Soprano Ailyn Perez (Mimi) and tenor Stephen Costello (Rodolfo) in LA Opera's production of Puccini's "La Bohème" / Photo by Robert Millard for LA Opera

With La Bohème, Puccini sought to write an opera in the fashionable verismo style that took as its subject everyday life and attempted to treat it in a realistic manner. While his opera dates from the mid-1890s, his source material was a series of stories written in the 1840s by Henri Murger, which depicted real people and real places in Paris’ Left Bank — Bohemia, as it was known. The Paris of this era was one before the wide tree-lined boulevards, good sewage and paving. In LA Opera’s revival production, the detailed sets provide an image of 19th-century Bohemia that is “realistic” in its ramshackle appearance and utter impoverishment, but the opera’s internal logic can be a bit puzzling in other ways.

You might wonder what a bunch of Italians — speaking Italian — are doing in 1840s Paris. Or you may be confused by how the seemingly greatest love of all time has collapsed a matter of minutes later. No matter, merely details. It is refreshing, however, to see a cast of La Bohème that is youthful enough to be believable. Too often, we see geriatric 50-somethings trying to make us believe that they are the struggling young romantics that the opera depicts. Suspending disbelief can be a chore in these cases.

The uniformly young artists we see onstage here may have something to do with LA Opera’s recent penchant (necessity?) for eschewing big-name stars (excepting LA Opera’s own Plácido Domingo) in favor of lesser-known or emerging opera voices. At least three of the principal singers here have come out of the Domingo-Thornton Young Artists program. Of particular note is Janai Brugger, the 2012 winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, who is remarkably good as Musetta. Her voice is powerful and hall-filling, and I was particularly struck by her acting. Flirty one minute and petulant the next, she is just plain fun to watch. Please be aware, though, that she shares this role with another singer, the striking Valentina Fleer.

Something else unusual about the cast is the fact that the two main characters —Rodolfo and Mimi, played by Stephen Costello and Ailyn Perez — are husband and wife in real life. Their easy chemistry and solid vocal performances are another tick in the plus column for this production. I have to say, even though I shrink from clowns in general, I enjoyed watching the character of Parpignol, the toy vendor, who is presented as an orange-haired, face-painted scarecrow.

Director Gregory Fortner has made some nice tweaks to this production. Act II at the Cafe Momus is a wonderful riot of color, confetti, crowds and confusion that reaffirms just what it is about this opera that makes it one of the most popular of all time. Only a curmudgeon could be unmoved by all the charivari. Perhaps the strongest moment of all comes at the end of Act III where there is a masterful vocal and dramatic interplay between Rodolfo and Mimi, who are pledging eternal love, and Marcello and Musetta, who are concurrently breaking up. I also like the effect, used at least twice, of actors walking offstage as they complete their duets at the end of scenes, leaving us with a nicely modulated fade-out.

As always, Puccini’s music is charming and easy to like. Conductor Patrick Summers, in his LA Opera debut, understands the drama in the music and uses his percussionist to great effect with impressive use of the thunderous large (bass) tympani. Side note for music buffs: This is one of the few “classic” operas that you can hear on disc with its original conductor. It was a young Arturo Toscanini who was on stage in the 1896 debut in Turin, and his 1946 RCA Victor recording of this opera is still available.

By all means, get out to see La Bohème and bring your less-opera-savvy friends — they will very likely enjoy it too. In the meantime, I’ll be at the Cafe Momus, nursing an absinthe.

—David Maurer, Culture Spot LA

LA Opera’s La Bohème is at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion through June 2. Visit www.laopera.com.

Julius Reder Carlson, Tereza Stanislav, Steven Vanhauwaert, John Walz and Marcia Dickstein speaking with the audience at Le Salon de Musiques’ February concert / Photo by Henry Lim

Le Salon de Musiques magically transformed the fifth-floor banquet room at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion into an intimate salon space for sharing the joy of their special music on Sunday, Feb. 26.  Music Director Francois Chouchan combined Impressionists Gabriel Fauré and Francis Poulenc with an interesting variant from across the channel by English composer Sir Arnold Bax.

Musicologist Julius Reder Carlson set the context as “oceanic,” and in the discussion afterwards with the performers, harpist Marcia Dickstein was especially informative about the music of Bax.

Flutist Pamela Vliek and pianist Steven Vanhauwaert opened the program with Poulenc’s Flute Sonata with Piano.  Vliek is a graceful flutist, and it was fun to hear her Poulenc interpretation.  Her lower-register sound was rich and her altissimo was also full-timbred and pleasant, never piercing or thin.  Her control was masterful.  She was nimble and articulate, and with Vanhauwaert’s equally light touch, the two of them perfectly captured Poulenc’s personality.

Violist Victoria Miskolczy joined Vliek and Dickstein for Bax’s Elegiac Trio for Flute, Harp and Viola. I was struck by the beautiful timbres of Miskolczy’s instrument, the low-register melodies were distinctly rich and robust.  Dickstein’s harp filled the room with wonderful, flowing ephemeral impressions that enveloped and lifted Bax’s beautiful melodies.  The ensemble breathed as one organic being.

Vanhauwaert and Miskolczy were joined by violinist Tereza Stanislav and cellist John Walz to conclude the program with Gabriel Fauré’s Piano Quartet No.1 in C Minor, Opus 15. The strings were lush in ensemble, and in the scherzo their characteristic sforzandos and intricate dynamic nuances floated above the undercurrents from Vanhauwaert’s piano.  Stanislav’s melodic touch was light and delicate, and I enjoyed her leadership in the ensemble. I really enjoyed Walz’s lyrical adagio passages: they were expressive and engaging; he is a master.

Local luthier Mario Miralles was in the audience because two of his instruments, Miskolczy’s viola and Walz’s cello, were crafted by him.  It was fun to hear sibling instruments.  The rich timbre and radiance of both were magnificent.  I heard Los Angeles Philharmonic Principal Concertmaster Martin Chalifour compare his 300-year-old Stradivarius to his modern Miralles violin at a recent meeting of the Los Angeles Chapter of the Acoustical Society of America in the Music Hall at California State University Los Angeles last week, and was truly impressed by the comparison both subjectively and acoustically.

Le Salon de Musiques offers one of the finest chamber music experiences to be found in Los Angeles.   My delight was undeniable: the music was so present and engaging, and there was a palpable sense of community with the inspiring artists and their music.

~Theodore Bell/Culture Spot LA

All concerts include food by Patina and Champagne and are held from 4 to 6 p.m one Sunday of every month through May 20, 2012. Visit www.lesalondemusiques.com.

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.

Image from the exhibit "California Design, 1930-1965: Living in a Modern Way" at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Beginning on Oct. 1, “Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A., 1945-1980” brings together more than 60 cultural institutions throughout Southern California to tell the story of the rise of the L.A. art scene and its impact on the art world. This colossal collaboration was initiated by the Getty Foundation, and the Getty Center has organized four exhibitions and an installation, along with films, lectures, panel discussions, classes and more, continuing into 2012.

Participating museums, galleries, educational institutions and other venues span L.A., Pasadena and Long Beach and extend as far as San Diego, Santa Barbara and Palm Springs. Exhibits and events cover a wide variety of artistic developments — everything from pop, post-minimalism and modernist architecture to Chicano performance art, Japanese-American design and African-American film. Important L.A. artists featured in various exhibits include John Baldessari, Judy Chicago, David Hockney, Ed Ruscha and Betye Saar. A jam-packed website provides opportunities to browse by exhibit, location, date and type of art and suggests complementary exhibits of interest as you explore.

Given the number and range of events related to “Pacific Standard Time,” the historical overview exhibit at the Getty is a good place to start: “Pacific Standard Time: Crosscurrents in L.A. Painting and Sculpture, 1950-1970″ runs Oct. 1, 2011, through Feb. 5, 2012, concurrently with another exhibit revealing how artists at that time disseminated their work, “Greetings from L.A.: Artists and Publics, 1950-1980.”

In addition to a photography exhibit called “In Focus: Los Angeles, 1945-1980,” which will be on view Dec. 20, 2011, to May 6, 2012, visitors to the Getty can see De Wain Valentine’s “Gray Column,” a 12-foot-high column of polyester resin, and Robert Irwin’s “Black on White,” a monumental wedge of granite, through March 2012.

Image from the exhibit “California Design, 1930-1965: Living in a Modern Way” at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Monarch Bay Homes, Laguna Niguel (Outdoor Dining Terrace) (1961). Carlos Diniz Ladd & Kelsey. Screenprint 20 1/8 x 26 in. LACMA, Gift of Gilbert Ortiz and Edward Cella Art + Architecture, M.2010.76.2 Photograph © 2011 Museum Associates/LACMA.

While the grand processional leading up to the Kodak is somewhat less than inspiring, once inside the theater, the visuals improve dramatically. The stage has a decidedly Belle Epoque steampunk-meets-sideshow feel to it with huge yawning clown faces bookending each side. As the hall fills and theatergoers find their seats, outlandishly dressed cast members roam the aisles, camping it up, providing a wry foretaste of what is to come. Particularly amusing was a Betty Boop-type character wearing black-and-white stripes and a thick leather corset to which was attached a revolving drum/skirt encircling her waist that acted as a sort of Zoetrope, revealing an animated scene as she spun the device round and round.

The show proper is divvied up into about a dozen set pieces, halved by an intermission. As is typical with Cirque productions, there is a loose storyline, in this case involving a nerdy Harold Lloyd-style character who yearns for romance with an ingenue who later becomes a movie star. Most of the show is presumably a spin through the fantasy world that he creates in his mind. It is the loosest of narrative frames upon which to hang the real purpose of the show: a nonstop montage of acrobatics, kinetic movement, and general visual overload.

Highlights of the scenes include: cameras, lights and film canisters animate to become dance partners to human characters; a pair of identical twins use the entire vertical space of the theater to perform soaring aerial feats; Chinese acrobats in strange teletubby-esque costumes bend their spines nearly in half; film characters like Barbarella, Tarzan, Spartacus and Hopalong Cassidy flit about the stage during an insane PitchFest; gang members duke it out “West Side Story”-style on trampoline-rigged rooftops against a nighttime Manhattan skyline. It’s mostly all great fun and a truly impressive spectacle.

Each Cirque du Soleil show has something unique about its stagecraft and Iris is no exception. Acrobatics aside, the best conceptual bits involve roving cameramen who record clips of live action as it is unfolding; these images are then projected, often delayed, layered and distorted, onto background scrims, with which live characters then interact. In certain scenes this time- and shape-shifting technique is nothing less than mesmerizing for its beauty and technical elegance, while in others it is used humorously. The beginning of the Film Noir sequence has another wonderful bit of stagecraft with four scrims (top, bottom, left and right) moving simultaneously to reframe a series of apartment windows in a nighttime symphony of menacing drama. Kudos to writer/director Philippe Decouflé, a Paris-based film and stage director, and artistic director Denise Biggi.

Another noteworthy element of the show is the music. Composed by Hollywood film scorer extraordinaire Danny Elfman, it is performed live by computer techs, a percussionist, a cellist, a violinist and even a sitarist situated in the boxes at each side of the theater, providing yet another layer of sensual stimulus. The score lends just the right mix of whimsy, plaintive emotion, and drive to make a superb accompaniment to the visual hijinks of the other performers.

Technically still in previews with an official opening of Sept. 25, Iris has a few glitches — a couple of missed acrobatic moves, a scene or two that went on too long — but these no doubt will be sorted out, and overall it is a worthy inclusion into the canon of Cirque du Soleil spectacles. It is the kind of show where you will say to your companions afterward: “Now that was money well spent!”

Writer, director and producer René Féret has conceived a fictional account of the young Maria Anna “Nannerl” Mozart, a poignant tale inspired by a heartbreaking reality: despite being a musical prodigy in her own right, Nannerl will forever be known simply as Mozart’s sister. At a young age, she is essentially forced to give up her musical endeavors when her father Leopold, who is, in Nannerl’s words, “hungry for glory” and the favor of the courts, finds his best hope in the precocious genius of Wolfgang.

But it’s also clear that because she was born a girl in the 18th century, Nannerl could never have become as famous as her brother. As a teenager, Nannerl (played by the director’s daughter, Marie Féret) is forbidden to play the violin or compose by a father — and a society — that believed those activities were inappropriate for women. When she asks her father to include her in his composition lessons with Wolfgang, he adamantly refuses, saying that such skills and knowledge of harmony and counterpoint are beyond the comprehension of most people, but especially women.

The 14-year-old reminds her father that she helped with one of Mozart’s compositions when he was 5 and had written sonatas, but Leopold dismisses them as “absurd notes lumped together.” Nannerl’s mother would like to encourage her daughter’s obvious talent, but it is the son of Louis XV in Féret’s story that does so by commissioning work from her.

Since there are no surviving compositions by the real Nannerl, Féret asked pianist/composer Marie-Jeanne Séréro to create music befitting the famous musical family — a monumental creative exercise. The music is lovely, equally a character in the film, but don’t expect any famous compositions from Wolfgang — he’s only 10 in the movie.

Féret was inspired by Leopold Mozart’s letters and narrative accounts of a three-year journey visiting the courts of Europe where his children performed. Féret said in his director’s statement, “I discovered and fell in love with Nannerl. … I remembered other female characters such as Camille Claudel and Adele [Hugo], doomed to a footnote in history due to their gender and family of origin. I knew that I wanted to make a film.”

The film follows these years of concerts, focusing on Paris, in which Nannerl played harpsichord and sang while Wolfgang played violin. The imagined relationships with the daughter (Féret’s second daughter Lisa) and son of Louis XV help Féret move the story along and bring emotional intensity. Louise de France, whom Nannerl befriends in an abbey, and the Dauphin Louis de France, who falls in love with Nannerl, are both clever characters who reveal much about their private lives. Nannerl’s relationships with them provide a superb device for exploring the gender roles of the time and the sometimes-cruel ways convention altered her future.

“Mozart’s Sister” is indeed a beautiful composition, sure to delight classical music lovers… and help them imagine what could have been had the female Mozart been given an equal chance.

—Julie Riggott, Culture Spot LA

From Music Box Films. In French with English subtitles (that are thoughtful and often poetic, not oversimplified as can often be the case in translations). Official Selection in six film festivals. “Mozart’s Sister” opens Friday, Aug. 19, at Laemmle’s Royal Theatre in West LA, Playhouse 7 in Pasadena, and Town Center 5 in Encino.

Theater at the Broad Stage

When actors we know best from TV and film turn their talents to LA stages, it’s usually a smashing success. If examples over the past few years are any indication — think Center Theatre Group’s production of David Mamet’s “Oleanna” with Bill Pullman and Julia Stiles and August Wilson’s “Fences” at the Pasadena Playhouse with Laurence Fishburne and Angela Bassett — the theatrical offerings at the Broad Stage in Santa Monica seem destined for greatness.

First, Neil Patrick Harris (“How I Met Your Mother”) directs Menier Chocolate Factory’s “The Expert at the Card Table” at the Edye second stage. Written and performed by sleight-of-hand master Guy Hollingworth, “The Expert at the Card Table” references the pseudonymous 1902 book that revealed magicians’ secrets and offers a tale of mystery and deceit — while dazzling audiences with card tricks. Harris is no stranger to the theater world, of course, but it is also interesting to note that he is a magician himself. The production runs July 13 to Aug. 7. The opening night party is on Friday, July 15, at 9 p.m. (Mix and mingle with the artists after the show at M Street Kitchen! Call (310) 434-3200 for availability.)

Anna Deveare Smith

Like Harris, Anna Deavere Smith (“Nurse Jackie”) comfortably inhabits the stage and screen worlds. She brings her solo show about the human body and health issues to the main stage July 20 to 31. Promising to make you laugh and cry, “Let Me Down Easy” is based on 300 interviews with personalities such as Lance Armstrong, Anderson Cooper and former Texas Governor Ann Richards. The production is directed by Leonard Foglia. The New York Times said of the show: “Ms. Smith is not the kind of performer who wholly disappears into the people she is portraying; she is too forceful a presence for that. Instead she channels their voices through her own, using the specifics of speech patterns more than any fancy vocal gymnastics to let us hear each as an individual.”

Tickets and information: http://thebroadstage.com or (310) 434-3200

Eddie Izzard at the Hollywood Bowl

Of course, there are a million great concerts and events scheduled at the Hollywood Bowl, including fireworks on the Fourth with Hall and Oates, “Hairspray,” and Dudamel conducting Lang Lang, but there’s only one that will make history. Emmy-winning comic Eddie Izzard makes Hollywood Bowl history with “Stripped to the Bowl,” the first solo comedy presentation at the iconic venue, on Wednesday, July 20, at 8 p.m.

Eddie Izzard

Izzard is unquestionably one of the best comedians out there. In addition to stand up, he’s been in movies (including “Ocean’s Twelve”) and TV shows (such as “The Riches”). And it’s perhaps no surprise that he’s making history in LA, since you could say he is something of an expert in U.S. history. Yes, he discovered during his past tours of our fine nation, including “Dress to Kill,” that Americans do not know their own history. Izzard also knows world history and Latin, but don’t feel intimidated. It’s not as if his comedy is highbrow, inaccessible stuff — I mean, he does like to wear makeup and high heels.

Tickets and information: HollywoodBowl.com or (323) 850-2000.

Music in the Zoo

The Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association (GLAZA) hit on an exceptionally entertaining idea when it started its Music in the Zoo series. Sure, the animals often create their own music, but GLAZA invited some other talented musicians to get in on the fun.

photo by Motoyama, courtesy of GLAZA

Offering the rare opportunity to hear local bands while wandering the Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Gardens after hours, Music in the Zoo returns this summer with a couple of great choices on Friday, July 15, and Thursday, July 28. Performances take place from 6 to 9 p.m., and guests can view the animals (like the amazing gorillas pictured here)  until 8 p.m., while enjoying various food and beverages. Picnics are also permitted.

Music in the Zoo – Local Scene Night will feature eight popular Los Angeles indie bands on July 15. The line-up includes Abe Vigoda (post-punk guitar band), Big Search (black metal/bluegrass), Hands (indie rock), Pollyn (atmospheric tunes), Allah Las (garage/psych), Kitten (bluesy, alternative, rock-influenced music), Mini Mansions (psych pop), and HoneyHoney (folk rock).

If none of those bands is quite your style, Music in the Zoo – Classic Rock Night brings cover bands playing music by timeless favorites like The Beatles and Led Zeppelin on July 28.

Tickets and information: (323) 644-6042 or www.lazoo.org

Free Culver City Music Festival

Did somebody say “free”? Yes, the 17th annual Culver City Music Festival presents eight free concerts on Thursday evenings in the intimate City Hall courtyard. The festival opens Thursday, July 7, at 7 p.m.
 (courtyard opens at 4:30 p.m.) with fiery Spanish flamenco and percussion with Incendio, followed by Argentinian rock with Los Pinguos. There are dozens of dining options within walking distance.

The Culver City City Hall Courtyard is located at 
9770 Culver Blvd. in 
Culver City 
(corner of Culver Boulevard and Duquesne Avenue). 
Parking is free underneath City Hall.
 Additional parking is free for the first two hours in designated structures in the Downtown area.
 For information, 
(310) 253-5716 or www.culvercity.org.

Shakespeare Under the Stars

If you like bad guys, Richard III is one of the best — I mean, worst. This charismatic and ruthless villain has political ambitions to take the throne of England and has no qualms about murdering his way to the top. Theatricum Botanicum’s version of Shakespeare’s tragedy plays out under the stars in Topanga Canyon with Melora Marshall and Chad Jason Scheppner alternating in the title role. I didn’t think Richard III — the character and the play — could get any more interesting, but Melora is a woman. Director Ellen Geer explained the unusual casting choice in a press release: “We auditioned throughout the company, and Melora and Chad were the two who were able to create the spell. Richard needs to entrance the audience, to win them over as he makes his Machiavellian plans, and when these two actors read, it was immediately obvious to everybody that they were right for the part. It’s as simple as that.” The production runs July 2-Oct. 2. Snacks are available for purchase, and picnickers are welcome before and after the performances.

Tickets and information: (310) 455-3723 or www.theatricum.com

Feast at the Getty Villa

You already know the Getty Villa, modeled after a first-century Roman country house, is a feast for the eyes. This summer, it offers a literal feast. The J. Paul Getty Museum presents At the Roman Table: A Culinary Adventure at the Getty Villa on Thursday, July 14, and Friday, July 15, from 7 to 10 p.m. First, food historian Andrew Dalby will give a lecture titled “Dining With Caesar: Food and Power in Ancient Rome,” exploring fashionable dinners of 2,000 years ago during the time of Julius Caesar. Afterward, guests will enjoy a four-course gourmet dinner prepared under the direction of Chef Sally Grainger. The menu, inspired by ancient Roman recipes, is rich in meats (sorry, vegetarians!) and designed “to entice adventurous palettes.” $75 includes wine. Seating is limited; reservations are required: www.getty.edu or (310) 440-7300.

Photo credit: Fireworks at the Hollywood Bowl/photo by Fred George, courtesy of LA Philharmonic

Jane Lind (Jessie) and Lily Gladstone (Carlisle) in "The Frybread Queen," which gets its world premiere March 12 at the Autry National Center / photo by Terry Cyr

The next great theater movement is here. African-American theater had the 1960s, Latino theater had the 1970s and, thanks to Randy Reinholz and Jean Bruce Scott, Native American theater has the 2000s. They founded Native Voices at the Autry, the only equity theater company in the country dedicated exclusively to developing and presenting works by Native American playwrights, and are its producing artistic and producing executive directors, respectively. Since they brought Native Voices to the Autry National Center in Griffith Park, Los Angeles has been at the forefront of this movement.

Though Native American theater has grown up here in Los Angeles, the groundwork was laid in Illinois. In 1993, Randy, a member of the Choctaw nation, was directing a play at Illinois State University and was asked to sit on its non-Western theater committee. “You’re Native American. Maybe you can find some Native American plays for us to think about producing?” they asked him.

He confidently undertook that task, only to find that there were only five published plays written by Native playwrights, two in the United States and three in Canada. In 1994, Randy and Jean organized the first series of readings at ISU, bringing these Native American playwrights together for the first time.

“It went really well,” remembers Randy. “The playwrights had heard of each other but hadn’t met. They said that it was really great to meet and get to see each others’ work, and that we had to do this again.”

And they did. The third year they hosted the festival — now named Native Voices —in New York at the American Indian Community House, they were finally able to get more Native people involved. Each year they were able to work with brand new plays and playwrights. The community of artists was growing. That was also the year when Jean and Randy first connected with the Autry.

Between 1997 and ’98, the Autry was preparing an exhibition on the portrayal of American Indians throughout U.S. history. They came to Jean and Randy to recommend plays that should be presented and tour with the exhibition, called “Powerful Images.”

The play that was chosen, “Urban Tattoo,” by Marie Clement, garnered a tremendous response, good houses and great reviews. The LA Weekly called it a “tribute to warrior women everywhere.” This all led to the Autry asking if Jean, Randy and Native Voices wanted to participate in a three-year theater initiative.

“We said yes, and that was the beginning of our partnership,” recounts Jean. “Before those three years were up, they asked us to stay, so we became the resident theater company at the Autry, and it’s been our artistic home since.”

Over the past 12 years, the company has presented fully staged productions of 18 critically acclaimed new plays, including 13 world premieres, seven playwright retreats and 13 new play festivals, and more than 100 workshops and public staged readings of new plays by Native American playwrights featuring Native American actors. It has worked with and continues to collaborate with the Public Theater in New York, the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and the La Jolla Playhouse.

All of this has been a large boon to Native American theater artists. Jean believes they “have a community of more than 100 actors that could act on any stage in the country.” And the evidence is there. Over the last decade, alumni of Native Voices have been seen on Broadway, at Steppenwolf, at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts and at many other high profile theaters across the country.

But the Native Voices creative process has always been about the playwright. “When we started, a lot of the playwrights hadn’t been produced,” Randy points out, “and now they have four or five equity productions under their belts. Now the writers are in the theater, they see each others’ work, so that community is creating a real art form rather than a piece of art that stands alone. And that’s more ‘Indian’ anyway: the idea that the individuals are getting together and elevating the whole community.”

It is this community-based approach that has allowed the Native American theater movement to really take hold. According to Jean, “over the last five years our actors and directors have been getting together in little ‘writers groups,’ and there’s this great bubbling up of creative energy that’s going on that is really rewarding.” Those writers groups are following the same process that Native Voices did in its early days, putting writers, actors and directors into a room and letting things evolve from there.

Jean and Randy have also taken their work around the world. They have performed multiple times in Australia, where Aboriginal Theater is very big, and were a part of the Origins Festival in London, along with other indigenous theater companies from around the world.

“We were a part of a world indigenous theater conference in Brisbane,” says Jean. “We performed in front of a mostly aboriginal audience, and they loved the play. It was one of the best audiences we’ve ever had.”

Randy quickly adds, “It was a play that had a lot of insider humor. They didn’t understand all of the nuances, but they had the same jokes between nations and it was great.”

Native Voices has done much more than simply appeal to native peoples all over the globe. In 2005, they produced an adaptation of “Romeo and Juliet” set in the 17th-century American Southwest. Randy believes “that was when the LA theater community really embraced us and took notice of what we were doing. She was Spanish, he was Pueblo Indian. People really liked the production, and the critics came to it in a much bigger way.” Since then, the industry has been more and more accepting of Native American actors on stage and the large and small screens.

What has started here in Los Angeles is now spreading across the country. Places like the Public Theater in New York have dedicated Native theater initiatives in place. There is a new Alaskan Native Playwrights Project, and the La Jolla Playhouse hosts the Native Voices new play festival every year now.

“Every year we’re a part of their season,” notes Jean, “ and the last two years we’ve produced a play on their stage as a part of the festival.” People that have worked with Native Voices are now advancing Native theater in places like New Mexico, Wisconsin and Oklahoma.

Some of the original people to be involved with Native Voices are still a part of the movement. Rob Caisley, the director of “The Frybread Queen,” which will have its world premiere at the Autry on March 12, was one of the actors in the first Native Voices Festival in 1994. “He played the ‘bad white guy,’ as a grad student at ISU,” remembers Jean. “So he’s been involved and interested and supportive of Native Voices for 18 years.”

“The Frybread Queen” is a new play by Muskogee Creek tribe member Carolyn Dunn. It runs March 12 through 27 at the Wells Fargo Theater at the Autry National Center, (323) 667-2000, ext. 354, or www.NativeVoicesattheAutry.org.

~David Gerhardt, Culture Spot LA

'Il Turco in Italia' plays at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion through March 13.

Another bubbly bel canto bon bon is playing at LA Opera right now in the form of Il Turco in Italia, a lesser-known Rossini opera that deserves wider renown. Those seeking fresh opera fare should note that this is the debut performance of this work by the company, although this production by German director Christof Loy has already made its way through a number of European opera houses. While not a lavish production, either in terms of big-name stars or production design, it manages to entertain throughout, thanks to solid singing, a lively libretto and Rossini’s effervescent score.

Only 22 when he wrote Il Turco in 1814, Rossini was following up his popular La Italiana in Algeri. It was a time when Orientalism was in vogue and audiences lapped up stories about the exotic Mohammedans who were frequently stereotyped as sensual and seductive by nature. But Il Turco never achieved the lasting popularity of his previous opera, and it played infrequently until a final performance in 1847, after which it was forgotten for over 100 years. In 1958, the opera was revived and it has been growing in popularity since. With its shifting perspectives about art, love and identity, it’s a bit like walking into a room full of funhouse mirrors. This abstractness helps lend the work a distinctly modern sensibility, while its sex-farce underpinnings keep things humming.

The two-act opera opens with an extended overture — all lightness and frivolity — as we gaze upon a small gypsy caravan, in this case a compact camper trailer that, in clown-car style, soon disgorges a multitude of players. Included among them is Zaida, a refugee harem girl rejected by her beloved Selim, a Turkish prince. Macho Selim coincidentally arrives at the same Italian shore — floating in on a flying carpet — in search of amorous adventures. He meets Fiorilla, a flirtatious wife grown bored with her blustering buffoon of a husband, Don Geronio, as well as her over-earnest lover, Don Narciso. She and Selim feel instant attraction and spend most of the opera negotiating their romance, while Zaida and the cuckolded men provide the ensuing complications. Throughout, the local poet, Prosdocino, both observes and incites the action in order to compose his latest comedy, providing a sort of meta-opera that comments on its own plotline as it evolves.

The production design relies on the now common ploy of a vaguely 1950s-era setting to give a whiff of modernity yet still seem apart from our time. The simple, spare sets are lackluster — one gets the sense of cost economy — and I found myself fantasizing about how entertaining it would be to see this in an original “period” staging replete with ocelot skins, striped silk tents and luxury barges. Certain other staging devices, meant to be innovative and modern, just didn’t work: these include the chorus appearing as stagehands in LA Opera T-shirts, as well as a series of clothing racks that descend from above so that characters can change costumes as we watch. Yes, we get that we are seeing Prosdocino’s play take shape parallel with the action, but there must be a more elegant way to depict this. Likewise, we are presumably meant to be shocked by the men appearing in drag and the women in poses of ravishment in the big costume ball scene in the second act. But the dance is silly and the spectacle is ultimately about as titillating as a laddie-mag cover.

The orchestra and the singers had no such interpretive problems. Georgian soprano Nino Machaidze, who seemed unremarkable in last season’s Elixir of Love, really impresses here. Her voice pierces the theater with an intriguing dark tonality, and her acting keeps your attention riveted. The two bassos, Simone Alberghini as Selim and Paolo Giovanelli as Don Geronio, are also a pleasure to hear and to see, one with a commanding macho persona, the other haughty and comic. Kate Lindsey as Zaida has a pleasant voice, but unfortunately lacks presence. Those who like ensemble singing will be pleased as Il Turco features a lot of it; few could fail to be impressed by the ricocheting six-part harmony we are treated to for the waltz at the end of Act I.

Il Turco in Italia is opera as everyone would wish it to be — funny, dramatic and entertaining with beautiful music and a happy ending. Kind of like life? Hardly, but that’s the point… it could be the perfect tonic for what ails you in these contentious times.

There are five more performances through March 13. Visit www.laopera.com.

Zubin Mehta

In celebration of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra’s 75th anniversary season and the 50th Anniversary of Zubin Mehta’s conducting debut, the IPO and Maestro Mehta embark on an eight-concert, seven-city U.S. tour in February, which culminates with a concert and gala at Walt Disney Concert Hall on Tuesday, March 1. The program includes Haydn’s Symphony No. 96 in D major, “The Miracle,” and Mahler’s Symphony No. 5.

Founded in 1936 as the Palestine Orchestra,  the IPO is a distinguished orchestra dedicated to presenting the world’s greatest classical music to audiences in Israel and worldwide. Known as the “Heartbeat of a Nation,” the IPO serves as an international cultural emissary for the State of Israel. The New York Times wrote of the IPO: “the quality of its playing makes it among Israel’s most visible and beloved cultural symbols, able to attract global musical stars.”

Of course, Mehta will be a huge draw for the Los Angeles concert. Angelenos love Mehta, who was music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic from 1962 to 1978.  Now a world-renowned conductor, he got his start with the IPO 50 years ago when Eugene Ormandy was forced to cancel a performance due to illness. The 25-year-old Mehta stepped in and went on to conduct more than 2,000 concerts spanning five continents as IPO’s music director. In 1981, the IPO made him music director for life. Mehta also served as music director of the New York Philharmonic, with a 13-year tenure, the longest in the orchestra’s history, beginning in 1978.

Tuesday, March 1 at 8 p.m.

Walt Disney Concert Hall

Program:

HAYDN: Symphony No. 96 in D major “The Miracle”

MAHLER: Symphony No. 5 in C-sharp minor

Festivities:

American Friends of the IPO Gala
 Pre-concert Reception at Patina

Post-concert Champagne Dessert Reception in the Walt Disney Founder’s Room with Maestro Mehta and members of the IPO

For tickets, call (323) 850-2000 or visit www.laphil.com.