By Charles Andrews
NOTE: NOTEWORTHY is now spanning a two-week period. A little simpler for me, better for you (get those tickets early).
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HIGHLY RECOMMENDED:
“PETER ASHER, EVERYWHERE MAN” – Hurry! To catch playing, at least today and tomorrow, at Santa Monica’s Monica Film Center and Encino’s Town Center 5, before it goes to pieces. No one expected it to run this long, but like the man himself, it seems to have unlikely staying power. Everyone I’ve talked to who has seen this, some several times, loves it, even though Asher is a bit of an obscurity. He started off as half of the Brit Invasion pop duo of Peter and Gordon, but always wanted to produce records, and quickly rose to the top of the London scene as A&R man for the new Apple Records. When he shipped off for the States, same thing: quickly to the top in LA, managing James Taylor and Linda Ronstadt to fame, and producing for Diana Ross, Robin Williams, Elton John, and many other stars. It’s packed with photos and videos I have never seen before, and that’s saying something. He’s a quirky guy, still at 82, but so well-loved. A huge force in music. His story is not just nostalgia; it is pop music history. Today Wed. Thurs., could be extended; check times, Monica Film Center, Santa Monica; Town Center 5, Encino; $12.50.
“GRANGEVILLE,” Ruskin Group Theatre – The run has been extended, a little, so I must not be the only one who likes it. 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 phone 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, so hurry. Fri, Sat 8 p.m., Sun 2 p.m., next Fri, Sat 8 p.m., next Sun 2 p.m., $40-45.
“PAINTED PONIES” – Because I am now writing NOTEWORTHY every two weeks, this is my last chance to tell you, yes, tell you, NOT to let this get by. A one-woman show written by Ian McRae, directed so superbly and deftly 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. Yeah, that’s what the PR says, but it is so much more. Sorsa takes a seemingly rough character and reveals a soul and intellect that surprises you. Her pain over the loss of a child could easily turn into self-blame, but she holds it and examines it through decades, and shows us so much more. Odd circumstances for sure, but she makes it a life that could have fallen to any of us. She could easily have arrived and stayed at pathetic, but heroically keeps hope alive all her life, that he may someday be found, and I was so moved by her final peronoucement: “I never gave up hope – I just ran out of time.” Brilliant script, and Sorsa delivers an 80-minute monologue without a miss. Isn’t this what theatre is really about? Next Sat 5 p.m., Sun 4 p.m., Ruskin Group Arts Center, SM Airport, $30-35.
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. Every 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.
NOEL COWARD’S “WAITING IN THE WINGS” – My most anticipated show of their season; hope to report on it soon, go now anyway! Sun, next Sun, 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. Next Mon, 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:
EL RAYO-X – Charles, there you go again, recommending a sold-out show. Why you do that? Several reasons. To remind folks what an amazing rainbow of music and other arts we have before us, every week, even right here in li’l ol’ Santa Monica. (It was why I moved here from New Mexico nearly 50 years ago.) To remind you that if you don’t want to keep cursing “Darn!” when you can’t get tickets to a show you REALLY wanted to see, you will grab those magical ducats the moment you have the opportunity. McCabe’s is a tiny venue, much more important there. Also, to inform you of worthwhile performers you might not have known. It has been three years since the incomparable multi-instrumentalist David Lindley passed, and his band has come together for only two performances, to honor him and the unique and wonder-filled music they created together, fearless blending of reggae, cumbia, Middle Eastern, and American Roots into something entirely its own.
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:
Ken Burns’ incredible “The American Revolution” is playing on some PBS stations. I can’t recommend it enough.
“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.
N-O-T RECOMMENDED – Howard Jones with Modern English, Wang Chung, The English Beat, why even mention this? Because I love The Beat, but I would certainly wait until I don’t have to sit through three lame groups. They will probably lead off, and then I could exit, but feeling like I paid for most of a show I didn’t want. I’m betting that a lot of fans of the first three groups, will leave the show with any number of The English Beat’s many great songs swirling in their heads, because founding vocalist Dave Wakeling still leads a band of excellent players and they always sound great and because his was the voice of amost all their hits and near-hits, what I have heard so many times after one of their shows is, I forgot they had that many great songs! Try to catch The Beat headlining anywhere. Thurs, Greek Theater.
COMING ATTRACTIONS (also recommended): “GRANGEVILLE,” Ruskin Group Theatre, 7/24, 25, 26, 31, 8/1, 2; “TREASURE ISLAND” 7/26, 8/2, 10, 16, 20, 29, 9/4, 12, 20, 27, 10/3 NOEL COWARD’S “WAITING IN THE WINGS,” 7/26, 8/2, 9, 14, 17, 23, 30, 9/6, 13, 20, 23, 10/3 Theatrucum Botanicum; TOLEDO DIAMOND, Harvelle’s Santa Monica, 7/26, 8/2, 9, 16, 23, 30; HOT CLUB OF LOS ANGELES, Cinema Bar 7/27, 8/3, 10, 17, 24, 31; “PAINTED PONIES,” Ruskin Group Theatre, 8/1, 2, 8, 9; DAN NAVARRO, McCabe’s, 8/8; LIBRARY GIRL, Ruskin Group Theatre, 8/9, 9/13, 10/11, 11/8; SANTANA, DOOBIE BROTHERS, Hollywood Bowl, 8/13; LITTLE FEAT, United Theatre on Broadway, 9/8; I SEE HAWKS IN LA, McCabe’s, 9/19.
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.
