A Wild Weekend!

SUNDAY IN THE PARK - courtesy photo

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

THEATRICUM BOTANICUM: Premier's new show Sat, a political thought provoker – don’t be scared! They are always entertaining too. A few laughs too, I’m sure. It is another thing they are known for, one of their strengths. Grandpa Walton would be proud. "The Winter’s Tale" is one of Willie the Shake’s last, a tragi-comedy in five acts. He had at that point moved away from telling the stories of royalty, writing more about their emotions and lives of more everyday people. A terrific production. TB’s ever-evolving staple "A Midsummer Night’s Dream" has been performed by them every season, for more than half a century now. But you should probably come see this one again, because I have been told it has been reworked interestingly.Molière’s classic "Tartuffe" is brought forward a few centuries, and right into today’s headlines. How do you rid yourself of a persistent and clever con man? "Wendy’s Peter Pan" is typical of how TB takes a fresh look at things, and by title alone sounds like a lot of fun. I plan to see it and report back (but don’t wait for that). "Winter" Sat 3:30 p.m., "Latin" Sat 7:30 p.m.,"Midsummer" Sun 3:30 p.m.,"Wendy"Sun 7:30 p.m., "Tartufe" Mon 7:30 p.m., $15-60.

LOS STRAIGHTJACKETS – What a great opportunity, to see this virtuosic, kickass band, free, outdoors, thanks to the City’s summer Americana concert series, so expertly booked by longtime McCabe’s pro Wayne Griffith. Los S is all instrumental, wearing Mexican wrestling masks, playing a lot of surf music better than you thought it could be played, especially by a band out of Nashville. McCabe’s Americana in the Park, Sun 4-7 p.m., Los Straightjackets, Mariachi Los Catrines, Gandara Park, free.

HOT CLUB OF LOS ANGELES — You can go to the Cinema Bar any Monday night, 9-11:30, for more than a decade now, and hear these hot players run through Django Reinhart-style ‘30s jazz. This amazing ensemble is a treasure. Mon 9 p.m., Cinema Bar, Culver City, free

DUDAMEL, LA PHIL, BEETHOVEN’S 9TH – I swear, I’m not being lazy here, there is simply nothing more to say. This doesn’t happen often. You’d be foolish not to be there. Opens with Bernstein’s prayer for peace… just to get you ready. Tues 8 p.m., Hollywood Bowl, $14-82.

CELSO & SALIM – OK, maybe I am getting a little lazy here, having praised this amazing guitar-harmonica blues duo so many times…search for them in my columns, going back years. But you missed your chances on Main Street and at Harvelle’s, now you have to go across town to the Mint. Excellent club, well worth the trip. The act after them sounds pretty interesting. Wed 9 p.m., The Mint, LA, $15.

RECOMMENDED:

Tonight - DUDAMERL, "CARMEN," "CARNIVAL" – Dudamel is back, at the Bowl, and not much in Disney Hall for his final season with us, until Dec., so don’t miss this. Ready for some whimsy during a tough political season? Ready for the heady streets of Seville, Bizet’s "Carmen," for a brother-sister piano duo marching with lions and waltzing with elephants in the imaginative suites by Saint-Saëns, for the symphonic Spanish dances by Roberto Sierra? Of course you are! It’s the Bowl, the LA Phil, and the Dude, you can’t lose. Especially if you grab one of those famous Bowl tickets for $1. Thurs 8 p.m., Hollywood Bowl, $1-149.

Tonight - "THE SUBSTANCE OF FIRE" – is still getting glowing reviews, and packing them in at our local theater treasure, The Ruskin, at the airport, in this long run. Written in 1991 by Jon Robin Baitz while still in his 20s, he drew his characters lovingly and skillfully, even those decades past his age. Directed here by Mike Reilly, the first NY production starred Rob Rifkin and Sarah Jessica Parker. Lead Rob Morrow first performed it years ago, as the youngest son. Now he plays the aging Holocaust-survivor patriarch of a family business, a book publishing company not doing well and about to be taken over by a large foreign firm. His children want him to bend his principles and publish a best-seller, but he is intent on a six-book examination of Nazi medical experiments. It’s almost like two plays, first the family dynamics with his three very different shareholding children, and in the second part comes Marcia Cross as a psychiatric social worker, and a different territory opens up. Thurs, Fri, Sat 8p.m., Sun 2 p.m., Ruskin Group Theatre, SM Airport, $25-40.

LIBRARY GIRL: "A Celebration of Moon Tide Press" – Why don’t you just sit in the parking lot of The Ruskin after you’ve enjoyed "The Substance of Fire" and wait for Library Girl? A monthly delight that I was tempted to make HIGHLY RECOMMENDED because the last time they presented Moon Tide Press it was exhilarating. But unlike a Los Straightjackets or LA Phil, you never know how it will go. Poetry, folks, reading, different authors. But Susan Hayden has been doing this 15 years and curates like crazy to try to find magic every time. When that happens, you want to be there, don’t you? This month is a really good bet. Sun 7 p.m., Ruskin Group Theatre, SM Airport, $20, includes free parking and dessert.

KRISTIN KORB celebrates The Eurythmics, with Peter Erskine – I’ve never heard a note from the jazz bass of Korb, but I do know about Erskine, two things: if he’s playing, he must think this is a good thing, and if he’s playing, you don’t want to miss it. I think it’s a fascinating idea and can’t wait to hear what they do with those great songs. It's always the songs, you know. Wed 7:30, 9:30 p.m., Sam First, LAX, $25 each set.

COMING ATTRACTIONS (also recommended): Dudamel, LA Phil, Bizet, Saint-Saëns, Hollywood Bowl, 9/5; "The Substance of Fire," Ruskin Group Theatre, 9/5, 6, 7, 8, 12, 13, 14, 15;Theatricum Botanicum - "The Winter’s Tale" 9/7, 15, 30 - "The Hispanic/Latino/Latina/Latinx/Latine Vote" 9/7, 14, 16, 22, 29, 10/3, 6, 12, 20, 26 - "Wendy’s Peter Pan" 9/8, 14, 21, 28, 10/4 - "A Midsummer Night’s Dream" 9/8, 23 -"Tartuffe-Born Again" 9/9, 15, 22, 29, 10/5, 13; McCabe’s Americana in the Park, Los Straightjackets, Mariachi Los Catrines, Gandara Park, 9/8; Dudamel, LA Phil, Beethoven’s 9th, Hollywood Bowl, 9/10; Kristin Korb Celebrates the Eurythmics, with Peter Erskine, Sam First, 9/11; Celso & Salim, The Mint, 9/11; Sturgill Simpson, Greek, 9/14; McCabe’s Americana in the Park, Rick Shea & Tony Gilkyson, Mustangs of the West, Gandara Park, 9/15; Dengue Fever, Lodge, 9/20; Tom Jones, Greek, 10/7.

<span style='color:rgb(17, 17, 17)'><i>Charles Andrews has listened to a lot of music of all kinds, including more than 3,000 live shows. He has lived in Santa Monica for 38 years and wouldn’t live anywhere else in the world. Really. Send love and/or hate mail to:</i></span> <a href='mailto:therealmrmusic@gmail.com'><i>therealmrmusic@gmail.com</i></a>