Lovell Estell III was jaded when it came to magic acts. Then he saw Albie Selznick's autobiographical magic act "Smoke and Mirrors." It's effect struck him "like an angry mule's kick," when he came to realize that the show had tapped long-dormant childhood memories. "Smoke and Mirrors" is back with a new director, David Schweizer, and our critic went to re-visit the show, and its magician.
Myron Meisel has been tracking the work of enfant terrible Robert Wilson in L.A. since the late 1970s. Says Meisel, Wilson's recent staging of "The Old Woman" -- adapted from the writings of Soviet dissident Daniil Kharms, and starring Willem Dafoe and Mikhail Baryshnikov, presented by UCLA's Center for the Art of Performance -- was Wilson at his best. Meisel explains why.
So why can’t an ensemble consist of one actor plus designers and technicians? Are they not on the same team? Wouldn’t this argument make our Hollywood Fringe, with its overwhelming majority of solo performances, a cauldron of ensemble work? Los Angeles Master chorale puts that argument to rest.
