Around Town - Shakespeare on a Saturday Night

For years Los Angeles battled a bad reputation as a cultural wasteland. 
Certainly no one can say that today with 3 world class museums (Getty, LACMA and MOCA)
a handful of smaller art institutions (Hammer, Weisman, SMMOA, Huntington)
and the Music Center with its multiple stages for the LA Philharmonic, the LA Opera, and multiple dance companies and theater productions.
Yet no one can argue about the problem with traffic in this city, making any drive to downtown or Mid-Wilshire to see an event at Disney Hall or LACMA a unpleasant experience.
So, what could make me happier than to discover a world class cultural venue right down the street from chez BHB, The Broad Stage in Santa Monica.

The architecture of the intimate 500 seat main stage is amazing. Literally, there's not a bad seat in the house.
Inspired by Italian “horseshoe” theaters, yet conceived in an absolutely contemporary vernacular, The Broad Stage is an artist’s dream and an audience’s delight. Unlike any performance space in the country, it is sublimely intimate with 499-seats and strikingly grand at the same time – allowing eye contact with artists from the boxes to the back row –forging a new kind of artist and audience experience in Los Angeles. Theater, dance, film, operas, musicals, symphony and chamber orchestras will be presented on one of the city’s largest proscenium stages.

And the programs are diverse from opera recitals to modern jazz, from Shakespeare to world music, from Baryshnikov to Savion Glover (tap dancing), yes there is something for everyone.

Last night at the Broad I saw a contemporary Wall Street style staging of The Merchant of Venice starring F. Murray Abraham as Shylock. Academy Award winner Abraham was excellent, as was Kate MacCluggage who played Portia.  The rest of the cast was good, but none of them were Kenneth Branagh, if you know what I mean.  Still it was definitely worth seeing.  Here's the review from the LA Times.

Past performances have included the classic with Musica Angelica: A Grand Handel Gala and The Glory of the Hapsburgs: Imperial Music of the Vienna Court and the contemporary Sam Harris with the Section Quartet and Cambodian Rock Dengue Fever.

Like I said, something for everyone.

So if you are looking for something to do in Santa Monica, besides sauntering down the 3rd Street Promenade or shopping at Santa Monica Place, I suggest that you check out the upcoming performances at Broad Stage.

Around Town - Fashion's Night Out on Rodeo Drive

Beverly Hills certainly isn't leaving all the Fashion's Night Out fun for New York
Rodeo Drive has big things planned too

The Ferris Wheel and Fashion's Night Out on Rodeo Drive September 10, 2010  

More than 60 retailers on Rodeo Drive will participate in Fashion’s Night Out on Friday, September 10, as Rodeo Drive leads the West Coast effort with glamorous in-store events, cocktail parties, DJs, complimentary manicures and extended shopping hours for all guests. As part of the global shopping event and for the first time ever, Rodeo Drive will erect a four-story Ferris wheel on the street. The conversation piece will be a replica of the George Washington Gale Ferris, Jr. invention which made its debut at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. Guests simply show a receipt confirming their purchase from a participating Rodeo Drive merchant that evening and receive a complimentary ride on this amazing wheel. Guests will also have front row seats for Fashion Rules, a unique, fast-paced trivia game pairing celebrities and designers in a life size version of a board game that challenges participants to answer fashion and style-related questions. 

I will be attending a Kevin Hall fashion show and party for Genlux magazine and some other events.
Are you doing anything for Fashion's Night Out? 

Around Town - The Griffith Observatory

What's the second most fun thing that you can do in the evening in Los Angeles for free?
Yep, you guessed it

Last night I was fortunate enough to have a private tour of the Griffith Park Observatory, which has just celebrated its 75th anniversary. Even if the city sky was so ridden with fog that the telescope was useless, I could still enjoy observatory's exhibits amid the 1935 Art Deco architecture.
Apparently winter has started already in Southern California so it was time to drag out the winter wardrobe.  Naturally, I managed to action some jewelry that would work with my wool cardigan and skirt in jewel tones of ruby and sapphire.
So voila, the photo. Yes it is me at the event in my chunky faceted ruby bead necklace. Does the photo look a bit odd,  but I've been photoshopped onto a photo with a different vista from the observatory.  I liked this background better because you can see the Hollywood sign in the background.
(Question: as long as I was photoshopping myself, why didn't I make myself taller, thinner and younger like a Rlaph Lauren model?)

Well anyhoo, here's the jewelry

Chunky ruby beads, funky ruby earrings and a vintage Concord diamond watch. It worked.

Also, not to be missed at the Griffith Observatory, the Light of the Valkyries show at the planetarium set to the music of Wagner's Ring, that was created to coincide with the Ring Cycle that was presented by the LA Opera.