Essential Arts & Culture: ‘The Encounter’s’ circular time, L.A. Phil’s Icelandic time, Center Theater Group’s anniversary time
It’s been a busy art week — with stellar plays, Icelandic music and art exhibitions that feature overlooked women. I’m Carolina A. Miranda, staff writer at the Los Angeles Times, with your hot dose of all things culture.
Must See: An amazing ‘Encounter’
Simon McBurney has turned a book about a harrowing journey through the Amazon into a singular work of theater. On view through Sunday at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, “The Encounter,” writes Times classical music critic Mark Swed, marries the low-brow techniques of a radio play with high technology (binaural headphones that make it seem as if the action is all around). The “performance is an amazement,” writes Swed. “There is nothing in theater quite like being caught unawares, and that may be the ideal way to see ‘The Encounter.’” Los Angeles Times
Co-sign on that. It’s a story about a story about time in the Amazon jungle. After seeing the show Thursday, I wanted to burn all my stuff and ponder circular time. Whoaaa.
Iceland in L.A.
Swed also checks in with the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s ongoing Reykjavík Festival (through June 4), attending the Green Umbrella program of contemporary music. “Icelandic music is cool, flowing, not made of dramatic structures, yet it is often a call to attention,” he writes. Los Angeles Times
At the Reykjavík Festival’s first of three sold-out concerts with Sigur Rós and the L.A. Phil, Swed found some rough edges in the blending of Iceland’s popular rock band and classical music, including audience members who treated a chamber choir as a warm-up act. And for all of Sigur Rós’ “often irresistible material,” Swed found the band more conventional on stage than on their records: “You can’t abuse your voice for more than a decade and keep a pure falsetto, and [singer Jón Thór] Birgisson hasn’t yet come up with an effective second act.” Los Angeles Times
Swed additionally saw and heard Esa-Pekka Salonen conduct a pair of Sibelius symphonies at Walt Disney Concert Hall, where he “put new vitality into late Sibelius.” Los Angeles Times
A journey ‘Into the Woods’
Fiasco Theater has an imaginatively economical rendering of the musical “Into the Woods” at the Ahmanson Theatre that features princes who ride stick horses and a wolf that consists of a mounted hunting trophy. “A tight budget has set the creative juices flowing,” writes Times theater critic Charles McNulty. “The eager-to-please production overstays its welcome, but its shoestrings delights are manifold.” Los Angeles Times
McNulty also took in a performance of Mike Lopez’s play “The Legend of Georgia McBride” at the Geffen Playhouse. The show is “fun if formulaic,” he reports, about an Elvis impersonator who transforms into a drag queen to help bring home the bacon. Los Angeles Times
Politics at the theater
Tony Awards producers take note: McNulty reports that Hillary Clinton has been receiving warm receptions as she attends theatrical productions around New York, including the musical “War Paint” and Stephen Karam’s drama “The Humans,” leading our critic to suggest that producers should ask Clinton to be a presenter at the upcoming awards ceremony in June. Los Angeles Times
Plus, The Times’ Jeffrey Fleishman reports on a new play at the Pasadena Playhouse inspired by deceased Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. “The Originalist,” by John Strand, examines whether the meaning of the 230-year-old Constitution is “a fixed set of principles” or whether it might be a “fluid living document.” Los Angeles Times
Confronting gender bias in art
The “Women of Abstract Expressionism,” on view at the Palm Springs Art Museum through May, is a groundbreaking survey of the women artists working in the movement during the 20th century — and it is worth the two-hour drive east, reports Times art critic Christopher Knight. “It’s the kind of show that can shake up preconceptions,” he writes. “Historical group surveys that employ gender as an organizing principle don’t always make artistic sense, but this one does.” Los Angeles Times
‘Citizen Jane’
For his latest Building Type column, Times architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne looks at a new documentary devoted to Jane Jacobs, whose 1961 book “The Death and Life of Great American Cities” is now an urbanism staple. The doc, “Citizen Jane: Battle for the City,” focuses on Jacobs’ legendary battles with New York City planner Robert Moses over development in Greenwich Village. It’s engrossing, reports Hawthorne, but “the complicated legacy” of Jacobs’ ideas, unfortunately, are left on the cutting room floor. Los Angeles Times
L.A. and the NEA
We continue our series on how the arts scene would change without the National Endowment for the Arts. Actor Tim Robbins tells The Times’ Jessica Gelt about his first acting gig: A $50-a-week job at New York’s Theater for the New City, funded in part by an NEA grant. Robbins is the founder of the Actors’ Gang theater in Culver City, itself a recipient of funding. Los Angeles Times
In related news, dance writer Gia Kourlas reports on “Doggie Hamlet,” a work by Los Angeles-based choreographer Ann Carlson performed with herding dogs and a flock of sheep that has ignited controversy on the right for employing NEA funds. New York Times
An important birthday
The Center Theatre Group is turning 50 and The Times takes a look at some of the key figures involved in the company:
— Contributor Margaret Gray spent quality time with artistic director Michael Ritchie, who has strengthened the group’s ties to Hollywood and to smaller theaters across the city. “I will stay here as long as they will bear me,” says Ritchie. “I’ve ended up where I’m going to finish. I’m home.” Los Angeles Times
— The Times’ Deborah Vankin paid a visit to production manager Jonathan Barlow Lee, who has worked at the Mark Taper Forum (one of the Center Theatre Group’s venues) for almost 40 years. He recalls production triumphs and pitfalls, including a conveyor belt intended to move sets that “sounded like a freight train crashing into another freight train.” Los Angeles Times
— Stage luminaries such as Angela Lansbury, Chris Pine, Matthew Broderick, Phylicia Rashad and Anna Deavere Smith share their fond memories. Los Angeles Times
Awards season
Two big awards announcements were made over the last week. First, there were the Pulitzers. Playwright Lynn Nottage won the award for her drama, “Sweat.” Jessica Gelt speaks with Nottage, who says of her win: “No. 1, I’m representing for women, and No. 2, I’m representing for playwrights of color.” Los Angeles Times
Theater critic Hilton Als took home the prize for criticism and composer Du Yun won for her opera, “Angels Bone.” And Times photographer Katie Falkenberg was a finalist for a stirring series of pictures that looked at motherhood in the age of Zika in Brazil. Los Angeles Times, ARTnews, New Yorker
Plus, there is a new crop of 173 Guggenheim fellows, including key cultural figures from Southern California, such as artists Harry Dodge and Ken Gonzalez-Day and writers Michelle Huneven and Emily Rapp Black. Los Angeles Times
Congrats all around!
A Cuban dissident, a Mexican mural
I sat down with dissident artist Danilo Maldonado Machado, known as “El Sexto,” for an interview about art and politics in his native Cuba. The artist, whose anti-Castro works have gotten him imprisoned, was in L.A. for a panel at the Museum of Tolerance. “A lot of people think [Fidel] is cool,” he says. “There are a lot of people in Latin America who think he is cool. But that’s not cool. Cool is Ghandi. Cool is Martin Luther King Jr.” Los Angeles Times
I also got an up-close gander at David Alfaro Siqueiros’ Olvera Street mural “América Tropical,” which is currently getting some tender loving care courtesy of the Getty Conservation Institute. Los Angeles Times
In other news…
— He’s baaaaaack. Jeffrey Deitch, the controversial former director of the Museum of Contemporary Art, is coming back to L.A. to open a gallery. New York Times
— The Jeff Koons handbag for Louis Vuitton. Because he needs the money? Jezebel
— A profile of Awol Erizku, the Los Angeles-based visual artist who rocketed to fame after taking Beyoncé’s stylized pregnancy photo. New York Times
— The sci-fi TV show “Black Mirror” has inspired an upcoming art installation at the Barbican Centre in London. My kingdom for some airfare. The Hollywood Reporter
— San Francisco Ballet principal dancer Lorena Feijoo takes her final steps before retiring from the company. San Francisco Chronicle
— How Axis Dance Company made room on the stage for disabled dancers. San Francisco Classical Voice
— In San Francisco, contending with the urbanism of venture capitalism. Buzzfeed
— The Petersen Automotive Museum has won an architectural award. And the design types are snickering. Curbed
— Milton Curry, formerly of the University of Michigan, will join USC’s School of Architecture as dean in July. Los Angeles Times
— Ben Feldman, currently starring in “The Siegel” at South Coast Repertory, talks with The Times’ Craig Nakano about nerdy man boys and his time on “Mad Men.” Los Angeles Times
— Can’t get tickets for “Hamilton”? There is always “Spamilton,” the popular spoof that kicks off its national tour at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City. Los Angeles Times
— And because art can be edible, Sprinkles Cupcakes marked World Art Day with specially commissioned art treats that included a design by L.A.-based artist Kim Schoenstadt. Chicago Tribune
Last but not least…
It seems like it’d be very Warholian to download the FBI’s wanted poster for the Springfield Art Museum’s stolen Andy Warhol prints and frame it as art. FBI
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