Will Trump cut Kennedy Center shows? L.A. arts and culture this week
Today is Presidents Day, so I figure it’s a good opportunity to take a look at how President Trump’s hostile takeover of the John F.…
Lauren Yee’s ‘Cambodian Rock Band’: L.A. arts and culture this weekend
Lauren Yee’s play “Cambodian Rock Band,” about a Khmer Rouge survivor who returns home after 30 years as his daughter prepares to prosecute one of…
Executive orders impacting the arts: L.A. arts and culture this week
President Donald Trump sent shock waves through the world of arts and culture on Friday when he announced on Truth Social that he intends to…
Lakers’ free art exhibit, and more L.A. arts and culture this weekend
Attention, fellow Los Angeles Lakers fans: While we’re all understandably focused on the huge news of the team’s latest addition, let’s also celebrate the local…
The Industry’s opera party at the Bradbury Building
The avant-garde opera company the Industry threw a feel-good bash at downtown L.A.’s historic Bradbury Building last week. Called the “Decade Party,” the evening was…
How Pasadena Playhouse is helping kids affected by the L.A. fires
On the first day Pasadena Unified School District reopened campuses after a two-week closure caused by the Eaton fire, I brought my daughter to her…
Free concert tickets for people affected by L.A. fires, firefighters
“Art opens the closets, airs out the cellars and attics. It brings healing.”Julia Cameron shared this truth in her 1992 book “The Artist’s Way.” And…
David Lynch was a painter before he brought his art to film
David Lynch lived and worked beyond all definition. He was best known as a filmmaker — using his lens to unearth the tawdry, decayed and…
Artists are mobilizing for fire victims and first responders
As thousands of firefighters continue to battle the Palisades and Eaton fires and the unfathomable damage is assessed, the arts communities are mobilizing. Actors, musicians…
Cultural gems threatened, and the race to save Getty Villa
As fires spread throughout areas of Los Angeles this week, my colleague Jessica Gelt has diligently kept track of the region’s treasured cultural institutions and…
Los Angeles’ best classical music, art and theater in 2025
Happy New Year, Essential Arts readers! 2025 is already shaping up to be a feast of a year in terms of arts and culture in…
L.A. County’s annual holiday celebration and a Velázquez masterpiece
Dear Essential Arts Readers,This has been a tough year for many of us. I don’t need to list the challenges we have faced as a…
Los Angeles welcomes New Year’s Eve at Disney Hall and Grand Park
If you’re reading this, thank you. Taking over the Essential Arts newsletter from our wonderful former colleague Carolina A. Miranda remains a daunting task, and…
Los Angeles arts events this weekend are Wabanaki basketry, flamenco
Sure, many of us have had Christmas covers on repeat lately, but I’ve also been playing the soundtrack and score of the still-brilliant 1994 movie…
Making theater fans for life starts with great shows for kids
I have an admission to make: I recently cried during a matinee of “Cat Kid Comic Club: The Musical” at Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver…
Things to do in Los Angeles this weekend: art, music, theater
During The Times’ Actors Roundtable, Adrien Brody gorgeously shared how his mother has “guided me in my understanding of art and the yearning to leave…
Netflix’s ‘Maria’ and Angelina Jolie get Maria Callas all wrong
Here we go again.In Hollywood’s ongoing cheerless attempts to contest the joy of music by cutting stellar classical musicians down to size, “Maria” joins the…
Yuval Sharon steps down as artistic director of the Industry
In what could be considered the end of an era, the Industry on Thursday announced that Yuval Sharon will step down as artistic director of…
Give the gift of homemade arts and crafts this holiday season
It’s December and the holidays are in full swing — as is the relentless consumerism, which always fills me with unease. The way I’m expected…
‘Maria’ review: Jolie’s Callas is a chilly one-note bore
Maria Callas seized fame as the voice of Tosca, Medea and Carmen, opera’s eternally doomed heroines. If opera still commands audiences a century from now,…