BERLIN — An experiment with artificial intelligence at the famed annual Richard Wagner festival in the southeastern German town of Bayreuth drew boos from the audience after producing a staging that appeared to leave some spectators confused.
Curator Marcus Lobbes and his team were greeted with boos and whistles as they took to the stage at the end of Saturday evening’s performance of “Götterdämmerung,” German news agency DPA reported. However, there was warm applause for the singers and musicians, and particularly for conductor Christian Thielemann.
Festival organizers said ahead of the performance that it would be the first time AI took part on stage at the event, “not as a character, but as an image-generating force.” They said that singers would be “the fixed point within a visually seething cosmos of light, texture, history, and association, amidst projections that erupt, constantly shift, and merge into one another.”
The AI-assisted projections included scenes from previous performances of Wagner’s “Ring” cycle and historical themes, and drew from images preselected by Lobbes, the director of the Academy for Theater and Digitality in Dortmund, and his team.
The collage that the technology projected on stage puzzled the audience, DPA reported, with images including late former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, the towers of the World Trade Center after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, and a special postage stamp marking German reunification in 1990.
The festival website said that “every performance will be unique — because the images and associations never stand still.” Two more performances are scheduled.
One of the most read — and debated — stories from the Arts team this week was an interview with Oskar Eustis a day after he announced that he would step down as the artistic director of the Public Theater in 2028. The New York Times broke the news July 22 in an interview with Eustis in which he also said that the American nonprofit theater movement was over.
I followed up in a phone interview the next day and asked him to explain what he meant, which he did, noting that the broad consensus that nonprofit theater mattered to the country — a belief held by national endowments, state arts agencies, public policy institutes and corporate philanthropic departments — had disappeared. So, too, have many of those very same agencies and their budgets that provided funding to the arts. The case for sustaining any particular theater now comes down to that theater and how relevant and necessary it can make itself to its surrounding community, Eustis said.
There is never enough room in an article when you’ve had a good conversation with someone, so I thought I’d use the newsletter to publish a bit more of what Eustis shared with me. I was particularly interested in something he said about the Public’s famed Shakespeare in the Park program, which is free and takes place every summer at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park. Since its inception, more than 160 productions have been staged, reaching more than 6 million people.
The free tickets the Public gives away for these shows are “the prime driver of our income at the Public, and this has been true since our founding,” Eustis told me.
That may sound counterintuitive, but it goes directly to the case Eustis is making for modern nonprofit theaters to be as relevant as possible to their communities. Ticket sales will never bring in the kind of money theaters need to sustain a robust slate of diverse programming — that will always have to come from donors. These very same donors, Eustis said, are the ones who feel most excited to be sitting among the citizenry in Central Park, watching the beauty of public art unfold in a joyous communal atmosphere.
“It’s not just when they make a donation that they get to see the show,” said Eustis of uber-wealthy donors. “They absolutely viscerally feel that — sitting in that theater when 75% of the audience hasn’t paid a penny to be there — they are getting to be part of their dream city. They’re feeling, ‘Oh, this is what New York is supposed to feel like.’”
By giving away free Shakespeare in the Park tickets, Eustis said, the Public is “making an unbelievably powerful case for why we need subsidy … and that’s why the money comes, because we are [showing] that democratic access is more fun for a better city.”
I like the idea of free theater being more fun, and rich people paying for the privilege of being a part of that fun when it is so removed from their cordoned-off daily lives. But I do worry that so much of what we now rely on culturally comes down to the whims and fancies of a handful of ultra-rich patrons. Newspapers are run by them, public school art and music programs rely on them, as do museums, symphonies, ballets and operas.
As Eustis pointed out, these donors no longer represent a broad consensus that is channeled into a civic vision via government support, but that is precisely why the situation feels so precarious. We might be one serious AI-driven stock market crash from artistic oblivion.
I’m Arts editor Jessica Gelt staring gloomily into the distance. This is your arts and culture news for the week.
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The week ahead: A curated calendar
FRIDAY
“Ulises Carrión, a bookwork in many places” exhibition at Joan Los Angeles.
(Evan Walsh)
Ulises Carrión, a bookwork in many places The exhibition, in its final two weeks, examines the Mexican-born conceptual artist’s influence on reimagined systems of exchange through printed matter by artists, librarians, publishers and alternative spaces. The show focuses on Southern California in particular, spanning the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s, featuring artist books, correspondence, video and ephemera. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays. Through Aug. 9. Joan, 1206 Maple Ave., Suite 715, Fashion District, downtown L.A. joanlosangeles.org
Puppet Up! Brian Henson’s adventurous stage show featuring improv and sketch comedy with the iconic Henson puppets and puppeteers is back for a limited eight-performance run. Also on tap is “A Conversation With Brian Henson,” a live presentation by the Emmy-winning producer, director and puppeteer about the rich history of the Jim Henson Company, 2 p.m. Sunday at the Montalbán. 8 p.m. Friday; 3 and 7 p.m. Saturday; 5 p.m. Sunday; 8 p.m. Aug. 7; 3 and 7 p.m. Aug. 8; and 5 p.m. Aug. 9. Ricardo Montalbán Theatre, 1615 Vine St. puppetup.com
Tchaikovsky Spectacular with Fireworks L.A.-based circus company Troupe Vertigo and the USC Trojan Marching Band join the Los Angeles Philharmonic, conducted by France’s Chloe Dufresne, for the 1812 overture — with pyrotechnics. 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Hollywood Bowl, 2301 N. Highland Ave. hollywoodbowl.com
SATURDAY
A scene from “Acquaprofonda” at the Aquarium of the Pacific.”
(Andres Leon for Long Beach Opera)
Acquaprofonda: A Deep-Sea Opera for Families Long Beach Opera Education collaborates with the Aquarium of the Pacific for this free, family-friendly, 30-minute adventure about a young girl who finds an ailing whale and stands up for what’s right. Music by Giovanni Sollima, libretto by Giancarlo De Cataldo and English libretto by Elle Moody. Noon and 3 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays, through Aug. 9. Aquarium of the Pacific, Honda Pacific Visions Theater, 100 Aquarium Way, Long Beach. longbeachopera.org
Boleros De Noche The 10th annual celebration of romance, nostalgia and cultural pride features Puerto Rican singer iLe and a special performance by the L.A.-based trio Voz Bohemia. 8 p.m. Ford Amphitheatre, 2580 Cahuenga Blvd. East. theford.com
Free 4 All Claremont Lewis Museum of Art opens its doors for this annual one-day takeover by local artists who will display their work with no fees to exhibit and no gatekeepers to choose whose work gets seen. With live music by the Kamran Curlin Trio, Home Again Home Again and Coupe Deville. 1-8 p.m. Claremont Lewis Museum of Art, 200 W. First St., Claremont. clmoa.org
People of Pompeii A new comedy by Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award-winning playwright Bernardo Cubría, co-directed by Ellen Geer and Xochitl Romero, is set in Topanga Canyon itself and focuses on community in a time of climate catastrophe. Through Oct. 4. Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum, 1419 N. Topanga Canyon Blvd., Topanga. theatricum.com
Two Gentlebots of Verona The annual Actors’ Gang Free Shakespeare in the Park for Families features a cyber-inspired Shakespeare adaptation by Rynn Vogel, directed by Adam J. Jefferis. 11 a.m. Saturdays and Sundays, through Aug. 23. Media Park, 9091 Culver Blvd., Culver City; noon, Aug. 29-30. Buena Vista Branch Library, 300 N. Buena Vista St., Burbank. theactorsgang.com
SUNDAY
Sidney Jacobs & the Monsters The jazz vocalist and his sextet perform original music with reimagined standards. 8 p.m. Sierra Madre Playhouse, 87 W. Sierra Madre Blvd. sierramadreplayhouse.org
St. Vincent with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra The six-time Grammy-winning singer-songwriter guitarist goes orchestral with the HBO led by conductor Jules Buckley. 7 p.m. Hollywood Bowl, 2301 N. Highland Ave. hollywoodbowl.com
TUESDAY
Louis Langrée The French conductor leads the L.A. Phil in works from Felix Mendelssohn and Joseph Haydn on Tuesday at the Hollywood Bowl; two nights later, Langrée returns with pieces by Johannes Brahms, Georges Bizet and Louise Farrenc. Mendelssohn & Haydn, 8 p.m. Tuesday; Brahms & Bizet, 8 p.m. Thursday. Hollywood Bowl, 2301 N. Highland Ave. hollywoodbowl.com
“Saint Luke” from Irmengard Codex shortly after 1053. German. Tempera colors, gold, and ink on parchment 22.2 × 18.7 cm (8 3/4 × 7 3/8 in.)
(Getty Museum)
The Making of a Medieval Manuscript If you ever wondered how the beautiful manuscripts in the Getty’s extensive collection were created, this is the exhibition for you. Tools and materials used illustrate each phase of the process from parchment making, writing and illuminating through the final binding. Christian manuscripts from Europe, Armenia and Ethiopia, plus objects of Jewish and Muslim origin, will also be on display, along with a video component. Through May 2, 2027. Getty Center, 1200 Getty Center Drive, L.A. getty.edu
WEDNESDAY
Kalean Ung as the Chanteuse in “The Comedy of Errors.”
(Mike Ditz)
The Comedy of Errors Melissa Chalsma directs Indie Shakes’ production of the Bard’s wordplay and slapstick set in a Mediterranean port town, with an original score. 7 p.m. Wednesday-Sunday; through Sept. 6. Old Zoo Picnic Area, Griffith Park. indieshakes.org/free-shakespeare-2026
THURSDAY
Annie and the Caldwells/The Campbell Brothers The Skirball concludes its 29th season of Sunset Concerts with this family-fueled pairing of disco soul and sacred steel gospel groups, respectively, plus DJ sets by Sonrisita. 7 p.m. Skirball Cultural Center, 2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd. skirball.org
JazzPOP 2026 The summer series marks its 19th season with three concerts showcasing West Coast creative jazz: Kasey Knudsen Sextet (Thursday); Malachi Whitson Quartet (Aug. 13); and Machado Mijiga Trio (Aug. 20). 8 p.m. Thursdays, through Aug. 20. UCLA Hammer Museum, 10899 Wilshire Blvd., Westwood. hammer.ucla.edu
— Kevin Crust
Retrospective
L.A. Times arts coverage from the the past …
Playwright/director Moises Kaufman of “The Laramie Project” was on the cover of Sunday Calendar, July 29, 2001.
(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
At the Heart of a Modern Tragedy
Sunday Calendar, July 29, 2001
NEW YORK — Moises Kaufman could not turn off the television. He could not put down the newspaper. Like much of America, he was mesmerized by the news of the horrific beating, robbery and eventual death in 1998 of Matthew Shepard, a gay university student attacked and left for dead by two young men near Laramie, Wyo.
“For the five days until he died, you couldn’t turn on a television or a radio and not hear about it,” says the 37-year-old playwright and director. “Matthew Shepard put a face on hate crimes. He was young, beautiful, starting his life. The nation as a whole said, ‘Oh, my God. What’s going on?’ ”
It was exactly the sort of question that Kaufman and his colleagues at the Tectonic Theater Project here try to ask, if not answer, onstage. So unlike much of America, Kaufman did not simply move on to the next news tragedy. The man who created the widely produced “Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde” had found his next theater project. READ MORE
— Barbara Isenberg
Culture news and the SoCal scene
Artist Betye Saar visits her pet tortoise named Ms. Rojo on Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026, in Los Angeles.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
Pioneering Los Angeles assemblage artist Betye Saar died Sunday, just a few days shy of her 100th birthday. The Times had the privilege of profiling her a few weeks earlier in a story that also included some wonderful photos of Saar still hard at work in her Laurel Canyon home studio. After Saar’s death, we published an obituary written by former Times columnist Carolina Miranda, and I put together a list of five of Saar’s most compelling works.
Watts Towers is poised to break ground in October on a $22-million campus renovation — the first such work done to the arts campus since it opened in 1970. The work is set to begin as funding for a 15-year project to preserve the towers themselves has dried up, with work about 90% complete. Community leaders say the situation represents the frustrating piecemeal approach taken over the years to preserve one of the city’s most important cultural landmarks. Times contributor Jane Horowitz has the scoop.
Evan Lugo (George Page), Sonya Cooke (Margaret Page), Zane Caputo (Abraham Slender), Zach Trent (Skateboard Fenton) and Heriberto Cruz Jr. (Doctor Cayo) in “The Merry Wives of Windsor Cove.”
(Elijah Waller)
“The Merry Wives of Windsor’” got a ’50s-themed SoCal beach blanket bingo musical makeover at UC Irvine’s New Swan Shakespeare Festival, and Times theater critic Charles McNulty was there to weigh in on the result. “The pastiche score, indebted to the pop charts of the 1950s, isn’t allowed to dominate,” McNulty writes. “As modern musicals go, this is a low-key affair. The comedy is still the thing in this frolicsome outdoor production, which takes place in the charming ambiance of the festival’s portable, mini-Elizabethan venue.”
McNulty also took time to praise the work of stellar older actors in a rare revival of Nöel Coward’s “Waiting in the Wings,” which is running in repertory at Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum through Oct. 10. The play, “which is set in ‘The Wings,’ a charity home for retired actresses, provides a feast for veteran thespians for whom it would be impolite to ask their age,” writes McNulty. “Led by Susan Angelo, Jan Wikstrom and Ellen Geer, this ensemble, under the direction of Willow Geer, diverts and distracts from the mustier aspects of Coward’s style.”
The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art announced its inaugural film programming, which is set to screen nonstop during museum hours in two dedicated 299-seat theaters. One theater will play mostly documentary films, and the other will be devoted to the more experimental aspects of the art form.
Alaska Thunderf— will play Mary Todd Lincoln in “Oh, Mary!” at the Ahmanson.
(Daniel Rampulla)
“RuPaul’s Drag Race” star Alaska Thunderf— will play Mary Todd Lincoln in Cole Escola’s Tony-winning comedy “Oh, Mary!” when it arrives at Center Theatre Group’s Ahmanson Theatre in the fall. Broadway star J. Harrison Ghee has been cast opposite Alaska in the role of her famous husband.
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Joey McIntyre of New Kids on the Block performs during Audacy’s 11th annual We Can Survive at Prudential Center on Sept. 28, 2024, in Newark, N.J.
(Manny Carabel / Getty Images for Audacy)
The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts announced some additions to its 2026-2027 season, including the world premiere of a new play, “Radio Galaxy,” written by Michèle Aldin Kushner, directed by Kimberly Senior and starring Joey McIntyre (yes, that Joey McIntyre) and Olivier Award winner Lesli Margherita. The show is about a 17-year-old from a working-class New Jersey town who wants to become an astronomer but must deal with the harsh realities of daily life, including his half-sister’s need for a bone marrow transplant. The show is scheduled for 18 performances in the Lovelace Studio Theater Nov. 6-22. Tickets are available here.
A few reduced-rate spots remain for Camp Build at the Gamble House in Pasadena, which runs from Aug. 1 to 5 for three hours each day. Two hours are devoted to learning the art and craft of woodworking, and a third hour is spent on activities inspired by nature and architecture in the historic home. The cost of the camp is assessed on a sliding scale according to income and need with four payment tiers ranging from free to $650. The remaining slots are in the second tier, which costs $350.
— Jessica Gelt
And last but not least
Want a glimpse into the hedonistic L.A. of yore? Check out this story about Eve Babitz’s personal letters. It will not disappoint.
A piece of iconic Los Angeles architecture and one of pop culture’s most recognizable exteriors is on display as the Pasadena home featured as Wayne Manor in TV’s original “Batman” hits the market this month for $32 million — less than a year after it was last sold.
The seven-bedroom, 11-bathroom Jacobean Tudor Revival home on 5 acres of gated land was built in 1928 by the L.A.-based architectural firm Morgan, Walls & Clements. This is the same firm responsible for some of L.A.’s most fantastical and beloved architectural creations including the Wiltern, El Capitan and Mayan theaters. It’s located at 380 S. San Rafael Avenue in Pasadena, in a lush, wooded area above the Arroyo Seco near the Rose Bowl.
The home, which features a stately mahogany main staircase and a genuine butler’s pantry worthy of Alfred Pennyworth, was made famous by the “Batman” TV series, which originally aired on ABC from 1966-68. During that time a man named Norman Preston van Valkenburgh lived there with his family. Film crews shot at the home for three days in 1966, but only external shots ended up being used as stock footage for Wayne Manor.
Over the years fans began to confuse the mansion with another nearby estate — the work of one of the city’s most prominent Africa American architects Paul R. Williams . The home, which The Times cheekily called an “imposter” in a 1989 article, burned down in 2005 while being renovated by its owner, Michael Hammer, grandson of the late oil tycoon Armand Hammer. At that time, crowds of “Batman” fans gathered before the smoldering ashes lamenting the loss only to discover they had the wrong house.
It will take just one super fan with Bruce Wayne-deep pockets to snap up this dreamy estate. Spoiler alert: There is no Bat Cave, but there is a pickleball court, a resort-style pool, a private theater and an Architectural Digest pedigree.
I’m Arts editor Jessica Gelt counting the money in my swear jar and dreaming big. This is your arts and culture news for the week.
You’re reading Essential Arts
Our critics and reporters guide you through events and happenings of L.A.
By continuing, you agree to our Terms of Service, which include arbitration and a class action waiver. You agree that we and our third-party vendors may collect and use your information, including through cookies, pixels and similar technologies, for the purposes set forth in our Privacy Policy such as personalizing your experience and ads.
The week ahead: A curated calendar
FRIDAY
Jeff LeBeau, left, and Tim Cummings in the West Coast premiere of Samuel D. Hunter’s “Grangeville” at the Ruskin Group Theatre Arts Center, directed by John Perrin Flynn.
(John Perrin Flynn)
Grangeville The West Coast premiere of Samuel D. Hunter’s two-hander about a pair of estranged brothers concludes its acclaimed run at the Ruskin next weekend. In his review, Times theater critic Charles McNulty wrote that the playwright “turns his characters inside out in a play that powerfully illuminates a subject that has rarely been treated onstage with such unflinching honesty and sensitivity: How does one integrate a past that took everything to escape?” 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sundays through Aug. 2. Ruskin Group Theatre, 2800 Airport Ave., Santa Monica. app.arts-people.com
Sounds of LA County Country music in Sylmar and Quartz Hill; disco, soul and R&B in South L.A.; regional Mexican music in Florence-Graham and La Puente; deep house, Afrobeats, hip-hop and funk in East Compton; global acoustic in Willowbrook; and live salsa in East L.A. are this week’s offerings in the free summer series from LA County Parks and Nextfest LA. The program continues through August. 6-9 p.m. Friday, Saturday and Thursday. Check website for exact days and locations. soundsoflacounty.com
SATURDAY
Joe Hisaishi presents Music Future Coming off three nights at the Hollywood Bowl, the Japanese composer moves to a more intimate setting to celebrate the work of contemporary composers, including Nico Muhly, Bryce Dessner and Max Richter, with the LA Phil New Music Group. 8 p.m. The Ford, 2580 Cahuenga Blvd. East theford.com
The Hour of the Star Brazilian actor Bruna Fachetti stars in the world premiere of a stage adaptation of the novella by Clarice Lispector about an impoverished woman dreaming of a better life in Rio de Janeiro. The limited, five-performance engagement was conceived and will be directed by Alex Tietre from the English translation by Pulitzer Prize-winning author and Lispector biographer Benjamin Moser. 7 p.m. Saturday, Sunday, Thursday, July 31 and Aug. 1. The Broadwater Black Box Theatre, 6322 Santa Monica Blvd., L.A. eventbrite.com
SUNDAY
Boris Brejcha performs during the 2023 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival .
(Matt Winkelmeyer / Getty Images for Coachella)
Boris Brejcha with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra The masked German DJ makes his global orchestral debut. The techno DJ duo Frieder & Jakob open the show. Be prepared to dance. 7 p.m. Hollywood Bowl, 2301 N Highland Ave. hollywoodbowl.com
Murder on the Orient Express Sidney Lumet’s 1974 version of the Agatha Christie mystery, adapted by Paul Dehn, earned six Oscar nominations. Alfred Finney, nominated for leading actor, stars as the meticulous Belgian detective Hercule Poirot investigating a killing aboard the famous train. Also starring Lauren Bacall, Martin Balsam and Ingrid Bergman, who won the Oscar for supporting actress. Part of the Oscar Sundays series. 2 p.m. Academy Museum, David Geffen Theater, 6067 Wilshire Blvd. academymuseum.org
TUESDAY
Rhapsody in Blue & Shostakovich Marin Alsop conducts the Los Angeles Philharmonic in Anna Clyne’s “Masquerade,” Gershwin’s soaring American classic (with pianist Conrad Tao) and Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony. 8 p.m. Hollywood Bowl, 2301 N Highland Ave. hollywoodbowl.com
THURSDAY
Peter Finch in ‘Network.’
(TCM)
Network “I’m mad as Hell and I’m not going to take it anymore!” shouts Peter Finch as news anchor Howard Beale in this 1976 satire directed by Sidney Lumet and written by Paddy Chayefsky. The film was nominated for ten Academy Awards, winning four: leading actor, posthumously, for Finch, leading actress for Faye Dunaway, supporting actress for Beatrice Straight, and original screenplay. Fifty years later, it feels as prescient as ever. 2 p.m. Vidiots, Eagle Theatre, 4884 Eagle Rock Blvd. vidiotsfoundation.org
Arts anywhere
André De Shields, left, Reeve Carney, center, and the cast of Hadestown perform onstage during the 2019 Tony Awards at Radio City Music Hall.
(Theo Wargo / Getty Images for Tony Awards Productions)
Hadestown: The Musical The hit Broadway show, winner of eight Tonys and a Grammy, comes to movie theaters for a special five-day engagement. “The show travels to the underworld and back again with liquified grace,” wrote Times theater critic Charles McNulty. “Unfurling like a dream, ‘Hadestown’ speaks most eloquently through its sultry jazz score.” With Reeve Carney as Orpheus André De Shields as Hermes, Amber Gray as Persephone, Eva Noblezada as Eurydice and Patrick Page as Hades. Friday through Wednesday, theaters everywhere. bleeckerstreetmedia.com
— Kevin Crust
Culture news and the SoCal scene
The Hollywood Bowl during a summer concert.
(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)
The Hollywood Bowl recently debuted its biggest sound system upgrade in decades (featuring AI-powered vocal isolation and immersive, surround-sound), and Times classical music critic Mark Swed weighed in on why audiences should be careful of what they wish for. Still, the jury is out: “It is far too soon to say what ways the fabulous new Bowl sound system, which happens to be AI-endowed, might become friend and/or foe. In the first two L.A. Phil classical concerts, the white speakers brought out wonders and caused problems. But the minimal Bowl rehearsal time allows little opportunity to fine-tune,” Swed writes.
Swed also attended a showing of two of Yoko Ono’s famous performance pieces at REDCAT (in collaboration with the Broad, which is currently showing a major Ono retrospective). Titled “Sky Piece” and “Cut Piece” the music-driven works featured compositions by Ono’s friend and collaborator John Cage (Swed writes about the pair’s complicated relationship in New York during the 1960s). Swed also extols “Cut Piece” as performed bythe artist known as MPA, who sat stoically as the audience lined up to cut patches of her clothing off piece by piece.
Sean Luc Rogers and James Tupper in “F— Strangers” at the Echo Theater Company.
(Cooper Bates)
Times theater critic Charles McNulty headed to Echo Theater Company to see playwright Erik Patterson’s “F— Strangers,” directed by Echo Theater Company founding artistic director Chris Fields. McNulty found the show, which features scene after scene of intimate encounters, “intriguing and frustrating in equal measure.”
“It’s over 8 feet tall, nearly 11 feet wide and travels by 53-foot semitrailer. It’s covered in more than 20,000 beads and weighs almost 1 ton — or about 2,000 pounds,” writes The Times’ Eloise Rollins-Fife in her charming profile of “Gillian,” the chandelier featured in “Phantom of the Opera’s” current North American tour.” “And eight times a week, it’s dropped atop the heads of people who pay for the privilege — just a few feet short of actually hitting anyone.” “Phantom” is currently playing the Hollywood Pantages Theatre before it moves on to Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa.
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Kihun Yoon, Michael J. Hawk, Nicholas Brownlee and Salmir Pirgu, from left, perform during an L.A. Opera dress rehearsal for Barrie Kosky’s “La Bohéme” at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion on Sept. 12, 2019.
(Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)
Bernard A. Greenberg, a founding board member and former chairman of L.A. Opera, has died at 95. Throughout his life Greenberg was a devoted opera fan and a champion of establishing a dedicated opera company in the city, which ultimately led to the 1986 creation of L.A. Opera. As a philanthropist, civic leader and arts advocate, Greenberg dedicated more than seven decades to steering L.A. Opera and creating the renowned company that it is today. He served on the board of directors for 40 years and held almost every major leadership position during that time. He and his wife, Lenore, also founded the Bernard A. and Lenore S. Greenberg Opera Fund — an endowment that continues to support some of the company’s most vital work.
“If anyone could be called the founder of LA Opera, it is Bernie Greenberg,” said Keith R. Leonard, Jr., Chairman of LA Opera’s Board of Directors in a statement about Greenberg’s death. “For more than 70 years, he devoted his extraordinary wisdom, leadership and generosity to building this company into the institution that serves our audiences today. Bernie believed deeply that opera could enrich lives and strengthen our community, and he worked tirelessly to make that vision a reality. His legacy is woven into every chapter of our history, and all of us at LA Opera are profoundly grateful for his friendship, his guidance and his unwavering commitment to this company.”
IAMA Theatre Company has announced its 2026-2027 season, including three world premieres, as well as its ninth New Works Festival, featuring a variety of new plays by fresh talent. The season kicks off with “Bobby Robotowitz” by Matt Schatz and directed by Casey Stangl, which will be performed from Oct. 15-Nov. 23 in two secret venues — one on the Westside in October and one on the Eastside in November. (When you buy a ticket you find out the location.) The season will end with IAMA’s first collaboration with Geffen Playhouse: the world premiere of “Closing Costs” by Grace McLeod, which was originally developed during IAMA’s 2024-2025 Emerging Playwrights Lab. For the full season lineup, and to buy tickets, click here.
Ukraine replaced its top military and political defence personnel in the past week even as its armed forces arguably achieved their best performance in three years.
Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov’s ouster on July 15 was followed six days later by the replacement of Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskii. Both men were followed out the door by some of their most capable lieutenants.
Ukraine seemed to have found a winning formula, making 2026 Russia’s worst year of the war for manpower losses, territory and economic performance at home.
Some 193,500 Russian troops have been killed or seriously wounded so far this year, said Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence – averaging losses of 32,000 a month for the first time, according to Syrskii – and Ukraine’s Foreign Intelligence Service estimates Moscow is unable to reach recruitment targets.
This pain has produced a net gain of just 81.1sq km for Russia, according to the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank that assesses territorial movements using geolocated open sources, and the trend of gains to losses is improving in Ukraine’s favour.
If June was a disastrous month for the Russian operation, netting it just 30sq km, July has so far been worse, with Russian forces making net losses of 1.6sq km a day, according to the ISW.
Meanwhile, Russia’s war economy, which boomed in 2022-24, has seen growth this year flatten at just 0.2 percent, Russian President Vladimir Putin admitted.
Ukraine has replaced defence ministers and commanders-in-chief before, but this was the first simultaneous shake-up of the war and seems to have come amid an internal debate about strategy.
On the day after Fedorov’s ouster, which produced street protests against the move, Syrskii spoke of “an effective strategy that is currently demonstrating concrete results”.
A day after his own sacking, Syrskii wrote a column on the Militarnyi news website saying, “The Minister should not … be a war strategist. This is not his task and not his responsibility.”
“War strategy, planning of operations, the situation on the front — by law, I am responsible to the Supreme Commander-in-Chief,” he said.
The nub of disagreement seems to have been unmanned warfare.
Syrskii created the world’s first Unmanned Systems Forces, the SBS, and fought the world’s first war in which First Person View (FPV) drones caused an estimated 95 percent of enemy casualties.
Ukraine’s middle and long-distance drones have devastated Russian logistics and oil supply, slackening the force it can deliver to the front.
Fedorov pressed hard in this direction during his six months on the job, buying more drones in four months than the Defence Ministry had bought in all of 2025, and even spending soldiers’ payroll money to swell orders.
Syrskii disagreed. “Against us is an enemy that is superior in everything, who fights, in particular, with artillery, aviation, and infantry. I cannot transfer a million-strong army ‘to drones’ in two months and say: now we are fighting like this,” he wrote on Militarnyi.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who recently told The Financial Times that “the sky will be decisive in this war,” said on July 20 he was “continuing to determine what adjustments should be made to Ukraine’s defence strategy and what priorities in production and supply to the military must be implemented as quickly as possible”.
What is Ukraine doing that is working?
Ukraine developed the use of short-range drones on the battlefield to reduce its own exposure and lower casualties. That strategy has yielded results, effectively halting Russia’s advance this year.
Syrskii said Ukraine gained more territory than it lost in May, the month in which it began to strike Russian logistics using the overland route from Russia into its southern regions of Zaporizhia and Kherson.
By the end of May, Ukraine was also disrupting logistics in the eastern regions of Luhansk and Donetsk, forcing Russia to float fuel and materiel across the Sea of Azov to Crimea. Ukraine then targeted those ships.
Since June 6, Ukraine’s commander of the Unmanned Systems Forces Robert Brovdi said, Ukraine had disabled 196 fuel tankers and destroyed three-quarters of Russia’s ferry capacity across the Kerch Strait, the closest crossing from Russia’s Krasnodar Krai to Crimea.
As an added benefit, Brovdi said, Russia had been forced to redeploy 200 units of its own unmanned forces command, called Rubicon, to protect an equal number of ships, weakening its frontline.
“That’s how many vessels will be destroyed by SBS “Birds” in the Black and Azov Seas during the remainder of July and the first half of August – it’s a matter of honor,” he wrote on his Telegram messaging channel.
The SBS has also struck 117 electrical substations and power stations this month, Brovdi said, most of them in Crimea, plunging much of the peninsula into darkness.
Apart from hampering the armed forces and the economy, that has been a drain on Moscow, which was earmarking five billion rubles ($64mn) in compensation for darkened homes and furloughed employees, in addition to measures announced the week before.
Ukrainian Navy spokesman Dmytro Pletenchuk said Russian shipping had been paralysed in the Sea of Azov, and that the Kerch Bridge was being allowed to stand “so that the Russians can leave the Ukrainian Crimea,” because “it will reduce our losses during possible future actions directly in Crimea.”
Ukraine’s long-range strikes this week destroyed a Tupolev-95 strategic bomber at the Engels airfield 800km from Ukraine, and a MiG-29 fighter plane at the Khalino airfield in Kursk, in addition to numerous air defence radars and launchers.
Ukraine also struck the Slavneft-Yanos refinery in Yaroslavl, which it described as the largest “in the central part of the country”.
In a shift from its usual military and energy targets, Ukraine struck four warehouses of the Wildberries online retail group, which it suspects Russian recruits use to order much of their protective gear and weapons.
Russia has retaliated this month by targeting Ukraine’s port infrastructure on the Black Sea, to prevent it from exporting the grain harvest.
Container shipper Maersk said on July 22 it was diverting container traffic originally intended to be offloaded at Odesa or Chornomorsk to Romania’s Constanta. This also meant that Ukrainian outbound container traffic waiting in Chornomorsk could not be loaded unless moved to Constanta.
Ukraine has retaliated in turn, claiming to have bottled up Russia’s grain exports coming down the Don river to the Sea of Azov, via which Russia exports 30 percent of its grain.
Russia is also retaliating by increasing the number of ballistic missiles in its nightly strikes on Ukraine’s cities.
Since June 26, Russia has included missiles in almost every strike, contrary to past practice, when it held back its missiles for one massive combined missile and drone strike a week.
Ukraine says it has learned how to intercept 95 percent of drones and 87 percent of cruise missiles, but fewer than half of Russia’s ballistics.
“You hope that ballistics will do for you what everything else has failed to do,” Zelenskyy wrote to Putin in June.
An analysis by Militarnyi suggested Russia was dipping into its missile reserves to achieve this, using more than its monthly production capacity in the first two weeks of July.
Katie continued: “I’ve been looking at all of her videos, I don’t know if it’s me or if anyone else thinks it, and I say it how it is, she looks rigid.
“She doesn’t look like she’s all there at the minute.”
Sophie remarked: “Well she is over 70,” as Katie jumped in: “She’s not that old Soph.”
Sophie insisted: “She is!,” before deciding to Google what her actual age is and finding out she’s 67.
She came out with Ronaldo and RonaldinhoCredit: APMadonna sang some of her hit songsCredit: Getty
Throwing a compliment her way, Katie said: “She is good for 67!
“When I see her trying to climb on tables and I’m like, ‘ahhh, she looks rigid’ but that will make sense, I thought she was younger.
Madonna’s performance saw Brazilian legends Ronaldo and Ronaldinho make a surprise appearance alongside her.
Ronaldo was behind the wheel as Madonna was driven out onto the pitch while she sung her classic hit Music.
And the legendary striker’s former Brazil team-mate Ronaldinho, sat in the passenger seat.
Madonna shook up the stadium with her choice of outfit as she wore a plunging silver bra, a sheer pink lace waist-cincher corset, and pink silk bloomer shorts.
She completed the outfit with thigh-high lace-trimmed tights, towering purple leather lace-up boots, and wrapped sporty sunglasses.
She transformed the pitch into a clubby discotheque, wearing the custom Saint Laurent look.
The Vogue singer wasn’t the only performer to take to the stage as BTS, Justin Bieber and Shakira and Burna Boy also lit up the stadium.
The final saw Spain take on Argentina as Spain proved victorious with a 1-0 score following extra time.
The Broad’s “Yoko Ono: Music of the Mind” is more mind than music. She opens your mind; you make the music. Look into an empty “Box of Smile” and maybe you will. “Give Peace a Chance” — of course.
She breaks, and she mends, and not just your mind. Something tells me the Broad won’t go along with Ono’s “Collecting Piece II” from 1963, which has the following instructions: “Break a contemporary museum into pieces with the means you have chosen. Collect the pieces and put it together with glue.”
That’s a smile piece, too, although Ono looks all business holding a crystalline hammer on the catalog cover photo. I still smile when I recall how her piece for an orchestra that asks the players to bang their heads against a stage wall utterly delighted an audience and musicians at a performance in New York. Only Ono remained deadpan.
There were more smiles Saturday evening when The Broad, in collaboration with REDCAT across the street, presented a program of two Ono performance pieces. It began with six members of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra playing Boccherini’s First Sextet. This happens to be the first work ever written for pairs of violins, violas and cellos, as an expression of freedom that, in 1776, felt revolutionary.
Perhaps that is why LACO chose the Italian composer to represent a contemporary revolutionary artist in the wake of our 250th July 4. The actual piece being performed was Ono’s “Sky Piece for Jesus Christ,” in which she instructs an orchestra, whatever size (although she tended to like something larger than a sextet), to begin by playing a work, say, by Mozart.
It doesn’t much matter what is chosen, because at the premiere in a 1965 Fluxus concert at Carnegie Recital Hall, Ono and a couple of colleagues crept on stage and began wrapping the musicians in gauze. After a few minutes, they could no longer play.
Amusing, yes, but this is also an act of silencing, maybe even passive-aggressive violence. You smile (and a player or two at REDCAT couldn’t suppress a smile), but you don’t feel so hot doing so.
Members of the L.A. Chamber Orchestra covered in gauze while performing Yoko Ono’s “Sky Piece to Jesus Christ” at REDCAT.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
There is, in fact, more to this “Sky Piece” than meets the smile. Ono meant Jesus Christ to stand for John Cage. Cage was a key inspiration for Ono’s art. When the Beatles broke up and Ono and John Lennon moved to New York in the late 1960s, they first wanted to be as far from the limelight as possible, Ono having been demonized in the popular press over supposedly breaking up the Beatles (she didn’t!!!!). Cage found them a small two-bedroom apartment next door to him and his partner, Merce Cunningham, in their modest West Village building (a significant fact curiously ignored in the otherwise illuminating new documentary “One to One: John and Yoko” about the couple’s new New York life there).
Ono and Cage had a long, meaningful but not always easy relationship. Cage, who wrote music to suppress his ego, had a problem with Ono’s exhibitionism. In 1962, he dedicated a piece to Ono titled “0’00” (4’33” No. 2),” an Ono-like composition with a single sentence of instruction: “In a situation provided with maximum amplification (no feedback) perform a disciplined action.”
Cage later added other qualifications. One insistence is that the action should fulfill an obligation to others. However much Ono’s “Sky Piece” comes across as a playful Cage rejoinder, Ono did, the year before in Kyoto, create what could be called a version of “0’00”,” although an actual silent piece.
This is her famous “Cut Piece,” which the performance artist known as MPA performed at REDCAT following “Sky Piece.” It was clearly the draw that caused the program to be sold out months in advance.
There are many meanings that have been inscribed to “Cut Piece,” in which Ono invited the audience to come on stage and, with a pair scissors, cut off a small piece of her dress. Along with questioning social and sexual taboos, feminism and acts of aggression, Ono also confronts her own issues with ego from a Buddhist perspective, just as Cage had.
“Cut Piece” has a central place in Ono’s work as do film clips of her performing it in the Broad exhibition. Ono sits without a trace of emotion as she is stripped bare. Attention is directed away from her to the cutters. But the action is nullified by the fact that Ono assumes the stoic posture of the Buddhist monks seen in the news at the time setting themselves aflame in protest of the Vietnam War.
War had, indeed, inspired Ono in her shocking, exhibitionist (however ego-denying) disciplined action. It’s fulfillment of an obligation to others is, like so much in Ono, a two-edged sword forcing us — be we active cutters or passive observers — into contemplation of violence.
MPA’s performance was extraordinary. She introduced “Cut Piece” by noting that in Ono’s six performances over a half-century, the last in 2003 in response to the Gulf War, anger had turned into something more gracious. It was her way of saying to a new generation, give peace a chance.
To begin her own performance, MPA announced that she has retained Ono’s intent to perform “Cut Piece” in time of war. She said take the square of clothing and honor it, let it mean something to you.
At the few performances I’ve seen of “Cut Piece,” there has typically been audience hesitation at first. Not this time. What looked like almost half the full house immediately walked on stage and lined up. In the age of Instagram, everyone’s 15 minutes of fame has turned into an eternity. The cut piece of fabric — a custom garment designed by Victor Barragá — becomes proof of not missing out.
Most cutters approached MPA self-consciously as if walking to a casket at a funeral, although a few acted more like performers themselves wanting to be seen. Through it all, some 40 minutes, MPA didn’t move a muscle. It was as if she had abstracted herself from scissors and spectators, projecting not so much courage as strength. She inspired silence.
An evening that had begun as silencing a smiling sextet ended in a sublime effort to open the mind beyond body and music to give peace a chance.
On Monday, more than 40 fake trophies were stacked at the base of a 10-foot-tall “Iran War Participation Trophy” made for President Trump and placed on the National Mall by the anonymous satirical activist group Secret Handshake.
The new participation trophy is equipped with a plaque that reads:
“We hereby award President Donald J. Trump this participation trophy for his enthusiastic involvement in the Iran War. While some concern themselves with military strategy, diplomacy, or measurable outcomes, President Trump demonstrated the courage to participate regardless of the final score.
As recipient of this prestigious award, President Trump joins the ranks of children everywhere who receive recognition for simply showing up. We join you in celebrating this remarkable achievement.”
Secret Handshake noted in a letter to The Times that the installation serves as the nation’s first official “Donald Trump Trophy Donation Center, encouraging the public to drop off their own personal trophies, medals, and ribbons at the base of the monument for The President to claim as his own. Together, we hope that if enough trophies are donated he will be perceived as a winner and not feel the need to bomb other countries.”
A representative for Secret Handshake said the dozens of donated awards include certificates, trophies, medals, a wrestling belt and a Kennedy Center sash.
“I’m really thrilled to see people taking an active interest in joining in and bringing their own creativity and having their own voice heard by adding trophies to the base of this instillation,” the representative wrote in an email. “I think it’s exciting and I think when people can take a moment to tangibly express their opinion about this government’s war it helps to create a reminder that we aren’t alone. This isn’t normal. This shouldn’t just be accepted at face value.”
One of the best offerings is titled, “First Place in ‘I Know a Pool guy,’” and reads in part, “Participation trophy for Donald Trump in recognition of his renovation of the nation’s historic reflecting pool to more clearly reflect his efforts to criminalize the touching of a public monument in order to cover up the damage he caused …” The award also recognizes Trump’s “development of American Flag Blue pool liner, which he said was indestructible (unless cut by left wing radical terrorist vandals).”
Secret Handshake has extended an offer to “hand deliver both the participation trophy and all smaller trophies to the Trump Administration for The President’s glowing collection of fake accolades.”
I’m Arts editor Jessica Gelt taking First Place in time wasted mulching my garden in the heat. This is your arts and culture news for the week.
You’re reading Essential Arts
Our critics and reporters guide you through events and happenings of L.A.
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The week ahead: A curated calendar
FRIDAY
“Etai & Felipe Pantone: Parallel Practices: Tailored Structures & Kinetic Surfaces” at albertz benda.
Etai & Felipe Pantone “Parallel Practices: Tailored Structures & Kinetic Surfaces” combines Pantone’s wall-based artworks and a series of collaborative design pieces to challenge ideas of use, intimacy and lived experience, placing each work in the interconnected artistic system. Opening, 6:30–9:30 p.m. Friday; exhibit continues through Aug. 8. albertz benda, 8260 Marmont Ln. albertzbenda.com
New Swan Shakespeare Festival The Bard is back in the O.C. at the troupe’s open-air, Elizabethan-style portable theater with “The Merry Wives of Windsor Cove,” a musical adaptation set in a 1950s SoCal beach town, in repertory with “Romeo & Juliet,” the classic tragedy reimagined amid the scarcity of the Dust Bowl. “Merry Wives,” 8 p.m. Friday, Saturday, Thursday and various dates through Aug. 30; “Romeo,” 8 p.m. Sunday, Wednesday and various dates through Aug. 29. New Swan Shakespeare Festival, Inner Ring Road, UC Irvine. newswanshakespeare.com/
SATURDAY
“Cyrano” at the Old Globe, San Diego.
(Ben Wiseman)
Cyrano An irreverent take on “Cyrano de Bergerac” by Edmond Rostand, adapted by Jason O’Connell and Brenda Withers, directed by Annie Tippe. Previews, 8 p.m. Saturday; 7 p.m. Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday; opening night, Thursday, 7 p.m.; continues through Aug. 9. The Old Globe, 1363 Old Globe Way in Balboa Park, San Diego. TheOldGlobe.org
F**king Strangers The world premiere of a dark comedy about love and loneliness by Erik Patterson, directed by Chris Fields. Previews, 8 p.m. Friday; 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; 4 p.m. Sundays; through Aug. 24. Echo Theater Company, Atwater Village Theater, 3269 Casitas Ave. echotheatercompany.com
Yoko Ono’s ‘Sky Piece to Jesus Christ’ + ‘Cut Piece’ A six-piece classical music ensemble from the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra will be gradually wrapped in gauze until the musicians can no longer play their instruments in “Sky Piece,” first presented to the public by Ono at Carnegie Recital Hall in New York in 1965. In “Cut Piece,” performed by artist MPA, the audience will be invited to cut away pieces of the artist’s clothing to take with them while the artist sits silently onstage. The performance was premiered by Ono at Yamaichi Hall in Kyoto in 1964. 6 p.m. Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday. REDCAT, 631 W. 2nd St., downtown L.A. redcat.org
Marvelous Musicals Professional and student dancers perform numbers from classic shows to modern favorites. 6:30 p.m. Irvine Barclay Theatre, 4242 Campus Dr. thebarclay.org
Koak, “Portrait of Myself, the Shell,” 2024. Flashe and acrylic on linen; diptych. 74 x 118 inches
(Photo by Chris Grunder. Courtesy of the artist and Perrotin.)
Summerlove Sensation A group show featuring Isabelle Albuquerque, Alex Anderson, Mustafa Ali Clayton, Gregor Hildebrandt, Susumu Kamijo, Rae Klein, Koak, Asuka Anastacia Ogawa, Katherina Olschbaur, Jean-Michel Othoniel, Andrew J. Park, Gahee Park, Aya Takano, Honor Titus and Pilar Zeta. Opening, 6-9 p.m. Saturday; exhibition continues through Aug. 28. Perrotin Los Angeles, 5036 W. Pico Blvd. perrotin.com
A Weekend With Robert Rodriguez The multi-hyphenate filmmaker will be on hand for anniversary screenings of “From Dusk Til Dawn” (1996) and “Spy Kids”(2001) with the filmmaker in person and performing with his musical groups, Chingon Band and The Rodriguez Family Spy Band. “From Dusk,” 7 p.m. Saturday. “Spy Kids.” 2 p.m. Sunday. Academy Museum, 6067 Wilshire Blvd. academymuseum.org
SUNDAY
Tensions, Personified Readings of four short plays by John Binder are presented as part of the Odyssey’s Thresholds of Invention series. 4 p.m. Odyssey Ensemble Theatre, 2055 South Sepulveda Blvd. odysseytheatre.com
TUESDAY
Ann Noble, left, and Robin McDonald in “Dead Man.”
(Carolina Rodriguez)
Dead Man Ann Noble writes, directs and performs in this clown noir murder mystery co-produced by Theatre Ghosts. Co-starring Christian Haines, Jeffrey Johnson and Robin McDonald. 8 p.m. Tuesdays, through Aug. 4. Echo Theater Company at Atwater Village Theatre, 3269 Casitas Ave. echotheatercompany.ludus.com
UCBackrooms A one-night-only immersive, participatory comedy experience turns the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre into an escape room. Shows begin every 15 mins., 6-7:30 p.m. Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, 5919 Franklin Ave. ucbcomedy.com
THURSDAY
Falsettos The O.C. theater company The Wayward Artist presents William Finn and James Lapine’s Tony Award-winning, sung-through musical set in 1979 and 1981 about a Jewish man who leaves his wife and son for his male lover, and the ensuing upheaval to their lives. 8 p.m. Thursday, July 24-26 and July 30-Aug. 2. Irvine United Congregational Church, 4915 Alton Pkwy. thewaywardartist.org
Arts anywhere
Jason Huber, from left, Scott G. Jackson and Dana Dewes in “The Price” at Pacific Resident Theatre.
(Ian Cardamone)
The Price The critically acclaimed production of the Arthur Miller drama at Pacific Resident Theater closes this weekend. “‘The Price,’ directed by Elina de Santos, thrives in the intimacy of Pacific Resident Theatre’s main stage,” wrote Times theater critic Charles McNulty when he reviewed it in April. “There’s not a moment in the play that isn’t deeply inhabited by a cast that understands the value of listening.” But don’t worry if you are unable to make it to the Westside. The final two shows will be available from the League of Live Stream Theater for $35, which includes a 24-hour on-demand replay. 2 p.m. Saturday; 3 p.m Sunday. Pacific Resident Theatre, 703 Venice Blvd., Venice; streaming at lolst.org/theprice
— Kevin Crust
Culture news and the SoCal scene
Miller Friedman, Ashley Maimes, Jonathan Blandino and Torianna Turnbow in Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” at Will Geer’s Theatricum Botanicum.
(Ian Flanders)
Summer is the ideal time to see theater out of doors (well, maybe not this broiling week, but at other times), and Times theater critic Charles McNulty has compiled this breezy list of “11 enchanting places to see outdoor theater in Southern California.” Spoiler alert: Shakespeare is well-represented, but remember, the Bard’s work was originally staged in an open-air theater.
McNulty also headed to Pasadena Playhouse for the opening of the two-person hip-hop musical “Mexodus,” which tells the little-known story of an Underground Railroad route to Mexico. McNulty was taken with the show, which arrived at the Playhouse after its award-winning off-Broadway run, calling it “hands down the most charming, innovative and warmly embracing new musical I’ve seen in the last year.”
Artist Betye Saar is photographed at her home in Laurel Canyon on Tuesday, June 30, 2026.
(Christina House/Los Angeles Times)
Betye Saar turns 100 on July 30, but the famed artist is still more interested in creating new work than discussing her groundbreaking legacy. Times contributor Tara Anne Dalbow wrote this lovely profile of Saar after a visit to her vibrant home studio in Laurel Canyon. “There are certain people who redefined what was a very narrow definition of American art, and Betye is absolutely one of them,” curator Zoé Whitley told Dalbow.
Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for the Performing Arts — better known as the Soraya — on the campus of California State University Northridge.
(The Soraya)
If you’re interested in buying single tickets to shows that are part of the Soraya’s upcoming season, now is the time. The venue just opened up its access from membership presale to the general public. Sutton Foster, Dance Theatre of Harlem and Audra McDonald are all making their Soraya debuts, as is the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
The Chinese leader called for more international cooperation in developing the technology at a conference in Shanghai.
Published On 17 Jul 202617 Jul 2026
Artificial intelligence should not be dominated by one country, Chinese President Xi Jinping has said, urging international cooperation on development at a major conference in Shanghai.
Xi also emphasised the importance of a “people-centred” approach to AI technology in his keynote address at the opening ceremony of the World Artificial Intelligence Conference on Friday.
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The conference showcases the cutting-edge technology Xi hopes will soon rival that of the United States.
Chinese AI models are gaining ground on the most powerful offerings from the US, attracting global users with lower costs.
But how to govern the booming sector has become a topic of debate amid concerns over the deployment of AI in military combat and its use by hackers or criminals.
In his address, Xi spoke of China’s role in ensuring equitable access to AI capacity-building for developing countries to prevent the creation of “new historical injustices”.
To that end, he announced China’s plans to cooperate with international bodies, including from Africa, Latin America, Asia and BRICS countries, to provide AI-related opportunities.
“AI development should not be a solo performance by a single country, but a symphony of international cooperation,” Xi said. “We should jointly oppose overstretching the national security concept in the field of AI or placing one country’s security over that of others.”
‘Ensure AI is always under human control’
The US and European Union have imposed restrictions on Chinese tech imports, citing national security concerns, while recent tussles between Washington and American AI labs have raised questions about who controls access to top technology.
In May, the US Commerce Department issued a notice affirming its restrictions on shipments of semiconductors to subsidiaries of Chinese companies located outside China amid concerns about loopholes in Washington’s export control regime.
The guidance said its licensing requirements for the export of advanced AI chips applied to all businesses with headquarters or a parent company in China.
At Friday’s conference, Xi also stressed the need for a “people-centred” approach to AI with humans at the wheel.
“We should put in place laws and regulations, technological monitoring, early warning, and emergency response systems, in order to … ensure AI is always under human control,” he said.
AI has become a strategic pillar of China’s industrial policy, driven by state investment aimed at building a domestic ecosystem, from chip production to consumer use.
Daily consumption in China of “tokens” – the industry unit of AI usage – has increased a thousandfold over the past two years, according to state media citing officials.
As Al Jazeera reported earlier, China, while lagging behind the US in access to the most cutting-edge semiconductors, holds the edge in powering the huge data centres that run on AI chips.
A typical data centre can consume as much electricity as 100,000 households, while next-generation “hyperscale” facilities can gobble up as much power as two million homes, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).
China’s access to an abundant supply of cheap electricity places it in the ideal position to meet such colossal energy demands.
It already generates more than twice as much electricity as the US, a lead that is expected to widen amid an aggressive state-led investment in the country’s energy grid.
England scored through Anthony Gordon in the 55th minute and held the lead for half an hour.
Fernandez struck a brilliant equaliser in the 85th minute, after Messi picked him out near the edge of the penalty area.
Lautaro Martinez then won the game in stoppage time with a header from Messi’s cross.
Between Gordon’s goal and Argentina’s equaliser, England had only 12% of the ball which meant they spent most of the second half defending in deep positions.
It became a tussle of Argentina’s attack versus England’s defence, which lived a charmed life for a while.
Argentina persisted though, with Messi exploiting weaknesses in England’s structure and flaws in individual players’ habits to inspire his side’s comeback.
After getting some joy against Messi in the early stages of the game, Anderson’s front-footed approach became less effective with Messi adapting on the fly to his direct opponent’s playing style.
In fact, Messi began to use Anderson’s aggression against him. He held the ball for as long as possible, drawing the 23-year-old out, before flicking the ball around the corner for team-mates in the knowledge there was now space to attack in the zone Anderson had vacated.
LAS VEGAS — The door opened for Arthur Kaluma to show his worth for the Lakers in the NBA Summer League on Saturday night.
He did so in a big way.
Kaluma had 34 points and five rebounds during the Lakers’ 91-70 win over the Dallas Mavericks at the Thomas & Mack Center.
He was 11 for 16 from the field and six for 10 from three-point range.
With Lakers rookie guard Cameron Carr unable to play because of a right thumb contusion, Kaluma took over the scoring role. Carr, the 24th pick in the NBA draft, is averaging 17 points per game.
“Cam doesn’t play tonight, so he gets a little bit more minutes, gets a couple more touches,” said Lakers Summer League coach Ty Abbott about Kaluma. “But he’s done a really good job of making the most of it when he doesn’t have actions run for him. So the way that he’s been able to stay ready, find windows for himself has kept him in a rhythm. So, on a night like tonight, when we can run some actions for him, he knocks them down and just plays out of his mind. It was great.”
Kaluma said he was “a little nervous” but his three-point shooting said otherwise.
“When [teammate] Jon Elmore came down and he pitched it back to me for a three … I just knew when it came off my hand it was cash,” Kaluma said. “So I said, ‘Yeah, I’m hot.’ It went on from there.”
Late in the fourth quarter, Kaluma lined up a three-pointer, setting his feet and scoring from 29 feet out. He flashed three fingers and smiled. His teammates on the bench stood and cheered, as did the fans.
“We have such a great group of guys this year at Summer League and going through this it’s hard to get that camaraderie with a group,” Kaluma said. “But I feel like everybody wants to see everybody succeed and I felt that tonight. I’m not going to lie to you. They tell me to shoot the ball. I passed up a couple of shots and they were mad at me the other day.”
Kaluma played for the South Bay Lakers in the G League last season. He averaged 14.6 points per game, 4.9 rebounds and shot 55% from the field, 37% from three-point range.
“The G can get grimey, you know what I’m saying? It’s a time where everybody is trying to fight for a position and there is a certain hunger that you have to have in order to be successful in the G,” Kaluma said. “And I feel like that drive that I had my first year in it pushed me into this summer to really get better and work on my game and come here and have the opportunity to perform.”
Kaluma wasn’t alone in helping the Lakers improve to 2-0 in Summer League play.
Adou Thiero ran the court, took a lob pass from Chris Mañon and threw down a two-handed dunk. He had another solid outing with 15 points and four rebounds. He shot just four for 12 from the field, but was a plus-15.
But the night belonged to Kaluma.
“I pride myself on the defensive end,” he said. “I know I got hot offensively, but the shot was just falling today, you know what I’m saying? My game is three-and-D. I lock-up on defense and I know I can hit open shots. I just got hot today and I’m not going to try to let it get to my head.”
I was in New York City with my family on the day Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce tied the knot at Madison Square Garden. Although our hotel was a few short blocks from the venue, which was surrounded by swooning fans, we managed to steer clear. Instead, we headed for the Nederlander Theatre on 41st Street to catch “Schmigadoon.”
The show, which took the Tony Award for best musical last month, was at the top of my must-see list, along with two other recent Tony winners — “Death of a Salesman” and “Giant,” — which I wasn’t sure would be as appealing to my 10-year-old.
There is a certain magic to Broadway despite the crush of commercial horrors a person must wade through in Times Square to get to a show, and “Schmigadoon” did not disappoint. I don’t remember the last time I laughed so hard during a live show. The jokes about a modern couple trapped in a magical town stuck more than 200 years in the past hit the mark with just the right amount of bawdy fun.
SNL alumn Ana Gasteyer is pitch perfect as the town’s vengeful moral crusader Mildred Layton, but the real hero of the show is McKenzie Kurtz, who plays Betsy, a love-hungry young farm girl desperate to catch a man and get married. Kurtz’s comic delivery is so over-the-top that laughter is the only option — and once you start laughing with her you can’t stop.
Like most Broadway musicals , “Schmigadoon” features an ensemble cast that represents the very best of the best when it comes to dancing and singing. It’s clear these actors like one another and know that they have a good thing. There is joy on the stage that transfers effortlessly to the audience. It’s one of those only-in-New-York experiences to be treasured. The show is scheduled to run through Jan. 3.
When we stepped out into the night after the show, we found it had rained. The temperature that day had reached 99 degrees and the city had wilted, but the downpour caused the mercury to plummet a good 10 degrees. The lights of Broadway sparkled in puddles as we made our way down the slick sidewalk, singing the show’s most catchy tune, “It’s not a metaphor, oh no it’s something more, it’s a literal bridge.”
I’m Arts editor Jessica Gelt wishing you a summer vacation that is also a journey. This is your arts and culture news for the week.
You’re reading Essential Arts
Our critics and reporters guide you through events and happenings of L.A.
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Arts anywhere
FRIDAY
John Travolta listens for evidence which he hopes will trap a killer in Brian De Palma’s 1981 suspense drama, “Blow Out.”
(Filmways Pictures)
Blow Out The Academy Museum’s Summer Thrills series features a 35mm screening of Brian De Palma’s 1981 thriller about a movie sound tech who unwittingly uncovers a political assassination. John Travolta, Nancy Allen, John Lithgow and Dennis Franz star. 7:30 p.m. Academy Museum, 6067 Wilshire Blvd. academymuseum.org
SATURDAY
Defiantly Joni The artist collective Muse/ique, in partnership with Center Theatre Group, presents a celebration of singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell, featuring Chris Pierce, Effie Passero, the DC6 Singers Collective and the Muse/ique Orchestra led by artistic and music director Rachael Worby. 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday; 7:30 p.m. Thursday, July 16 and July 17; 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. July 18; and 2:30 p.m. July 19. Mark Taper Forum, 135 N. Grand Ave., downtown L.A. muse-ique.com
Installation view of Alex Hubbard Abstract or Regular? at Regen Projects, Los Angeles July 11–August 15, 2026
(Evan Bedford, courtesy the artist and Regen Projects)
Alex Hubbard The exhibition “Abstract or Regular?” features video animations projected on wood cutouts by the Los Angeles-based artist, as well as a painting that demonstrates experimentation with the boundary between representational form and abstraction. Opening, 5-7 p.m. Saturday; exhibition continues through Aug. 15. Regen Projects, 6750 Santa Monica Blvd., L.A. regenprojects.com
The Shoebox Museum: A Private Immersive Experience A “narrative video game” is brought to life by theatrical and sensory vignettes that enhance the interactive audience’s examination of artifacts and memories of a past relationship. Shows begin every 30-45 minutes, 1-10 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays, through July 26. Afterhours Theater, 5628 Vineland Ave., North Hollywood. eventbrite.com
Earnestine Phillips, from left, Cynthia Kania, Susan Angelo and Ellen Geer rehearse “Waiting in the Wings.”
(Ian Flanders)
Waiting in the Wings Noël Coward’s 1960 play about a feud between two female residents in a retirement home for actors joins “Romeo & Juliet,” “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and “Treasure Island” in the Theatricum Botanicum’s repertory season. 7:30 p.m. Saturday, through Oct. 3 (check schedule for specific days and times). Theatricum Botanicum, 1419 N. Topanga Canyon Blvd., Topanga. theatricum.com
SUNDAY
Journey Through Cahuenga: Indigenous Storytelling and Dance Generations of Native narratives are expressed through music, poetry and dance. Scheduled participants include Dennis Garcia (Fernandeño-Tataviam, Chumash, and Tongva), Chad Hamill/ čnaq’ymi (Spokane), Eric Hernandez (Lumbee), and Carolyn M. Dunn, Ph.D. (Cherokee, Muscogee Creek, Seminole, Cajun, French Creole, and Tunica-Biloxi). Hosted by Tonantzín Carmelo (Tongva). An LA Soundscapes Family Concert featuring a pre-show activity and participatory artmaking. Doors open at 10 a.m. 11:30 a.m. The Ford, 2580 Cahuenga Blvd. E., L.A. theford.com
Mahjong Social With Mahjong Mistress A full afternoon begins with a screening of the late Taiwanese American filmmaker Edward Yang’s 1996 film “Mahjong” followed by an open mahjong session for all experience levels led by Mahjong Mistress, a collective of four friends united by their love of the game and its use in fostering cultural connection and conversation. 1:30 p.m. UCLA Hammer Museum, 10899 Wilshire Blvd., Westwood. hammer.ucla.edu
MONDAY
Hudson Hawk A 35th-anniversary 35mm screening of the 1991 Bruce Willis heist satire with director Michael Lehmann and co-screenwriter Daniel Waters; introduced by Larry Karaszewski. 7:30 p.m. Brain Dead Studios, 611 N. Fairfax Ave. studios.wearebraindead.com
TUESDAY
“Apparition, ” circa 1880–1890 by Odilon Redon. Charcoal, powdered charcoal, black chalk, and black and yellow pastel with stumping on brown paper. 20 11/16 × 14 11/16 in.
(Getty Museum)
Odilon Redon: Otherworldly Visions The exhibition includes charcoal drawings, lithographs and pastels by the French artist from the Getty’s collection, revealing the inspirations and imagination that helped create them. Through Oct. 18. Getty Center, 1200 Getty Center Drive, L.A. getty.edu
Harry Dean Stanton: Partly Fiction On what would have been the actor’s 100th birthday, Vidiots welcomes the 2013 documentary’s director Sophie Huber for a screening hosted by Cherry Jones and a conversation with Logan Sparks, writer-producer of Stanton’s final film, “Lucky.” 7:30 p.m. Eagle Theatre, 4884 Eagle Rock Blvd. vidiotsfoundation.org
National Museum of the Aftermath screening series The final screening in the series pairs Reginald Alan Hudlin’s 1994 sci-fi short “Space Traders: Cosmic Slop” with William Greaves’ 1968 meta-documentary hybrid “Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One.” 8 p.m. Oxy Arts, 4757 York Blvd. oxyarts.oxy.edu
Tchaikovsky & Beethoven Cristian Măcelaru conducts the L.A. Phil for Tchaikovsky’s “Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35” (with soloist Leonidas Kavakos on violin) and Beethoven’s “Symphony No. 7 in A major, Op. 92.” 8 p.m. Hollywood Bowl, 2301 N Highland Ave. hollywoodbowl.com
THURSDAY
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring in Concert The Pacific Symphony, soprano Kaitlyn Lusk, voices/LA and Los Angeles Children’s Chorus unite under conductor Ludwig Wicki for the 25th anniversary of Howard Shore’s Academy Award-winning score, performing live as director Peter Jackson’s epic film is projected on a 60-foot screen. 7 p.m. Thursday and Friday; 1 and 7 p.m. Saturday. Peacock Theater, 777 Chick Hearn Court, downtown L.A. peacocktheater.com
Mozart & Brahms Spanish conductor Roberto González-Monjas leads the L.A. Phil on Korngold’s “Straussiana,” Mozart’s “Piano Concerto No. 19 in F major, K. 459” (with pianist Mao Fujita), and Brahms’ “Symphony No. 4 in E minor, Op. 98.” 8 p.m. Hollywood Bowl, 2301 N. Highland Ave. hollywoodbowl.com
— Kevin Crust
Dispatch: Remembering a master actor
Trisha Miller, from left, Josey Montana McCoy, Peter Van Norden and Dan Lin in “Misalliance” at A Noise Within.
(Craig Schwartz)
Peter Van Norden, one of Los Angeles’ most accomplished stage actors, died Wednesday at age 75. A graduate of Colgate University, he worked steadily in film and television, wracking up notable credits (“The Accused,” “St. Elsewhere,” “Murder, She Wrote”) over four decades.
But it was in the classical theater where he distinguished himself with his command of language and depth of human understanding.
He didn’t need to be cast as the star to elevate a production. His textual fluency and incisive, unfussy intelligence set a standard for his fellow company members, who might not be able to match him but couldn’t help gaining inspiration from his veteran example.
What might his Prospero be like, I wondered longingly? Later that year, he got the chance to show me in a rackety Antaeus Theatre Company revival that unfortunately failed to make the most of his poetic gifts.
He was better served by the graceful 2024 production of “Misalliance” at A Noise Within, where he played the wealthy underwear industrialist John Tarleton in a voluble comedy of ideas that proved Van Norden was as adept in crisp, rational, talky idiom of George Bernard Shaw as he was in the more supple iambic pentameter of Shakespeare.
He was slated to appear as Capt. Shotover in Antaeus’ upcoming production of “Heartbreak House,” Shaw’s masterpiece. It was a role he had long wanted to play, and I can’t imagine the part being better cast.
For his heroic service to Los Angeles theater, Van Norden received the 2024 Michael McCarty Recognition Award, honoring Los Angeles–based Actors’ Equity members who have built their lives in the theater. I remember cheering from my desk the moment the announcement landed in my email inbox. Sometimes the award gods get things right.
Van Norden, who is survived by his wife, Wendy, and his son, Robert, a film producer, inspired that kind of hearty, spontaneous, grateful applause. Whenever I saw his name in a theater program, I breathed more easily, knowing that whatever else might happen that evening I would at the very least have the pleasure and the privilege of another Van Norden master class.
— Charles McNulty
Culture news and the SoCal scene
Nael Nacer, from left, Andrea Martin and Susan Pourfar in “Meet the Cartozians” by Talene Monahon at Second Stage Theater.
(Photo: Julieta Cervantes)
Times theater critic Charles McNulty knows a good show when he sees one — but also when he reads one. And this past week he helpfully compiled a list of eight works that he’s read for award consideration — or seen outside of L.A. — that he believes deserve local productions. I’m not going to spoil it for you by listing them here, so you’ll just have to read the story.
Are you a budding artist, or even a seasoned one looking to step up your game? Times contributor Sarah Fensom put together a handy list of seven L.A. figure drawing events and classes that feature unique concepts including high fashion and nude muscle men. Find your perfect match, here.
The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Los Angeles.
(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)
The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art is set to open on Sept. 22, but it announced some exciting news this week: It is giving free annual passes to its South L.A. neighbors in the 90037 ZIP code. The LM37 passes entitle holders to reserve tickets for themselves along with a guest. Tickets for non-pass holders go on sale July 21 and cost $25 for adults and $21 for seniors. Kids 17 and under are free.
On the heels of its 60th season, East West Players, the largest and longest-running Asian American theater in the country, announced its 2026-27 slate. “This season is the first chapter of East West Players’ next sixty years, a bold invitation to imagine what Asian American theater can become,” said artistic director Lily Tung Crystal in a statement. “By centering new voices, we’re not just honoring our legacy, but shaping the canon for generations to come.” The mainstage season will include the Southern California premiere of Jaclyn Backhaus’ comedy “Wives,” the Los Angeles premiere of the eponymously titled work “Kristina Wong, #Foodbankinfluencer” by the Pulitzer Prize finalist and East West Players’ New Works Festival. The group is also enticing theatergoers with new ticketing options: Pay-What-You-Will for every show and the Emerging Artist Membership, a free program for theatergoers ages 18 to 35, which guarantees $20 orchestra seats for them and a guest.
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The Smithsonian Museum of American History on the National Mall in Washington.
(Pablo Martinez Monsivais / Associated Press)
A new White House report calls leadership of the Smithsonian Institution radical activists who “cannot be trusted to tell America’s story honestly and in a way that is inspiring, unifying, and worthy of our great republic.” The report specifically singles out the National Museum of American History, and culture watchers fear it’s paving the way for Trump to install his own team of leaders as he did at the Kennedy Center.
Speaking of the Kennedy Center, Trump appealed a court decision to remove his name from the building’s facade, but this week an appeals court denied his request.
— Jessica Gelt
And last but not least
We can all stop taking our kids to live-action remakes of Disney classics. Seriously. Times film critic Amy Nicholson breaks down why in this crushing review of the new live-action “Moana.”
Storied norteño group Los Tigres del Norte announced Tuesday that they are teaming up with departing L.A. Philharmonic conductor Gustavo Dudamel for a special performance Aug. 21 at the Hollywood Bowl.
The show is part of a series titled “Celebrating Gustavo at the Bowl,” which looks to send off Dudamel in style as he transitions into his new role as the music and artistic director of the New York Philharmonic. The “Jaula de Oro” artist’s appearance is part of “Gustavo’s Fiesta,” which will also feature performances by other prominent Latino artists.
The norteño act has sold 37 million albums and recorded 500 songs over a career that’s spanned five decades. They have seven Grammy Awards, eight Latin Grammys and have had 66 songs land on Billboard’s Hot Latin Songs chart, the most of any Latin music act ever.
Recently, the “La Puerta Negra” hitmakers were immortalized in U.S. pop culture history when its members appeared in animated form in a December 2025 episode of “The Simpsons” and performed an original corrido about the escapades of Homer Simpson and Pedro Chespirito (also known as the Bumblebee Man).
The show will serve as Dudamel’s third-to-last performance as the music and artistic director of L.A. Philharmonic. On Aug. 22, he will be in concert with Foo Fighters. His farewell weekend will conclude Aug. 23 and will serve as a benefit for his homeland of Venezuela, which suffered catastrophic losses from twin earthquakes in late June.
Donations will benefit Dudamel’s Earthquake Recovery to Support Venezuelan Communities fund, in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme and the Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean fund.
TALLIA Storm has shared an emotional tribute to her late father Sascha following his funeral on Wednesday and praised mum Tessa Hartmann for her strength during the difficult time.
Tallia revealed she sung at her late father Sascha’s funeralCredit: InstagramThe singer shared an emotional tribute after saying goodbye to her dad on WednesdayCredit: Instagram
Today pop star Tallia took to social media to share moments from the day as the family celebrated Sascha’s life.
She wrote: “Wednesday wasn’t just a funeral.
It was a celebration of life. Our favourite gospel choir flew in from London, Zac on the saxophone followed by Zac on keys and me singing ‘Sunny’.
“Johnnie, Kae & my amazing Mum with an incredible speech… Tessie’s strength & nothing but love across the entire church.
She told fans the emotional day was a celebration of her dad’s lifeCredit: InstagramIt comes after Tallia’s mum Tessa penned her own heartbreaking tribute to her husbandCredit: Justin Goff Photos/Getty Images
“A celebration of the greatest man we’ve ever known.The entire day felt like we were in a film, sadly, the film was a real life story.”
Tallia included a clip of her singing at the funeral, showing her performing an emotional rendition of Sunny by Bobby Hebb.
She added: “Thank you to my unbelievably amazing Mum for being so strong at a time where our worlds have shattered.”
Tessa shared her own heartbreak last month when she revealed Sascha’s passing.
She wrote: “This August we were meant to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary. Instead, I am organising his funeral.”
“The past 24 hours have passed in a blur. We are utterly shattered. Broken beyond anything I could ever have imagined.
“I ask, if you are able, to keep our family in your prayers as we try to find the strength to face the days ahead.
“Sascha, we loved every single part of you. Your kindness. Your laughter. Your humour. Your remarkable mind. Your music. Your beautiful piano playing. We will keep playing your songs, telling your stories, and carrying your love with us for the rest of our lives.
“Until we meet again, my love. My person. My soulmate. My best friend. The father of our four beautiful children. Thank you for giving me the greatest gift of all – our family. I will cherish that, and you, forever.”
The country will celebrate its 250th birthday Saturday, and it seems nobody quite knows how to feel about it. Being a thoughtful American in 2026 has become an art form unto itself — a balancing act two-and-a-half centuries in the making. Marking the anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence requires the acceptance of a paradox so profound that it feels almost insurmountable: The great American experiment has failed; and it is also a triumph.
I’m writing this at near midnight on a muggy night in Pennsylvania — about 300 miles from Philadelphia, where in 1776 the Continental Congress adopted a document bearing one of the most famous and idealistic lines ever written: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
Hundreds of years later, the course of human events has once again made it necessary for us to dissolve certain bonds, only the resulting revolution has been metaphorical and waged largely online. We have become a people pitted against one another in thought and in action. In the words we write on social media, the news we choose to consume on our siloed feeds, and the way we treat those who believe differently than we do.
How do we come together to celebrate the monumental achievement of this improbable democracy, which should be made stronger through our respectful disagreements and ability to compromise in search of a higher truth? It may be foolish to say we must lead with kindness when so much raw anger abounds, but that is all we can do. It is what we must do.
Art can help — the music, paintings, dances and plays that remind us in myriad ways that we are not alone. You’ll have access to plenty of such sustenance on this highly anticipated anniversary weekend. So if you are, like me, facing the fireworks with trepidation, find a way to lock into a favorite song, or read a poem that moves you, and the worry will pass. It always does.
I’m Arts editor Jessica Gelt, watching the fireflies. This is your arts and culture news for the week.
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The week ahead: A curated calendar
SATURDAY
Richard Dreyfuss, left, Roy Scheider and Robert Shaw in the 1975 movie “Jaws.”
(Universal Pictures)
Jaws Just when you thought it was safe to go back to the theater, a series of shark attacks are expected across the city Saturday afternoon as Steven Spielberg’s 1975 blockbuster screens at the Academy Museum’s David Geffen Theater (in 4K), the American Cinematheque’s Aero Theatre (in 35 mm) and Vidiots’ Eagle Theatre. 2:30 p.m. Saturday. Academy Museum, 6067 Wilshire Blvd. academymuseum.org; 3 p.m. Saturday. Aero Theatre, 1328 Montana Ave., Santa Monica. americancinematheque.com; 1 and 4:30 p.m. Vidiots Eagle Theater, 4884 Eagle Rock Blvd., Eagle Rock. vidiotsfoundation.org
TUESDAY
National Museum of the Aftermath screening series Kevin Jerome Everson and Claudrena N. Harolds’ short film “Foosball: U. of Virginia Charlottesville, VA 1976” (2013), inspired by a photograph of two students playing a game, examines Black life at UVA; and Andrea Fraser’s feature documentary “This meeting is being recorded” (2022) gathers a group of a self-identifying white women to discuss unconscious racism and their own roles in white supremacy. 6 p.m. Oxy Arts, 4757 York Blvd. oxyarts.oxy.edu
WEDNESDAY
Brian Quijada, left, and Nygel D. Robinson in “Mexodus.”
(Thomas Mundell)
Mexodus Direct from an award-winning off-Broadway run, this new musical created and performed by Brian Quijada and Nygel D. Robinson illuminates a lesser-known fork of the Underground Railroad, one that branched south across the Rio Grande. Previews, 8 p.m. Wednesday, 7 p.m. Thursday, 8 p.m. July 10, 2 and 8 p.m. July 11; continues through Aug. 2. Pasadena Playhouse, 39 S. El Molino Ave. pasadenaplayhouse.org
New Swan Shakespeare Festival.
(New Swan Shakespeare Festival)
New Swan Shakespeare Festival The annual summer-long event, featuring professional theater artists, UC Irvine alums, current graduate and undergraduate drama students and faculty, returns for another repertory season of classics under the stars at its intimate, 130-seat, portable, mini-Elizabethan space. “Romeo & Juliet,” directed by Rachael VanWormer, resets the tragic romance to the American Dust Bowl; “The Merry Wives of Windsor Cove,” adapted by Anna Fitzgerald & Eli Simon, with music by Zachary Dietz and directed by founding Artistic Director Eli Simon, brings the rollicking comedy to a 1950s SoCal surf town, powered by a live skiffle band. “Romeo & Juliet,” 8 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday, and various dates through Aug. 29. “Merry Wives,” 8 p.m. Wednesday, and various dates through Aug. 30. UC Irvine campus, 4000 Campus Drive. newswanshakespeare.com
Wilkins Conducts Bernstein & Ellington Thomas Wilkins guides the L.A. Philharmonic in a program of classical Americana featuring selections from Valerie Coleman, William Grant Still, a newly arranged song cycle from Shaina Taub’s Broadway hit “Suffs,” Leonard Bernstein and Duke Ellington. 8 p.m. Hollywood Bowl, 2301 N. Highland Ave. hollywoodbowl.com
Zoot Suit Join writer-director Luis Valdez and star Edward James Olmos for a 45th anniversary screening of the film, an adaptation of Valdez’s groundbreaking play, the truly L.A. story of the 1942 Sleepy Lagoon case and Zoot Suit Riots. Audiences are encouraged to come in costume and arrive early for the “Pachuco Boogie!” Produced in partnership with the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival, Self Help Graphics and Pachuco Car Club. 8 p.m. The Ford Ampitheatre, 2580 Cahuenga Blvd. East. theford.com
THURSDAY
Randal Goosby.
(L.A. Phil)
The Classical World Cup Tito Muñoz conducts the L.A. Phil in a salute to “the beautiful game” (soccer to Americans) with works spanning the Americas by Alberto Ginastera, Samuel Barber (with Randal Goosby on violin), Silvestre Revueltas and Aaron Copland; plus the world premiere of “The Art of the Goal,” an original mixed-media concept film by director Josh Kahn and composer Adam Schoenberg. Commissioned by the L.A. Phil, the piece blends footage of elite training and match play featuring the Los Angeles Football Club with orchestral music. 8 p.m. Hollywood Bowl, 2301 N. Highland Ave. hollywoodbowl.com
The SoCal scene
(Matt Chase / For The Times)
Celebrations for the country’s 250th birthday have been muted thus far (at least compared to the bicentennial 50 years ago), but our Entertainment and Arts team noted the moment by examining the ways the artists we cover have interpreted the nation’s complex history. Times theater critic Charles McNulty wrote that a “cohort of playwrights, breathtakingly diverse demographically as well as aesthetically, has been rejuvenating American theater.” Contributor Shana Nys Dambrot looked to local museums and identified nine works of art “exploring and expounding upon, in celebration and critique, what it means and what it feels like to be an American.” Times classical music critic Mark Swed compared the artistic and institutional responses of 2026 to the past, lamenting that “None of this comes close to comparing with the attempted civic zest of 1976.” Check out the rest of the collection of stories and essays, including Mary McNamara’s column reminding us that even in troubled times 250 years is worth celebrating because “the Constitution was written ‘in order to form a more perfect union.’ Not ‘perfect,’ but ‘more perfect.’ As in better,” and a list of 10 essential movies that capture crucible moments in U.S. history; find out what Times pop music critic Mikael Wood calls the “quintessential American song,” and which books are being read in L.A. high schools and which classics remain relevant.
Carene Rose Mekertichyan , left, and Brent Charles in “Coriolanus” at the Griffith Park Free Shakespeare Festival.
(Grettel Cortes)
It’s summer and that means that outdoor theater is upon us and McNulty reviewed the Independent Shakespeare Co.’s Griffith Park Free Shakespeare Festival production of “Coriolanus.” “It’s hard to love ‘Coriolanus,’ but it’s equally hard not to be impressed by its ambition, originality and dramatic rigor,” wrote McNulty. This “production isn’t going to win awards for subtlety, but the storytelling is crisp and vivid. And even those unfamiliar with the tale — the vast majority of attendees, in all likelihood — should find it engrossing.”
It’s hard to believe that the ABBA jukebox musical “Mamma Mia!” premiered 25 years ago. Times staff writer Eloise Rollins-Fife went backstage at the Ahmanson Theatre to visit with the behind-the-scenes crew who put so much joy into the sequin-bedazzled extravaganza on display in the show’s anniversary tour — many of whom worked on the original production and tours.
Hollywood set painters whose work in the Tinseltown dream machine often went overlooked and uncredited are getting their due in “Staging California in Early Hollywood” at the UC Irvine Langson Orange County Museum of Art in Costa Mesa. Times staff writer Julius Miller spoke with museum director Kathryn Kanjo and assistant curator Michaëla Mohrmann about the institution’s first exhibition since UC Irvine acquired OCMA last September and Kanjo’s appointment in December.
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Rosalie Tucker, executive director of Pieter Performance Space (standing left); Andrew Pearson of Bodies in Play (second from left); Lena Martin (second from right) and Mandolin Burns (right) of Crawlspace; Dani Burd of Indigo Dance Company (bottom left); and Adie San Diego (bottom right).
The Centre Theatre Group announced that a world tour of the acclaimed stage adaptation of Hayao Miyazaki’s Academy Award-winning animated film “Spirited Away” will open the Ahmanson Theare’s 2027-28 season. “We are honored to bring the wonder of ‘Spirited Away’ to the Ahmanson Theatre for an exclusive US engagement, offering our community the gift of experiencing one of the most cherished stories of our time, reimagined for the stage in a once-in-a-generation theatrical experience,” said Douglas C. Baker, Center Theatre Group producing director, in a statement. The production, from Toho Co., will open at the National Theater in Taipei on Dec. 16, before continuing on a national tour of Japan from March-August 2027, followed by stops at the Princess of Wales Theatre, Toronto (May-August 2027), and the Ahmanson (September–October 2027). The tour will conclude with a return to the London Coliseum (March-July 2028), where it had its European premiere in 2024 following a sold-out tour of Japan in 2022. Casting will be announced at a later date.
The British theater lost two stalwarts this week. Penelope Keith, best known for the sitcoms “The Good Life,” which aired on PBS in the U.S. as “Good Neighbors,” and “To the Manor Born,” has died at age 86. Keith joined the Royal Shakespeare Co. in 1963, won a BAFTA Award in 1977 for “The Good Life” and continued her stage career into her 80s. The New York Times reported that Michael Byrne, a noted actor of stage and screen, also died this week at 86. Byrne created the role of the suspected torturer Dr. Miranda in the premiere production of Ariel Dorfman’s 1991 play “Death and the Maiden” in London. Other notable theater roles were with Siân Phillips in “Juliet and Her Romeo,” Polonius in “Hamlet,” Cassius in “Julius Caesar” and Prince Hal in “Henry IV.” The actor also appeared in films such as “Force 10 from Navarone,” “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade,” “Braveheart,” “Gangs of New York” and “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1.”
— Kevin Crust
And last but not least
If pyrotechnics (or drone shows!) are your thing and you’d like to celebrate the Fourth of July with a bang, Times staff writer Christopher Buchanan compiled 52 places and favorite spots to watch the festivities in Southern California.
Roki Sasaki’s abysmal appearance faded away in the Dodgers’ 12-7 win over the San Diego Padres after Los Angeles rose from a catatonic first inning. The Dodgers roared back from a 6-0 deficit as Andy Pages skirted a tying double down the left-field line, and Mookie Betts and Max Muncy each drove in runs to give them the lead in a four-run fourth inning. All of which sent the sellout crowd into jubilant celebrations, some jumping, others breaking out World Cup chants.
“I don’t know,” manager Dave Roberts said of the team’s ability to turn the game around. “Thankfully, it played out the way I didn’t expect, or the way it started.”
By the time the game ended, Sasaki’s three-inning start seemed like a murky nightmare the Dodgers awoke from in a sweat. Except the Dodgers weren’t dreaming, and the team hadn’t done much to assuage the concerns with Sasaki.
The problem with Sasaki isn’t his stuff. On his best nights, when the velocity and command combine, Sasaki blows past batters with a triple-digit fastball and cutting off-speed pitches. The problem has been how to tick the radar without making the strike zone look like a Jackson Pollock painting — and recently, it has.
Sasaki’s June swoon, impervious to the calendar change, continued into Thursday’s series opener against the Padres, in which the right-hander gave up three home runs and seven hits before Roberts called it quits going into the fourth inning.
“They were on everything,” Roberts said. “You could see it.”
One possible concern? Tipping pitches. While Roberts and catcher Dalton Rushing said the team would need to do some more research into Sasaki’s start, both left the door open to this answer.
“That would be a big explanation as to how they felt like they were on every pitch,” Rushing said.
As San Diego chugged through its lineup, Sasaki struggled to keep up. With his first pitch, he gave up a double to Fernando Tatis Jr., who scored on Manny Machado’s home run that left center fielder Pages staring at the ball’s path as it plopped down on the other side of the blue outfield fence.
The inning was only a preview of the Padres’ power. Each of the nine San Diego batters got his chance against Sasaki in the second, and the team quickly dug the Dodgers into a six-run hole. He surrendered two home runs in the second inning. First, Jackson Merrill blasted a ball to left-center field, and, two outs later, Jake Cronenworth drove in two runs with a shot to right-center.
Sasaki said through interpreter Kensuke Okubo that he felt like he needed work on his command to improve, but he felt like his fastball was good.
Roki Sasaki has his head down after giving up a solo homer to Jackson Merrill in the second inning.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
“I don’t think my stuff was bad today,” Sasaki said. “Overall, it wasn’t great but a lot of things evolved.”
Part of Sasaki’s issue lies with his approach. Roberts said he wants the second-year pitcher to be aggressive, to play the cat-and-mouse game required to beat batters in the box. But when given the opportunity, Sasaki has shrunken in recent outings, struggling with his command and his ability to pitch deep into games.
“We had a great May, so let’s just get back to competing and making pitches,” Roberts said.
When reliever Will Klein walked out to the mound in the fourth to the aggressive, rambunctious clamor of the Dropkick Murphys’ “I’m Shipping Up to Boston” and collected two scoreless, one-hit innings, the relief was immediate: The Dodgers took the lead.
The lineup already was revving, as Dalton Rushing homered in the second inning while Sasaki was still in the game, and both Kyle Tucker and Max Muncy drove in runs in the third, cutting the deficit to two. The Dodgers broke through against the Padres’ bullpen to score six runs in the fourth and fifth innings.
“The bullpen was fantastic tonight, and then the offense came up big,” Roberts said.
A late catch by Pages helped close out the game after he gloved a ball despite ramming into the padding of the center field wall. A combined effort by Paul Gervase and Tanner Scott shut down San Diego’s ninth-inning momentum after it pushed across a run.
“Turned back around, was able to find the ball and make a really good catch right there,” Tucker said. “That was a huge out.”
The Dodgers (57-31) beat their division rivals for the fifth time in seven games to open a 13-game lead over both San Diego and Arizona. The Padres, meanwhile, have given up 65 runs over the last six days, the most in such a span in franchise history.
But San Diego’s flaws don’t negate the Dodgers’ as they burned through six relievers in their win. So, while the Dodgers crawled out of the hole with a season-high 17 hits, the steep cost heightens the pressure on the rest of the rotation the rest of the series.
Former LakersMalik Beasley and Ed Davis were charged with wire fraud conspiracy and bribery in sporting contests by federal prosecutors in a sweeping indictment that included four other co-conspirators.
Both played one season with the Lakers during long careers, Beasley in 2022-23 and Davis in 2014-15.
According to the indictment, Beasley illegally manipulated his performance to ensure gamblers won prop bets two years before he played for the Lakers and one year after.
Davis — described in the indictment as Beasley’s “gatekeeper” — allegedly collaborated to manipulate Beasley’s performance when they were Minnesota Timberwolves teammates during the 2020-21 season and did so again four times during the 2023-24 season while Beasley was with the Milwaukee Bucks.
The illegal activity allegedly began during a Jan. 26, 2024 game between the Bucks and Cleveland Cavaliers. Beasley averaged 11.3 points that season and 11.7 during his career, but scored three points in that game.
In total, the defendants and their co-conspirators allegedly placed fraudulent wagers totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars on Beasley’s fixed performances.
Also indicted were NBA player agent Paolo Zamorano, William Brown, Robert Gorodetsky and Ernesto Plascencia. They are charged with wire fraud conspiracy, bribery in sporting contests and money laundering conspiracy for allegedly bribing Beasley to manipulate his performance. Zamorano was Davis’ agent.
Several of the defendants were arrested Monday.
“As alleged, the defendants turned professional basketball into a criminal betting operation, bribing then-NBA player Malik Beasley to fix his performance in multiple games in order to place fraudulent wagers, enrich themselves and cheat legitimate sportsbooks,” said Joseph Nocella Jr., United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York. “Bribery and insider betting schemes like this one involving former NBA players and a current NBA player agent who exploited inside NBA information for profit erode the integrity of American sports and victimize the sports-watching public.”
Beasley, 29, has been under investigation for more than a year and sat out the 2025-26 season. The Detroit Pistons offered him a three-year, $42-million contract last offseason but rescinded it when informed by authorities that the nine-year veteran was suspected of participating in the illegal gambling scheme.
At first glance, neither player seemed to be vulnerable to bribes from gamblers. Beasley has made $59.2 million during his career, including a career-high $15.6 million with the Lakers. He averaged 11.1 points in 26 games that season.
Davis, 37, played for eight teams in 12 seasons before retiring in 2022 having made $47.2 million.
However, prosecutors allege that Beasley borrowed substantial sums from Davis to pay off gambling debts and attempted to repay him through the illegal activity. A year ago Beasley was successfully sued by his former agency for $2.5 million over a contract dispute. He also was sued for $6 million by South River Capital, a company that specializes in making loans to athletes.
“These defendants allegedly operated an illegal betting ring in an attempt to unlawfully earn hundreds of thousands of dollars,” said James C. Barnacle Jr., FBI Assistant Director in Charge. “As alleged, Malik Beasley allowed himself to be bought and altered his game-time performance to line pockets of Ed Davis and his other co-conspirators.”
Prosecutors also allege Beasley rigged his performance during three games with the Bucks in 2024 — a Feb. 27 game against the Charlotte Hornets, a March 10 game against the Clippers and a March 21 game against the Brooklyn Nets.
Five current or former NBA players have been indicted as part of the FBI investigation into illegal sports gambling and insider information trading. Veteran guard Terry Rozier is facing four charges, while former Lakers assistant coach Damon Jones and former Toronto Raptors center Jontay Porter have pleaded guilty to felony conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
The expansive gambling indictment also ensnared Hall of Fame player Chauncey Billups and several organized crime figures.
Sir Rod Stewart’s Glastonbury 2025 performance was rebroadcast on the BBC on Saturday night
The BBC has aired a repeat of Rod’s Glastonbury performance(Image: Getty)
Singer Sir Rod Stewart left BBC viewers distracted just minutes into his performance.
Sir Rod’s Glastonbury performance, originally broadcast in 2025, was reshown on Saturday evening. In a repeat episode of Rod Stewart at Glastonbury, audiences watched the rock legend once more commanding the Pyramid Stage on the festival’s closing day at Worthy Farm in 2025.
One delighted viewer commented on X at the time: “80 years old. Just feel good throughout. What a star,” while another declared, “Rod Stewart still looks great at the age of 80. He’s still got it.”
Another admirer gushed: “All those eyes on Rod. He looks fabulous for his age.”
One supporter commented, “He deserves that crowd after all these years,” as another enthused, “Sir Rod Stewart… phenomenal! 80 years old and had us all in rapture. Best there is,” the Express reports.
Someone else continued, ” Wait – Rod Stewart 80, Ronnie Wood – 76, Lulu 76, thanks and massive respect for you all. Shows age is a number, but talent…. ageless.”
Back in 2025, Rod shared his enthusiasm ahead of Glastonbury and told Radio Times, “I’m really looking forward to it. And it is a different gig, it’s like when you’re playing a cup final, you’re trying to treat it like another game. But, of course, it’s not. It’s special. It’ll be glamorous, it’ll be sexy.
“And we’ve got a little orchestra coming on to play with us. And we may have some bagpipes.”
More recently, Rod has been forced to withdraw from several performances due to health issues. This week, Rod was also spotted with an oxygen tank, prompting worry amongst fans.
His wife, Penny Lancaster, said during an appearance on Loose Women that it “looked a lot scarier than it really was”. She told her co-stars, “He had to cancel a couple of shows prior to that because of a respiratory infection.
“He was recovering and well enough to perform. But he wasn’t aware that Salt Lake City, where he was performing, was way above sea level. So the altitude levels, just for your regular person, is a challenge. If you’re not acclimatised, like sportsmen would arrive before an event, a week before to acclimatise.”
She added, “Rod just flew in on the day of the show, wasn’t aware of this particular altitude. So he was already down on his juice because of recovering from his respiratory infection. And then he was also down another 17% of oxygen because of the altitude. So when he’s on stage, and of course, his two-hour show involves him running around, he doesn’t sit still for a minute, it suddenly hit him.
“But there are oxygen tanks at these particular shows for that reason, because even the young ones, if they’ve had a late night out before a show, they can suffer, and they do.”
Rod Stewart at Glastonbury 2025 is available to watch on BBCiPlayer.
Appearing as the amoral daughter of Joan Crawford at only age 17, Blyth’s short film career saw her work with many top stars of Hollywood’s classic era.
As summer heats up alongside the exhausting news cycle, it’s crucial to find ways to unplug and wind down. Golden Hour in the newly renovated sculpture garden at the Norton Simon Museum is just the thing. Taking place tonight (Friday), and on two more Fridays this season (July 31 and Aug. 28), the event lasts from 4:30-6:30 p.m. and features a different musical group each time.
Tonight is the Verbena Quartet; a North Indian ensemble and a jazz trio are upcoming.
The fun is free with museum admission, and guests are encouraged to bring blankets to relax in the grass. I took my family of four to a recent event and it proved to be the rare occurrence when both the 10-year-old and the 17-year-old were happy. The museum provides all kinds of great art supplies on a big table by the entrance, including sketch paper, clipboards, colored pencils and charcoal drawing utensils.
There are also sheets of paper encouraging creative ways to approach drawing various sculptures in the garden, alongside a family-friendly Golden Hour bingo card with squares including “Spot something framed by tree branches” and “Look at the space between two objects.”
I did some drawing with my toes in the grass while my kiddos curved their necks over their own mini masterpieces. My husband read a book. The sun slanted low as the afternoon melted into early evening, casting lovely shadows on the families, couples, friend groups and solitary artists scattered around the garden sipping wine and snacking on cheese and crackers from the nearby cafe.
When we had our fill of relaxing, we ambled into the museum. My daughter wanted to gaze at the Picassos and the Van Goghs. As did I. I never don’t cry when I look at “The Mulberry Tree.”
“Can you imagine what he was thinking?” I asked my 10-year-old as we regarded the painting. “The pain and the beauty of it?”
She nodded sagely, gently smoothing her thumb against her own recent drawing, her deep inner world a mystery to me. The beauty and the pain of it. I was glad we had cuddled together in the late afternoon sunshine.
I’m arts editor Jessica Gelt, wishing you and your loved ones peace. This is your arts and culture news for the week.
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The week ahead: A curated calendar
FRIDAY
Antigone The Bebelos Players present a back-to-basics production of Sophocles’ classic drama about a young woman who defies a king to honor her dead brother. 7 p.m. Friday-Sunday. Theosophy Hall, 245 W. 33rd St. eventbrite.com
“Horse,” by Rick Bartow, 2014, wood, tar, wax, false teeth, nails. 56 x 42 x 12 in.
(Yubo Dong, ofstudio)
Rick Bartow Last chance to catch “All of these things have happened,” an exhibition of works on paper by the late Native American artist that touch on tragedies from throughout his life, as well as “Horse,” a 2014 sculpture covered in tar, wax, false teeth and nails that is “a study of sustained resilience.” Noon-5 p.m. Friday-Sunday, Wednesday and Thursday (last day). Timothy Hawkinson Gallery, 7424 Beverly Blvd. timothyhawkinsongallery.com
Spencer Finch “Balboa of House and Garden,” composed entirely of new work, is the artist’s first exhibition in Los Angeles. The show includes more than 50 unique works on paper, a site-specific skylight installation and a monumental outdoor sculpture. Finch’s “Memory Landscape (Nairobi, Chicago, Honolulu, Jakarta),” 2025, a commissioned tile wall mural inspired by places from President Barack Obama’s formative years, was recently installed at the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago. Opening, 6-8 p.m. Friday; 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, through Aug. 22. Lisson, 1037 N. Sycamore Ave. lissongallery.com
Bodo Mato The pseudonymous multidisciplinary artist uses a subconscious dreamworld to access a legendary lost city to find real-world parallels in the exhibition “Atlantis: Echoes of Hubris.” Opening reception, 6-10 p.m. Friday. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday-Tuesday. 7811 Gallery (West), 7813 Melrose Ave. 7811gallery.com
Raymond Saunders, “Layers of Being,” 1985. Mixed media on canvas, 81 x 59 15/16 x 1 in.
Raymond Saunders “Flowers From a Black Garden” is a career-spanning look at the painter (1934-2025) as he moved from Dada, expressionism and assemblage to Fluxus, Pop and postmodernism, beginning in the 1960s. 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Wednesday-Sunday, through Jan. 3. UC Irvine Langson Orange County Museum of Art, Segerstrom Center for the Arts, 3333 Avenue of the Arts, Costa Mesa. langson.uci.edu
SATURDAY
Chrysalis prototypes deployed in Joshua Tree, 1970, reproduction.
(Chrysalis Corporation)
Alternative Palm Springs: Other Desert Architectures In some parallel reality there may exist a Coachella Valley unlike anything you’ve ever imagined. In lieu of that, this exhibition shares the unbuilt visions of prominent architects, off-grid designs of the counterculture, and private and public worlds created by the LGBTQ+ during the 20th century, yielding an expanded view of the area’s architectural ambitions. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday-Sunday; noon-8 p.m. Thursday; through Jan. 4; closed June 26 and July 4. Architecture and Design Center, Edwards Harris Pavilion, 300 S. Palm Canyon Drive, Palm Springs. psmuseum.org
Declarations of Independence Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles and guest artist Justin Tranter celebrate national and individual freedom and pride for America’s 250th anniversary. 7 p.m. Saturday; 3:30 p.m. Sunday. Saban Theatre, 8440 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills. gmcla.org/declarations
A Great Night in Hip-Hop The Roots return for their third year at the Bowl, joined by Nas, with appearances from T.I., Bun B, De La Soul and more. 7:30 p.m. Hollywood Bowl, 2301 N Highland Ave. hollywoodbowl.com
Rota Fortunae A one-night-only experimental opera featuring Jordan Slaffey reimagines the four women of the 1996 crime thriller “Set It Off” using movement, live music and fashion. Directed by Chris Emile, music by composer and DJ Cody Perkins and designs by James Flemons. 7:30 p.m. Indoor Swap Meet, 128 S. La Brea Ave., Inglewood. eventbrite.com
Peter Stampfel An innovator of anti-folk, freak-folk and psych-folk, the 87-year-old co-founder of the Holy Modal Rounders makes a rare West Coast appearance. 8 p.m. McCabe’s Guitar Shop, 3101 Pico Blvd., Santa Monica. mccabes.com
THURSDAY
Ojai Film Society Summer Screening Series Annual presentation of independent, foreign, documentary, critically acclaimed and classic films kicks off Thursday with Taika Waititi’s 2016 adventure comedy “Hunt for the Wilderpeople,” starring Sam Neill. Other screenings: “Selena Y Los Dinos” (July 10); “Cookie Queens” (July 17); “Best in Show” (July 24); “Arrival” (Aug. 20); and “Jurassic Park” (Aug. 27). 7:30 p.m. Thursday; various dates through Aug. 27. Libbey Bowl, 210 S. Signal St., Ojai. ojaifilmsociety.org
Tank and the Bangas The Grammy-winning New Orleans music group shares its signature blend of funk, soul, hip-hop, rock and spoken word. Featuring an opening set by Butter Funk Family and DJ sets by Tosstones. 7 p.m. Skirball Cultural Center, 2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd. skirball.org
Arts anywhere
Meryl Streep, from left, and Amanda Seyfried, Rachel McDowall and Ashley Lilley in the 2008 movie version of “Mamma Mia!”
(Peter Mountain / Universal Pictures)
Broadway unbound
Two of the biggest hit musicals ever are in town simultaneously starting this week — “Mamma Mia!” is at the Ahmanson through July 19 and “Phantom of the Opera” plays the Hollywood Pantages through Aug. 9. If you want to bone up beforehand or relive the hits after you’ve been to the theater, the cinematic adaptations of both are widely available. The 2008 movie version of “Mamma Mia!” starring Meryl Streep and Amanda Seyfried streams on Prime through the end of June and the 2004 “Phantom” with Gerard Butler and Emmy Rossum is streaming on Prime and Apple TV. Both films are available to rent or buy on various platforms and, if you’re into physical media, relatively inexpensive Blu-ray and DVD versions can be had online. Public libraries are also great resources for arts-related content.
— Kevin Crust
Culture news and the SoCal scene
Passengers wait to board the first train to arrive at the Metro D Line at the Wilshire/Fairfax Station in Los Angeles on May 8, 2026.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
With the new Metro D Line subway extension up-and-running with new stations at Wilshire/La Brea, Wilshire/Fairfax and Wilshire/La Cienega, we asked architecture writer Sam Lubell to take an aesthetic look at these new displays of public art. “Suddenly the city feels different. Not transformed, exactly. But more connected,” wrote Lubell. “The fracturing grip of the city’s incomprehensible expanses, clogged arteries and stagnant governance — all intimidating barriers to healthy civic life — feels a little looser. … The stations, too, feel more connected, with art, architecture and infrastructure blending seamlessly into a cohesive experience … But above ground, it’s a tale of two (transit) cities. Outdoor plazas lack the kind of textured civic presence that’s been created below.”
The Hollywood Bowl opened its summer season with a lavish production, “The Best of Broadway,” starring Lea Salonga, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Darren Criss, Renée Elise Goldsberry and Halle Bailey, and hosted by Billy Crystal. The program including a selection of Broadway tunes old and new, was delivered with flair to an appreciative audience. “I had a lovely time,” reports Times theater critic Charles McNulty, “but I can’t say the concert lived up to its title. Not that impressive virtuosity wasn’t on display, but Broadway is truly at its best when musical numbers are embedded in a story, allowing the performers to feed off each other and reach heights that they might not be able to reach on their own. Too much of the bill required the actors to stand and deliver, ‘American Idol’-style. It was a little unfair to place such a heavy burden on them.”
McNulty also reviewed the Geffen Playhouse’s Los Angeles premiere of Pearl Cleage’s “Angry, Raucous, and Shamelessly Gorgeous,” about an American expat actor angling for her big comeback. The play, wrote McNulty, “is hamstrung with exposition. More time is devoted to setting up the dramatic situation than to activating it. … The intentions are noble and the themes are handled with admirable complexity, but the writing is sluggish. The plot is like an old car whose engine just refuses to start on a cold winter morning.”
After 20 years as LA Opera Music Director James Conlon will step down.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
The final show of L.A. Opera’s production “Marriage of Figaro” last Sunday also marked the end of James Conlon’s tenure at the podium as the organization’s music director. Stepping down after 20 years, Conlon spoke to Times classical music critic Mark Swed. “I love L.A. and I’m not going to leave,” said Conlon. “I am absolutely happy at this point in my life. You know my age is 76. It is not a secret. I wear it proudly. But I’ve been a music director for 47 years, and I don’t want to be a music director any longer. I will still conduct.” Will he return regularly to L.A. Opera? “That’s the theory,” he said
Another maestro who can’t quit L.A. is Esa-Pekka Salonen. Last weekend, the beloved composer and conductor, who is back with the L.A. Phil as creative director, returned to the Ojai Music Festival after a quarter-century absence. “Salonen found renewal not from the desperation of rethinking but from freshening, illuminating the perception of exceptional young musicians first encountering greatness,” wrote Swed in his review of the four days. “In these uncertain times, that may be the most remarkable act of artistic optimism.”
Spanish artist Nieves Gonzalez stands next to one of her paintings that is part of her solo show at the Richard Heller Gallery at Bergamot Station in Santa Monica on June 18, 2026.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
Not yet 30, Spanish painter Nieves González is a burgeoning international art star with an exhibition at Richard Heller Gallery in Santa Monica. “Fashion inspires me,” she told writer Jane Horowitz in a recent interview. “Just as 17th century artists drew inspiration from the fashion of their day — often creating paintings that served as catalogs of current styles — I do the same. The goal is to not merely convey a specific message or ideology but to create a testament to a generation and the era in which we live.”
“California Gothic: A Bus Tour,” an avant-garde sightseeing event organized by the New Theater Hollywood, turns Tinseltown “into a stage, drawing locals for a mash-up of state history, gothic storytelling and public-intellectual riffing on the broken California dream,” wrote Times staff writer Eloise Rollins-Fife. The tour ended its latest run in mid-June, but will reopen during the last week of October for a special “ghost tour” edition.
Times columnist Patt Morrison reported from the City of Lights on Paris-born street artist JR’s “La Caverne du Pont Neuf,” which she describes as “an enormous art installation, a trompe l’oeil inflatable snow-clad mountain range … an homage to the innovative work of groundbreaking environmental artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude.” The work uses about 200,000 square feet of printed fabric on the city’s oldest bridge to create the illusion and the artist told Morrison, “Your eye wants to believe it, and for a moment you let yourself. That gap between knowing and believing is where the play happens, and people love being inside that gap.”
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Stewart McLaurin, president of the White House Historical Assn., displays a newly-acquired suite of four interrelated paintings by Norman Rockwell titled, “So You Want to See the President!” at the association’s offices Wednesday, June 10, 2026, in Washington.
(John McDonnell / Associated Press)
In the 1940s, Norman Rockwell spent time in the visitor’s lobby of the White House sketching U.S. senators, members of the military, the press and a Miss America as they awaited entry into the Oval Office to see President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Eight decades later, four of the sketches have been acquired by the White House Historical Assn. for $7 million, according to the Associated Press. Titled “So You Want to See the President!” the sketches will be on public display through June 2027 at the historical association’s “The People’s House” education center near the White House.
It was a busy week for announcing some of this fall and winter’s Broadway openings. Lincoln Center Theater’s Vivian Beaumont will host a revival of Aaron Sorkin’s “A Few Good Men,” starring Bradley Whitford and Tom Blyth, directed by six-time Tony winner Michael Arlen, starting Oct. 8. In March 2027, LCT Artistic Director Lear deBessonet will helm a new production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “The Sound of Music,” for its first Broadway run in nearly 30 years. A revival of Richard Greenberg’s “Three Days of Rain” lands in February 2027 at a Shubert Organization-owned theater to be announced with Anna D. Shapiro directing. The cast will include “Heated Rivalry’s” François Arnaud and David Corenswet of “Superman” in their Broadway debuts, joined by Yvonne Strahovski of “The Handmaid’s Tale.” The play was previously on Broadway in 2006 with Julia Roberts, Bradley Cooper and Paul Rudd. Walter Hill’s 1979 gang saga “The Warriors” will make the leap from screen to stage as a musical, with a book, music and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Eisa Davis. Previews begin at Broadway’s Lunt-Fontanne Theatre in March 2027 with an opening slated for April. Jenny Koons will direct.
Bailey Zimmerman is apologizing after a warrant for the country singer’s arrest was issued following an incident at a New Mexico hotel.
Last week, an arrest warrant was issued in Bernalillo County for Zimmerman, who’s facing a felony charge of criminal damage to property and a misdemeanor charge of falsely obtaining services after the “Holy Smokes” singer allegedly caused more than $16,000 worth of damage to a room at the Sandia Resort and Casino in Albuquerque.
The 26-year-old country singer was scheduled to perform at the resort May 27 and 30 but abruptly canceled the show the day of the performance.
“I have not been feeling well and have tried to power through, but I’m not able to give you all the show you deserve,” Zimmerman wrote on Instagram at the time.
According to an affidavit reviewed by People, hours before the singer was slated to perform, he appeared inebriated and volatile during a sound check.
The document alleged Zimmerman stumbled onto the stage around 4:30 p.m., smashed a guitar on the ground, threw cymbals, kicked a drum set, pushed a guitarist and threw a microphone before he stormed offstage. At one point, he tripped and fell backward.
The affidavit further alleged that the country singer “spit toward a Sandia security officer standing nearby.”
A representative for Zimmerman emailed The Times a statement on Tuesday.
“First things first, I want to apologize to the Pueblo of Sandia and to everyone at Sandia Resort & Casino. I never meant for any of this to come across as disrespectful. I am deeply sorry for my actions that transpired. I respect your community and the hospitality and appreciate the opportunity that was given to me to perform on Native Land. I take full accountability for everything that happened and I am sorry to anyone who feels hurt or disrespected,” the statement read.
“To my fans who bought tickets and showed up expecting a performance, I am so sorry, you deserved better from me,” the statement continued. “I understand that being a musician comes with big responsibilities, both on and off stage, and I know that I fell short that day. I am reflecting on the disappointment and concern that I caused.”
Zimmerman wrote that he was taking the legal matter seriously and was committed to doing the “work necessary to learn and grow.”
“Thank you to my fans for holding me accountable and for understanding that I am human. I do not take your support for granted,” the statement added.
In “Rheology,” Shayok Misha Chowdhury, an experimental theater artist, and his mother, Bulbul Chakraborty, a theoretical physicist, bridge the language of their different disciplines to explore a subject dear to both of them: loss.
Chowdhury, author of the play “Public Obscenities,” a 2024 finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, and the director of the sensational off-Broadway production of Jordan Tannahill’s “Prince Faggot,” is as tenderly devoted to his mother as the young Marcel was to his own in Proust’s “In Search of Lost Time.” The idea of his mother dying is insupportable to Chowdhury, but given that she’s in her 70s and he’s in his 40s, certain terrifying realities must be faced.
“Rheology,” which is receiving its West Coast premiere at REDCAT (in a brief run ending Saturday), is the piece they’ve created to prepare Chowdhury for that fateful day. This strikingly staged Bushwick Starr, HERE Arts Center and Ma-Yi Theater Company production is an interdisciplinary experiment that is as playful in its methodology as it is serious in its research aims.
Chakraborty, a professor at Brandeis University, starts off with a physics lesson. Her subject is sand, and she poses a simple question: Is the sand pouring through the hourglass sitting on the counter before her a liquid or a solid?
A charismatic teacher, she knows how to Socratically engage a room. Her welcoming manner draws out from the audience the different ways sand behaves both like a solid and like a liquid.
Shayok Misha Chowdhury, in rear, and Bulbul Chakraborty in “Rheology” at REDCAT.
(Roy and Edna Disney CalArts Theater [REDCAT])
Rheology, or the science of how a substance responds to external stress, is her chief interest. Her research, focused on soft condensed matter, has been seeking a comprehensive theory to explain the curious elasticity of such material. A photo of a sand dune, in which she’s seated alongside Chowdhury as a toddler, helps illustrate her point that sand can flow like a liquid yet retain its shape like a solid.
An onstage sandbox is more than just another visual accompaniment to her talk. It’s a source of both elemental mystery and childlike wonder. But elucidation is her motive. She enters the box with her bare feet, noting the way the sand flows around her toes yet supports her weight in observation of the rule that “every grain has to be in force balance.”
She writes equations on the board to explain these findings, equations that begin to glow as the production moves from the realm of pure science to the more slippery domain of art. The transition, like all aspects of this piece, is frolicsomely conducted.
While pouring sand from one container to another, Chakraborty appears to be overcome with dust. For a moment, it’s not clear if this is part of the show or a medical incident until Chowdhury, discreetly occupying a seat in the audience, asserts himself as the director. He asks his mother to run through the death scene with a different sequence of movements and introduces the accompaniment of George Crotty on cello to liberate her performance.
They are rehearsing not so much Chakraborty’s end but Chowdhury’s reaction. He assumes he will fall apart and vows to die himself out of heartbreak. Chakraborty wants him to carry on his work, just as she carried on her research as a mother with a young son who would wail uncontrollably when she would drop him off at daycare.
She recounts that his emotional outbursts were so extreme that it was painful leaving him behind. But she was assured that he was handling the separation. For proof, she was taken into a private teacher’s room, where through a one-way mirror she saw him compose himself shortly after her departure and start to play with the other children.
Mother and son enact a similar situation where, after a more permanent leave-taking, she can catch a glimpse of her son recovering himself sufficiently to survive her loss. Chowdhury, a queer artist who enjoys sampling performance modes, adopts the figure of the grieving Bollywood widow. The effect isn’t to lampoon but to confront his raw emotion and to test his capacity for resilience.
The experiment might sound sentimental, but Chakraborty, the production’s secret weapon, maintains a scientific restraint, albeit one suffused with maternal anguish. The way she listens to her son, takes in his feelings, gently suggests other possibilities of response and treats his experimental theater piece with the same dignity as her own research is incredibly moving to witness. Her performance won an Obie Award, and though she insists that she’s not an actor she demonstrates a sincerity and collaborative grace that many veteran performers would envy.
As it unfolds, “Rheology” can seem piecemeal, even haphazard. There’s an informality built into the production, but it’s somewhat deceptive because the mercurial staging is extremely precise. Chowdhury’s direction has visual panache. Kameron Neal’s video design transforms Krit Robinson’s part lab, part lecture hall set into something kaleidoscopic.
When mother and son sing songs from the famous cycle by Bengali writer-composer and Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore or hold a deathbed conversation in Bangla, the piece spins further across time and space. Empiricism gives way to surrealism. But the world, as any scientist probing into the atomic level can attest, contains more secrets than meets the eye.
Fragile matter is Chakraborty’s specialty, and her expertise is put to novel use in shoring up her son’s tender heart.
