Here's a brief recap of my last few days in LA.
Thursday I drove back up from San Diego. I had tickets to the Madonna concert that night and had wanted to stay closer to the Kia Forum. I was advised to stay in Manhatta Beach, and under no circumstances to stay anywhere in Inglewood right by the stadium. I lucked out choosing that show out of her string of dates there and got to witness her dueting with Kylie Minogue. Fantastic venue as well, much better than the hockey arena all the touring artists play in Vancouver.
The other highlight from Thursday was seeing the Watts Towers earlier in the afternoon. I was nervous about driving into that neighborhood, but it was fine. Thursdays is one of the days they offer short tours, and that was fantastic. The guide really helped me appreciate so much more about the personality of the artist and the work - much more than you get from reading something like the Wikipedia article about the Towers. Definitely one of the best experiences from this week.
Friday was dedicated to the Getty Center & Villa. I did both to take advantage of the 2 for 1 parking offer. I really only saw the painting galleries at the Center.
In the evening I went to the Geffen Playhouse & saw play Black Cypress Bayou. The Geffen is doing a production of Fat Ham shortly, and this really felt like a companion piece touching on topics of being Black in the South, and including supernatural elements. Yet it is its own thing - it starts with Mom carrying around the severed head of her arch enemy in a laundry basket, and everyone carries a gun or two. While the family may be involved in marijuana grow operations & other criminal activities, the focus is on relationships between mothers and daughters. I would recommend it. It runs until this coming Sunday. I got a bargain ticket for $35, I don't know if any of those are left.
Saturday was my last night, and while for much time I had contemplated seeing a second Madonna concert, in January I decided instead to go to the LA Opera and saw their double bill of two rarely performed works.
Highway 1, USA is a 1 hour work by Black American composer William Grant Still from the 1940's. The music was interesting and the production artfully staged with some dancers costumed as a wolf & rabbit making allusions to Brer Rabbit tales. This was a choice by the director and not in the libretto at all. While amusing it perhaps took away from the work instead of adding to it.
The second half of the bill was Zemlinsky's 90 minute work "The Dwarf" based on an Oscar Wilde short story. It is glorious music, reminiscent of the works of Richard Strauss, telling a tragic story. It is a sumptuous, traditional staging with a massive set and period costumes. I don't know that the production fully mines the psychology of the piece - especially compared to the blu-ray recording I recently watched of the 2019 Berlin Deutch Opera modern dress production. Still worth seeing of you are in LA. The night I went there were many empty seats. There are two performances left, this Thursday the 14th & Sunday the 17th and both have discounted tickets available on TodayTix.
It was a good trip. I last visited LA in 1998. I don't think I will let so much time pass before I go again.
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