By Charles Andrews
SOMEWHAT IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT
Starting right now, NOTEWORTHY will appear bi-weekly instead of weekly. The recommendations will cover two weeks, so, same info, just a little faster and easier for me. You have no idea what it takes for someone whose eyesight is disappearing to look up all that stuff, so no complaints, hear?
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED:
“GRANGEVILLE,” Ruskin Group Theatre – The run has been extended, a little, so I must not be the only one who likes it. But only through the end of July, as of now. I swear, you finally get these thespians and their teachers into their new facility after a couple years of frustration, and they seem to think they need to knock it out of the park every time now. Another two-actor play (but four characters); this is such a creative setting: two very different half-brothers on separate continents, connecting first by Zoom and then in person after so many years of chosen separation, but now having to deal with the decline of their mother. Emotionally fascinating, and wrenching. Superb screenplay by highly decorated Samuel D. Hunter, known for “The Whale”. You may want to see it a second time. Fri, Sat 8 p.m., Sun 2 p.m., $40-45.
HOT CLUB OF LOS ANGELES – This rockin’ quintet, known for Django Reinhardt-style ‘30s-’40s jazz (for starters, but they go way beyond), knocks you out with their across-the-board virtuosity. I have never heard anyone walk away from a HCOLA show 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, first Wednesday of the month at Bar Jubilee, West Hollywood, also no cover charge, 8:30. Mon 9 p.m., Cinema Bar, Culver City, no cover.
“TREASURE ISLAND” – Not going to shiver a single timber, but I will exclaim, Oh boy, because this one sounds like fun. Adapted from the novel and directed by founder Will Geer’s daughter Ellen, she has shown a decades-long consistent gift for mixing message with theatrical entertainment, and I expect this to do no less. Please don’t ever retire, Ellen! Sat, next Sat, 7:30 p.m., Theatricum Botanicum, Topanga Canyon, $15-60.
“ROMEO AND JULIET,” Theatricum Botanicum – 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? But wait – Ellen and daughter Willow Geer co-direct, and they take the old European balcony into New York in the Gilded Age, re-examining hate and love, greed and generosity, and what separates us and brings us together. Sun, next Sun, 7:30 p.m., Theatricum Botanicum, Topanga Canyon, $15-60.
“A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM,” Theatricum Botanicum – See above. They 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, next Sun, 3:30 p.m., Theatricum Botanicum, Topanga Canyon, $15-60.
RECOMMENDED:
THE AIRPORT COMEDY SHOW – I know, I shouldn’t “recommend” such an unknown quantity, on its launch night no less, and especially… a comedy show, which has a high possibility of being at least partly dreadful. But – I love the idea of a good comedy night right here in Santa Monica (I presume this will be a regular item if it is successful), the Ruskin has a long record of doing difficult things right and even spectacularly, and – we all need to laugh, especially right now. Hosted by Skylar Kaplan. Thurs 8:30 p.m., Ruskin Group Arts Center, SM Airport, $15.
“PAINTED PONIES” – Here’s another qualified recommendation, see above, based on the Ruskin track record, especially since opening the new, expanded facility. A one-woman show written by Ian McRae, directed by Elina de Santos and starring Rachel Sorsa, it’s about the courage and love of a mother who is haunted by past mistakes, making peace with regret. “Raw, honest, and intricately woven,” it’s an exploration of grief and resilience, a mother refusing to let loss have the final word. Sat 5 p.m., Sun 4 p.m., Ruskin Group Arts Center, SM Airport, $30-35.
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 PAINTED POINIES” – 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): “GRANGEVILLE,” Ruskin Theatre, 6/26-7/12; “THE AIRPORT COMEDY SHOW,” Ruskin Theatre, 6/26; CRAIG FERGUSON, “AMERICAN ON PURPOSE,” CNN, 6/27, 7/4; TOLEDO DIAMOND, Harvelle’s Santa Monica, 6/28; ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL, Coach House, 6/28; “THIS LAND,” CNN, 6/28-7/12; HOT CLUB OF LOS ANGELES, Cinema Bar 6/29; DAVE ALVIN & JIMMIE DALE GILMORE, McCabe’s, 7/10, 11; LIBRARY GIRL, Ruskin Group Theatre, 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
