Posts by Bondo Wyszpolski
Santa’s Dark Companion
Krammpstein does Rammstein at Alpine Village Saint Nicholas, better known as St. Nick and better still as Santa Claus, knows who’s been naughty or nice, and good children are amply rewarded with train sets or a collector’s edition of Barbie dolls. But what about bad children? More familiar to German-speaking countries than elsewhere, St. Nick…
Read MoreArt by James Gilbert opening Thursday in Manhattan Beach
Protective Devices Not the guarded, but the guardians in James Gilbert’s new work, opening tonight in Manhattan Beach Pink sandbags and a few two-by-fours to keep them propped up. What shall we make of this? Out of the gate, I was perplexed and, honestly, not too interested. So, that’s my starting point in what turned…
Read MoreCircling Back to the Dream Deferred
Art nearly got away from Scott Trimble, but now it’s his #1 passion Each evening, at 7 or 7:15, Scott Trimble arrives home in Hermosa Beach from his office in Beverly Hills. He doesn’t turn on the TV or pick up the newspaper but goes straight to his garage where he paints until he’s…
Read MoreJake Heggie’s “Moby-Dick” at LA Opera
The winds of fate have billowed the large sails of the Pequod, the doomed whaling vessel of Melville’s classic work of fiction and now an impressive opera by composer Jake Heggie and librettist Gene Scheer. Moby-Dick, commissioned by a consortium of five opera companies, including those in San Diego and San Francisco, premiered in 2010.…
Read MoreFright Night: “The Addams Family” and “Carrie” – creature features perfect for Halloween
It may not be arriving on a broomstick, but 3D Theatricals’ production of “The Addams Family” touches down Saturday, on Halloween night, in the Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center. Even better, it’s a ghoulishly mirthful show. Based on the New Yorker cartoons that Charles Addams began drawing in 1938, as well as on the mid-1960s…
Read MoreKeyboard Sonata: concert pianist Anli Lin Tong performs Friday with the Beach Cities Symphony
There was, as the saying goes, a sudden change in plans. In 2011, pianist Anli Lin Tong was all set to perform Béla Bařtók’s “Piano Concerto No. 3” with the Beach Cities Symphony. Yes, the piece is difficult, but the musicians had learned their parts. It was also the season’s opening concert. “We went…
Read MoreThe “X” Factor: Redondo Beach Art Group’s Power of Art celebrates its 10th anniversary
Art shows come and go, artists as well, but the Redondo Beach Art Group (RBAG) has hung in there for a decade with a range of annual exhibitions that showcase some of the best work being done in the South Bay. The venues change, but this year, as last year, the three-day event is being…
Read More“The Sound of Music” – wafting through the Ahmanson
Like a volley of javelins, the catchy show tunes–“The Sound of Music,” “Maria,” “My Favorite Things,” “Do-Re-Mi”–fly from the stage, and the steely-eyed critic is quickly disarmed. “The Sound of Music,” one of several musicals in that impressive hit parade by Rodgers and Hammerstein, is a bittersweet melodrama that touches every heart and climbs ev’ry…
Read More“Mojada: A Medea in Los Angeles” – the play ends this weekend
When I first heard he’d taken another Greek tragedy and set it down (again) in East Los Angeles, I was reluctant to give playwright Luis Alfaro a vote of confidence. Previously he’d transformed “Elektra” into “Electricidade” and “Oedipus Rex” into “Oedipus El Rey,” and like someone who keeps dipping fingers into the cookie jar he’s…
Read MoreLiving to Tell the Tale
Real stories, real people, on stage in Hermosa Beach It’s a new take on an old concept. People have often unburdened themselves to strangers — on airplanes, trains, or sitting around a campfire. Presumably these confessions are unrehearsed, but imagine a similar scenario in which several men and women, one after another, get up on…
Read MoreAll New: Sunscreen Film Festival Returns
Friday through Sunday, Oct. 2, 3, and 4 Robert Enriquez has been upbeat about the now-annual Sunscreen Film Festival (this is its third year), and it’s back again for three days in the big theater (and little theater) of the Hermosa Beach Community Center. Once again, also, one can buy day passes ($50) or go…
Read MoreTo SUR, with Love
Torrance and Manhattan Beach art venues are taking part in the 3rd “SUR: biennial” Hispanic or Latin American art? For some people, variations of work by Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera may spring to mind, or maybe some graffiti near a freeway interchange. Sorry, it’s a great deal more than that. And just as art…
Read MoreSomething About Mary
Gail Bennett stars in “Mary Poppins” at the Norris Theatre I know you’ve been asked these questions before, so maybe I can just turn on this tape recorder and leave and come back later… Gail Bennett laughs. “I can give you the whole interview, yeah.” Anyway, you’ve done the show quite a few times.…
Read MorePower and Pathos: Bronze Sculpture of the Hellenistic World
Ancient Art, Lost and Found Power and Pathos: Bronze Sculpture of the Hellenistic World If you step up to an old bronze statue and give it a sharp rap with your knuckles it feels pretty solid, right? Even if it’s as hollow as a chocolate Easter bunny you’ll think, This baby’s gonna be around for…
Read More…And the Band Played On
The South Bay New Orleans Jazz Club keeps tradition alive Musical styles come and go. Some recede and some revive, raising their heads a little, and then it’s up to the devoted few to keep fanning what small flames persist. Early, traditional jazz often seems like it’s struggling to remain vivid and relevant, and yet…
Read MoreForbidden City
Gallery Exposure opens with photos of Havana by owner-printer Mark Sonners It was just one week, 16 years ago, but it made a lasting impression. That was when Mark Sonners went to Havana. Today, as he prepares to open Gallery Exposure in Old Torrance, the best images from that long-ago trip will be on view…
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