By Mike Finkelstein ModRock had its official opening Sunday evening at the El Portal Theatre in North Hollywood. It’s an entertaining, feel good, romp through some very important times in popular culture. In the mid ‘60s London was ground zero for popular culture. Long lasting fashion trends like the miniskirt came out of the London… Read More Live Music: “ModRock” at the El Portal Theater
By Don Heckman Pasadena, CA. The Janis Joplin legend surfaces once again in the powerful music and dramatic story telling of One Night With Janis Joplin at the Pasadena Playhouse. It’s shown up earlier in the film, The Rose, and the theatre piece, Love, Janis. But never before with such convincing musical and historical authenticity.… Read More Live Musical Theatre: “One Night With Janis Joplin” at the Pasadena Playhouse
A Musical Tidal Wave of Surprises! By Norton Wright New Yorker Magazine’s jazz critic Whitney Balliett in 1959 shorthanded a definition of jazz as “the sound of surprise.” So today, when so very little in the arts genuinely surprises, the shock and awe generated by contemporary composer John Adams and director/librettist Peter Sellars is… Read More Live Music Theatre: John Adams’ “The Gospel According to the Other Mary” at Disney Hall
By Jane Rosenberg Los Angeles, CA. Tired of the annual parade of Nutcrackers and Messiahs? Looking for musical entertainment that’s sophisticated, witty, and wall-to-wall fun? Then pack your steamer trunk and hop on board Cole Porter’s cruise ship sailing for nineteen more performances (including matinees) at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles. It’s the Roundabout… Read More Live Musical Theatre: “Anything Goes” at the Ahmanson Theatre
The International Review of Music 