BEST OF THE WEEKEND.PIPE DREAM: And people say Mozart isn't for youngsters... The Odyssey Theatre and L.A. Troupe are presenting a family version of Mozart's fairy tale fairy tale Simple narrative typically of folk origin dealing with supernatural beings. Fairy tales may be written or told for the amusement of children or may have a more sophisticated narrative containing supernatural or obviously improbable events, scenes, and personages ``The Magic Flute.'' Prince Tamino sets off to rescue Princess Panima from the clutches of the evil Sarastro, enduring a host of trials along the way. The production, which features pantomime and farce as well a portion of Mozart's music and a simplified plot, stars Jill Gascoine Jill Gascoine (born 11 April, 1937) is a British actress and novelist. She is best known for her role as Maggie Forbes on the British TV series The Gentle Touch and C.A.T.S. Eyes. as the Queen of the Night. Koni McCurdy is the director and Nakia Sinitskala is the production's musical director. L.A. Troupe's Theatre in Education develops a new ``Fire Safety Show'' every year. The company also adapts and tours family versions of classic plays throughout Central and Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, . ``The Magic Flute'' performs at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday, through Jan. 6, at the Odyssey, 2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd. Tickets are $7.50 to $18.50. Call (310) 477-2055. - Evan Henerson DIFFERENT DRUMMER Different Drummer Thoreau’s eloquent prose poem on the inner freedom and individualistic character of man. [Am. Lit.: NCE, 2739] See : Individualism : Jennifer Paz has taken over the role of immigrant Mei Li from Lea Salonga Lea Salonga-Chien (born Maria Ligaya Carmen Imutan Salonga on February 22, 1971 in Angeles City, Philippines) is a Tony, Olivier, Drama Desk, and Theatre World award-winning Filipino singer and actress who is best known for her portrayal of Kim in the musical in the Mark Taper Forum's hit revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein's ``Flower Drum The Flower Drum is a notable multi-award winning Chinese cuisine restaurant in Sydney, Australia. It has reached the Restaurant (magazine) Top 50 several times, ranking it as one of the world's finest restaurants. Song.'' The musical, in a new revised adaptation by playwright David Henry Hwang David Henry Hwang (born August 11, 1957) is a contemporary American playwright who has risen to prominence as the preeminent Asian American dramatist in the U.S. He was born in Los Angeles, California and was educated at Stanford University and the Yale School of Drama. , plays through Jan. 13 at the Taper, 135 N. Grand Ave. in Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. . Mei Li, a refugee from Communist China, travels to San Francisco's Chinatown where she finds work at a local opera house turned nightclub. As the club owner clashes with his father over traditional vs. contemporary entertainment, Mei Li finds herself falling in love. Songs include ``A Hundred Million Miracles,'' ``I Enjoy Being a Girl'' and ``Grant Avenue.'' Performances are at 8 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and at 2:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, with some Sunday evening performances. Tickets are $55 to $60. Call (213) 628-2772. - E.H. MUSIC LISTEN TO THESE VOICES: Los Angeles vocal ensemble Inner Voices performs its popular holiday show Sunday afternoon at the Jazz Bakery The Jazz Bakery is one of the leading jazz venues in the world. It is situated in the former Helms Bakery on Helms Avenue off Venice Boulevard in Culver City, California. It was established as a not-for-profit company by jazz vocalist Ruth Price. . The quartet of session singers, led by arranger Morgan Ames, has assembled an unusual set of standards, gospel, Hebrew, Spanish and off-the- wall tunes. You can sample the group between 8 and 9 a.m. today on the ``KTLA KTLA KCBS TV in Los Angeles Morning News'' (KTLA Channel 5) or 9 a.m. Saturday on KRLA-AM (870). The Jazz Bakery is at 3233 Helms Ave., Culver City Culver City, city (1990 pop. 38,793), Los Angeles co., S Calif., a residential suburb of Los Angeles; inc. 1917. It is a center of the U.S. motion-picture industry, whose roots in the city date to c.1915. Its chief manufactures are rubber products and computers. . Show time is 4 p.m., and tickets are $18 adults, $10 kids and students. Info: (310) 271-9039 or visit www.innervoices.net. - Fred Shuster HARMONIC CONVERGENCE: For lush seasonal harmony, check out Gregg Karukas and Shelby Flint tonight at CSUN's Performing Arts Center A performing arts center, often abbreviated PAC, is a multi-use performance space that can be adapted for use by various types of the performing arts, including dance, music and theatre. . The program, titled ``Home for the Holidays,'' offers updates of Christmas standards along with holiday originals. Karukas is active in the smooth-jazz scene, while Flint is a singer-songwriter and member of Inner Voices. The Arts Center is at Zelzah Avenue, between Prairie and Plummer streets, in the CSUN CSUN California State University Northridge Student Union complex. Show time is 8 p.m., and tickets are $15 adults, $12 seniors, $9 kids and students. Info: (818) 677-2488. - F.S. INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGE OF SAX: In his native Japan, Sadao Watanabe needs no introduction. What legendary jazz saxophonist does? His potent mix of straight-ahead jazz with be-bop, Latin and African rhythms the Taipei Times calls ``some truly unique sounds'' has been dazzling Japanese audiences for the last 50 years. Of course, there are occasions Watanabe has left home to record with the likes of accomplished jazz pianist Chick Corea as well as to perform live. One of his most recent concerts abroad came in 1994 when he led an all-star lineup of Japanese musicians to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Los Angeles' own Japanese Cultural and Community Center. Tonight, Watanabe returns to the center for his only U.S. appearance. This time, the concert celebrates his five decades in jazz and showcases works from his best-of CD box set, ``My Dear Life.'' Joining him on stage at the center's Japan America Theatre (244 S. San Pedro St. in downtown L.A.'s Little Tokyo) will be guitarist Robben Ford, pianist Alan Pasqua, bassist Abraham Laboriel, percussionist Steve Thornton and drummer Peter Erskine. The music gets started at 8 p.m. Tickets ($22 to $35) can be purchased through the theater box office after noon today. Call (213) 680-3700. - S.B. JOINING THE CELEBRATION: Several arts organizations around the city will welcome the arrival of Christmas with a free holiday celebration Monday afternoon and evening at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion The Dorothy Chandler Pavilion is one of the halls in the Los Angeles Music Center (which is one of the three largest performing arts centers in the United States). The Music Center's other halls include the Mark Taper Forum, Ahmanson Theatre, and Walt Disney Concert Hall. . Featuring six hours of performance from more than 35 groups and artists, the L.A. County Holiday Celebration begins at 3 p.m. with Hawaiian dance from the South Bay Hula hula, traditional Hawaiian dance usually performed standing with symbolically descriptive arm and hand movements and gracefully sensual undulations of the hips; it is also done in a sitting position. School. Other performances will feature AZAZ Dance Company, drummer Francisco Aguabella, the Compton High School Compton High School is one of the three high schools in Compton, California. The other two high schools are Dominguez High School and Centennial High School. School history The school first opened in 1896 as Compton Union High School Choir, Hysteria Dance Company, Calabasas Chamber Ensemble and the Jazz Tap Ensemble. No single performance lasts more than 20 minutes. Parking is also free. The Pavilion is located in the Music Center at 135 N. Grand Ave. in Los Angeles. - E.H. A HOLIDAY TRIP: What better way to close out 2001 than with a new, 70-millimeter print of ``2001: A Space Odyssey''? Running through Jan. 2 at the American Cinematheque's Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood, this greatest of science-fiction masterpieces comes to us in a restored version overseen by director Stanley Kubrick himself, shortly before he passed away. Considered quite a head trip when it was first released in 1968, ``2001'' remains as visually innovative today as it was then. And with its speculative take on such topics as evolution, divinity and the positive and negative potentials of human (and, in the murderous paranoia of supercomputer Hal 9000, cyber) thought, the Arthur C. Clarke-derived story is still intellectual parsecs ahead of any fantasy movie that's been made since. Artistically, too, it's never really been topped. Balletic anti-gravity sequences, bold transitions across the space-time continuum, the psychedelic explosion of the Stargate entry ... every moment of ``2001'' is hypnotic. But unlike the movies of today, it's a mesmeric mes·mer·ism n. 1. A strong or spellbinding appeal; fascination. 2. Hypnotic induction believed to involve animal magnetism. 3. Hypnotism. [After Franz Mesmer. act that opens the mind rather than dulls it. - Bob Strauss DON'T MISS THIS Smooth-jazz saxophonist Sadao Watanabe and an all-star band comes to the Japan America Theatre downtown Saturday as part of his 50th anniversary tour. Info: (213) 680-3700 or visit www.jaccc.org. CAPTION(S): 6 photos Photo: (1) no caption (``The Magic Flute'') (2) PAZ (3) Inner Voices can be heard Sunday at the Jazz Bakery. (4) FLINT (5) no caption (``2001: A Space Odyssey'') (6) no caption (Sadao Watanabe) |
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