Posts by Bondo Wyszpolski
The Endless Highway
Jim Murray’s painterly explorations span decades Going back 40 years and more, there have been seismic shifts in the work of Manhattan Beach artist Jim Murray, shifts of style, medium, and focus that have welled up over time and then propelled a sudden jolt towards a new subject and/or approach. “Been There – Done…
Read MoreSouth Bay Arts Calendar 4/30/15-5/05/15
Thursday, April 30 Très chic “Thoroughly Modern Millie,” presented by the Mira Costa High School Drama Department, continues its run with a 6:30 p.m. show, and then over the weekend with 7:30 p.m. shows on Friday and Saturday, plus a 2 p.m. matinee on Saturday, in the Mira Costa High School Auditorium, 1401 Artesia Blvd.,…
Read More“Zeitgeist” – Select Germanic art on view at the Getty
It’s not easy to pack a big century into a small show, and “Zeitgeist: Art in the Germanic World, 1800-1900” can only selectively hint at the richness and variety of work that was created in Germany, Austria, and Czechoslovakia during the 19th Century. Curated by Lee Hendrix, senior curator of drawings at the J. Paul…
Read More“Hercules vs. Vampires” – campy humor from LA Opera
Before Italy unleashed a plethora of spaghetti westerns in the 1960s there were the sword-and-sandal epics of the ‘50s, nearly all of them done on a budget of pocket change. After years as a cinematographer, Mario Bava jumped into the gladiator/sci-fi ring with “Hercules and the Haunted World” (1961), just one of many “B” movies…
Read MoreSouth Bay Arts Calendar 4/23/15-4/29/15
Thursday, April 23 WORKS PRICED UNDER $100 The PADA Group, South Bay fine-art photographers, are featured in “Let’s Get Small, Small Works of the PV Art Center PADA Group.” The show is on view through May 2 at the Frame And Art Department, 950 Aviation Blvd, Hermosa Beach. For more information, call (310) 374-6900. BEFORE…
Read MoreNine Lives and Counting
“Cats” purrs its way into the Norris Theatre There are musicals that most of us have never heard of, and then there are musicals that everyone has heard of. “Cats” is clearly among the latter. Scored by Andrew Lloyd Webber and based on T.S. Eliot’s “Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats,” “Cats” opened in 1981…
Read MoreTHEATER REVIEW: “The Dixie Swim Club” – five women in the water of life
Once upon a time, in a faraway galaxy called Youth, five Southern teenaged girls were members of the same swim team, and apparently the camaraderie and group spirit was so binding that they agreed to meet every August for a long weekend at a beachside cottage on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Their story…
Read MoreSouth Bay Arts Calendar 4/17/15-4/20/15
Friday, April 17 Seeing the world The 2015 Universe Multicultural Film Festival opens today and through Sunday screens 57 short films from 24 countries, 18 feature films from 10 countries, with 12 screenplays from five countries. It takes place in three close-together venues, the RHC Community Center, 735 Silver Spur Road; Promenade on the Peninsula,…
Read MoreSouth Bay Arts Calendar 4/10/15-4/15/15
Friday, April 10 Get into the water The Manhattan Beach Community Church Theater presents “The Dixie Swim Club” at 8 p.m. tonight and tomorrow, plus 2 p.m. on Saturday. Also next Friday, at 8, and Saturday at 2 and 8 p.m., in the MBCC Theater, 303 S. Peck Road, Manhattan Beach. More at mbcctheater.com. Sketches…
Read MoreThe Light in the Piazza
The Malaga Cove art show and sale is here for spring and summer Perhaps it’s the fountain and the weathered statue of Neptune, located a few dozen yards away, but there’s something slightly mythological about the 30 or so artists emerging each spring to exhibit their wares on the green lawn in front of Malaga…
Read MoreTHEATER REVIEW – “Cinderella”
Revamped musical tries hard to be relevant As musical collaborators, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II had a number of success stories, from “Oklahoma!” to “The Sound of Music,” but “Cinderella” (written for TV) wasn’t one of them, relatively speaking. Even so, it’s a timeless fairy tale, and it’s been dusted off for a new…
Read MoreSouth Bay Arts Calendar 4/02/15-4/07/15
Thursday, April 2 Inspired sculptors An artists’ talk and walk-through with sculptors Michael Todd, Kristan Marvell, and Nicholette Kominos, in connection with the current “Ties to Modernism” show, takes place at 7:30 p.m. at South Bay Contemporary, at The Loft, 401 S. Mesa St., third floor, San Pedro. It’s during the First Thursday Art Walk,…
Read MorePushing Through the Doors of Perception – Conceptual camerawork at the Torrance Museum of Art
It wasn’t long after the birth of photography in the 1830s that creative minds got busy. Images were being manipulated almost from the get-go, and this has only intensified with the technological advances of recent years. “Second Sight: New Representations in Photography,” which is at the Torrance Art Museum through May 14, pushes even further…
Read More“Marilyn Forever,” Joyce Carol Oates, Torrance Art Museum, tanka poet Genie Nakano, Art Pepper celebration
“Marilyn Forever,” a new opera by Gavin Bryars, is onstage Sunday, March 29, at 2:30 p.m. in the Warner Grand Theatre, 478 W. Sixth St., San Pedro. This is the second of just two performances. It’s being presented by Long Beach Opera, conducted by Bill Linwood, with stage and production design by Andreas Mitisek. Pre-opera…
Read MoreOn view: “World War I: War of Images, Images of War”
In her book, Cassandra: A Novel and Four Stories, German author Christa Wolf poses a question: “You can tell when a war starts, but when does the pre-war start?” And a response: “If there are rules about that, we should pass them on… Among other things they would say: Do not let your own people…
Read MoreSouth Bay Arts Calendar: Stars of Napa, the B*Side Players, Art Pepper jazz summit, Gene Simmons, theater, rock photography, Lunafest, and more….
Thursday March 26 Wine Fest Shade Hotel and Wine LA are hosting the first annual Stars Of Napa Valley Wine Festival. After nine years of hosting its annual Ultimate Wine Festival, Shade this year brings 40 Napa wineries showcasing their most popular pours, including Quintess, Alpha Omega, Trefethen, Heitz, Frank Family Vineyards, Barnett Vineyards, Bougetz…
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