A world of films comes to Rolling Hills

A Chinese lantern Lynn Tang produces movies and runs the Universe Multicultural Film Festival by Bondo Wyszpolski After working hard for many years, establishing her own company and then selling it, Lynn Tang decided to retire and just relax. That didn’t last very long, because soon after she was contacted by a Chinese filmmaker who…

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Broken hearts at the opera house

Unrequited love “Highway 1, USA” and “The Dwarf” at LA Opera by Bondo Wyszpolski Over 16 years ago, “Recovered Voices” was conceived to showcase the suppressed operas by mostly Austrian and German composers during and after the rise of National Socialism. Arts philanthropist Marilyn Ziering, conductor James Conlon, and others brought to LA Opera long-neglected…

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Forbidden fruit… at the Getty

Trouble in paradise “Conserving Eden” The First Couple gets a makeover by Bondo Wyszpolski Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden. Soon they’ll be expelled from the Getty in Los Angeles… but only to return to their permanent home at the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena. Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472-1553) was…

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Shakespeare without words

A pyre for their desire Matthew Bourne’s “Romeo + Juliet” by Bondo Wyszpolski Take note of the title. Shakespeare’s name is nowhere to be found, and that’s because his play, his words, are not here. Instead, as director and choreographer Matthew Bourne has noted, his work is “a Romeo and Juliet-like story.” Currently gracing the…

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A cornucopia of fine art

Beyond your wildest imagination The 2024 L.A. Show is gearing up by Bondo Wyszpolski When it comes to art-related events, I can think of no other that quite matches the annual L.A. Art Show, which runs from Feb. 14 through Feb. 18 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Once again there will be exhibitors (100+…

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Figures and faces

“Return to Form” On view at the Manhattan Beach Art Center by Bondo Wyszpolski This is a modest show, with a few representational works by each of four Southern California artists, that opened with a reception last Friday evening. Brittany Ryan has made a name for herself with her figurative sculptures, which are like soft…

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Just an appetizer

“Dining with the Sultan: The Fine Art of Feasting” Munching on crocodile eggs and gazelle fattened on human milk by Bondo Wyszpolski The title of this exhibition, in the Resnick Pavilion at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, says it all. Or does it? On view through August 4, the show features some 250…

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Patrick Smyth: Big or small, shooting everything in sight

Passion projects Conversing with photographer Patrick Smyth by Bondo Wyszpolski Intrigued by the grimacing heads sculpted by Franz Xavier Messerschmidt in the late 18th century (and by the Getty’s “Vexed Man” in particular), Reidar Schopp invited several photographers to his San Pedro studio in order to shoot one another in facial poses — frowns, scowls,…

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Where the camera is king: three photography exhibits

Fine art photography, three exhibitions “Arthur Tress: Rambles, Dreams, and Shadows,” plus “Sheila Metzner: From Life,” and Peter Fetterman’s “The Power of Photography” by Bondo Wyszpolski In the earlier part of his career, New York-based Arthur Tress felt that the reason contemporary photography often failed to move us personally was because it didn’t “touch upon…

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Frida and Diego: coming to life on the Day of the Dead

Folkloric and surreal, an operatic tale of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera “El último sueño de Frida y Diego” by Bondo Wyszpolski The glowing heat of an intense orange-and-blue set pervades “El último sueño de Frida y Diego” (The Last Dream of Frida and Diego), a two-act opera, in Spanish, by composer Gabriela Lena Frank…

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Soldiers and composers: “Time’s Echo,” a review

First the battle, then the music “Time’s Echo: The Second World War, the Holocaust, and the Music of Remembrance,” by Jeremy Eichler (Alfred A. Knopf, 386 pp, $30) by Bondo Wyszpolski Let’s start with the premise and purpose of “Time’s Echo,” which is impeccably researched and astonishingly well thought out. Alluding to words written by…

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Fanfare for the common man

Salt of the earth “Reckoning with Millet’s ‘Man with a Hoe’ 1863-1900,” edited by Scott Allan (Getty Publications, 123 pp, $26.95) by Bondo Wyszpolski Scott Allan doesn’t waste any time rolling up his sleeves: “For a time around the turn of the twentieth century, ‘Man with a Hoe’ would be the most renowned European painting…

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Local church overrun by gangsters! Don’t miss the action!

“The Package” and “Constellations” A double treat onstage in Manhattan Beach by Bondo Wyszpolski This past weekend two very different plays opened at the Manhattan Beach Community Church Theater, one written by South Bay resident Bob Manning (“The Package”) and one written by the English playwright Nick Payne (“Constellations”). I’ll start with the home team.…

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Alyssa Barron hits all the notes

Ballads to blues, rock and cabaret Tuning in to local singer-songwriter Alyssa Barron by Bondo Wyszpolski Alyssa Barron has been rolling out new songs in advance of an album that may, the singer-songwriter says, be released in the spring. But who is Alyssa Barron, and why should we care about her and her music? Well,…

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