Upcoming Los Angeles Events in November and December

Between performances and exhibitions, the news of the coming months, musical event in Los Angeles, also announced rich and exciting. We invite you to enjoy these many artistic and cultural events which do exist the France and creativity in the heart of California.

Place in the books! The France Alliance of Los Angeles is pleased to announce the reopening of his library, the largest in Southern California, as well as the imminent the Albertine corner opening, in partnership with the New York Library.

Note also the launch of an ambitious “kids program,” which includes afterschool pay-per-view from Monday to Thursday, awakening in French with the French Conservatory, yoga sessions for parents and children, as well as an Autumn Camp 2018.

Besides the library, another thing was released this week in Los Angeles that will make all gamers excited, and that is new slots that can be played in 3D, which should immerse us even more into the

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A War Story With Little Fight

Usually Dependable Circus Theatricals Misses the Mark With ‘Harm’s Way’

As happens with most wars, it took a couple of years for playwrights to capture various aspects of the armed conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now, however, it seems battle-fueled works are premiering every couple of weeks on an L.A. stage.

Shem Bitterman, best known for his work The Job, which won an L.A. Drama Critics Circle Award, collaborated last year with Circus Theatricals on Man.Gov, about an arms inspector whose life is altered radically when he is suspected of leaking information to a reporter.

Bitterman and the Downtown Los Angeles theater company have followed up this season with Harm’s Way. Both plays, directed by Steve Zuckerman, are scheduled to open off-Broadway in New York next year, but this latest effort falls short as both a revelatory exploration about the war and a family drama. The plot lacks surprises and the dialogue is predictable, but there are …

Puppet Theater Tangled in Debt

Bob Baker, 84, Must Raise $30,000; Says Venue Will Not Close

by Anna Scott

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES – The Bob Baker Marionette Theater, an easy-to-miss white box in City West, has entranced the young and young-at-heart with its string-operated figurines for 45 years. But the country’s oldest puppet theater finds itself in a financial tangle.

The theater, at 1345 W. First St., has fallen into debt, and 84-year-old owner Bob Baker has been told by his mortgage holder that he must raise approximately $30,000 to avoid foreclosure proceedings, said theater assistant manager Richard Shuler. A Dec. 3 deadline was recently extended, as negotiations are ongoing.

In an attempt to raise the funds, Baker earlier this month hired a real estate firm to put the property up for sale, hoping to find a buyer who would lease him back the space. By last Thursday, however, Baker’s spokesman said it was no longer on the market. Baker, who can still be found

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New Late-Night DASH Offers Holiday Hours

News Brief

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES – The city Department of Transportation has introduced a late-night Downtown DASH bus route that will run through the holiday season. LADOT officials, along with Councilwomen Jan Perry and Wendy Greuel, announced the new route, which began operating on Nov. 21 and will continue through New Year’s Eve, during a press conference last Thursday outside of Walt Disney Concert Hall. The DASH runs Friday and Saturday nights from 6:30 p.m.-3 a.m. The line parallels portions of the Metro Red Line, which is also operating until 3 a.m. during the holidays. The new route travels from the Convention Center to the Seventh Street/Metro Center Red and Blue line station before turning east to head up Main Street with stops at Sixth, Fourth and Second streets. It then connects with the Red Line again on First Street in the Civic Center before looping back south along Grand Avenue, stopping at Disney Hall, Pershing Square and the Fashion

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What a Way to Make a Living

Dolly Parton’s Toe-Tapping Songs Stand Out in Premiere of ‘9 to 5’

by Jeff Favre

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES – After only three songs, technical malfunctions stopped the opening night performance of the world premiere musical 9 to 5 for 15 minutes – and the crowd was thrilled.

That’s because the show’s composer, country music legend Dolly Parton, led the audience in a sing-along of the title number, which she wrote for the 1980 movie.

Parton also filled time by introducing her co-stars from the hit film, Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin and Dabney Coleman, who were sitting in the audience with her, before the glitches were fixed and the onstage entertainment resumed without incident.

Audiences during the rest of the performances through Oct. 19 at the Ahmanson Theatre in Downtown Los Angeles – or during its planned Broadway run next year – likely will be less forgiving of unexpected stoppages unless Parton is there to save the night.

Still, if all

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The New Face of Theater

New LATC Launches 2008 Season With Three-Month World Festival

by Kathryn Maese

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES – When the New LATC raises the curtain on its second season this Friday, theatergoers will get a rare chance to see Mexican icon Ofelia Medina, who dazzled audiences as Frida in the eponymous 1984 film, perform her one-woman show based on the book of poems Poesia No Eres Tu.

With Intimamente – Rosario de Chiapas, the actress, writer, director and activist will open the New LATC’s 2008-2009 season in dramatic fashion as part of the three-month Face of the World Festival, which features 25 shows on four stages. It’s a fitting choice, since Medina’s exploration of happiness, solitude and the search for freedom mirrors the LATC’s own tumultuous journey in recent years.

The Latino Theatre Company won a contentious fight to operate the city-owned theater under a 20-year contract and, following a $4 million renovation, reopened the venue last year. The space

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Purple’s Reign

Oprah Winfrey-Produced Musical of Empowerment Arrives at the Ahmanson

by Julie Riggott

Toward the end of The Color Purple: The Musical About Love, actors Felicia P. Fields and Stu James share a duet as Sofia and Harpo. Fields, a full-figured gal, jumps up in James’ arms and wraps her legs around him in a playful scene that has become a definite crowd-pleaser.

“We played around with it to the point where if you can’t figure out what’s going on with them in ‘Any Little Thing,’ then God help you,” Fields said with a laugh.

She kept laughing as she added, “I came up with the jump, and he came up with the pelvic movement. It’s a tribute to Stu’s strength. When you’ve got access to muscles like Stu’s, you need to utilize them. So I keep him in the gym.”

“This song is like the icing on the cake,” James said. “It’s my favorite number in the show.”

Fields,

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L.A. Fashion District Shopping Tour

Monday-Saturday with advance reservation, 10:30 a.m. Three hours of walking and shopping with a guide in the nation’s largest fashion district. $36 per person.

Call (213) 683-9715 or urbanshoppingadventures.com.

Coming occurrences of this event:

  • Thursday, October 18, 2007
  • Friday, October 19, 2007
  • Saturday, October 20, 2007
  • Sunday, October 21, 2007
  • Monday, October 22, 2007
  • Tuesday, October 23, 2007
  • Wednesday, October 24, 2007
  • Thursday, October 25, 2007
  • Friday, October 26, 2007
  • Saturday, October 27, 2007
  • Sunday, October 28, 2007
  • Monday, October 29, 2007
  • Tuesday, October 30, 2007
  • Wednesday, October 31, 2007
  • Thursday, November 01, 2007
  • Friday, November 02, 2007
  • Saturday, November 03, 2007
  • Sunday, November 04, 2007
  • Monday, November 05, 2007
  • Tuesday, November 06, 2007

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Big Ideas

L.A. Phil Mixes It Up With Famous Finns,

New Works and a Glimpse of the Future

by Julie Riggott

Bigger is better when it comes to the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

“One of the things that I’ve noticed about working with Esa-Pekka [Salonen] is that ideas can’t be big enough,” said Chad Smith, who as vice president of artistic planning interprets and implements the music director’s vision for the Phil.

The new season brings a variety of programming. After the gala opening night with celebrity soprano Renée Fleming on Thursday, Oct. 4, the Phil has three festivals featuring orchestral works complemented by new music, symposia and other events: Sibelius Unbound, the International Youth Orchestra Festival and Concrete Frequency.

“We have to scale our projects bigger. Our audiences expect it, the city expects it, our orchestra expects it, and, indeed, Esa-Pekka expects it,” Smith said.

The season kicks off this Thursday with a program of French and Italian music by Ravel, Berlioz

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