Memorable Moments in L.A. Theater
This is the first in a two-part series of moments remembered by people who either recorded them, or engaged in an activity best described by actress-director Jillian Amenante, “Putting on a play in L.A. is like trying to build a snowman in Florida.” -- SLM
Good Vibrations
BY PAULINE ADAMEK How often do you get close enough to see the rapture on the face of a world-class musician exquisitely playing a heart-rending theme? On the second Sunday of every month, Le Salon de Musiques gives you that very opportunity in an intimate upstairs hall within the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. This concert series was initiated in 2010 by the pianist Francois Chouchan, who now serves as the Salon’s artistic director.
Flight of the Bumblebee
A Life in Our Theater: A Memoir BY NEAL WEAVER George Bernard Shaw once observed that theatrical economics can never really be rationalize because when theaters are making money, they’re making it so fast that economy seems irrelevant; and when they’re losing money, they’re losing it so fast that no amount of economy will help. Or, to put it another way: they say bumblebees are too heavy to fly. But the bumblebees don’t know that, so they go on flying anyway.
Welcome to Stage Raw!
So, the Forest of Arden in As You Like It is the place where the ex-pats gather, those either cast out from the pomp of court, or self-exiled. If you’re in the arts, if you love the arts, welcome to Arden. To quote Duke Senior, his dukedom stolen by his brother: “Sweet are the uses of adversity Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous, Wears yet a precious jewel in his head; And this our life, exempt from public haunt, Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, Sermons in stones, and good in everything. I would not change it.”
Stage Rows
BY BILL RADEN We at Stage Rows would like to formally thank Stage Raw for inviting us to share the hottest if not-very-well substantiated L.A. stage rumors and bald-faced show plugs in this, the inaugural of what we hope will be a regular weekly column of scandalmongering and sludge-raking among the personalities that make the Los Angeles stage scene the fractious, fecund and incestuous community that it is.