HIGHLY RECOMMENDED:
LA OPERA, Puccini’s "MADAME BUTTERFLY" – What a way to start the new season! Can’t wait to see this direction and staging, as though it takes place on a 1930s movie set.With Korean soprano Karah Son in her signature role. It was broadcast live to the Pier last Saturday, free. But this will be so much better in person. A tragic drama of modern import, with "Butterfly" taking on a very male dominated world. Sat 6 p.m., next Thurs 7:30 p.m., Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, LA, $49-450.
Tonight! - "HAMILTON" – Not often, but sometimes in life you do get second chances. I never saw the groundbreaking historical musical when it first came to LA in 2017 with its touring original Broadway cast, and I never saw the film version. I wasn’t trying to wait, but it was well worth it. Any concern you won’t like a "rap" musical? Fuggedaboutit. It fits everything else perfectly, and is not "extreme." The singing was superb, their staging spectacular, and the lyrics still riveting. Thurs 7:30 p.m., Fri 8 p.m., Sat 2 p.m., 8 p.m., Sun 1 p.m., 6:30 p.m., Tues 7:30 p.m., Wed 7:30 p.m., next Thurs 7:30 p.m., Pantages Theatre, Hollywood, $122-626.
THEATRICUM BOTANICUM: New political thought provoker – don’t be scared! They are always entertaining. A few laughs too, I’m sure. It is another thing they are known for, one of their strengths. I have it on good authority that this one is especially worthwhile. 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 the emotions and lives of more everyday people. Not often staged. A terrific production. 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. Sat 7:30 p.m. "Wendy," Sun 3:30 p.m. "Tartuffe," Sun 7:30 p.m. "Hispanic," Mon 7:30 p.m. "Winter," next Thurs 7:30 p.m., "Hispanic," $15-60.
LA PHIL Free Neighborhood Concert – I just looked over the program again and upgraded it to HIGHLY. No Dudamel? No problem, Berlin-based Venezuelan conductor Rodolfo Barráez is no rookie, and it is… the LA Phil. And it is free, in your neighborhood. Bingo! Debussy, Bartók’s delightful "Romanian Folk Dances" (much better than you might expect), Still, Romero, and two by Piazzolla, including his edgy and moving "Four Seasons of Buenos Aires - Summer. Spring" (remember: southern hemisphere), and Barber’s heart-wrenching "Adagio for Strings," alone worth the price of admission. Sat 7 p.m., Heart of Los Angeles, Lafayette Recreation Center, 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.
LA PHILGala Concert: DUDAMEL & LANG LANG – What a way to start the new season! Dudamel’s last here, sniff sniff. Scoop up your money for this one. You can’t take it with you, you don’t really want your ungrateful kids and spouse to blow it on themselves, do you? So drop some of it on our sensational LA Philharmonic, and have yourself an evening to remember. Rock star Lang Lang is one of the most acclaimed and sought-after concert pianists on the planet, and he’ll be performing Rachmaninoff’s lush and dramatic Piano Concerto No. 2. These proceeds help fund their worthwhile community programs, such as the free concerts last week and this. At the upper end prices you can also get dinner, a cocktail reception before and dancing afterward. There is a silent auction open to anyone, online, ends 10/1, to conduct the Phil performing the Star Spangled Banner at the Bowl. How cool is that? You worked hard all your life to stockpile that obscene amount of wealth, so this is a good way to ease your conscience a bit, and have a blast. Tues 7 p.m., Walt Disney Concert Hall, LA, $1,250-15,000.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream with DUDAMEL – A dream indeed, realized. Starts with a newly-commissioned cello concerto by Gabriela Ortiz, who Dudamel believes is "the most important composer in the world." Well. Then, after intermission, it all goes a little nuts (in a good way), with the Disney Hall stage transformed into a sylvan setting ala Shakespeare’s famous play, for which Mendelssohn wrote this incidental music. We’ve got a soprano, a mezzo, the LA Master Chorale, a video art editor, a dress designer, two lighting designers, a VFX artist, and narration in Spanish with English titles. Seems like the Dude is trying to close it out in such style we will be left stunned. OK by me. next Thurs 8 p.m., next Fri 11 a.m., Walt Disney Concert Hall, LA, $77-259.
COMING ATTRACTIONS (also recommended): "HAMILTON," Pantages Theatre, 9/26, 27, 28, 29, 10/1, 2, 3, 4., 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13; LA PHIL Neighborhood Concert at Heart of Los Angeles 9/27; Theatricum Botanicum – "Wendy’s Peter Pan" 9/28, 10/4 – "The Hispanic/Latino/Latina/Latinx/Latine Vote" 9/29, 10/3, 6, 12, 20 – "Tartuffe-Born Again" 9/29, 10/5, 13 – "The Winter’s Tale" 9/30; LA PHIL Gala Concert: DUDAMEL & LANG LANG, Disney Hall, 10/1; A Midsummer Night’s Dream with DUDAMEL, Disney Hall, 10/3, 4; NESTOR TORRES, Jazz Bakery, 10/6; TOM JONES, Greek Theatre, 10/7; LIBRARY GIRL, Ruskin Theatre, 10/13; JEREMY PELT, Jazz Bakery, 10/13; JONI MITCHELL and the Joni Jam, Hollywood Bowl, 10/19, 20; "KOOZA," CIRQUE DU SOLEIL, Santa Monica Pier, 10/19-1/5/25; DELFEAYO MARSALIS, Jazz Bakery, 10/20; JEFF LYNNE’S E.L.O., Kia Forum, 10/25, 26; RICK HOLMSTROM BAND, DAVID HIDALGO, McCabe’s, 10/27; TERRY GIBBS, SHORTY ROGERS, Jazz Bakery, 10/27; DAVID GILMOUR, Hollywood Bowl, 10/29, 30, 31; Halloween Organ, Film & Music: "Nosferatu," Disney Hall, 10/31; LA SANTA CECILIA, Wiltern, 10/31.
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: mailto:therealmrmusic@gmail.com
