Charles Andrews
FIRST, A REMINDER, OR TWO
NOTEWORTHY is now published every two weeks, not weekly. So mark your calendars and score your tickets accordingly. Also, if you look to this link, you will find my Substack MUSIC, POLITICS, LIFE. I would love it if you would subscribe – free – and then you will receive the columns in your email, automatically, easy peasy. https://bit.ly/3UGkK1F
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED:
“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., Ruskin Group Arts Center, SM Airport, $40-45.
“PAINTED PONIES” – Five alarms! No foolin’! This is my last chance to tell you, yes, tell you, NOT to let this get by. Final two performances this Sat, Sun. A one-woman show written by Ian McRae, directed 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 broken and pathetic, but heroically keeps hope alive all her life, that her son may someday be found, and I was so moved by her final pronouncement: “I never gave up hope – I just ran out of time.” Brilliant script, and Sorsa delivers a 70-minute monologue without a miss that is amazing to witness. Isn’t this what theatre is really about? 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 explore 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 darn 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. 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! Mon, next Sun, 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:
LIBRARY GIRL Presents: “Women in a Golden State — An Anthology Celebration” – what a great title! For what promises to be an emotional and eloquent performance. Are women washed up at 60? Ha! These fine poets have great answers for that ridiculous but often-thought question. I wouldn’t be surprised if several took the stage wearing boxing gloves. Readings by Lisa Alvarez, Lynne Bronstein, Celeste Goyer, Elizabeth Iannaci, Diane Lefer, Suzanne Lummis, Diana Raab, Lynne Thompson, Carine Topal, and Terry Wolverton. Music by O-Lan Jones. Sun 7 p.m., Ruskin Group Arts Center, 7 p.m., SM Airport, $20/
TOLEDO DIAMOND – Who’s been showing up even longer than the Hot Club, in fact two Sundays ago was his 25th anniversary at our venerable downtown Santa Monica blues bar, nearly a century old and rockin’ with live music seven nights a week. Is that because the long-time owner’s name is Seven? 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.
COMING ATTRACTIONS (also recommended): SHAKESPEARE’S “A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM,” 8/6, 12, 19, 27, 9/7, 27, 10/10; “GRANGEVILLE,” Ruskin Group Theatre, 8/7, 10, 13, 14, 16; SHAKESPEARE’S “ROMEO AND JULIET,” Will Geer’s Theatricum Botanicum, 8/7, 13, 22, 28, 9/11, 18, 26; “PAINTED PONIES,” Ruskin Group Theatre, 8/8, 9; DAN NAVARRO, McCabe’s, 8/8; LIBRARY GIRL, Ruskin Group Theatre, 8/9, 9/11, 10/11, 11/8; TOLEDO DIAMOND, Harvelle’s Santa Monica, 8/9, 16, 23, 30; NOEL COWARD’S “WAITING IN THE WINGS,” Will Geer’s Theatricum Botanicum, 8/9, 14, 17, 23, 30, 9/6, 13, 20, 23, 10/3; “TREASURE ISLAND,” Will Geer’s Theatricum Botanicum, 8/10, 16, 20, 29, 9/4, 12, 20, 27, 10/3; HOT CLUB OF LOS ANGELES, Cinema Bar 8/10, 17, 24, 31; SANTANA, DOOBIE BROTHERS, Hollywood Bowl, 8/13; THORNTON WILDER’S “OUR TOWN” Staged Reading, Ruskin Group Theatre, 8/15; DAVID HIDALGO, JIM KELLER, MITCHELL FROOM, BOB GLAUB, PETE THOMAS, McCabe’s, 8/30, 31;
DOWN THE ROAD: LITTLE FEAT, United Theatre on Broadway, 9/8; “HAVE I GOT NEWS FOR YOU,” Roy Wood Jr., Amber Ruffin, Michael Ian Black, every Sat 9 p.m., CNN stsrting 9/12; I SEE HAWKS IN LA, RICK SHEA, TONY GILKYSON, McCabe’s, 9/19; DEKE DICKERSON & Friends, McCabe’s, 9/27; JIMMIE DALE GILMORE, BUTCH HANCOCK, McCabe’s, 10/9.
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
