her sultry style and emotional approach to songs, and that ain’t exactly bad. Born in Athens, GA, raised in Brooklyn, busking on the streets there since age 10 with folk groups, she moved to Paris at 13 to learn more. Pretty good resume, pretty good voice and style. Tues, Wed 7, 9:30 p.m., Blue Note LA, Hollywood, $60, 77.
TV RECOMMENDATIONS:
“THE DAILY SHOW” – Mon – Thurs 11 p.m., COMEDY CENTRAL.\
“HAVE I GOT NEWS FOR YOU” – Sat 9 p.m., CNN.
‘“DARK WINDS” – I don’t understand how this was passed by for awards consideration. Based on the very popular series of murder mysteries by Tony Hillerman, set on the Navajo Reservation, his daughter Anne took up the series after he died and added a female police officer, and her novels have all hit the NY Times bestseller lists. Four years ago, Robert Redford and George R.R. Martin began producing shows that combined some novels by both Hillermans, and the results have been spectacular. Stunning NM scenery, great stories integrating Native American spiritual beliefs (sometimes metaphysically scary), superb soundtrack, and a phenomenal cast of nearly all Indigenous Peoples. The fourth season started this past Sunday on AMC and also airs on AMC+. The previous three seasons are available on Netflix, and I seriously recommend you binge-watch them all first. You will thank me. Sundays 9 p.m., AMC, AMC+.
COMING ATTRACTIONS (also recommended): GLASS “AKHNATEN,” LA OPERA, 3/11, 14, 19, 21, 22; THE BAD PLUS POTTER TABORN, Blue Note LA, 3/11; “HONOUR,” Ruskin Group Theatre, 3/12-15, 19-22; PUCCINI “TURANDOT,” Pacific Opera Project, Aratani Theatre, 3/14, 15, 22; “HAVE I GOT NEWS FOR YOU,” CNN Sat 9 p.m., 3/14, 21, 28; ANNE HILLERMAN’S “DARK WINDS,” Season 4, AMC/+, 3/15, 22, 29, 4/4; TOLEDO DIAMOND, Harvelle’s Santa Monica, 3/15, 22, 29; HOT CLUB OF LOS ANGELES, Cinema Bar, 3/16, 23, 30; MADELEINE PEYROUX, Blue Note LA, 3/17, 18; “VERTIGO” in concert, Disney Hall, 3/21; NICK LOWE, Bellwether, 3/27;
DOWN THE ROAD (also recommended): UCLA-USC College Night, Sam First, 4/1; ST. PAUL & THE BROKEN BONES, Belasco, 4/3; FRED HERSCH TRIO, Jazz Bakery, 4/11; DAVID BYRNE, Santa Barbara Bowl, 4/14; SAMARA JOY, Blue Note LA, 4/15, 16; VERDI “FALSTAFF,” LA OPERA, 4/18, 26, 30, 5/2, 6, 10; TAKE 6, Blue Note LA, 4/30-5/3; STANLEY CLARKE’S SANTA MONICA INTERNATIONAL JAZZ FESTIVAL, BroadStage, 5/1-9; MESHELL NDEGEOCELLO, Blue Note LA, 5/4, 5; LA SANTA CECILIA, Fonda Theatre, 5/7; MOZART “THE MAGIC FLUTE,” LA OPERA, 5/30, 6/6, 11, 14, 17, 21.
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
