Archive for September 2nd, 2008

Groovaloos founder tries his hand at a musical

Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008

 Bradley Rapier, the high-energy Canuck who founded the ultra-successful hip-hop dance group The Groovaloos, is giving old-fashioned musicals a try. Rapier is choreographing an innovative, all-black Reprise production of “Once on This Island.” “At the first rehearsal I remember thinking, ‘Uh oh — what have I gotten myself into?’ This stuff is hard!”

It’s further proof that artistic director Jason Alexander wants to , which has puttered along for the last decade as a revival house for mostly obscure musicals.

“Island” opens tomorrow. Check out with Rapier and big-voiced chanteuse Ledisi.

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Carlos Kleiber’s business model

Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008

 

AP Photo/Lelli & Masotti/Teatro alla Scala

It seems that many of us are working too hard these days, especially the rich. Over at as a business model. Salmon quoth:

“He refuses to be at the beck and call of the record industry or the opera and concert managements who bombard him with offers. Even an admiring Herbert von Karajan himself was unable to tempt Kleiber to take a date with the Berlin Philharmonic, an engagement which any other conductor in the world would have grabbed without a second thought.

The reason, according to Karajan, was that Kleiber does not really enjoy conducting. ‘He tells me, ‘I only conduct when I am hungry.’ And it is true. He has a deep-freeze. He fills it up, and cooks for himself, and when it gets down to a certain level then he thinks, ‘now I might do a concert’. He is like a wolf.’”

Not all of us can live this way, of course. As a music critic it would be my dream. Sit at home and eat stuff out of the freezer and wait for some publication to call begging me to review a concert for a fee of tens of thousands of dollars.

Q: Dudamel at the L.A. Phil?

A: Hmmm, I don’t know. I’ve got plenty of those frozen fries from Trader Joe’s left.

Q: ‘The Fly” at L.A. Opera

A: Not really my thing (didn’t like the movie), and besides, I still have a month’s worth of waffles.

Q: The Pacific Symphony season opener, with organ?

A: You see, I’ve heard them like a gazillion times, not that that’s the deal breaker or anything. But, um, well, I haven’t even cracked the case of yet.

Then I’d go back to watching my stories and smoking Cubans.

Previously: .

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Classical Life “hits” for August

Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008

The cruelest month has come and gone (April doesn’t rate in these parts) and we did quite well again here at (which also did bang up business). Once again, I had more than a little help from my friends — you, the blognoscenti — as well as Chris Russell, conductor of the Orange County High School of the Arts Symphony Orchestra, who sent a travel diary from the ensemble’s tour of Australia. Individually, they had lots of readers.

You also liked the video – sent to my attention by Classical Life friend Tim Page, and certainly worth another gander.

the latter a review of the young conductor’s latest album, did swimmingly as well.

Click again. Relive the thrill. , my friends. 

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Don LaFontaine: A tribute to the late king of voiceovers

Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008

 

In a world where legends are often created by hype, the hype-meister himself was invisible.

But everyone knew the voice of Don LaFontaine, if not his face – he recorded thousands of film trailers, and his smoothly masculine, bourbon-and-cigarettes voice introduced countless movie promos with the phrase “In a world where…” It became LaFontaine’s signature line, and something he made fun of toward the end of his busy career.

LaFontaine . He was 68. Burbank film editor David Russo worked with him at Cimarron, one of Hollywood’s most successful makers of movie trailers. His affectionate tribute:

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