Culture

With Thanksgiving in the rearview mirror we are now hurtling toward Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and the New Year. December can bring stress, but it also brings the feel-good holiday shows, including “Tinselcolor,” which opens Dec. 2 at CineVita, a 15,000-square-foot double-decker Belgian spiegeltent operated by For the Record, which stages live musical revues of well-known film soundtracks.

Joey McIntyre — the youngest member of the ultra ‘90s boy band, New Kids on the Block — signed on as host of the candy-colored world-premiere extravaganza, which features an eight-piece band and 14 singers performing holiday movie music from 25 film scores including “Home Alone,” “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” and “White Christmas.”

For the Record has been putting on shows for more than 15 years, starting in a small bar and restaurant in Los Feliz and moving up to bigger venues leading to CineVita. Over the years, the company became known for attracting celebrity clientele. Quentin Tarantino and Rosario Dawson attended a performance based on Tarantino’s film scores, and Demi Moore’s daughter, Rumer Willis, once joined the troupe. Moore is now an investor.

In an email, McIntyre wrote that he saw the Tarantino show years ago and loved it.

“I knew the caliber of talent and production that this company puts up, and then I stepped foot into this unparalleled space and almost verbatim said ‘sign me up,’” he wrote. “I’m a theater kid. The venue was like Jessica Rabbit calling me in.”

The unparalleled space McIntyre is referring to contains 3,000 hand-beveled mirrors, hand-cut stained glass windows and carved wood ornamentation. It will be decorated with outsized holiday flair for “Tinselcolor,” but it will also feel cozy.

“The theater holds about 700, but it is so warm and intimate, like you’re in my living room for the holidays,” McIntyre wrote. “Our guests are going to feel that. Our director, Anderson Davis, and the creative team have been super open to making it feel authentic to me and showcasing what I bring to the table.”

Performers joining McIntyre onstage include Brian Justin Crum, who recently played the role of Annas alongside Cynthia Erivo and Adam Lambert in the Hollywood Bowl’s electrifying “Jesus Christ Superstar”; Vintage Trouble frontman Ty Taylor; Cheyenne Isabel Wells, who starred in “Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies” on Paramount+; and Dionne Gipson from “Found” on NBC and “Haus of Vicious” on BET.

McIntyre noted that he gets to sing the Andy Williams classic, “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” in full holiday regalia. His favorite holiday movie song of all time, however, is not in the show. That would be “A Brand New Christmas,” which he co-wrote for last year’s Roku Original “Jingle Bell Love.”

His favorite Christmas carol of all time? “O Holy Night.”

“It sits right in my wheelhouse vocally, and it checks all the boxes: heartfelt, classic melody with a pop bluesy accessibility. And you get to ‘fall on your knees’ when you’re performing it,” he wrote.

“Tinselcolor” runs through Dec. 30. After that, McIntyre will head back to Las Vegas to continue the New Kids on the Block residency at Dolby Live at Park MGM, which was extended through 2026 due to high demand.

“We just announced 3 more stints for 2026. We are a blessed bunch of guys. We’ve been able to keep it fresh and exciting over all these years, and the fact that we still had Vegas on the table was something we have really taken advantage of,” McIntyre wrote about the residency. “Our diehards are genuinely blown away, and Vegas is yet another hook for folks who haven’t seen us in a while. And those newbies are loving it too. It feels like a slam dunk all around.”

I’m arts and culture writer Jessica Gelt wishing you a very happy holiday season filled with love, kindness, health and hope. Here’s your arts and culture news for the week.

On our radar

Clockwise from bottom left: Grand Kiev Ballet, American Ballet Theatre and Inland Pacific Ballet.

(Los Angeles Times photo collage; illustrations by Katie Smith / For The Times; photographs from Grand Kyiv Ballet, Cheryl Mann and Marsha McNeely Photography)

Nutcracker roundup
The season of Sugar Plum Fairies is upon us. In last weekend’s holiday preview, Ashley Lee did the legwork gathering intel on productions of the holiday perennial that will be dancing their way across Southern California stages in the coming weeks. From downtown L.A. to the South Bay, Orange County and the Inland Empire, the variety of imaginative interpretations offer something for almost everybody. This week alone sees the openings of Anaheim Ballet’s “Nutcracker” (Friday and Saturday. City National Grove of Anaheim, 2200 E. Katella Ave. anaheimballet.org); American Contemporary Ballet’s “The Nutcracker Suite” (Saturday through Dec. 24. Bank of America Plaza, 333 S. Hope St., downtown L.A. acbdances.com); “Bob Baker’s Nutcracker,” a marionette version of the show (Saturday through Jan. 4. Sierra Madre Playhouse, 87 W. Sierra Madre Blvd. sierramadreplayhouse.org); and Debbie Allen Dance Academy’s “The Hot Chocolate Nutcracker,” which subs Mariah Carey and other contemporary artists for Tchaikovsky (Thursday through Dec. 14. Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center, 1935 Manhattan Beach Blvd. debbieallendanceacademy.com).

What the Dickens!

The cast of “A Christmas Carol” at A Noise Within.

(Craig Schwartz)

Like “The Nutcracker,” the holidays are heavy with varied interpretations of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.” Friday night in Anaheim, Chance Theater opens Leslie Bricusse’s “Scrooge! The Musical” (Through Dec. 21. Bette Aitken Theater Arts Center, 5522 E. La Palma Ave. chancetheater.com). Saturday night, two long-standing productions of “A Christmas Carol” make their traditional returns. In Pasadena, Geoff Elliott (who also adapted and co-directs with Julia Rodriguez-Elliott) once again steps into Ebenezer’s slippers for a night of ghostly visitations (Through Dec. 4. A Noise Within, 3352 E. Foothill Blvd. anoisewithin.org).

Richard Doyle in “A Christmas Carol” at South Coast Repertory.

(Robert Huskey)

Meanwhile, down in Orange County, South Coast Repertory celebrates the 45th anniversary of resident dramaturg Jerry Patch’s adaptation (Through Dec. 28. Emmes/Benson Theatre Center, 655 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. scr.org). And on Dec. 5, Independent Shakespeare Co.‘s David Melville plays not Scrooge, but the author himself in “A Christmas Carol With Charles Dickens,” a solo storytelling tour-de-force (Through Dec. 22. ISC Studio, Atwater Crossing, 3191 Casitas Ave., Suite 130, Atwater Village. iscla.org).

The week ahead: A curated calendar

FRIDAY
Heisenberg
Paul Eiding and Juls Hoover star in Simon Stephens’ drama about a middle-woman and an older man who meet in a London railway station. Directed by Cameron Watson.
8 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday, through Dec. 22. Additional show 8 p.m. Dec. 18. Skylight Theatre, 1816 1/2 N. Vermont Ave., Los Feliz. skylighttheatre.org

SATURDAY

Artist Drew Struzan signs his Oscar poster in 2008.

(Mark Mainz / Getty Images)

Drew Struzan Tribute
The American Cinematheque salutes the artist, illustrator and designer who died in October with a triple-feature of films for which he designed the posters: “Back to the Future,” “The Goonies” and “E.T.” Struzan also designed iconic one-sheets for such films as “Star Wars,” “Raiders of the Lost Ark” and “Blade Runner.”
11 a.m. Saturday. Egyptian Theatre, 6712 Hollywood Blvd. americancinematheque.com

TUESDAY

Tom Morello at South by Southwest in Austin in 2025.

(Jack Plunkett / Invision / Associated Press)

The REVOLUTION(S) will be Amplified
Musician/activist Tom Morello joins curator Douglas Fogle for a discussion about art, activism, creativity and resistance on the occasion of the exhibition “Corita Kent: The Sorcery of Images.”
7 p.m. Marciano Art Foundation, 4357 Wilshire Blvd. marcianoartfoundation.org

THURSDAY
Children of the Winter Kingdom
Orphaned twins escape a circus and encounter a king and his dragon, a wild girl, a crow, a sorceress and an ice spider in a holiday adventure filled with music and puppetry. Written by Adam Dugas & Mary Eileen O’Donnell, directed by Adam Dugas.
8 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sundays, through Dec. 20. The Actors’ Gang at the Ivy Substation, 9070 Venice Blvd., Culver City. theactorsgang.com

‘Die Heart’
Yippee-ki-yay, Heart lovers! Troubadour Theater Co. revives its holiday musical-comedy synergism of the 1988 Bruce Willis action movie “Die Hard” with the songs of the Wilson sisters. Don’t even think about asking if it’s really a Christmas movie.
Dec. 4 to 21. Colony Theatre, 555 N. Third St., Burbank. troubie.com

A scene from “Putney Swope,” directed by Robert Downey Sr.

(Cinema 5 / Photofest)

Putney Swope
The Academy Museum’s celebration of film preservation kicks off with the world premiere of a new 35mm print of Robert Downey Sr.’s 1969 social satire.
7:30 p.m. Thursday Academy Museum, 6067 Wilshire Blvd. academymuseum.org

Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake
The Pacific Symphony and pianist Alexandra Dariescu, conducted by Tianyi Liu, perform works by Cassandra Miller, Maurice Ravel and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.
8 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. scfta.org/events

Dispatch: The Butterfly Effect

Liviera Lim as Vivian Fang in “The Butterfly Effect.”

(Charly Charney Cohen)

Young local theater troupe Last Call Theater specializes in interactive, participatory productions, and its latest, “The Butterfly Effect,” is an intimate affair that encourages one-to-one and small group pairings with actors. The show examines past choices and the consequences of changing them. There’s a fantastical bent, as it’s set in a cafe that promises the ability to time travel. The decade-hopping coffee shop backdrop gives the company a chance to play with multiple storylines that touch on L.A. history, from immigrant tales of a family-run business to those often overlooked by our city’s emphasis on celebrity. The production, which opened in mid-November, runs Thursday through Saturday at Stella Coffee and closes Dec 6. ticketleap.events
— Todd Martens

Culture news and the SoCal scene

Robert Therrien‘s “No title (red chapel relief),” 1991, enamel on paper and wood.

(Christopher Knight / Los Angeles Times)

A place at the (big) table
If you’ve ever visited the Broad, you’re quite familiar with the large table and chairs in its permanent collection that dwarf even the tallest viewer. Times art critic Christopher Knight (who is retiring as of today) calls the Broad’s new exhibition, “Robert Therrien: This Is a Story,” a “smashing retrospective” and one of the year’s best museum solo shows. Therrien, who died at 71 in 2019, was a unique talent who sits comfortably among the most significant L.A. artists since the ‘60s and ‘70s. “Whether he was making a 3D sculpture to stand on the floor, a 2D painting to hang on the wall, or a 3D sculpture attached to a wall like an ancient frieze,” writes Knight, “he managed the same uncanny result — objects where the purely visual and the utterly physical demand equal time.”

Maya Keleher in the national tour of the musical “Suffs.”

(Joan Marcus)

Suffragette City
An all-female and nonbinary cast dramatizes the inspiring story of American women fighting for the right to vote in the musical “Suffs,” playing at the Hollywood Pantages through Dec. 7. Shaina Taub won Tony Awards for its book and score, while also starring as suffragette leader Alice Paul in the Broadway run. In L.A., the national tour’s Maya Keleher “lends alluring warmth to the role,” writes Times theater critic Charles McNulty in his review. “The teamwork of the performers honors the messy yet undeniably effective cooperation of Alice and her freedom fighters — women who changed the world by not staying silent in their prescribed place.”

Viola time
Times music critic Mark Swed noted a recent “fall-harvesting viola bandwagon,” with multiple ensembles spotlighting the humble middle child of stringed instruments played with a bow. “The L.A. Phil began viola week with a Tuesday evening program, ‘Brahms Strings,’ as part of the orchestra’s chamber music series at Walt Disney Concert Hall that included the blazing early First Sextet and late, luminously serene Second Quintet,” wrote Swed. “As part of its chamber music series across the street in the Colburn School’s Zipper Hall, Saturday, [the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra] coincidentally held ‘A Brahmsian Affair,’ in this case featuring both the sextets.” On Saturday, recent Colburn graduate Lan Cao and current conservatory student Ran Tae performed Korean composer Isang Yun’s 1988 “Contemplation,” for two violas, “played with gripping meditative intensity” during a day-long MOCA seminar on South Korean artist Haegue Yang.

Ray Ushikubo will play a rare 1741 Guarneri “del Gesù” violin at a free concert at the Colburn School on Dec. 3.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

History in his hands
Ray Ushikubo of San Gabriel, a 24-year-old virtuoso musician, has been selected to play the Playfair violin, an ultra-rare model crafted by the famed luthier Guarneri “del Gesù.” “I’m only 24,” Ushikubo told reporter Emma Madden. “This instrument is from 1741. It’s older than the United States. I can barely comprehend that amount of history. But mostly I feel happiness. And honor. It sounds better than any violin that’s ever been made.” The musician will debut the instrument in a free concert at the Colburn School’s Zipper Hall on Dec. 3.

East L.A. Youth Orchestra gets a reprieve
“After recently announcing major cuts to its youth orchestra, the L.A. Phil has secured additional donor funding to ensure the East L.A. branch of the Youth Orchestra Los Angeles (YOLA) program will continue at full capacity until the end of the school year,” reports The Times’ Cerys Davies. The initial cuts to the programming at the Esteban E. Torres High School site included laying off teaching artists, gutting programs for younger students and reduced practices for older students. The parents of students and members of the local community responded to the cuts by organizing an Instagram campaign and town hall meeting, imploring the L.A. Phil to temporarily preserve the Torres site.

An architectural whodunit
In 2013, Robert Mosher, one of San Diego’s most respected architects, called Keith York, founder of Modern San Diego, a digital archive devoted to the region’s mid-century design, asking to meet for lunch. “I have something I need to tell you,” he said. A revelation at that meeting led York and fellow architecture buff Stephen Buck to investigate the provenance of Balboa Park’s Timken Museum of Art, which opened in 1965. Did two of the biggest names in American design have a hand in it? Sam Lubell has the details on the decades-old mystery.

— Kevin Crust

And last but not least

I give you the 2025 Times holiday gift guide. Even if you don’t see anything on these carefully curated lists that you like, it’s a great inspiration starter.

— Jessica Gelt

The Huntington has acquired a rare Civil War-era painting by American master Winslow Homer. “The Sutler’s Tent” was made in 1863 when Homer was traveling with the Union Army as an illustrator for Harper’s Weekly. The title refers to a type of transitory store that sold goods to soldiers when they were out in the field, and the canvas shows a soldier eating bread and cheese while another soldier rests beside him.

The acquisition is the Huntington’s first oil painting by Homer. The museum’s other holdings include his watercolor, “Indians Making Canoes (Montagnais Indians)” (1895), and several prints, including “The Life Line” (1887). The pieces show the artist’s journey from commercial illustrator to celebrated painter.

“The Sutler’s Tent” will be unveiled to the public on Dec. 7 in the Huntington’s Virginia Steele Scott Galleries of American Art. It was acquired through a partnership with the Ahmanson Foundation — which seeks to help boost the notable holdings of the museum — and marks the fifth major acquisition made through the program.

The gift is intended to honor the country’s upcoming semiquincentennial, and will anchor an ongoing reinstallation of the galleries as the Huntington seeks to expand the multicultural narrative of American art. It will also be integral to the Huntington’s “This Land Is …” initiative, which works to examine the country’s history through its metaphorical and literal landscapes as it approaches the 250th anniversary of its founding.

“The Sutler’s Tent” will be placed in conversation with works about the Civil War and Reconstruction, including Eastman Johnson’s “Sugaring Off” (1865), Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux’s “Why Born Enslaved? “(1868, cast 1872), and a signed copy of the Emancipation Proclamation.

“The Ahmanson Foundation’s partnership with The Huntington has allowed us to bring works of profound artistic and historical resonance into our collections and into public view,” said Huntington President Karen R. Lawrence, in a statement. “Winslow Homer’s ‘The Sutler’s Tent’ — a meditation on the experience of war — embodies our mission to connect art, history, and literature in ways that deepen understanding of the American story.”

The Huntington Library is known for its vast scholarly trove of Civil War ephemera. Its United States Military Telegraph archive includes ciphered communications between Abraham Lincoln and the Army command, and soldiers’ letters and diaries. It also holds the James E. Taylor Collection of scrapbooks documenting the war through photographs and newspaper clippings, and two of the most significant known Lincoln archives.

The art museum’s director, Christina Nielsen, said in a statement that the acquisition of “The Sutler’s Tent,” “deepens our representation of the Civil War era and expands the dialogue between our art and library collections. As we look toward the 250th anniversary of the United States, the painting invites reflection on a pivotal chapter in our nation’s history — one that continues to shape the American experience.”

I’m arts and culture writer Jessica Gelt, looking forward to taking a deep dive into all that can be learned about our present from our past. Here’s your arts and culture news for the week.

Dispatch: Pulitzer Prize-winning Times art critic Christopher Knight to retire

Times art critic Christopher Knight.

(Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

After 45 years, 36 of them at The Times, art critic Christopher Knight is retiring from daily journalism. His final day at The Times is Nov. 28. In 2020, Knight won the Pulitzer Prize for criticism, and was also honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award for Art Journalism from the Dorothea and Leo Rabkin Foundation.

It’s impossible to overstate the loss Knight’s departure represents for the paper and Los Angeles, or what a tireless, generous, inspiring colleague he is. He possesses a quiet, encyclopedic knowledge of art, and in column after column he connected the dots of culture, history, folklore, civics and psychology in razor-sharp assessments of what a piece of art really means, or how a particular exhibition is poised to change the narrative around a longstanding or misguided idea. In short, he is everything a truly excellent critic should be.

He is also endlessly supportive of arts writers like me who look up to him — will always look up to him.

Thank you, Christopher, for all your words.

On our radar

Janai Brugger as Mimi and Oreste Cosimo as Rodolfo in L.A. Opera’s 2025 production of “La Bohème.”

(Cory Weaver)

La Bohème
Giacomo Puccini’s 1896 opera remains one of the most popular works in the Italian canon. Its doomed romanticism among struggling artists in 1830s Paris has a particular appeal to young people and became the inspiration for Jonathan Larson’s musical “Rent.” Lina González-Granados conducts the L.A. Opera orchestra. Brenna Corner directs this revival of the late Herbert Ross’ enduring production.
Saturday through Dec. 14. Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, 135 N. Grand Ave., downtown L.A. laopera.org

Roberto González-Monjas conducts the L.A. Phil this weekend at Walt Disney Concert Hall.

(L.A. Phil)

Elgar’s Enigma
Roberto González-Monjas conducts the Los Angeles Philharmonic in a program featuring Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s “Themes and Variations, Op. 42,” Edwin Elgar’s “Enigma Variations, Op. 36,” and cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason’s performance of the world premiere of an Edmund Finnis concerto. 
8 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday. Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 S. Grand Ave., downtown L.A. laphil.com

Robert Therrien, “No title (plaster snowman),” 1982-98, plaster

(Douglas M. Parker Studio)

Robert Therrien: This Is a Story
A quintessential artist’s artist, internationally admired Los Angeles sculptor Robert Therrien (1947-2019) made eccentric objects in two and three dimensions that seem strangely familiar when they are wholly abstract, and strangely abstract when they are instantly recognizable as representations of known things — a tall pillar of giant dinner plates, for example, or a simple little snowman. Often the materials are unusual, like zinc over bronze, buffed plaster or tempera on silver, adding to the sense of mysterious specificity. With more than 120 works spanning five decades, this should be the most compelling museum solo show of the season.
— Christopher Knight
Saturday through April 5, 2026. The Broad, 221 S. Grand Ave., downtown L.A. thebroad.org

The week ahead: A curated calendar

FRIDAY
Fall of Freedom
In a unified act of creative resistance, hundreds of galleries, museums, libraries, comedy clubs, theaters, concert halls and individuals across the nation will host exhibitions, performances and public events, asserting the power of free expression to mount a response to escalating authoritarian threats and censorship in the U.S.
Friday and Saturday. There are dozens of local events in Southern California, please check the website for details. falloffreedom.com

¡Cómo el Grinch robó la Navidad!
The Old Globe Theatre will present two performances of the world premiere of a new version of the Dr. Seuss classic with your favorite songs in Spanish. And for the 28th year, the Old Globe will also be doing its traditional holiday musical of “Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas!” Nov. 21-28.
7 p.m. Friday; 10 a.m. Saturday. Old Globe Theatre, 1363 Old Globe Way, San Diego. theoldglobe.org

From “The Dying World” by Lauren Tsai.

(Josh White)

The Dying World
Lauren Tsai’s solo exhibition, an installation utilizing drawing, painting, sculpture, puppets and projected stop motion imagery, explores the liminal space between worlds: subject and object, fiction and maker. Final two nights.
6-10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Hollywood Forever, the Cathedral Mausoleum Courtyard, 6000 Santa Monica Blvd. hollywoodforever.com

Amy Engelhardt in “Impact,” a solo one-act at the Fountain.

(Peter Serocki/peterserockivisuals.com)

Impact
Composer/lyricist/performer Amy Engelhardt’s one-act solo show (with musical accompaniment) probes the 1988 terrorist attack on Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland.
8 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday. The Fountain Theatre, 5060 Fountain Ave., Los Angeles. fountaintheatre.com

SATURDAY
Animal Instinct
Chinese American artist Kristen Liu-Wong’s solo exhibition of vibrant paintings with slightly macabre narratives highlights her varied influences from American folk art, the cartoons she watched as a kid, Japanese erotic art and an appreciation for architecture.
Opening reception, 7-11 p.m. Saturday; noon-6 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, through Jan. 3, 2026. Corey Helford Gallery, 571 S. Anderson St., Los Angeles. coreyhelfordgallery.com

A Brahmsian Affair
The Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra presents a program featuring two sextets by Brahms, plus the world premiere of Julia Moss’ “(Please Don’t) Look Away.”
7:30 p.m. Saturday. Zipper Hall, 200 S. Grand Ave., downtown L.A.; 4 p.m. Sunday. The Wallis, 9390 N. Santa Monica Blvd., Beverly Hills. laco.org

Corita Day
Corita Art Center celebrates L.A.’s favorite artist/nun with an afternoon of art activities for all ages, live screen printing by Self Help Graphics, holiday shopping, food, music by KCRW, and a performance by Bob Baker Marionette Theater at 2 p.m. Visitors can also reserve spots from 11 a.m.-6 p.m. to see the exhibitions “Corita Kent: The Sorcery of Images” and “Irregularity: Corita and Immaculate Heart College’s Rule Breaking Designs.”
1-4 p.m. Marciano Art Foundation, 4357 Wilshire Blvd., L.A. marcianoartfoundation.org

Grief Bacon and Other Holiday Treats
Melanie Mayron and Sandra Tsing Loh deliver “old and new humor for trying times.” Part of the Odyssey’s “Thresholds of Invention” series.
8 p.m. Saturday. Odyssey Theatre, 2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd. odysseytheatre.com

Tom Wesselman, “Bedroom Face,” 1977, color aquatint

(Palm Springs Art Museum)

Mapping the Female Body: Tom Wesselmann and Mickalene Thomas
An unexpected juxtaposition of two very different painters from the end of one century and the beginning of the next is set to consider dissimilar representations of the contemporary female nude. In the 1960s, the famous “Great American Nude” series by Tom Wesselmann (1931-2004) applied commercial advertising techniques to painterly traditions in Western art familiar since the Renaissance. Fifty years later, Mickalene Thomas applies commercial craft techniques to vibrant paintings of queer Black women — a subject previously absent from Western art history. Questions of gender, sexuality and their depictions are the exhibition’s focus.
— Christopher Knight
Through April 6, 2026. Palm Springs Art Museum, 101 Museum Drive. psmuseum.org

Venice Winter Fest
Chill out SoCal-style with artisan markets, hot cocoa, live music, festive bites and interactive winter-themed activities for all ages.
10 a.m.-6 p.m. 12257 Venice Blvd. thevenicefest.com

SUNDAY
Habsburg Harmonies: Haydn, Ligeti, and Brahms
Violinist Martin Beaver, flutist Demarre McGill, cellist Clive Greensmith and pianist Fabio Bidini team up for an evening rooted in Austro-Hungarian musical tradition.
4 p.m. Thayer Hall, 200 S. Grand Ave., downtown L.A. colburnschool.edu

TUESDAY
Dungeons & Dragons: The Twenty-Sided Tavern
Three adventurers need your help on an epic quest to save the world in this interactive fantasy inspired by the immensely popular role-playing game.
Through Jan. 4, 2026. The Montálban, 1615 Vine St., Hollywood. broadwayinhollywood.com

Culture news and the SoCal scene

The Palm Springs Art Museum, founded in 1938, has a small board of 22 trustees.

(Lance Gerber / Palm Springs Art Museum)

Speaking of Christopher Knight’s tremendous skills as a critic, did I mention he’s also a phenomenal reporter? In one of his final columns, Knight chronicles the many financial travails of the Palm Springs Art Museum based on internal documents obtained by The Times. “Recent developments have opened a Pandora’s box,” Knight writes of an accounting firm’s annual audit of the museum’s 2024 books. The audit revealed that there is a “reasonable possibility that [the museum’s] internal financial statements are significantly out of whack,” Knight wrote before detailing the fallout leading to a trustees revolt.

Knight also delighted us with a list of “22 essential works of art at the Huntington and the surprising stories behind them.” No one can highlight what should be considered essential viewing at a museum quite like Knight, who takes readers on a virtual tour of the storied San Marino museum and its exquisite holdings, including Sir Joshua Reynolds’ “Portrait of Samuel Johnson (‘Blinking Sam’),” which Knight writes was not favored by its famous subject.

Times theater critic Charles McNulty once again checks in on Broadway, this time with a review of Robert Icke’s “Oedipus,” a modern retelling of Sophocles’ “Oedipus the King.” McNulty notes that the play “must be the buzziest, if not the chicest, Broadway offering of the fall season.”

Cher Alvarez, who reprises her role at the Ahmanson, in “Paranormal Activity” at Chicago Shakespeare Theater.

(Kyle Flubacker)

Closer to home, McNulty reserved high praise for the spooky “Paranormal Activity,” now playing at the Ahmanson Theatre. “I caught myself wondering during the first act, ‘Is this the best staged production of the year?’,” McNulty writes of the show, which is based on the horror film franchise of the same name and just completed a run at Chicago Shakespeare Theater. Director Felix Barrett, playwright Levi Holloway and Tony Award-winning illusion designer Chris Fisher are “masters of misdirection,” McNulty concludes.

McNulty also wrote a news dispatch that Jessica Stone, “a Tony-nominated director (‘Kimberly Akimbo,’ ‘Water for Elephants’), has been named the new artistic director of La Jolla Playhouse, succeeding Christopher Ashley at the helm of one of the nation’s preeminent regional theaters.”

I had a great Zoom call with Shaina Taub about the inspiration behind her musical, “Suffs.” Taub is only the second woman, after Micki Grant, to star in a Broadway musical for which she also wrote the book, music and lyrics. The show is about the women’s suffrage movement leading up to the ratification of the 19th Amendment. It opened earlier this week at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre as part of the show’s inaugural national tour.

Daniel T. Gaitor-Lomack in his studio.

(Daniel Tyree Gaitor-Lomack / Night Gallery, Los Angeles. Photo by Tomasa Calvo.)

Interdisciplinary Los Angeles–based artist Daniel T. Gaitor-Lomack is staging a solo exhibition, “You Can Hate Me Now,” at Night Gallery. This marks the artist’s second solo show at the space. Much of the new work was informed by Gaitor-Lomack’s life in his MacArthur Park neighborhood. A rep for the gallery wrote in an email that Gaitor-Lomack describes the exhibition “as a kind of ceremony, a gathering of ideas and emotions that have been unfolding across his work over the past three years. Guided by intuition and lived experience, he continues to use found and everyday materials to reflect on the innumerable systems of the world around. The exhibition’s title, long held in his mind, frames the presentation as a meditation on anticipation, transformation, and resilience.” The show will be at Night Gallery through Feb. 14.

The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, has made what it is calling the first-ever restitution of artwork to the descendants of an enslaved artist. The artist, David Drake, was born around 1800 in Edgefield, S.C. He is known for signing his vessels and inscribing them with poetic verses, including one that read, “I wonder where is all my relations.” Fifteen of Drake’s descendants recently traveled to Boston from various states for a ceremony during which MFA returned one of Drake’s stoneware jars to them, and purchased a second back. An L.A.-based attorney named George Fatheree represents Drake’s family and help shepherd the transaction. “This is a day we hoped and prayed for,” said Pauline Baker, the third great-granddaughter of Drake, in a news release. “To see it realized is almost overwhelming. On behalf of our family, we express our deepest gratitude to the Museum of Fine Arts for its courage and integrity. Most importantly, this ceremony restores not just his work, but his humanity.”

A Gustav Klimt painting, “Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer,” recently sold for $236.4 million, including fees, making it the most expensive modern work to be sold at auction. The 71-by-51-inch painting, created between 1914 and 1916, portrays the 20-year-old daughter of the Viennese art collectors who commissioned the work. The portrait was sold during a Sotheby’s auction in New York and was part of the private collection of cosmetics heir Leonard Lauder, who died in June. According to the Washington Post, a 19-minute bidding battle catapulted the painting “far beyond its $150 million estimate, with two bidders competing over the phone via their auction representatives.”

— Jessica Gelt

And last but not least

The unfettered, stand-up kindness of Keanu Reeves has become the stuff of legend thanks to legions of fans who faithfully recount the actor’s good deeds on social media. Most recently, Reeves penned a handwritten letter of gratitude to the FBI after it recovered a stolen Rolex watch used in “John Wick.”

A 1940 self-portrait titled ‘The dream’ by famed Mexican artist Frida Kahlo has sold for $54.7m, making it the most expensive work by a female artist to sell at auction.

A 1940 self-portrait by Frida Kahlo has sold for $54.7m and made auction history at Sotheby’s in New York.

A haunting 1940 self-portrait by famed Mexican artist Frida Kahlo has sold for $54.7m, making it the most expensive work by a female artist to sell at auction.

The painting of Kahlo asleep in a bed, titled El sueno (La cama) – or in English, The Dream (The Bed) – surpassed the record held by Georgia O’Keeffe’s Jimson Weed/White Flower No 1, which sold for $44.4m in 2014.

The sale at Sotheby’s in New York on Thursday evening also topped Kahlo’s own auction record for a work by a Latin American artist.

The 1949 painting, Diego and I, depicting the artist and her husband, muralist Diego Rivera, went for $34.9m in 2021.

Her paintings are reported to have sold privately for even more.

The self-portrait that broke records on Thursday is among the few Kahlo pieces that have remained in private hands outside Mexico, where her body of work has been declared an artistic monument.

Kahlo’s works in both public and private collections within Mexico cannot be sold abroad or destroyed. Because the painting sold on Thursday comes from a private collection, it is legally eligible for international sale. Sotheby’s said the owner who put the painting up for auction – and whose identity has not been disclosed – “astutely” purchased the piece also at auction in New York in 1980.

The buyer’s identity was also not disclosed.

‘El sueño (La cama)’ by Frida Kahlo soars to $54.7 million, becoming the most valuable work by a woman artist ever sold at auction.

Painted in 1940 during a pivotal decade in her career, marked by her turbulent relationship with Diego Rivera. pic.twitter.com/t6Sni7fIKT

— Sotheby’s (@Sothebys) November 21, 2025

Some art historians had scrutinised the sale for cultural reasons, while others had raised concerns that the painting, which was last exhibited publicly in the late 1990s, could again disappear from public view after the auction.

It has already been requested for upcoming exhibitions in cities including New York, London and Brussels.

The piece depicts Kahlo asleep in a wooden, colonial-style bed that floats in the clouds. She is draped in a golden blanket and entangled in crawling vines and leaves. Above the bed lies a skeleton figure wrapped in dynamite.

Kahlo vibrantly and unsparingly depicted herself and events from her life, which was altered by a bus accident at 18.

She started to paint while bedridden, underwent a series of painful surgeries on her damaged spine and pelvis, and then wore casts until her death in 1954 at age 47.

During the years Kahlo was confined to her bed, she came to view painting as a bridge between worlds as she explored her mortality.

“I’m very proud that she’s one of the most valued women, because really, what woman doesn’t identify with Frida, or what person doesn’t?” her great-niece, Mara Romeo Kahlo, told The Associated Press news agency before the auction.

“I think everyone carries a little piece of my aunt in their heart.”

Kahlo resisted being labelled a surrealist painter, a style of art that is dreamlike and centres on a fascination with the unconscious mind.

“I never painted dreams,” she once said. “I painted my own reality.”

The new record for Kahlo’s painting came hours after a Gustav Klimt portrait sold for $236.4m, setting a new record for a modern art piece.

Klimt’s Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer sold after a 20-minute bidding war, also at Sotheby’s in New York, on Tuesday.

The “toxic and chaotic” culture at the centre of the United Kingdom’s government led to a delayed response to the COVID-19 pandemic that resulted in about 23,000 more deaths across the nation, a damning report from an inquiry into the government’s handling of the pandemic has found.

The inquiry, which former Prime Minister Boris Johnson ordered in May 2021, delivered a blistering assessment (PDF) on Thursday of his government’s response to COVID-19, criticising his indecisive leadership, lambasting his Downing Street office for breaking their own rules and castigating his top adviser Dominic Cummings. The inquiry was chaired by former judge Heather Hallett.

“The failure to appreciate the scale of the threat, or the urgency of response it demanded, meant that by the time the possibility of a mandatory lockdown was first considered it was already too late and a lockdown had become unavoidable,” the inquiry found. “At the centre of the UK government there was a toxic and chaotic culture.”

The global pandemic, which began in 2020, killed millions of people worldwide, with countries enforcing lockdowns in an attempt to stop the spread of the virus.

The UK went into lockdown on March 23, 2020, at which time it was “too little, too late,” the inquiry found, revealing that if the nation had gone into lockdown just a week earlier, on March 16, the number of deaths in the first wave of the pandemic up to July would have been reduced by about 23,000, or 48 percent.

“Had the UK been better prepared, lives would have been saved, suffering reduced and the economic cost of the pandemic far lower,” the inquiry found.

A failure to act sooner again, as cases rose later in the year, also led to further national lockdowns, Hallett’s inquiry found.

A campaign group for bereaved families said “it is devastating to think of the lives that could have been saved under a different Prime Minister”.

There was no immediate comment from Johnson on the inquiry’s findings.

The UK recorded more than 230,000 deaths from COVID, a similar death rate to the United States and Italy, but higher than elsewhere in western Europe, and it is still recovering from the economic consequences.

“Mr. Johnson should have appreciated sooner that this was an emergency that required prime ministerial leadership to inject urgency into the response,” the inquiry found.

Following the release of the inquiry’s findings, Sir Ed Davey called on Kemi Badenoch, the leader of the Conservative Party, to apologise on behalf of the Conservatives.

“As this report is published, my thoughts and prayers are with all those who lost loved ones during the pandemic, and everyone who suffered,” Davey said. “This report confirms the abject failure of the last Conservative government.”

Ellie Chowns, a Green Party MP for North Herefordshire, said the British people were “let down” by their government.

“Families and communities – especially children – are still living with the consequences. It’s vital to learn from this report, and invest far more seriously in pandemic preparedness, so that Britain can be secure and resilient if – or when – we are again faced with such a challenge.”

The first cases of COVID-19 were detected in Wuhan, China, in late 2019, and information from the country is seen as key to preventing future pandemics. As late as June 2025, the World Health Organization (WHO) said it was working to uncover the origin of the pandemic, with its work still incomplete, as critical information has “not been provided”.

“We continue to appeal to China and any other country that has information about the origins of COVID-19 to share that information openly, in the interests of protecting the world from future pandemics,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in June.

In 2021, Tedros launched the WHO Scientific Advisory Group for the Origins of Novel Pathogens (SAGO), a panel of 27 independent international experts.

Marietjie Venter, the group’s chair, said earlier this year that most scientific data supports the hypothesis that the new coronavirus jumped to humans from animals.

But she added that after more than three years of work, SAGO was unable to get the necessary data to evaluate whether or not COVID was the result of a lab accident, despite repeated requests for detailed information made to the Chinese government.

The British street artist has created several versions of the iconic painting across London, as well as in Palestine.

A man has been sentenced to 13 months in prison by a British court for stealing a print of street artist Banksy’s iconic Girl with Balloon from a London gallery in September last year.

Larry Fraser, 49, was jailed on Friday by a judge in southwest London after he pleaded guilty to the smash-and-grab burglary of the elusive artist’s painting, valued at 270,000 pounds ($355,200).

Despite trying to conceal his identity with a mask, Fraser was caught on camera, and police tracked him down two days after the theft. The artwork was recovered shortly afterwards, according to London’s Metropolitan Police.

“This is a brazen and serious non-domestic burglary,” said Judge Anne Brown, passing the sentence at Kingston Crown Court.

The Girl with Balloon first appeared on the streets of London’s Shoreditch neighbourhood in 2002, with Banksy creating versions of the painting on London’s South Bank in 2004 and in the occupied West Bank in 2005.

One version of the painting shredded itself into pieces the moment after it was sold for more than one million British pounds ($1.3m) by London auction house Sotheby’s in 2018.

Detective Chief Inspector Scott Mather said: “Banksy’s ‘Girl with Balloon’ is known across the world – and we reacted immediately to not just bring Fraser to justice but also reunite the artwork with the gallery.”

Banksy’s paintings in Palestine

The secretive British street artist has returned to Palestine on multiple occasions to create artworks, including a version of the girl with the red balloon.

In 2005, he sprayed nine stencilled images at different locations along the illegal, eight-metre-high (26-foot) separation wall that Israel has constructed in the occupied West Bank.

They included a ladder reaching over the wall, a young girl being carried over it by balloons and a window on the grey concrete showing beautiful mountains in the background.

In 2007, he painted a number of artworks in Bethlehem, including a young girl frisking an Israeli soldier pinned up against a wall.

In February 2015, he allegedly sneaked into the Gaza Strip through a smuggling tunnel and painted three works on the walls of Gaza homes destroyed in Israeli air strikes during the previous year’s conflict.

In 2017, he opened the Walled Off Hotel in Bethlehem, just four metres from Israel’s separation wall.

Earlier this year, authorities attempted to scrub a Banksy painting on a London court wall that depicted a judge hitting a protester and was believed to refer to the country’s crackdown on the Palestine Action protest group.

Banksy rose to fame for sharply ironic outdoor graffiti with political themes. Once a small-time graffiti artist from the English city of Bristol, his artwork has become hugely popular worldwide and valuable.

Reporting from Washington — It was classic Donald Trump: The president, angry and embarrassed that most Philadelphia Eagles players planned to boycott the traditional White House victory celebration for Super Bowl champs, dramatically lashed back with his own punishing spin.

Not only did Trump disinvite the entire team late Monday, but he transformed the celebration on Tuesday to dramatically inflame the culture war he ignited two years ago — casting the mostly African American players as unpatriotic and ignoring their protests both of police brutality and of Trump’s perceived divisiveness.

The president, in an early morning Twitter statement, said the White House would hold an alternative celebration of patriotism for the fans, “where we will proudly be playing the National Anthem and other wonderful music.”

“NFL, no escaping to the Locker Rooms!” Trump added, referring to the league owners’ new policy of requiring players to stand for the pregame playing of the national anthem or stay off the field. Though that policy is largely viewed as a response to the president’s pressure, Trump made plain that he was not satisfied; he’s called in the past for owners to force players to stand or be fired.

Later, at the fete on the South Lawn with military bands at the ready, Trump briefly opened the program before an audience that seemed to have fewer than the promised 1,000 Eagles fans, bolstered by a number of administration aides.

“I want to use this opportunity to explain why young Americans stand for the national anthem,” Trump said. “Maybe it’s about time that we understand. We stand to honor our military, and to honor our country and to remember the fallen heroes who never made it back home.”

The president’s reaction this week was more dramatic than his response to a similar snub last year by the 2017 National Basketball Assn. champion Golden State Warriors. That reflects not only his long-running fight with professional football players about the flag and the anthem, but also renewed tensions between Trump and the National Football League that date to the 1980s. Trump failed then both in acquiring an NFL team and in challenging the NFL commercially as a prominent owner in a new, rival sports league, the USFL, which subsequently folded.

Since the campaign, Trump has often used the NFL player protests to rally his supporters and distract from other controversies. Polls show a plurality of Americans, and large majorities of whites and Republicans, do not support the player protests.

As Trump was attacking the Eagles, a variety of other controversies swirled and vied for attention.

Former campaign chairman Paul Manafort was accused by federal prosecutors of witness tampering in his tax and money-laundering case. Trump’s press secretary and lawyer were under fire for falsely saying Trump did not dictate the misleading statement last year about a meeting that Trump’s son, son-in-law and Manafort had with a Russian lawyer promising “dirt” on rival Hillary Clinton during the 2016 campaign.

Trump himself faced new questions after his tweet Monday that he had the “absolute right to PARDON myself.” And he was being assailed for ignoring a new study estimating that about 4,600 Americans died from the hurricanes last year in Puerto Rico, not 16 or 17 as he’d said in the past.

The Eagles’ snub presented yet another controversy, but one Trump sought to turn to advantage.

“These cultural issues that stir controversy, they’re winners for the president,” said one Trump ally who speaks with the president and his top aides regularly and requested anonymity.

No Eagles players knelt in protest during the 2017 season. Torrey Smith, a former Eagles player, tweeted, “The President continues to spread the false narrative that players are anti-military.”

Many pro athletes on championship teams, especially African Americans, have been conflicted about White House visits during the Trump presidency, or simply stayed away. The Warriors had their invitation for a visit with Trump rescinded after publicly equivocating about attending.

LeBron James of the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers, arguably the league’s most influential player, told reporters on Tuesday that “no matter who wins” the NBA Finals now underway between the Cavs and the Warriors, “no one wants to go anyway” to the White House. Warriors star guard Stephen Curry agreed.

Trump, on Twitter, noted that he’d hosted celebrations at the White House for other professional and college teams and sports, including NASCAR, the Chicago Cubs, Houston Astros, Pittsburgh Penguins, New England Patriots, the University of Alabama and Clemson University.

Trump decided late Monday, less than 24 hours before the planned Super Bowl tribute, to instead make it “a celebration of the American flag,” as White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders called it in a statement Tuesday. Fewer than 10 players out of more than 70 who were eligible had been expected to attend, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Sanders blamed the Eagles for botching the visit. She said 81 people from the team — including employees, coaches, managers and players — had accepted invitations to come, along with 1,000 fans. With only a small number of players expected, the team tried Friday to reschedule the event, Sanders said, to a time when Trump planned to be overseas.

The White House said that “despite sensing a lack of good faith” on the Eagles’ part, it tried to work with the team “to change the event format that could accommodate a smaller group of players.”

“Unfortunately, the Eagles offered to send only a tiny handful of representatives, while making clear that the great majority of players would not attend the event, despite planning to be in D.C. today,” she said. “In other words, the vast majority of the Eagles team decided to abandon their fans.”

In a statement, the NFL Players Assn. said it was “disappointed” with Trump’s decision to disinvite the team, adding that it led to the cancellation of several “player-led community service events for young people in the Washington, D.C., area.”

“The NFL players love their country, support our troops, give back to their communities and strive to make America a better place,” the union said.

The Eagles ownership released a statement Monday night that did not mention Trump or the canceled visit, calling it “an inspiration” to watch “the entire Eagles community come together.”

Individual players showed more frustration. The team’s star tight end, Zach Ertz, tweeted angrily after Fox News, Trump’s media ally, used file footage of Eagles players kneeling in prayer to falsely suggest they were kneeling in protest during the anthem.

“This can’t be serious,” Ertz wrote. “Praying before games with my teammates, well before the anthem, is being used for your propaganda?! Just sad, I feel like you guys should have to be better than this.”

Fox News issued a rare correction on Twitter.

Some of Pennsylvania’s Democratic lawmakers also weighed in. Sen. Bob Casey wrote on Twitter, “I’m skipping this political stunt at the White House and just invited the Eagles to Congress.”

Follow the latest news of the Trump administration on Essential Washington »

[email protected] | Twitter: @noahbierman

Special correspondents Eli Stokols and Eliza Fawcett contributed to this report.

UPDATES:

2:35 p.m.: This article was updated with details of White House celebration.

This article was originally published at 12:15 p.m.

BALTIMORE — U.S. Catholic bishops elected Oklahoma City Archbishop Paul Coakley as their new president on Tuesday, choosing a conservative culture warrior to lead during President Trump’s second term.

The vote serves as a barometer for the bishops’ priorities. In choosing Coakley, they are doubling down on their conservative bent, even as they push for more humane immigration policies from the Trump administration.

Coakley was seen as a strong contender for the top post, having already been elected in 2022 to serve as secretary, the No. 3 conference official. In three rounds of voting, he beat out centrist candidate Bishop Daniel Flores of Brownsville, Texas, who was subsequently elected vice president.

Coakley serves as advisor to the Napa Institute, an association for conservative Catholic powerbrokers. In 2018, he publicly supported an ardent critic of Pope Francis, Italian Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, who was later excommunicated for stances that were deemed divisive.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has often been at odds with the Vatican and the inclusive, modernizing approach of the late Pope Francis. His U.S.-born successor, Pope Leo XIV, is continuing a similar pastoral emphasis on marginalized people, poverty and the environment.

The choice of Coakley may fuel tensions with Pope Leo, said Steven Millies, professor of public theology at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago.

“In the long conflict between many U.S. bishops and Francis that Leo inherits, this is not a de-escalating step,” he said.

Half the 10 candidates on the ballot came from the conservative wing of the conference. The difference is more in style than substance. Most U.S. Catholic bishops are reliably conservative on social issues, but some — like Coakley — place more emphasis on opposing abortion and LGBTQ+ rights.

The candidates were nominated by their fellow bishops, and Coakley succeeds the outgoing leader, Military Services Archbishop Timothy Broglio, for a three-year term. The current vice president, Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore, was too close to the mandatory retirement age of 75 to assume the top spot.

Coakley edged out a well-known conservative on the ballot, Bishop Robert Barron of Minnesota’s Winona-Rochester diocese, whose popular Word on Fire ministry has made him a Catholic media star.

In defeating Flores, Coakley won over another strong contender, who some Catholic insiders thought could help unify U.S. bishops and work well with the Vatican. Flores has been the U.S. bishops’ leader in the Vatican’s synod process to modernize the church. As a Latino leading a diocese along the U.S.-Mexico border, he supports traditional Catholic doctrine on abortion and LGBTQ issues and is outspoken in his defense of migrants.

Flores will be eligible for the top post in three years. His election as vice president indicates that the U.S. conference “may eventually, cautiously open itself to the church’s new horizons,” said David Gibson, director of Fordham University’s Center on Religion and Culture.

The bishops are crafting a statement on immigration during the annual fall meeting. On many issues, they appear as divided and polarized as their country, but on immigration, even the most conservative Catholic leaders stand on the side of migrants.

The question is how strongly the whole body plans to speak about the Trump administration’s harsh immigration tactics.

Fear of immigration enforcement has suppressed Mass attendance at some parishes. Local clerics are fighting to administer sacraments to detained immigrants. U.S. Catholic bishops shuttered their longstanding refugee resettlement program after the Trump administration halted federal funding for resettlement aid.

“On the political front, you know for decades the U.S. bishops have been advocating for comprehensive immigration reform,” Bishop Kevin Rhoades, of Indiana’s Fort Wayne-South Bend diocese, said during a news conference.

Rhoades serves on Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission, and he leads the bishops’ committee on religious liberty. He said bishops are very concerned about detained migrants receiving pastoral care and the sacraments.

“That’s an issue of the right to worship,” he said. “One doesn’t lose that right when one is detained, whether one is documented or undocumented.”

The bishops sent a letter to Pope Leo from their meeting, saying they “will continue to stand with migrants and defend everyone’s right to worship free from intimidation.”

The letter continued, “We support secure and orderly borders and law enforcement actions in response to dangerous criminal activity, but we cannot remain silent in this challenging hour while the right to worship and the right to due process are undermined.”

Pope Leo recently called for “deep reflection” in the United States about the treatment of migrants held in detention, saying that “many people who have lived for years and years and years, never causing problems, have been deeply affected by what is going on right now.”

Stanley writes for the Associated Press.

Hungarian-British writer David Szalay has won the prestigious Booker prize for his novel Flesh, which tells the story of a tortured Hungarian emigre who makes and loses a fortune.

Szalay, 51, beat five other shortlisted authors, including Indian novelist Kiran Desai and the United Kingdom’s Andrew Miller, to claim the 50,000 British pound ($65,500) award at a ceremony in London on Monday.

Written in spare prose, Slazay’s book recounts the life of taciturn Istvan, from a teenage relationship with an older woman through time as a struggling immigrant in the UK to a denizen of London high society.

“A meditation on class, power, intimacy, migration and masculinity, Flesh is a compelling portrait of one man, and the formative experiences that can reverberate across a lifetime,” organisers of the award ceremony in London said in a statement.

Accepting his trophy at London’s Old Billingsgate, Szalay thanked the judges for rewarding his “risky” novel.

He recalled asking his editor “whether she could imagine a novel called ‘Flesh’ winning the Booker Prize”.

“You have your answer,” he said.

In addition to the 50,000-pound ($67,000) prize for the winner, as well as 2,500-pound awards to each of the shortlisted authors and translators, the writers also gain a boost in popularity and benefit from increased book sales.

Szalay’s book was chosen from 153 submitted novels by a judging panel that included Irish writer Roddy Doyle and Sex and the City actor Sarah Jessica Parker.

Doyle said that Flesh, a book “about living, and the strangeness of living”, emerged as the judges’ unanimous choice after a five-hour meeting.

“We had never read anything quite like it. It is, in many ways, a dark book but it is a joy to read,” said Doyle in a statement.

“I don’t think I’ve read a novel that uses the white space on the page so well. It’s as if the author … is inviting the reader to fill the space, to observe – almost to create – the character with him.”

Szalay, who was born in Canada, raised in the UK and lives in Vienna, was previously a Booker finalist in 2016 for All That Man Is, a series of stories about nine wildly different men.

Flesh was Szalay’s sixth work of fiction.

“Even though my father is Hungarian, I never felt entirely at home in Hungary. I suppose, I’m always a bit of an outsider there, and living away from the UK and London for so many years, I also had a similar feeling about London,” Szalay told BBC Radio.

“I really wanted to write a book that stretched between Hungary and London and involved a character who was not quite at home in either place.”

The frontrunners for this year’s prize, according to betting markets, were Miller for his early-1960s domestic drama The Land in Winter, and Desai for the globe-spanning saga The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny, her first novel since The Inheritance of Loss, which won the Booker Prize in 2006.

The other finalists were Susan Choi’s twisty family saga, Flashlight; Katie Kitamura’s tale of acting and identity, Audition; and Ben Markovits’s midlife-crisis road trip, The Rest of Our Lives.

The Booker Prize was founded in 1969 and has established a reputation for transforming writers’ careers.

Its winners have included Salman Rushdie, Ian McEwan, Arundhati Roy, Margaret Atwood and Samantha Harvey, who took the 2024 prize for space station story, Orbital.

The separate category of the International Booker Prize was awarded in May to Indian writer and activist Banu Mushtaq for her novel, Heart Lamp, which tells 12 stories of the everyday lives of women and girls in Muslim communities in southern India.

When Los Angeles County Museum of Art director Michael Govan first stepped up to the podium at the museum’s star-packed 14th annual Art + Film Gala, the Dodgers were down one point to the Toronto Blue Jays in the eighth inning of the final game of the World Series.

There was no giant screen in the massive tent where a decadent dinner was being served Saturday night in celebration of honorees artist Mary Corse and director Ryan Coogler. Instead guests in elaborate gowns and tuxedos discreetly glanced at their phones propped on tables and at the base of flower vases across the star-packed venue. This became apparent when Miguel Rojas hit a game-tying home run at the top of the ninth inning and the whole room erupted in cheers.

Michael Govan, CEO of LACMA, wearing Gucci, speaks onstage during the 2025 LACMA Art+Film Gala.

(Amy Sussman / Getty Images for LACMA)

When Govan returned to the stageto begin the well-deserved tributes to the artist and filmmaker of the hour, the game had been won, the effusive cheering had died down, and the phones had been respectfully put away.

“Go Dodgers!” Govan said, before joking that LACMA had engineered the win for this special evening. The room was juiced.

It made Los Angeles feel like the center of the universe for a few hours and was fitting for an event that famously brings together the city’s twin cultural bedrocks of art and cinema, creating a rarefied space where the two worlds mix and mingle in support of a shared vision of recognizing L.A.’s immeasurable contributions to the global cultural conversation.

“This is a celebration that can only happen in L.A. — where art, film and creativity are deeply intertwined,” Govan said. “I always say this is the most creative place on Earth.”

The event raised a record $6.5 million in support of the museum and its programs. Co-chairs Leonardo DiCaprio and LACMA trustee Eva Chow hosted a cocktail party and dinner that drew celebrities including Dustin Hoffman, Cynthia Erivo, Cindy Crawford, Queen Latifah, Angela Bassett, Lorde, Demi Moore, Hannah Einbinder, Charlie Hunnam and Elle Fanning alongside local elected officials and appointees including U.S. Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Los Angeles); L.A. County Supervisors Holly Mitchell and Lindsey Horvath; L.A. Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky; West Hollywood Councilmember John M. Erickson, and Kristin Sakoda, director of the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture.

Sakoda said she thoroughly enjoyed the festivities “as representative of the incredibly diverse culture of Los Angeles and how that speaks to our entire nation.”

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1. George Lucas arrives at the LACMA Art + Film Gala on Saturday. (Jordan Strauss / Invision via Associated Press) 2. Elle Fanning arrives at the LACMA Art + Film Gala on Saturday. (Jordan Strauss / Invision via Associated Press) 3. Angela Bassett arrives at the LACMA Art + Film Gala on Saturday. (Jordan Strauss / Invision via Associated Press)

A special nod of gratitude went to previous gala honorees in attendance including artists Mark Bradford, James Turrell, Catherine Opie, Betye Saar, Judy Baca, George Lucas and Park Chan-Wook. Leaders from many other local arts institutions also showed up including the Hammer Museum’s director, Zoe Ryan; California African American Museum Director Cameron Shaw; and MOCA’s interim Director Ann Goldstein.

Rising in the background was LACMA’s new David Geffen Galleries, the 110,000-square-foot Peter Zumthor-designed building scheduled to open in April as the new home for the museum’s 150,000-object permanent collection.

“Every day I’m in that little building behind installing thousands of artworks,” Govan said to cheers. “I can’t wait for people to rediscover our permanent collection, from old favorites to new acquisitions. It’s a monumental gift to L.A., and in addition to L.A. County and the public, I would like to thank the person whose generosity brought us to this landmark moment, Mr. David Geffen.”

Geffen sat in a sea of black ties and glittering gowns, near Disney CEO Bob Iger and DiCaprio — who had been filmed earlier in the week in attendance at Game 5 of the World Series at Dodger Stadium.

Govan also gave a special acknowledgment to former LACMA board co-chair, Elaine Wynn, who died earlier this year and was one of the museum’s most steadfast champions. Wynn contributed $50 million to the new building — one of the first major gifts in support of the effort. Govan noted that the northern half of the building will be named the Elaine Wynn wing.

Honoree Ryan Coogler, wearing Gucci, speaks onstage during the 2025 LACMA Art+Film Gala.

(Amy Sussman / Getty Images for LACMA)

Left unmentioned was the fact that earlier in the week LACMA’s employees announced they are forming a union, LACMA United, representing more than 300 workers from across all departments, including curators, educators, guest relations associates and others. One worker told The Times there were no plans to demonstrate at the gala, which raises much-needed funds for the museum.

The crowd sat rapt as the night’s guests of honor, Corse and Coogler, humbly spoke of their journeys in their respective art forms, with Govan introducing them as “artists whose brilliant groundbreaking work challenges us to see the world differently.”

The night concluded with an enthusiastic performance by Doja Cat on an outdoor stage in the shadow of the David Geffen Galleries, the lights girding its massive concrete underbelly like stars in the sky.

“It was a beautiful evening of community coming together around something that reminds us of our shared humanity at a time when we need it,” said Yaroslavsky with a smile as the evening wound down.

From gorgeous Getxo to the City of Love, you won’t want to come home from these mint mini-breaks

SPAIN – Palacio Arriluce Hotel, Getxo

Commissioning Editor Martha Cliff and fiancée Lauren found foodie heaven near Bilbao.

THE PAD

Perched on a striking cliffside overlooking the Bay of Abra in Getxo and with a beauty of an outdoor pool, this 18th-century boutique gem sits in a palatial setting and offers the perfect blend of historical charm and contemporary elegance.

Craving vistas of the rolling Basque mountains? You’ve got it. Want to gaze at boats bobbing in the harbour? No problem. A city view more your vibe? It’s got that, too.

Be sure to eat breakfast – think other-worldly Spanish tortilla and Iberico ham – on the terrace to take full advantage.

Meanwhile, come dinner at Delaunay, try local specialities such as grilled kokotxas (hake chin) on stewed spider crab, £35, and Iberian pork shoulder with passionfruit, £31.

WAIL OF A TIME

I drove Irish Route 66 with deserted golden beaches and pirate-like islands

TEMPTED?

Tiny ‘Bali of Europe’ town with stunning beaches, €3 cocktails and £20 flights

Eye-squintingly-rich chocolate mousse and pumpkin ice cream, £15, will seal the deal.

Return to your room – one of just 49 – and find home-made chocolates and lavender spray to aid a sublime slumber.

EXPLORE

The bustling city of Bilbao is a 20-minute metro ride away.

Join a three-hour walking tour with guide Saioa to learn about the history and architecture, £21 per person (Smartinbilbao.com).

Before you leave, head to Gran Vía, Bilbao’s shopping hub, and sample the famous butter buns, £2.75, at Pastelería Arrese.

Back in Getxo, stop by Bizkaia Bridge – the oldest transporter bridge in the world – and enjoy views of Bilbao from the 45-metre-high walkway.

Entry costs £9 per person (Puente-colgante.com).

REFUEL

Make sure you’re there on a Thursday to join locals in Getxo for “pintxo pote”, a foodie’s dream bar crawl and Basque country tradition.

Restaurante Ixta Bide offers four pintxos (small savoury snacks) – our fave was pintxo de txaka, akin to a mini crab sandwich – and two vinos for a mere £9.

Just don’t expect to bag a seat! Wind your way up the steps of Algorta to reach Arrantzale and finish on its perfectly salted pork belly (Arrantzale.com).

While day-tripping, step into one of Bilbao’s oldest bars, Café Iruña, just a hop from Arbando metro station.

Dating back to 1903, the beautiful tiling is reason enough to visit, but coffee for just £1.75, is a big pull, too.

Or opt for a glass of the local txakoli white wine, £2.70, instead (Cafeirunabilbao.com).

DON’T MISS

The works inside Bilbao’s Guggenheim Museum are, of course, breathtaking, but the building itself and its surrounding sculptures – including Puppy, a massive dog made of flowers by American artist Jeff Koons – are worth the trip alone.

Entry costs £13 (Guggenheim-bilbao.eus).

BOOK IT

Double rooms at Palacio Arriluce Hotel cost from £249 B&B (Palacioarrilucehotel.com).

Fly to Bilbao from London Gatwick and Heathrow with Vueling from £56 return (Vueling.com).

FRANCE – Hôtel Dame des Arts, Paris

Creative Director Mark Hayman and wife Margaret fell for cocktails and culture in the French capital.

THE PAD

This sleek bolt-hole in the city’s Latin Quarter has shaken off its Holiday Inn past to channel full Hollywood glamour.

Think rich woods, bamboo accents and pretty palms, with rooms that feel like film sets, thanks to glass dividers, velvet finishes and luxe bathrooms made for long soaks.

Downstairs, Pimpan serves up bold Franco-Mexican fusions on a leafy terrace – highlights include beef tartare with piquillos, £12.50, lamb shoulder with harissa, £25, and hibiscus-poached pear, £11.

But the real scene-stealer is the rooftop bar, where 360-degree skyline views stretch from the Eiffel Tower to Sacré Cœur – even locals come here for the vistas.

Order a Spritz del Arte (Aperol, mango liqueur, rum and prosecco), £17, or the punchy Uno Mas margarita, £14, pop on your biggest sunglasses and watch the city turn blush at sunset.

There’s also a sauna and a gym kitted out with sculptural wooden equipment for those partial to a designer workout.

EXPLORE

First time in Paris? Glide down the Seine aboard the Batobus – this hop-on-hop-off riverboat is a relaxing (and photogenic) way to tick off major sights like the Musée d’Orsay and the Louvre.

A day pass costs £17.50 (Batobus.com).

Once on dry land, seek out legendary bookshop Shakespeare And Company – get lost in the maze of tomes and grab an iconic tote, £13 (Shakespeareandcompany.com).

For more treasure-hunting, swing by the flea market off Rue du Faubourg Saint-Antoine – a weekend haven of vintage mirrors, mid-century ceramics and nostalgic postcards.

There’s no entry fee, just bring cash and your best haggling game.

Then head to the Panthéon, a neoclassical gem where Voltaire, Rousseau and Marie Curie lie in dramatic crypts beneath a rooftop dome offering jaw-dropping views.

Entry costs £10 per person (Paris-pantheon.fr).

REFUEL

Lively, retro-chic Brasserie Dubillot’s espresso martinis, £10.50, are a must, but equally good is the sausage and mash with truffle sauce, £16, steak-frites, £21, and the perfect crème brûlée, £8 (Lanouvellegarde.com/brasserie-dubillot).

Craving something casual? PNY serves next-level burgers with aged beef, brioche buns and toppings like smoked cheddar and pickled jalapeños, from £11.50 (Pnyburger.com).

Or just nab a pavement perch at Café Saint-André for a croque monsieur, £10.50, a glass of sancerre, £7, and some world-class people-watching.

DON’T MISS

Notre-Dame cathedral is one of Paris’ most iconic buildings for good reason.

Step inside to take in its Gothic arches, stained glass, and newly restored grandeur.

Entry is free, but book a time slot (Notredamedeparis.fr).

BOOK IT

Double rooms at Hôtel Dame des Arts cost from £226 per night (Damedesarts.com).

Psst…

Fancy something a little more party? Rixos Premium Dubai JBR sits in one of the UAE city’s buzziest neighbourhoods, with captivating views of Ain Dubai, the world’s biggest ferris wheel.

Suave rooms come with huge tubs, rain showers and espresso machines, from £304 per night (Rixos.com).

Downstairs is Azure Beach Club with its large pool, pumping soundtrack, outdoor gym and private beach (Azure-beach.com/dubai).

The breakfast buffet is, in true Dubai style, eye-poppingly big – you can even blend your own fresh peanut butter.

COST CUTTER

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Plus, you’re half an hour’s cab ride from the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa, for that classic Dubai selfie – viewing platform visits cost from £37 per person (Burjkhalifa.ae).

When you’re craving a chilled day, head to Aussie beach club Byron Bathers for lobster linguine, £37, and burrata pizza, £17, with excellent Whitsunday spritzes – an exquisite blend of grapefruit bitters, strawberry shrub, pink grapefruit, citrus vodka, Aperol and prosecco, £14 (Byronbathers.com).