Falling JamesL.A. Opera’s screenings of classic horror films with live performances of their scores have become an annual Halloween tradition at the Theatre at Ace Hotel, in which the venue’s ornately eerie ambiance adds further to the spectacle. This year, Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 black-and-white film Psycho is screening with accompaniment by L.A. Opera Orchestra, conducted by Louis Lohraseb. As much as Joseph Stefano’s script (based on the 1959 novel by Robert Bloch) about a larcenous secretary’s (Janet Leigh) unsettling visit to the Bates Motel stirs up a feeling of dread, it’s composer Bernard Herrmann’s masterful score — written for a string section instead of a typical orchestra — that imbues the film with its jaggedly creepy drive and menace.
The Theatre at Ace Hotel, 929 S. Broadway, downtown; Fri., Oct. 25, 8 p.m.; Sat., Oct. 26, 2 p.m. & 8 p.m.; Sun., Oct. 27, 2 p.m.; Wed., Oct. 30, 8 p.m.; Thu., Oct. 31, 8 p.m.; $20-$109. (213) 235-9614, laopera.org.
(Courtesy L.A. Opera/Lawrence K. Ho)
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