Bradley Whitford, Roger Bart and Michael O'Keefe in "Art" at The Pasadena Playhouse / Photo by Jim Cox

“Art,” the 1998 Tony Award winner for Best Drama, gets a smooth polish from nine-time Emmy Award-winning director David Lee in The Pasadena Playhouse’s current re-mount.

Playwright Yasmina Reza’s (who also wrote the 2009 Tony Award-winning “God of Carnage”) fast and witty repartee flows with ease from the mouths of the talented trio on stage — Roger Bart as the “spineless amoeba” best friend Yvan; Michael O’Keefe as Serge, the initiator of the drama; and Bradley Whitford as Marc, the antagonist of the ensuing debate.

The friendships and relationships of these three become examined and analyzed when Serge buys a white-on-white painting for 200,000 Euros.  Marc laughs outright upon seeing the blank canvas and being told of the price. Serge is appalled at Marc’s blatant outburst with no attempt to even pretend to like his new acquisition. Both try to get Yvan to side with their opposing opinions, and both succeed, much to their frustration.

As smooth as Reza’s words coming trippingly off Whitford’s talented tongue, Bart gradually steals the show, especially with his non-stop, oft-times rambling but still rational monologue lasting minutes during which he doesn’t seem to take a breath. And then O’Keefe appropriately deadpans, “And then?” Bravo!

Tom Buderwitz designed the gorgeous modern and classically simple apartment set of Serge. The program notes that this set represents the three characters’ individual apartments and that the locale is Paris, France. With no change of set pieces, Buderwitz’s set is realistically only Serge’s living room.  And with no references, audio or visual, to the apartment being in Paris, why Paris instead of New York, and why Euros instead of dollars?

—Gil Kaan

Performances continue through Feb. 19, at The Pasadena Playhouse, 39 S. El Molino Ave., Pasadena 91101. Showtimes are Tuesdays through Fridays at 8 p.m., Saturdays at 4 and 8 p.m., and Sundays at 2 and 7 p.m. For tickets, visit www.PasadenaPlayhouse.org or call the box office at (626) 356-7529.

J. Michael Feldman as Narrator Percy Rutherford in “Fairy Tale Theatre – 18 & Over” at the Matrix Theatre / Photo by Lew Abramson

Ree-dic-u-lousss!!! So over the top, “Fairy Tale Theatre – 18 & Over” really works at keeping the audience entertained — alternately howling, enchanted, and grossed out for 85 intermission-less minutes! Never heard fairy tales like these as a kid! The show, presented by the Inkwell Theater, is onstage at the Matrix Theatre through Feb. 11.

“Fairy Tale’s” author J. Michael Feldman is also onstage as the Narrator when not seamlessly inhabiting various non-human creatures of his seven fables garbed in Stephen Rowan’s hysterically ingenious costumes — sight gags in themselves. Rowan also gets credit for the many clever puppets and props this troupe of non-humans interacts with.

The rest of the attractive and very able cast (puppeteers/performers Jess McKay, Matt Cook, and Tina Huang; and featured performers Courtney Pauroso and Eileen Mulanee) also inhabit their non-human roles with the utmost commitment and talent. This gifted company succeeds in getting the audience to suspend disbelief that they, actors on stage wearing furry outfits, are spiders or squirrels or termites, even when they’re in plain sight working the various puppets. Very nice!

The Narrator frequently breaks the fourth wall talking to the audience, prepping us for the fables to come, and then at the end of each, reciting the moral of each fable in this smoothly paced outing directed by Annie McVey. The first involves a pair of squirrels (Pauroso and Feldman) who find they really like each other because of all their similarities.  The second pits a bi-polar polar bear (Feldman) against an Eskimo puppet. In the third piece, Feldman’s a bee that’s not trying to hurt anyone but keeps being attacked by everyone.

The fourth revolves around a gay termite couple (Cook and McKay) who finally meet their girl spider friend’s husband. Here, Feldman is costumed as a black spider with eight long legs. (Brilliant costume and brilliant maneuvering of these legs by Feldman!)  The gay couple debate how to tell their spider friend (Huang) that she’s married to a “Gasp!” gay spider.  Gay stereotypes are displayed, discussed, and turned inside out and upside down in this sketch to funny, funny results.

The fifth fable illustrates how a centipede (consisting of Feldman as the head and Cook as its rear) carries his groceries, dry cleaning, baby centipede in a basket and Starbucks from his car to his home. No words, just centipede sounds, and, oh yeah, the frequent laughter from the audience.

The sixth skit features a dog-loving monkey couple (Mulanee and Feldman) who invite their non-dog-loving monkey friend (Cook) over. Howling you hear is not just from the menagerie of dog puppets/puppeteers on the stage, but the audience howling, or groaning, at the gross-out sections of this skit.  Trust me, you will groan when you see this!

The final fable centers around a cloud (Feldman) flirting with another cloud (Pauroso).  Double entendres abound in sensual overload with bolts of lightning, splattering of rain, and wetness of fog.  These are some sexy clouds!

What a way to learn morals!

–Gil Kaan, Culture Spot LA

Performances continue through Feb. 11 at the Matrix Theatre, 7657 Melrose Ave., LA 90046. Showtimes are Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. For tickets, visit http://www.inkwelltheater.com/ or call (323) 852-1445.

Kathleen Turner as Molly Ivins in "Red Hot Patriot: The Kick Ass Wit of Molly Ivins" / Photo by Mark Garvin from Philadelphia Theatre Company’s world premiere production

Kathleen Turner is currently onstage at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles for the West Coast premiere of “Red Hot Patriot: The Kick-Ass Wit of Molly Ivins.” David Esbjornson directs the one-woman show about the famous columnist and political commentator from Texas, which continues through Feb. 19.

“Red Hot Patriot” is a roaring salute to Ivins’ sharp-tongued humor and a fitting tribute to her work as a voice of the people and a crusader for American rights. She authored bestselling books and worked on staff at such newspapers as the Houston Chronicle, Texas Observer, Dallas Times Herald, Fort Worth Star Telegram and The New York Times, where, among other things, she wrote Elvis’ obituary.

It’s perhaps no surprise that “Red Hot Patriot” is getting rave reviews, since it has a powerhouse creative team. Turner, of course, is the award-winning actress famous for her roles in such movies as “Body Heat” and “Romancing the Stone” and equally lauded for her work in theater. Esbjornson has directed world premieres of plays by the likes of Edward Albee, Tony Kushner, Arther Miller and Neil Simon. And how appropriate is it that playwrights Margaret and Allison Engel are also journalists?

Margaret is a Pulitzer Prize-nominated journalist who was a reporter at The Washington Post and now directs the Alicia Patterson Journalism Foundation. Her twin sister Allison has been a reporter, columnist and editor and is currently the associate director of the Los Angeles Institute for the Humanities at the University of Southern California.

Allison Engel talked with Culture Spot about Ivins, Turner and women in theater.

Culture Spot: Why Molly Ivins, and why a play?

Allison Engel: The day that Molly Ivins died — and we’re coming up on the fifth-year anniversary of her death — my twin sister Margaret, whom we all call Peggy, called me and said, “We should do a one-woman play about Molly Ivins.” What we were thinking about is “Mark Twain Tonight” that Hal Holbrook has been performing for 40 years, and also there have been other one-person plays about writers.

Peggy and I felt that Molly was taken from us way too soon — she died at age 62. She had so many years of brilliant writing and it just seemed inconceivable that we would not hear her voice anymore. That said, there were still a lot of people that didn’t know Molly Ivins, even though at her height she was syndicated in nearly 400 newspapers.

So we had this idea that we would model it on “Mark Twain Tonight,” which is basically Hal Holbrook standing  in front of a curtain and giving different anecdotes of Mark Twain, but as we got into it further, theater professionals told us that … we really needed to make it more of a play about Molly’s life.

CS: Why was Kathleen Turner the right actress to play her, and how did she get onboard?

AE: From the very beginning, we thought Kathleen Turner would be perfect because she can play that brassy, bold, fearless person. We had no idea how perfect she was for it until this happened: I told a friend of mine, Jim Autry from Iowa, that we were working on this play, and he had met Molly several times and he asked, “Who are you thinking of playing her?” We said, “Kathleen Turner,” and he said, “You know I sit on a board with Kathleen.” I said, “No, I didn’t know that.” And it was People for the American Way, which is the progressive organization that Norman Lear began. Both Jim and Kathleen had been on the board for decades. He said, “I’m going to tell her about this,” and I said, “Oh, no, Jim, you can’t do that yet because we don’t have the permission.” We just wrote it before we got permission because we knew we’d have to have something to show whoever handled her estate to see whether they’d want to go with the idea since we didn’t have a track record as playwrights. He said he wouldn’t tell her, and then of course two weeks later he did tell her, and she said to him, “I want that script.”

As it turns out, Kathleen lives in New York, and Ann Richards, the former governor of Texas who was a very close friend of Molly’s, lived in New York for a while after she was governor, and she lived in the same building as Kathleen — coincidence of all coincidences. And when Molly would come to visit Ann, if Kathleen was around, they’d invite her up. Not only did she know Molly, but she and Molly had many of the same philosophies and were fighting for the same things: first amendment rights, the rights of women and all those progressive issues. So Kathleen … said she was interested in it, and that really helped when we went to Molly’s longtime agent who held the rights to her writing.

CS: I could tell Kathleen had a deep connection with Molly. It was beyond incredible acting, and at the end when she took her bows before a standing ovation, she looked like she was in tears.

AE: That’s exactly right. Kathleen is an extraordinary actress in any role, but in this role she really has a personal connection to Molly as far as the things Molly fought for and believed in and tried to bring to the public’s attention in her feeling that you are a citizen no matter what else and that you have an obligation to get involved in politics, even as rotten and awful as it is now. So it’s not just words on a stage. Kathleen really believes in those issues and admires Molly for how she was such a fighter all her life, and Kathleen has a long, long history of activism.

[In the play,] Molly talks about how she went around once a month at her own expense and spoke in small towns — we didn’t put this little factoid in the play, but Molly’s only caveat on going around and speaking to groups was that she not go to San Francisco or New York or places where there are a lot of liberals where she would just be preaching to the choir — she went to these little towns and continued speechifying as John Henry Faulk had done in his lifetime. And Kathleen also has spoken on behalf of Planned Parenthood and People for the American Way — I think she’s been on the board for 25 years, so this is not just a one-time or dilettante effort; she is very committed and has given generously of her time over the years — so it had real resonance for her.

CS: What was it like working with Kathleen and putting the piece together?

AE: It really made us appreciate how hard actors in the theater work. When a play gets on its feet, it’s eight performances a week. And Kathleen does not use understudies. On Saturdays and Sundays, there are two performances each day. … When it’s a one-woman show and you’re on stage the entire time, the stamina and the concentration that takes is remarkable. Kathleen’s powers of memorization are just jaw-dropping. She was in another play before this, and when this ends she is going to go back to that play where she’s on stage for two hours — it’s not a one-woman play but she’s the main character. So she came back to our production and had to relearn the whole thing because we had made some changes and it had been nine months or so since we had done it, and within four or five days she was off book and had it memorized. That is just amazing.

She is also incredibly punctual and she never missed a performance for illness in Philadelphia when the play premiered [at the Philadelphia Theatre Company in March 2010]. She is truly an incredibly hard worker, and then also those moments of brilliance that you can’t really write in, she just does it. It’s been such a treat to work with her, and she’s also been very helpful. As she says herself, “I’m not a writer, but I’m a great re-writer,” so in the rehearsal room first time around if there were lines that were just too long or seemed clunky or redundant or didn’t belong here, we totally respected her opinion on that. So she was involved in shaping the play absolutely.

CS: As journalists, you and your sister must have done a lot of research, and everything sounded so authentic that I wanted to know how much of the script was quoted material?

AE: It started out being primarily quoted material, about 80 percent, because we had so much wonderful material to work with. Molly had written columns for years and years, and she’d written books, and there had been interviews with her, and she’d been on “60 Minutes,” so there was a lot of material. But as the play progressed in putting it together, we realized as we moved away from just anecdote after anecdote, there had to be some connective tissue and that wouldn’t necessarily be in something she had written.  So it became closer to 50-50. It’s interesting, sometimes in reviews they’ll quote a line [thinking it was] Molly’s and it really wasn’t a line of Molly’s. We tried to make it sound like something she would say in her voice.

CS: What is an example of something we would think, “Oh, she must have said that or written that,” but you actually created it in her voice?

AE: One example would be when she says, “Alcohol may lead nowhere, but it sure is the scenic route.” It sounds like something she’d say and it made sense because she was talking about her problems with alcohol, but that is not her line.

CS: How did you find or decide on the drama of her relationship with her father to drive the piece?

AE: That actually was true in real life. It was well documented that she had this drama with her father. And that was absolutely true about that column. She finally was writing a column about him, and the day she was writing it he  committed suicide. That really happened. It sounds like you couldn’t make it up; it’s such a dramatic thing. … It’s hard to get anything more gripping or compelling than that. … We did not have to embellish that at all.

CS: What has the reaction been in Philadelphia, Austin and Los Angeles so far?

AE: It’s been incredibly gratifying. At first in Philadelphia we were a little concerned because Molly had connections with many cities across the country. She had connections with many cities in Texas, connections with [Northampton, Massachusetts, where she attended] Smith College, Boulder, Colorado, Minneapolis, Minnesota, where she was a reporter; but she really didn’t have a connection with Philadelphia. So when it did so well in Philadelphia, that was such a positive thing for us.

There was a planeload of Texans, friends of Molly’s, who came to Philadelphia to see the play, and again we were concerned and hopeful that they would feel that we had captured Molly. They were very kind and generous about letting us know and people were crying, people who knew her. And that’s been the case everywhere, certainly in Austin, and just the other night in Los Angeles at one of the previews there was a woman afterwards crying who had known Molly and thought that it had captured her so well. [Molly’s] brother and sister went to Philadelphia and then went afterwards separately to Kathleen thanking her for her portrayal. And Lou Dubose, who was her co-writer on her two books on [President George W. Bush], who had worked with her for years and had known her so well, and [her co-editor at the Texas Observer] Kaye Northcutt — those were people we were very anxious to hear what they thought, and they did tell us that it very fairly captured the Molly they knew.

CS: That’s high praise.

AE: Molly has a lot of very close friends in Austin, and a lot of people are protective of her memory and they want her to be remembered in the right way. We were careful; we did not want to turn her into a standup comedian. She was very funny; we could have just done one-liners one after another, but that was really not what Molly was about. As she said, she used humor to make a point and to get people to listen. She was a very diligent reporter who researched her stories thoroughly. She wrote about the savings and loan crisis and a lot about government finance and topics where she did a lot of research. She wasn’t one of those people that just commented with one zinger after another; she put in her time covering the legislature and was really a student of government.

I think one of the most remarkable things about her was that she had a nationwide audience and was such a prescient commentator on the national political scene from Austin, Texas. She could have stayed in New York, she could have gone to Washington, D. C., but she didn’t want to be part of the pack and was very independent, and I think the fact that she was able to do that from Austin really says a lot about her skill and her intelligence, and it also put the lie to the fact that you have to be in New York or Washington, D. C., to be a national political commentator. Since Peggy and I have both been reporters both in large cities and also out of the corridors of power, that really resonated with us, because I don’t think you have to be in New York or Washington, D. C., to be able to have an informed opinion or comment on the national scene.

CS: Is there anything about this play that the media are not asking you about that you think is an interesting point that’s not being touched on?

AE: Another reason why we wanted to do the play is that there aren’t that many roles for actresses over 50. My twin went to a women’s conference before we even started writing the play, and Jane Fonda and Sally Field were there and they made a plea to these women writers saying, “We’ve aged out of most of the good roles, so please write things for women our age.” So we had that in the back of our minds also. I don’t think there’s a surplus of roles either in film or theater for women once they get past 40, so that was another reason why we wanted to do that.

CS: That’s true. There are a lot of great actresses that you never see anymore and wonder, “Where have they been?”

AE: At USC at the Annenberg School, Professor Stacy Smith does a survey once a year about the number of women in films and television versus men, and it’s just shocking, every year, it doesn’t get any better. They go to studio executives with hard data, and not only do they count numbers, but they also look at the number of times women are dressed in suggestive outfits. I can’t remember the exact numbers, but it’s seriously out of whack. [For more on this topic, visit http://annenberg.usc.edu/Faculty/Communication%20and%20Journalism/SmithS.aspx]

CS: Where is the show headed next?

AE: It’s going to two cities in Texas this spring. It’s going to the Allied Theatre Group at Stage West in Fort Worth in May, and Houston’s Main Street Theater in June. Kathleen will not be in those productions because, as I said, she is going back to this other play. So they will have Texas actresses. In Austin, there was a great Texas actress named Barbara Chisholm…. She was amazing and fabulous too. There are a lot of wonderful actresses who are over 50 in theaters all over America and, as I said, they don’t have enough roles written for them.

Liz Casebolt and Joel Smith in "O(h)" at the Actors Company Theatre / Photo by Jeff Larson

For a compelling hour, performance duo Liz Casebolt and Joel Smith entertain and inform as they deconstruct their creative choreography process in “O(h),” currently onstage at the Actors Company Theatre. Cleverly written by this pair, the show simultaneously pays homage to and skewers the art form of dance.

Casebolt and Smith deftly demonstrate various modern dance moves and gestures while explaining their meanings and purposes to the audience. Through the course of their show, these same sequences of gestures and movement will repeat themselves accompanying two other totally different scenarios. Very impressive!

The evening begins with Casebolt and Smith showing the audience just exactly what they won’t be performing, all the while expounding on every arm thrust, every handclap, every chassé.  After laundry-listing the limitations of “just being a duet,” they dance everything they can as a duet. Their hilarious “Proud Mary” parody starts off nice and easy and then unleashes Smith’s wild Superman briefs-clad bumps and grinds.

Then they split to perform their solos. Smith begs the audience to let him catch his breath first, which he does — literally — reaching out for it, jumping up for it, chasing after it for minutes, until he finally does catch it and plops it back into his mouth. Smith teases the audience with promising to perform his next dance sans Superman briefs, but, alas, doesn’t drop trous.

For her solo turn in the spotlight, Casebolt sings “I Feel Pretty,” hysterically commenting on each line. And she’s got a good, strong voice!

Though not mentioned in either “bio(h)graphies,” the audience can easily see formal dance training, especially with Smith’s high leg extensions and very pointed toes. Only someone who can really dance can really know how to (and has the right to) lovingly make fun of dancing.

Kudos to Casebolt and Smith for bridging the vast divide of modern dance aficionados and a non-dance audience.

–Gil Kaan, Culture Spot LA

Performances continue through Feb. 19 at the Actors Company Theatre, 916a N. Formosa Ave., West Hollywood 90046. Showtimes are Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 5 p.m. For tickets, call (800) 838-3006, or visit www.caseboltandsmith.com.

Ricardo Chavez / photo by Bruce Bisenz, courtesy of Fountain Theatre

Sitting a few rows back from the stage at Barnsdall Gallery Theatre watching the Fountain Theatre’s monthly showcase of “Forever Flamenco!” this past Sunday, I was reminded of krump dancing. Let me explain. Since September I have been attending a krump session — a circle of dancers who congregate every Wednesday at midnight in a parking lot in North Hollywood — observing a style of dance that has its roots in South Central Los Angeles. If you saw Dave LaChapelle’s 2005 documentary Rize, you know what I’m talking about. If not, what brought me back to the after-hours dancing at the parking lot was the foot stomping (obviously), but more overwhelmingly, the emotional release the dancers wear on their faces and exhibit in their movements.

Without knowing much about flamenco, I have gleaned enough to offer that the histories of the people who created both art forms are similar in enough ways to inspire movement of such emotional magnitude. Both African Americans and Gypsies are historically oppressed groups of people who have expressed their experience via their bodies. Every foot slam, hand clap and outstretch of an arm delivers you to a different memory. The feelings that overcome you may not be the same ones the dancers express, but they serve the same purpose: They make you feel alive and connect you with humanity.

A flamenco show is an all-over-body experience. The dancers’ faces contort with feeling, their arms gracefully strike controlled poses in the air, and their feet pound the stage like tap dancers. Even the costumes — with ruffles, wraps, polka dots, lace, hot pink flowers and long trains — get in on the dramatic action. Illuminating it all is the music, which preceded the dance.

Singer Jesus Montoya’s classically scruffy, aching, heart-wrenching vocals powered the night of flamenco. Accompanied by guitarist Juan Antonio Gomez and percussionist Gerardo Morales, the trio had a jolly good time throughout the performances, laughing and calling out to the dancers and each other. It was almost as if Montoya were trying to get the dancers to crack a smile.

But that’s one of the beauties of a flamenco show — the audience and band interaction. (Another wonder is the constant hand clapping, which seems to be an unspoken code I can’t figure out.) Not only do the musicians yell out encouraging words (most often, “Olé!”); audience members yell out snippets in Spanish whenever it strikes their fancy. After an especially emotional stomp, or long and fast footwork set, the audience and musicians erupt with pleasure.

The climax of the night came after Lakshmi Basile finished her solo, “Fondo del Mar (Depth of the Ocean) Solea.” Her performance appeared cathartic — for her and the audience — as if there were no end to her emotional release, or ours. Just when you thought a flamenco dancer has finished a performance, they rev back up for a little bit more. Basile’s exertion was so complete, one of her clips went flying out of her hair. Olé!

While at times the Barnsdall Gallery stage was swirling with somber, it was mostly a festive atmosphere. Ricardo Chavez, the long male dancer, looked like he stepped out of the pages of GQ. I wasn’t surprised to hear that the woman sitting behind me takes his class in Santa Ana.

At the end of the night, the performers invited anyone who wished to come up on stage and dance in a circle they had formed. Much like the krump session I attend weekly, this is a space that encourages improvisation and freestyle, where the dancers share moves and challenge and inspire each other. I’ve seen this done at tap shows too, and this spirit exemplifies dance communities at their best.

For more information about the next “Forever Flamenco!” show, visit fountaintheatre.com.

Leslie Jordan / Photo by Matthew Brian Denman

Leslie Jordan’s latest autobiographical piece, “Fruit Fly,” currently onstage at the Celebration Theatre, provides 80 minutes of what he does best — storytelling. Those familiar with Jordan’s previous solo pieces (including “Like a Dog on Linoleum” and “My Trip Down the Pink Carpet”) will not be disappointed.  Those new to the Emmy winner (for “Will & Grace”) will easily enjoy “Fruit Fly” as a stand-alone piece.

As ably directed by David Galligan, Jordan’s growing-up-gay tales keeps you alternately howling and tearing up at a breakneck pace.  Delightful vintage family photos projected upstage capture various important moments of Jordan’s upbringing in Tennessee in this, his attempt to answer the all-important, age-old question: “Do gay men become their mothers?” Jordan’s childhood photos obviously reveal the young Jordan’s more artistic bent.  Realizing this, his mother and one of his grandmothers built him a “secret garden” where he could freely do all the non-boyish activities he preferred doing. “But don’t mention this to your father,” they warned.

Jordan thankfully talks a lot, but unlike one of his younger twin sisters, as he says in an aside, he has something to say. Jordan animates, impersonates, lives out each character of his story for the audience—be it his mother Peggy Ann who has a bout of hysterial blindness; his trying-to-be-supportive father Alan who patiently attempts to teach him how to play sports—any sport; his loving nanny Roberta who reluctantly gives him his first cud of chewing tobacco; Miss Odessa, a black speakeasy proprietress who encourages his Tina Turner impersonation; or various drag queen cohorts he hung with. This one-man show’s not so much a standard monologue as scenes of dialogue with the people populating Jordan’s narrative. And what a narrative he has!

Performances continue through Feb. 18 at the Celebration Theatre, 7051B Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood. Showtimes are Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 3 p.m. For tickets, call (323) 957-1884, or visit www.celebrationtheatre.com.

Paulette Ivory and Sahr Ngaujah in "Fela!" / photo by Raymond Hagans

About three-quarters of the way in, the musical “Fela!” delivers the emotional impact of a bellyflop. It’s the all-too-familiar horror story heard around the world: Big guys take advantage of little ones. Woman raped, man beaten, man killed, woman harassed and intimidated. It could be Laos, Lagos or Los Angeles. The rich and powerful bully the poor, weak and politically dissident. In the case of “Fela!,” now playing through Jan. 22 at Center Theatre Group’s Ahmanson Theatre, terror reigns down on Afrobreat legend and activist Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, played by Sahr Ngaujah (Adesola Osakalumi is his alternate), his followers and fans in his home of Lagos, Nigeria, for standing up to the powers-that-be for freedom from corruption.

Fela’s acts of protest on behalf of his country, and all of Africa, threatened the legitimacy of the region’s oppressive military rule. He was jailed more than 200 times, and his mother Funmilayo (Melanie Marshall), also an activist, died from injuries suffered after being thrown from a second-story window. Interwoven throughout the exuberant African dance numbers and provocative catalogue of Fela’s popular grooves is the story of Fela’s political struggle, which rears its head in today’s Occupy movement. Heart wrenching and inspiring, his uprising enlivens the audience with the spirit of social justice.

Ahmanson audiences are led to believe they are sitting inside The Shrine, a nightclub in Lagos, Nigeria, in the late ’70s. It’s Fela’s last performance, and as he runs through his favorite songs, he chats with the crowd, shares his life story and rants about political malfeasance. The audience, at times, is commanded to shout out, sing along, and get up and dance. “Leave your shy outside,” Ngaujah orders, and adds, “Find your own groove wherever you are.”

Fela was determined to find his own voice through music; he traveled to London, New York and Los Angeles collecting sparks of inspiration, yet always returning to Lagos. The Tony Award-winning musical takes us on a tour of select parts of Fela’s life. “Drum is the pulse of the world,” he states. In “B.I.D. (Breaking It Down),” he and his dancers demonstrate the music-body-emotion connection. Fela transports us to different parts of the world as he discovers and creates his Afrobeat sound. He explains that he set out to “marry high-life to cool to jazz,” when, in an epiphanic moment, he meets an American named Sandra (Paulette Ivory), who introduces him to Black Power Man. The American political movement would influence his life’s work in Lagos.

“Fela!” is brave in its implications of the bad guys, from IMF and WTO to Halliburton and AIG. The book by Jim Lewis and Bill T. Jones alludes to exploitation at the hands of huge multinational corporations, and also chronicles specific instances by the Nigerian government. Ngaujah, who steps into Fela’s shoes magnificently, is cutting and clever when he calls out companies/governments for “419,” the Nigerian penal code for fraud, and explains that the colonial powers took “petroleum, diamonds and people” from Nigeria and gave “gonorrhea and Jesus.” Fela was opposed to colonial rule, but also to that of his own corrupt government, and those like his all over Africa. “Colonial mentality is a hard thing to break,” Fela laments; in his eyes, the Nigerian government seems to have perpetuated some of the same crimes. Lewis and Jones are bold in underscoring the continuing corruption into our current times.

What makes “Fela!” even more genius is that the creative team — which includes co-conceiver Stephen Hendel and Aaron Johnson and Jordan McLean who wrote additional music (Carlos Moore wrote the authorized biography Fela: This Bitch of a Life on which the musical is based.) — surrounds this larger narrative with entrancing African dance sequences and concert performances that keep the audience spellbound. Colorfully costumed in what appears to be traditional African style, the dancers pull off the most sensual moves as if they were easy as pie. This is one of the ultimate gifts a dancer can give an audience: making the movements look simple while having fun. Playful, often with attitude, and brimming with erotic confidence, the dancers move together, and alone, to the rhythms of Djembe drummer Rasaan-Elijah “Talu” Green and the entire onstage band. Their hips shake, sometimes faster than imaginable, their backs arch and spring forward, their arms and legs stretch, their knees bend, booties pulsing to the beat. If Jones’ choreography anchors “Fela!” in magnificence, the singing pulls it to the heavens. Ngaujah breathes new life into Fela’s own music when he performs it.

“Fela!” asks thought-provoking, rabble-rousing questions. Is Fela, or people like him, a nationalist or terrorist? In the final scene, “B.Y.O.C. (Bring Your Own Coffin)” the ensemble follows Fela’s lead in placing his mother’s coffin on the steps of the capitol. They carry small, wooden coffins with words on each one, such as “Rodney King” and “Sudan.” The last two coffins read “doubt” and “fear.” As Ngaujah told me five days before Los Angeles’ opening night, “What we are offering with our story is the highlight of having the courage to face your fears. If people have that, you can see a lot of things improved.”

Fela declares “music is the weapon,” and, as is the case for many arts activists, it appears to be an extremely effective one.

—Jessica Koslow, Culture Spot LA

“Fela!” continues through Jan. 22, 2012, at the Ahmanson Theatre at the Music Center. Tickets for are available by calling (213) 972-4400, online at www.CenterTheatreGroup.org or in person at the Center Theatre Group box office.

A scene from “Overlay,” Pennington Dance Group and York Dance Project’s collaboration in “Across Connections” / photo courtesy of Pennington

John Pennington began Saturday night’s show, “Across Connections” at ARC Pasadena, by introducing the dances in the program as nonlinear and without narrative. He was only partly correct. The statement appeared to be true for his company’s piece, “Yield of Vision,” and “Overlay,” its collaboration with the United Kingdom’s Yorke Dance Project. But from “City Limitless,” Yorke’s presentation, peeking out between the steps was a story, not of the traditional kind, but of joyful rebellion, stylish pursuit and self-discovery in the beats and words of American cultural icons. While Los Angeles-based Pennington Dance Group played with sounds and lights, creating delightful chaos, Yorke pushed their scenes along to a score of Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk and Charlie Parker and the poetic ramblings of Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac.

From its opening scene featuring a duet with two men, to the swinging couples whirling around the stage, “City Limitless” spoke of the Beat Generation, On the Road and a time of youthful political leaning and social expression. Dressed in plaid and khakis, the attractive British cast interpreted a spirit in mid-20th-century American history that was bursting with cultural rebellion and possibility. Exciting and energetic, the dancers embodied this zeitgeist as sweetly as their flirty glances and playful embraces.

Pennington Dance Group’s “Yield of Vision” was a tad more brave new world-ish. In tight, silvery and sparkly costumes and makeup, the dancers stared at lights, turned them on and off and flitted around to the rapid ticking of a stopwatch. True to the night’s introduction, nothing made too much sense, without too much of a stretch, except maybe when Yvette Wulff floated on stage in what could be imagined as a spaceship outfit, and landed. It was soloist Li Chang Rothermich though, dancing alone and with Michael Szanyi, who told the most riveting tales with her compact frame, freezes and flexibility. Her face showed little emotion as she sped around with cold precision, yet Rothermich received a very warm reception.

Both artistic directors Pennington and Yolande Yorke-Edgell, who met as dancers in the Lewitzky Dance Company and have since maintained a long-distance working relationship, hope the program’s last piece, “Overlay,” is a first of what will be many collaborations. Existing in different places, the companies’ combined work lacked connection, between themselves and the audience. Each group performed in separate spaces, coming together at times, without clicking. It’s tricky figuring out how to make long-distance relationships work.

–Jessica Koslow, Culture Spot LA

Allynne Noelle as The Rose in Los Angeles Ballet's "The Nutcracker" / Photo by Reed Hutchinson

LA County’s resident classical ballet company, Los Angeles Ballet opens a sixth season with Thordal Christensen and Colleen Neary’s original staging of Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker.”  This sweet holiday treat is currently making its annual three-week tour from Glendale’s landmark Alex Theatre to UCLA’s Royce Hall to the Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center.

The ballet opens on sumptuous storybook sets designed by LA artist Catherine Kanner. As a festive Christmas party gets underway at the Steinbaum house, young Clara – danced by Mia Katz – and her friends play with their favorite dolls. New to the role last year, Katz shows a deepening dramatic and technical artistry. Clara’s bratty brother, Franz, is played with devilish glee by Aidan Merchel-Zoric.

Sweeping into the party, the children’s Uncle Drosselmeyer brings mechanical dancing dolls to entertain the guests. Revealing himself as a fine dramatic dancer in last season’s Sonya Tayeh world premiere, the charismatic Nicolas de la Vega commands the stage in his first performances as the wizardly uncle.

Sparkling Isabel Vondermuhll repeats last year’s spicy performance as the commedia dell’arte Columbine Doll, partnered by Angel Lopez in a bravura company debut as Harlequin. Following his electrifying performance as Hilarion in last year’s acclaimed “Giselle,” Chehon Wespi-Tschopp brings the audience to a screaming frenzy with the virtuoso leaps and turns of Drosselmeyer’s Cossack Doll. Eighteen-year-old Pacific Northwest Ballet guest artist Nathaniel Solis guides his compact frame through perfect double tours en l’air and grands jetés with flashing eyes and a brilliant smile. This handsome young man is clearly one to watch.

The midnight battle between the brave toy soldiers and menacing mice is delightful, led by Zheng Hua Li as the high-leaping, hilarious Mouse King. As ever, the women’s corps de ballet presents a breathtaking Dance of the Snowflakes to end Act I.

Act II begins in the Palace of the Dolls, all brought to life by magical Uncle Drosselmeyer. Allyssa Bross and Christopher Revels made auspicious LAB debuts as presiding dolls Marie and her Cavalier in last season’s “Nutcracker.” In the short year since – which included their partnering in both “Giselle” and Balanchine’s “Raymonda Variations” – Bross has developed a confident insouciance to go along with her perfect technique and superb balance, flirting shamelessly with her adoring audience during the fiendish variations of a long and arduous Pas de Deux.

One year ago, Revels made an indelible impression with his ebullient, sky-high leaps and enormous strength and stamina. Now only 20 years old, he exhibits an authority and refinement rare in so young a premier danseur. The fortuitous partnership between these two young artists, carefully and wisely mentored by Christensen and Neary, brings out the best in both of them. Newly named company principals, they exude considerable star quality, which has created a national flurry of anticipation for their pairing in LAB’s upcoming “Swan Lake.” In alternate performances, the Cavalier is danced by returning guest artist Kenta Shimizu, who has parlayed his spectacular jumps, turns, and enormous lifts into a blossoming international career.

Second-act highlights included a sizzling, Flamenco-flavored Spanish Dance, featuring passion and precision from soloists Kate Highstrete, Kelly Ann Sloan, Alexander Forck and Zheng Hua Li.  Lithe and lovely Julia Cinquemani and majestic Alexander Castillo repeated their mesmerizing Arabian pas de deux from last year. Wespi-Tschopp vaulted through a show-stopping Russian Dance, joined by buoyant and acrobatic Christopher McDaniel and Tian Tan.

Always enchanting, the Waltz of the Flowers is especially striking with Allynne Noelle as The Rose. Her strong debut as Queen of the Wilis in last season’s “Giselle” marked her as a brilliant addition to LAB’s impressive roster of soloists. This season Noelle and Bross share performances as Marie and The Rose.

The children’s corps de ballet offers disciplined and precise step-work, and a rollicking sense of fun throughout the evening – no doubt inspiring the throng of young audience members, who can be seen whirling and leaping through the lobby after the show.

For five years, LAB has presented every one of its productions in at least three locations. A recipient of large grants from LA County Arts Commission and the Schubert Foundation, the company has announced two additional performance venues – in Long Beach and Northridge – for its production of “Swan Lake” in March.

“The Nutcracker” plays at UCLA’s Royce Hall on Saturday, Dec. 17, and Sunday, Dec. 18, at 1 and 5 p.m.; and Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center on Thursday, Dec. 22, and Friday, Dec. 23, at 7:30 p.m., and Saturday, Dec. 24, at 1 p.m. For tickets and information, please visit www.losangelesballet.org.

—Penny Orloff, Culture Spot LA

Italian dance group Tecnologia Filosofica

Every aspect of Tecnologia Filosofica’s Friday night performance felt surreal, from the venue – Theatre Raymond Kabbaz, which is attached to Le Lycée Français de Los Angeles – to the absence of English and the musical presence of a duo that resembled a tacky Las Vegas nightclub act. It was as if the price of admission bought you a ticket to another country. Flashing with European artistic sensibilities, “Canzoni del Secondo Piano” left many (Americans) in the audience amused and mystified. One thing was (pretty) clear: The quirky, nonlinear performance highlighted the happenings on the second floor of an apartment complex.

For more than one hour, Turin, Italy’s Tecnologia Filosofica accented the ordinary, making the particularities of living in cramped quarters relatable to all who have experienced it. Without words, the two female and three male dancers conveyed what it is like to flirt and socialize with, bump into, and feel crowded by neighbors, but also, in the midst of it all, feel totally alone. Welcome to the ups and downs of apartment dwelling.

Many of the show’s scenes were odd — perhaps because the irony was French and Italian, as were the songs accompanying each piece, and Americans aren’t always on the same humor page. Yet that didn’t stop the audience from thoroughly enjoying the kookiness on stage. One female, Francesca Cinalli, swung an apple on a string, trying to take a bite. She wore a yellow dress from which her nipple often poked out. Another woman, Elena Valente, clamped a celery stalk between her lips. Both ladies seemed to be longing for love, and not getting it from any of the males, who were engaged in what looked like a friendly game of Twister. When one of the male dancers, a playboy-ish Renato Cravero, finally took notice, he and the celery stalk-ing woman joined together, entangled in an absurd display of lovemaking.

Even more bizarre were the singer, Francesca Brizzolara, dressed in fishnets, black knee-high boots, a miniskirt, and a leopard-print coat with two rollers in her disheveled hair, and the musician, Paolo de Santis, a tad more flashy with black leather pants, a black-and-white-print button-down, and a cheesy mustache. The two seemed plucked right out of a dive bar in any down-on-its-luck town, making funny faces and even sillier gestures to the crowd and into a video camera in front of them. She sang in French and Italian, while he tickled computer keys and played a kazoo.

The most precious part about “Canzoni del Secondo Piano” was how unprecious it was. The piece celebrated average bodies and everyday senses of rhythm. Some people like to move. Some are really good at it. These dancers did not perform anything amazing or near impossible. Instead, they had fun playing with beats and moving in unconventional ways. That makes them dancers. For Americans, who have become used to viewing spectacles and feats of grandeur, it’s refreshing to see people making a dance out of everyday life.

—Jessica Koslow, Culture Spot LA