Guy Ritchie is back with “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows,” and it’s refreshing to see a sequel that not only lives up to the first film, but by far exceeds it.  The sequel once again pits Holmes against his nemesis, Professor James Moriarty, in a “shadowy game of cat and mouse” that combines a battle of wits and a resounding match of fighting skill.

     “A Game of Shadows” exchanges the more supernatural, mystical elements of the first Sherlock Holmes movie for political intrigue and anarchy on an international spectrum.  Holmes and his entourage work their way through England, France and Switzerland, leaving plenty of explosions in their wake, as they attempt to stop Moriarty’s evil scheme that includes an arms monopoly, the potential outbreak of a world war and Victorian England’s version of plastic surgery.  There’s even a 19^th century stag party for dear Dr. Watson that erupts into chaos, which only Holmes can create.

     While it is enjoyable to see Holmes’ uncanny intelligence at work on a grander scale, the plot’s complexity is daunting.  Key plot points are interspersed between bouts of rapid, witty banter, and the added political drama makes it anything but “elementary” to follow, particularly if seated next to noisy popcorn munchers.

     But even if the plot is overwhelming, it’s a treat to see Robert Downey, Jr. and Jude Law reunited as detective and doctor, respectively.  Their rapport is even better and more amusing this time around, particularly as Holmes attempts to resign himself to the fact that Watson is now a married man with very different priorities.

     “A Game of Shadows” also showcases the talents of Stephen Fry (“V for Vendetta”) as Mycroft, brother to Sherlock and just as eclectic in his own unique way.  Jared Harris (“Mad Men”) brings depth to the cold, conniving Professor Moriarty, while Noomi Rapace (“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” Swedish version) portrays the new character of Madam Simza, an intriguing gypsy fortune-teller.

     While the sequel can stand alone as its own film, viewers who have seen the first are also treated to the return of Rachel McAdams as the alluring Irene Adler, though her time on screen is regrettably short-lived.  There are also other familiar, recurring elements, such as Watson’s death-defying dog, Gladstone, and Holmes’ inclinations for disguises of all kinds.

     Composer Hans Zimmer also returns to create the music, interspersing his original score with new variations, from ominous opera pieces to the rich tones used for the gypsy camp.

     At a running time of a little over two hours, “A Game of Shadows” is long and intense, but never loses its focus.  Best of all, it leaves the story tantalizingly open for a possible third installment.

With his latest jocular venture, “Ghetto Klown,” Lequizamo succeeds in creating a one man show which never loses its flow or fades out, with the New Yorker claiming “He has sabor: tasty, textured, and very funny & hellip…It adds up to a vivid, generous, irresistible evening of multi-cultural mischief.” And Bloomberg chiming in about how “ferociously funny it is, he takes us way beyond laughter,” Leguizamo seems to have hit the jackpot this time. With “Ghetto Klown” having already received an Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Solo Performance and a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Solo Performance, it is sure to be anything but disappointing. Growing up in Queens, his progression in the field of entertainment, and the growth of his family all intergrate with his personal knack for stirring up comically genius chaos make for one show that you should definitely see if you just so happen to be on the west coast during the fifteen days during which this production is being showcased.

In his own words, he attests that “’Ghetto Klown’ is all the things I say to my therapist and my manager, but would never want the general public to know.  It’s cheaper than a lawsuit and I get to take a bow at the end. It’s like Wikileaks but with no international manhunt. Yet.” He says it all, so watch out, the “Ghetto Klown” is in town, sprinkling his laughter-inducing sugar all around!

“Ghetto Klown” will run from Friday, September 30 to Sunday, October 16 at the The Ricardo Montalbán Theatre. Tickets vary from $42.50 to $115; premium available. For tickets go here.
 
You can find more information at www.ghettoklown.com

Theresa Rebeck is a widely produced playwright throughout the United States and abroad. As a prolific writer, Rebeck’s use of humor, wit and storytelling have intertwined into producing an remarkable story line to keep audiences in admiration for Rebeck’s work and the magic in theater.

“Working with this cast has been a ball.  I know for a fact that audiences everywhere will like this out of the norm, anti-romp, grown-up comedy,” said cast member Christopher Evan Welch. “This is a bold sex comedy which has been developed to be very smart with its wit and it flows at a great pace.”

Rebeck’s writing has evolved over time to become dark as she boldly conquers addressing topics with her writing which average writers avoid.  With a tone all her own Rebeck’s use of humor is used ingeniously to keep audiences engaged with her productions.  As soon as viewers think they understand the feel of the story line she makes sure to throw something at her audience to not only create a shock factor but have them questioning how they view morality and other social norms.

“This ethical comedy is about where you draw the line when in a relationship and how do you evaluate if it’s worth keeping or if it’s no longer worth holding on to. This play is a twisted example of how you fight to keep a marriage going.  I’ve worked with Theresa before yet Poor Behavior is an example of her transforming story line development with its surprises and savage thoughts which is why I was excited to work with her again,” Welch enthusiastically explained.

Directed by Doug Hughes, the cast for Poor Behavior includes Johanna Day, Sharon Lawrence, Reg Rogers along with Christopher Evan Welch. The production will be presented at the Taper with a special arrangement with Jeffrey Finn and features set design by Tony Award-winner John Lee Beatty and the costumes designed by Tony Award-winner David Van Tieghem.

Rebeck has not only received high acclaims for her playwriting she is also an award-winning writer and producer for television, including shows such as “Law & Order: Criminal Intent,” “Brooklyn Bridge,” “Dream-On,” “L.A. Law” and “NYPD Blue,” among others.

Poor Behavior will without question stun audiences with the questions the performance raises and the marital combat which addresses life, love and when you must let go.

Tickets are available at CenterTheatreGroup.org or at the Center Theatre Group box office located at the Ahmanson Theatre, or by calling 213-628-2772

The Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater (REDCAT) is an interdisciplinary contemporary arts center for innovative visual, performing and media arts located in downtown Los Angeles inside the Walt Disney Concert Hall complex. REDCAT introduces diverse audiences, students and artists to the most influential developments in the arts from around the world, and gives artists in this region the creative support they need to achieve national and international stature.

“We are excited to see the truly interdisciplinary collaborations that fuel these projects: master musicians collaborating with a contemporary choreographer, object-theater artists joining forces with art-rock bands, a theatrical performance created in partnership with a filmmaker,” remarks REDCAT’s Associate Director George Lugg, who oversees the New Original Works Festival. He adds, “This range of investigation demonstrates the diversity of artistic approaches and aesthetic influences that inspire artists across the city.” Since REDCAT’s inception, its New Original Works Festival has served as an integral part of REDCAT’s mission to support the creation of new performance work by Los Angeles-based artists. The artists in this year’s Festival are rooted in an impressively wide-range of traditions: alt-country, Persian and electro-acoustic music; dance from African, post-modern, social and theatrical forms; stop-motion animation and silent film; experimental, puppet and object theater. From the roots of these traditions, through collaboration and experimentation, they delve into new and vital directions in live performance.

The festival launches with a playful integration of silent film and live music from Marissa Chibas, a modern fable from puppeteer Cindy Derby, and a new multi-channel sound installation from composer Luke Fischbeck of Lucky Dragons. In Clara’s Los Angeles, Marissa Chibas kicks up the dust on Los Angeles history as disoriented flapper who awakes after a wild night at the Ambassador Hotel, in 1926, to find she has danced her way into a new century. A modern fable from puppeteer Cindy Derby, Edward’s House of String is a moving and mysterious performance in which stop-motion animation, live puppetry and hand-crafted scenic elements create potent images that explore into realms of psychological loss. Inquiring into the complexities of digital mediation, composer Luke Fischbeck of Lucky Dragons gathered thousands of Google Alerts for the seemingly redundant phrase “actual reality” as the basis for his latest multichannel composition, Actual Reality.

The second week of REDCAT’s New Original Works festival brings Robert Cucuzza’s backwoods reinvention of August Strindberg’s classic Miss Julie and choreographer Rosanna Gamson’s take on the tale of Scheherazade. In Cattywampus, the backwoods reinvention of August Strindberg’s classic Miss Julie, writer and director Robert Cucuzza hones an essential tale of class and power, and stages it in modern-day Appalachia. Cucuzza and his collaborators orchestrate a multidisciplinary approach highlighted by distinctly American forms. Serving up horrific melodrama as dance-theater divertissement, choreographer Rosanna Gamson and her company World Wide take on the tale of Scheherazade; Layla Means Night cleverly employs hyped-up spectacle, along with enticements, misdirections and artful games of smoke-and-mirrors to craft an intricate exploration of violence, complicity and our insatiable desire to be entertained.

The final week of the festival features a new puppet opera that probes the mythic mind of Daedalus, a powerful solo from choreographer Michel Kouakou that connects the everyday to realms of the unknown, and a new work from Alpert Award-winning choreographer Victoria Marks indulging in the intimacy of the small gesture. In Tandem & Timur and the Dime Museum: Zoophilic Follies, two adventurous ensembles combine forces to concoct the new puppet opera that probes the mythic mind of Daedalus while puppet theater company Tandem animates objects and shadows to illuminate the complexities of a mind capable of true innovation, yet unable to foresee the flaws in his grand plans. Gliding between movement derived from both traditional and contemporary African dance, Michel Kouakou performs Daara Dance: Sack, a powerful solo that connects the everyday to realms of the unknown, the dark and the dead. In Smallest Gesture/Grandest Frame, Alpert Award-winning choreographer Victoria Marks sets the intimacy of the small gesture against a larger canvas of collective action to consider loneliness and loss, as well as life fully lived.

The festival kicks off on September 8th. Go here for more information and specific dates for the different events.

Other notable guests slated to perform include Beck, Ed Droste (from Grizzly Bear), Victoria Legrand (from Beach House), Sean Lennon, Charlotte Kemp Muhl, Mike Patton (from Faith No More) and Zola Jesus. The tribute concert features the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra led by Jean Claude Vannier, a French composer and longtime Gainsbourg collaborator. Together the performers will bring to life the influential music of Serge Gainsbourg.

Lulu Gainsbourg has followed the family tradition of pursuing music and has made a name for himself in his own right. He began playing piano at age 5 and later attended the Music Conservatory of Paris. Recently, Lulu graduated from the reputable Berklee College of Music in Boston.

Lulu had his first public appearance during his father’s final live tour in 1988 in which a two-year-old Lulu went onstage for a song his father wrote especially for him. Since then, Lulu has also recorded a duet with his mother Bambou, a French model and singer; the song, “Ne Dis Rien,” was written and composed by Serge Gainsbourg.

Serge Gainsbourg continues to be as influential and timeless as ever, and the impressive line-up of guests should capture Gainsbourg followers.

Tickets are available from $12 – $104. For more information, and to purchase tickets visit the Hollywood Bowl website here. 

     Emma Stone stars as Skeeter, who upon arriving back home from college discovers that the maid who raised her is no longer with her family, whom told her that her “help” Constantine, had moved back home to be with her family. Unsatisfied with the explanation she received and the fact that no one is willing to discuss Constantine, coupled with her experience with her friends during their weekly bridge club meeting, where, Hilly (Bryce Dallas Howard) expresses that all homes should have separate bathrooms for their colored helps, she releases the difference in manner in which the two races are treated. With primary help from three maids from within the families of her circle of friends, Skeeter resolves to reveal the behind the manner in which colored people are treated, from the perspective of the “help”. In a town where serving as a maid was one of the only job opportunities for colored women, these three maids are faced with the choice of revealing the truth, or accepting their predicament in order to keep their jobs.

   With the alternate characters of each made and their employers, this film intertwines truth, comedy, and soul-filled drama, making for a brilliant watch, and a telling plot. This film opens in theaters on Wednesday, August 10^th.

Through the challenges of such a limited group of actors, the Playhouse and their co-producers the Kansas City Repertory Theater present the classic Henrik Ibsen play in all of its surrealistic glory.

With the five exciting and mind-boggling creative actors transforming from cowboys to buttonmoulders, and Egyptian Sphinx to a three headed troll, audiences for Peer Gynt will undoubtedly be drawn in by the artistic range and captivated by the classic storyline.

Danny Gavigan, Birgit Huppuch, Luis Moreno, Kate Cullen Roberts, Evan Zes, and the rest of the production staff bring to life the story of Peer Gynt, a clever dreamer, swindler, and charmer who ruthlessly ambles through life in a quest to find fortune and fame.

Next to Shakespeare, Ibsen’s plays are amongst the most performed dramas in the world. His 26 dramatic works and some 300 poems have maintained a relevance to modern society. Originally written in 1867, Peer Gynt, it is still considered to be one of the most innovative plays of western European dramatic literature.

After being staged an uncountable number of times, Schweizer and the rest of his cast work endlessly to bring a new twist to this timeless play.

We are delighted to welcome back innovative director/adapter David Schweizer to the Playhouse with his highly inventive adaptation of Peer Gynt, said Playhouse Artistic Director Christopher Ashley. He has taken Ibsen’s epic tale of one man’s search for identity and made it funny, unexpected and completely relevant to our contemporary lives.

Mr. Schweizer is a notable figure in original theater, performance, and opera for 30 years.

The Tony award-winning La Jolla Playhouse was founded in 1947 and is known for its heritage of thrilling and exploratory regional work in theater as well as being one of the most respected not-for-profit theaters in the country.

The La Jolla Playhouse will present Peer Gynt, considered even by the “father of modern drama” to be unstageable, on June 28^th through July 24^th

Ticket info

Bill W. and Dr. Bob met one fortunate afternoon in Akron, Ohio, this being the true story of two men, one drinking in secret while the other a hopeless drunk struggling through the stock market crash of 1929. As Bill W. says, “I realized the only thing that could keep me sober was telling my story to another drunk.” This accidental creation of AA is one of the guiding principals to the organization as a whole, to become a support to help others achieve sobriety. One must not be connected in any way to alcoholism to feel stirred with this story. Life is filled with hardship and this is a thoroughly inspiring take on what can be done when obstacles are overcome. According to the playwright Samuel Shem, “my wife and I stumbled across this astonishing story – a story not just about two drunks who were going to die and found a way, together, to live, but more – a great American success story about the suffering of isolation and the healing power of good connection.”

The Geffen Playhouse and Hazledon addiction treatment center is set to embark on a national and long-term project to educate and combat the effects of alcohol addiction. They are proud to present a kick-off reading of the award-winning play Bill W. and Dr. Bob starring acclaimed actors Martin Sheen, Ed Begley Jr, JoBeth Williams, and Stephanie Zimbalist. This will be followed by a post-show discussion with the actors and playwrights. The project will include a national touring company to college campuses throughout the nation to combat binge drinking as well as provide scholarships for youth treatment to Hazeldon. This truly inspirational tale has filled theatres since its debut in 2007. Since then, it has been a dream of the playwrights to be able to provide these services to help those who may be searching for that connection.

His music showcases a mix of his Texas roots thrown into the Big Apple.   His career has taken him from the laid-back, southern hospitality to the bustling metropolis, NYC, where he currently makes appearances at different jazz clubs including The 55 Bar.  Having accompanied famed sensations as The Supremes, The Temptations, Antonio Sanchez and Gene Jackson, it is no surprise that his album enlightens a talent that is truly unique and inspirational.  Not only that, but having performed internationally at jazz festivals and even a Presidential Inaugural Gala are credible all their own.  Killian began “gigging” at age sixteen with his father, a pianist, who has notable performance credits himself.

Since his arrival in New York City, he has certainly made a name for himself.  Under the label Sunnyside Records, Killian’s album features tracks that include Bryan Copeland and Corcoran Holt (bass), Benito Gonzalez (pianist) and Darrell Green and McClenty Hunter (drums).  Each of these musicians make up the Stan Killian Quartet and accompany each other perfectly.  Special guest appearances on the album include Roy Hargrove and Jeremy Pelt (trumpet) and David Binney (alto saxophone).  The entire CD is a soothing mix of tones that can perfectly compliment any ordinary afternoon.  “Twin Dark Mirrors,” as well as tracks that include “Eternal Return,” “Unified,” and “Windows of Time” are just a few of those represented on his album.  The song titles are as captivating as the music itself, and the rhythm and movement of each piece are uniquely sensational.  A mix of fast and slow paced songs give the feel that one is drifting along in the scenes of a motion picture, each with a signature blend of the talented artists who contributed to it.

“I sought simply to write the most beautiful melodies I could imagine,” Killian remarked as one of the two focuses of his album—the other seen above.  With the grace of his talent, the flair of his quartet and the guest appearances that make up Unified, he can be quite satisfied with his goal.

Available here.

The album marks the trifecta’s third outing under Allen’s Sunnyside Records partnership. The group has maintained the same line-up from widely praised debut release I AM to the current Victory!, allowing the artists to evolve together into their current energetically experimental form.

VICTORY! isn’t a conservative title, nor an easy one to live up to. It shows an ironclad confidence, almost daring the cynic to lend a critical ear. This confidence is backed by the unconventional approach to jazz that has distinguished JD Allen III in the modern jazz scene, alongside more than a little skill. “Wasting notes is a waste of time,” says Allen, summing up his perspective on composition. The group takes a simple arrangement of drums, sax, and bass strikingly far, leaving solos behind for unique melodies and unbounded creativity.

Allen certainly isn’t shy about taking the spotlight. All three members show off their chops with various hooks, but Allen’s signature saxophone drives much of the record. He skillfully rides and veers from the rhythm of his backers, making for an album that zooms in on its main talent with pride.

The compositions are kept short but sweet. Standout tracks include Sura Hinda, which has a tone and flavor one is almost tempted to call exotic, and the eponymous Victory!, which gets the album started off on the right note. It’s easy to see the spark that has brought Allen his reputation.

VICTORY! is supplemented by a short film on the life of JD Allen. The short, from Director Mario Lathan, is intended as an essential piece of the album as a whole. A final track in documentary form, punctuating the end of a journey through Allen’s “jukebox jazz”. Those interested in taking the trip can find VICTORY! on shelves now.

Available here.