The Metamorphosis, part of Culture Events in Los Angeles

L.A. Opera Turns ‘The Fly’ Into an Opera of Cinematic Proportions

Downtown LA Scene – David Cronenberg’s 1986 version of The Fly with Jeff Goldblum and Geena Davis turned the 1958 film into a sci-fi and horror spectacle, full of grisly makeup and creature effects. Gone was the innocence of Kurt Neumann’s black-and-white movie, in which a fly with David Hedison’s head famously pleaded “Help me” to Vincent Price.

Writer and director Cronenberg, who most recently directed Eastern Promises, put his characteristically gory spin on the story of Seth Brundle, a scientist who recklessly uses himself as a subject in his teleportation experiments, unaware that a housefly has entered the telepod with him. This week, The Fly gets another unexpected twist when it opens as an opera in Downtown Los Angeles. It plays at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion for six performances Sept. 7-27.

Though Brundle does not survive his ambitious experiment in the film, L.A. Opera is hoping for …

Puppet Theater Tangled in Debt

Bob Baker, 84, Must Raise $30,000; Says Venue Will Not Close

by Anna Scott

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES – The Bob Baker Marionette Theater, an easy-to-miss white box in City West, has entranced the young and young-at-heart with its string-operated figurines for 45 years. But the country’s oldest puppet theater finds itself in a financial tangle.

The theater, at 1345 W. First St., has fallen into debt, and 84-year-old owner Bob Baker has been told by his mortgage holder that he must raise approximately $30,000 to avoid foreclosure proceedings, said theater assistant manager Richard Shuler. A Dec. 3 deadline was recently extended, as negotiations are ongoing.

In an attempt to raise the funds, Baker earlier this month hired a real estate firm to put the property up for sale, hoping to find a buyer who would lease him back the space. By last Thursday, however, Baker’s spokesman said it was no longer on the market. Baker, who can still be found

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Hometown Sounds

Pershing Square Amps Up Its Summer Lineup With Well-Known Acts on Wednesday Nights

by Julie Riggott

We’re an L.A. band, so if we can’t give something back to the city, what good are we?” said Burleigh Drummond, whose group Ambrosia will play a free Pershing Square concert this week.

Ambrosia, a Grammy-nominated band with a following of progressive rock and R&B fans, is the first of four national acts scheduled in the new Pershing Square Downtown Stage Summer Concerts, taking place Wednesdays from 8-10 p.m. After Ambrosia’s July 30 concert, Pedestrian takes the stage on Aug. 6. Sophie B. Hawkins performs on Aug. 13, and the Gin Blossoms wrap it up on Aug. 20.

Despite the fact that the city Department of Recreation and Parks is only paying expenses for the bands, Drummond said Ambrosia is excited to play on the Downtown Los Angeles stage again. (They actually played there about a decade ago.)

“We come from L.A., and we’re

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Purple’s Reign

Oprah Winfrey-Produced Musical of Empowerment Arrives at the Ahmanson

by Julie Riggott

Toward the end of The Color Purple: The Musical About Love, actors Felicia P. Fields and Stu James share a duet as Sofia and Harpo. Fields, a full-figured gal, jumps up in James’ arms and wraps her legs around him in a playful scene that has become a definite crowd-pleaser.

“We played around with it to the point where if you can’t figure out what’s going on with them in ‘Any Little Thing,’ then God help you,” Fields said with a laugh.

She kept laughing as she added, “I came up with the jump, and he came up with the pelvic movement. It’s a tribute to Stu’s strength. When you’ve got access to muscles like Stu’s, you need to utilize them. So I keep him in the gym.”

“This song is like the icing on the cake,” James said. “It’s my favorite number in the show.”

Fields,

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Schrott to the Heart

Uruguayan Bass Reprises the Role That Seduced L.A., But He’s Got Mixed Feelings About Don Giovanni

by Julie Riggott

Don Giovanni claims he’s slept with 2,065 women. Erwin Schrott’s not buying it.

“He’s totally a storyteller. I think he’s such a liar, you know?”

Schrott would know about the legendary Latin lover. The opera sensation has been in Don Giovanni’s shoes – and inside his head – on stages in Washington, D.C., Florence, Genoa, Naples, Milan, Valencia and London. But he’s not counting exactly how many performances.

“Why should I count? I am not Don Giovanni. Don Giovanni is the one who counts,” the Uruguayan bass said, laughing.

The 35-year-old Schrott is in demand internationally because his sensual voice, heartfelt acting and good looks make the press rave and crowds swoon. Downtown Los Angeles audiences get a second chance to be seduced as he reprises his role in Mariusz Trelin´ski’s critically acclaimed 2003 L.A. Opera production of Mozart’s Don Giovanni

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Whip ‘Um Good

Whip 'Um Good

REDCAT Season-Opener Jumps Into the Worlds of Performance and Amnesia

by Daria Benedict

The phrase “avant garde” gets applied fairly frequently in the 21st century, if not always accurately, as the tag is sometimes affixed to anything just slightly out of the mainstream. A production opening this week at the REDCAT theater, however, lives up to the name.

On Wednesday, Sept. 26, New York-based Cynthia Hopkins kicks off the 2007-2008 REDCAT season with Must Don’t Whip ‘Um. The Los Angeles premiere of the multimedia narrative spectacle will play a run of five shows through Sept. 30. It is a sequel/prequel to Accidental Nostalgia, the first in a trilogy exploring the pros and cons of amnesia. Hopkins is quick to point out that you do not have to know anything about the first installment to see or understand part two.

Must Don’t Whip ‘Um combines music, video, dance, set design, lighting and theater to tell two parallel and intermingling narratives about

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Little Radio’s Big Problem

Little Radio’s Big Problem

Royalty Rules Could Force a Change for Downtown Internet Pioneer

by Evan George

When Dave Conway founded Little Radio, a Downtown-based Internet radio station, he was sending out clandestine playlists to friends using illegal rooftop antennas.

Three years later, Little Radio is a multimedia company that deals in brand marketing, event planning, rock shows and even the sale of environmentally friendly electric cars. Its five employees work in two large rehabbed warehouses in the Industrial District.

But at heart – and by name – Little Radio remains centered around the web streaming of music that Conway calls the company’s “life blood and our heart and soul.” The free 24-hour radio station informs all of the other business endeavors, he said.

Not if the recording industry has anything to say about it.

In a ruling earlier this month, the Copyright Royalty Board, which manages fees that radio stations pay to the recording industry, upheld a decision to

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Seams From the Screen

Hollywood Comes Downtown for FIDM’s Annual Costume Party

by Lea Lion

On a Friday morning, a motley crew of reporters is clamoring to get the stars’ attention. Photographers are snapping pictures in rapid-fire succession and TV cameras are rolling.

These types of scenes are ubiquitous in Los Angeles. What sets this one apart is that the stars are not famous actors and actresses. They are the behind-the-scenes people who make it all happen.

It is the day before the opening of the annual Art of Motion Picture Costume Design Exhibition at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (FIDM) museum in South Park, and the media has been invited for a preview (hence those clicking cameras). Featuring more than 100 costumes from 25 films, including outfits from all five films nominated for this year’s Academy Award for Best Costume Design, the show is a whole other type of blockbuster. The Downtown Los Angeles exhibit runs through April 5.

Three kimonos

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READERS’ CHOICE

  • Best Shopping Center:7+Fig
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