A Noise Within Reprises Michael Frayn’s Wild Farce Noises Off

A Noise Within reprises its hilarious and critically acclaimed production of the British farce Noises Off by Michael Frayn. Company Co-Founders/Co-Artistic Directors Geoff Elliott and Julia Rodriguez-Elliott co-direct the production, in which Elliott also performs.

Jazz Pick of the Week – Alan Pasqua, Darek Oles and Joe LaBarbera

Three wily veterans with consummate technique and a wealth of melodic ideas explore jazz standards and American Songbook gems in this superlative trio. Pasqua is a well-traveled pianist with a ravishing touch and a luminous harmonic palette. Oles makes the bass sing with plump, rounded notes, and LaBarbera is a trap set poet who gained renown as Bill Evans’ last drummer. Together, they turn jazz’s bread and butter configuration into a sumptuous feast.

Her Wild Oat Screening at the Historic Orpheum Theatre Kicks off Wurlitzer Weekend 2011

If you’ve never had the opportunity to experience a great silent movie with live organ accompaniment, then this event is for you. The Los Angeles Conservancy’s Broadway Initiative Cultural Partnership Program is proud to partner with the Los Angeles Theatre Organ Society (LATOS) as they present the 1927 silent comedy, Her Wild Oat. The film opens the society’s annual Wurlitzer Weekend and will screen at the magnificent 1926 Orpheum Theatre.

Cirque Berzerk – An imaginative, twisted, post gothic punk extravaganza

When I found out several months ago that my wife would be going out of town for a weeklong business trip starting on January 9th, I thought we should do something fun the night before her departure. In the hunt for just the right activity, I discovered that Cirque Berzerk, LA’s own circus troupe, was opening its 2011 Los Angeles engagement at Club Nokia on the same weekend. I’d wanted to see them for several years, so I bought two tickets for the Saturday, January 8th show.

KCRW Presents First Fridays 2011: Nostradamus Edition at the Natural History Museum

If you don’t have any plans yet for this Friday night, give this event some serious consideration. Public radio station KCRW (89.9FM and KCRW.com) will present the First Fridays after hours series at the Natural History Museum, with KCRW DJs spinning throughout the evening in the African Mammal Hall lounge and musical performances by some of today’s best up and coming buzz bands.

Jazz Pick of the Week – Henry Franklin Quartet

With his huge, buoyant sound and a supple sense of swing veteran Los Angeles bassist Henry “The Skipper” Franklin has been a dependable rhythm section sparkplug for five decades. In the late 1960s and 70s he gained international prominence with a series of high profile gigs, touring and recording with resurgent LA piano legend Hampton Hawes, gigging with trumpet firebrand Freddie Hubbard, and freelancing with tenor sax giants Pharoah Sanders, Harold Land, and Sonny Rollins. He collaborated with South African trumpeter Hugh Masekela on the chart-topping hit “Grazing In the Grass” and contributed to another pop landmark, “The Secret Life of Plants” by Stevie Wonder.

Art Deco Chic Meets Gilles Apap & The Transylvanian Mountain Boys

This Monday evening, Gilles Apap, the former concertmaster of the Santa Barbara Symphony and classically trained French violinist, is joined by The Transylvanian Mountain Boys at Cicada at the Oviatt. Hailed by Yehudi Menuhin, his mentor, as “a true violinist for the 21st century,” Apap is a musician clearly adept at blurring the boundaries of different musical styles and integrating a diverse range of music into his repertoire, including gypsy music, swing, Irish music and bluegrass, as well as the masterpieces of classical music.