Sorted by date Results 1092 - 1116 of 1157
Take three parts “Indiana Jones”, add two parts “The Mummy”, mix in some “National Treasure” and then toss in a little Harry Potter, Lord Voldemort and even a little Anakin Skywalker, and you’ve got yourself PRINCE OF PERSIA - A Roller Coaster Ride for the Ages!! Based on Jordan Mechner’s highly successful 1989 video game, “Prince of Persia”, uber producer Jerry Bruckheimer has assembled the preeminent technical artisans in the industry today, a world class cast, an imaginative mythica...
In 1865, Reverend Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, a mathematics professor at Christchurch University in Oxford, England forever changed the world. No, he didn’t disprove the Pythagorean Theory or find a new way to alter tax percentages to help the people. What he did do was much more amazing and wonderful. Reverend Dodgson, under the pen name of Lewis Carroll, created the incredible, fantastical and imaginative world of Wonderland and began to write stories about a little girl named Alice. With its b...
The Best Picture Oscar race officially takes off this week with the release of Anurag Basu’s KITES. This is PURE OSCAR GOLD. Unfamiliar with Basu’s work, I went into this screening blind, with no idea of the story, the filmmakers or the actors, but I quickly found myself blinded by the beauty before me on screen and the brilliance of a stunning and exceptional film. Reminiscent of Baz Luhrmann in style, color and texture, KITES is a seamless, beauteous meld of “Moulin Rouge!” and “Romeo...
Ah, Juliet. The mere mention of the name may make even the most hardened heart a tad wistful at the thought of love won or love lost, while for the true romantics, hearts may go pitter patter and eyes well with tears of joy, or heartache. Juliet is, after all, one-half of the most romantic and enchanted couples of the ages, albeit in literature. Thanks to William Shakespeare, the 14th century story of the Montagues and Capulets and the forbidden and fated love of Romeo and Juliet has endured...
I should know by now that anything to which Nicholas Sparks is attached will guarantee an increase in the stock value of Kleenex. A world class novelist, the mere mention of some of his most cherished works, “The Notebook”, “Dear John”, “Message in a Bottle”, “Nights in Rodanthe” and “The Wedding”, bring tears to the eyes on recalling the indelible and deep emotion of the stories, the characters and the film adaptations. And now, not only does Sparks give us another emotional heartwren...
Leo Tolstoy is long considered one of the greatest novelists of our time. Celebrated for works such as “War and Peace” and “Anna Karenina”, his appeal is as universal as the language of love itself, a language for which he publicly espoused its idealistic virtues, but behind closed doors, led a life in his final days that was anything but. Married to the Countess Sofya for 48 years, theirs was a true partnership, a true story of love and hate, passion and fury. With a vast difference in their a...
Think back to your youth and those small suburban neighborhoods or city communities or even now in this age of technogadgetry. Remember when Mr. Jones got a new car? What did your dad go out and do? He went and got a new car. Of course, then Mr. Jones went out and got an even newer and fancier car which meant every other dad had to go get the newer and fancier car. And what about that 4 foot above ground pool and cedar fence that Mr. Jones put in? How long did it take before every other house...
The bar is set and the Documentary Oscar race begins with the debut of WAKING SLEEPING BEAUTY. Not environmentally or politically messaged, WAKING SLEEPING BEAUTY takes a rare, honest, and very personal, even cathartic, behind-the-scenes look into a pivotal time in the animation world of the Mouse House (a.k.a. Disney). Not just a trip down memory lane, but a trip into the world that gave us the likes of Tim Burton, John Lasseter, Don Bluth and dozens of other artisans and magicians, WAKING...
“THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST” by Oscar Wilde From Friday, May 7 to Saturday, June 12, 2010 At the Westchester Playhouse Kentwood Players continues its 60th Anniversary Season with Oscar Wilde’s immortal classic "The Importance of Being Earnest" from May 7 to June 12, 2010 on Fridays and Saturdays at 8 PM and Sundays at 2 PM, at the Westchester Playhouse located at 8301 Hindry Avenue in Westchester. The production is directed by Drew Fitzsimmons and produced by Jim Crawford and Alison Mattiza. Featured in the cast are Marcy Agreen, Lorenzo B...
The Academy of Visual and Performing Arts (AVPA) will welcome young filmmakers from around Los Angeles County to participate in the 12th Annual Frost Film Festival. The festival runs Friday and Saturday from 7 p.m. to 10 in the Sony Black Box Theatre, Room 9 in Robert Frost Auditorium, 4401 Elenda Street, Culver City. General Admission each night is $10 and $8 for ASB/Seniors/ Children/Faculty. Seating is very limited; we recommend that you purchase tickets prior to the screening. Tickets can be purchased online at avpa.org or in person...
Tennessee Williams is long and widely considered to be one of, if not the most celebrated and important American playwright of our time. His collected works are prolific and memorable, taking not only the stage by storm, but the silver screen as well. Celebrating the grandeur, pomp, and dare I say, arrogance, of predominantly the post-reconstruction South and particularly the women of the day, his 1920's characters are indelibly etched in our minds. Be it Blanche DuBois, Amanda Wingfield,...
Every year the Southern Region of CETA (California Educational Theatre Association) holds a High School Theatre Festival. The festival showcases four mainstage shows which have been selected from each of the four regions of Southern California: Los Angeles, Orange County, the Inland Empire, and San Diego County. This year CETA selected Culver City High School's Academy of Visual and Performing Arts (AVPA) cast and crew of Nicholas Nickleby as the first place winners in all of Los Angeles County. Nicholas Nickleby, directed by Sheila Silver,...
Culver City High School 's Academy of Visual and Performing Arts (AVPA) presents "Music for the Holidays" on Tuesday, December 15 at the Robert Frost Auditorium ( 4401 Elenda Street ). Doors open at 6:30 pm with pre-concert entertainment by the Chamber Singers and Jazz Combo. The concert will begin at 7:00 pm . Admission is a suggested donation of $5 and up, but no one will be turned away. The annual winter concert, directed by Dr. Tony Spano and Lisa Michel, will feature the AVPA Chamber Singers and Jazz Ensemble, along with the Culver City...
Holiday Celebration to be held at Skirball Cultural Center, Sunday, December 20, 4 PM Join the Culver City Chamber Orchestra for a concert celebration featuring the works of Corelli and Vaughn Williams, plus Christmas and Chanukah songs. Listen to “T’was the Night before Christmas,” narrated by Philip Lester. The holiday celebration will include sing-a-longs and a special performance by a young musical troupe, the Mark Twain Ringers. The Mark Twain Ringers are under the direction of Mr. Ron Thiele who teaches English Handbells at Mark Twain...
I recently attended a DouglasPlus workshop for “Next Stop Amazingland” at the Kirk Douglas Theatre. Because this production was being presented by the same creators of the critically acclaimed dreamscape vaudeville “All Wear Bowlers” (2005), I was interested to see it. Trey Lyford and Geoff Sobelle teamed up with world-class magician Steven Cuiffo to form this mix of half-theatre, half-magic show. The idea was to combine the magic with glitz, humor, and bizarre, off-the-wall characters. Overall,...
The performance by the Get-Lit Players, teen poets, is another unique and stellar offering from The Actors” Gang and co-sponsored by LA Weekly in the WTF?! Series. The troupe studies and recites classic poems and then writes responses, which are showcased in explosive, live shows. It is a writing program for at-risk teens from 13 to 19 years-old in Los Angeles with 75% of these teens being Title 1, who face school dropout rates of up to 70%. In 2008 in Washington, D. C. they scored in the Top T...
Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music stands almost alone in the grand sweep of his works for musical theatre – though set in the perpetual twilight of a Scandinavian summer night, A Little Night Music is perhaps his lightest show. Far better known for his work roaming in the shadows, Sondheim here takes a less tragic view of love and its foibles. Although, Night Music starts with pairs of lovers – some mismatched, some not remembering why they matched in the first place – the romantic, waltz-...
In light of the recent incident at Ft. Hood and given that I sit and write my feature reviews this week on Veterans' Day, it is impossible for me not to showcase one of the most powerful and moving films of our time - Oren Moverman's THE MESSENGER. Casualty Notification Officer. The very phrase brings dread to anyone in or anyone with a family member in the military for it is the CNO that is charged with the duty of personally notifying you that a loved one has been lost in the line of battle....
The Culver City High School Academy of Visual and Performing Arts (AVPA) Theatre Department presents their first production of the season production calendar: Nicholas Nickleby, based on the novel by Charles Dickens and directed by Sheila Silver, AVPA’s new Creative Director of Theatre. The show opened to a full house on Thursday, November 12, and continues through November 22 with 7 p.m. performances on Thursday, Friday and Saturday and 1:00 p.m. matinee on Sunday at the Sony Pictures Theatre (The Blackbox), behind the Robert Frost Auditorium,...
Students from Culver City High School 's Academy of Visual and Performing Arts (AVPA) Film Department, along with their parents, are sponsoring a Giant Garage Sale from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, November 21, at the corner of Garfield and Elenda, across the street from Culver City High School . For information about how to donate items to the Garage Sale or to make a monetary contribution to the AVPA Film Program, contact AVPA Foundation Film Rep Jean Ballantine at 310-398-4200 or [email protected]@ca.rr.com, or the Film...
Originally published in 1843, Charles Dickens’ “ A Christmas Carol” is believed to be one of the greatest Christmas stories ever told. And I have to agree. Next to “Oliver Twist”, “A Christmas Carol” is my favorite Charles Dickens novel. I still remember on reading it back in my elementary school days, how I was drawn to the darkness and grit of story and the characters, and how from the darkness sprang a beautiful hopeful light and joy. And it seems that I am not the only one touched by the tal...
A troop of young actors from Culver City High School's Academy of Visual and Performing Arts (AVPA) attended the DTASC Fall Theatre Festival (Drama Teachers Association of Southern California) on Saturday, October 24 at Carson High School. Actors Jesse Pilchin, Conor Murphy and Kevin Mitchell, directed by Louie Chavez, won a first place trophy for their performance in a scene from The Lonesome West by Irish playwright Martin McDonagh. All first place winners will perform at "Salute to the Winners" on Sunday, November 15 at the Barnsdall...
The Actors' Gang WTF?! Festival continues with sScheduled events including Documentary Tuesdays, Film Wednesdays, Theater Thursdays, Fun Fridays, and Music Saturdays. All proceeds benefit The Actors' Gang's community outreach programs. Visit the website at www.wtffestival.comfor the most up-to-date schedule and line-up. This week: Thursday, November 5 at 8 pm (Bar opens at 7 pm) - Dance troupe, MENTAL HEAD CIRCUS and HOOPDAWGZ, create an intoxicating vaudeville circus that pulses with dance, humor, hula hoops and bawdy allure. - $15 Friday,...
The Culver City High School Academy of Visual and Performing Arts (AVPA) Theatre Department presents their first production of the season production calendar: Nicholas Nickleby, based on the novel by Charles Dickens and directed by AVPA’s new Creative Director of theatre, Sheila Silver. The show runs Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, November 12 to November 21 at 7 p.m. with 1 p.m. matinees Sundays, November 15 and 22 at the Sony Pictures Theatre (The Blackbox), behind the Robert Frost Auditorium, 4401 Elenda Street in Culver City. Tickets a...
Ten years ago a cult phenomena was borne from the fertile imagination of Troy Duffy. Essentially an ode to vigilante justice, a topic on which Duffy speaks quite passionately (as he does about filmmaking) harkening back to the Bible and certain circumstances which warrant “an eye for an eye”, the stories of Duffy and the Boondock Saints are themselves the things on which Hollywood legend is made. A bartender/barback, the magical light of Harvey Weinstein shone down from above, blessing Duf...
