Mary Beth Crain

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Quinn Kelsey

Mary Beth Crain
When I attended the finals of L.A. Opera’s 2004 Operalia Competition, Quinn Kelsey’s performance gave me the shivers. The Hawaiian baritone exhibited a glorious voice whose depth, range, technical virtuosity and passion should have won him top honors. Inexplicably, in what should go down as one of the great judging......
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Label/design As a “go” more Minimalism

Mary Beth Crain
The second week of the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Minimalist Jukebox festival con­tinues with seven nights of musical per­mutations and combinations, some of which even go against the minimalist grain. In the words of festival director John Adams, “It has escaped no one’s attention that celebrating Minimalism in the context of......

Off to see Mr. Wizard

Mary Beth Crain
Photo (below) by Max S. Gerber If ever oh ever a wiz there was, it’s Don Herbert. As early television’s Mr. Wizard, Herbert performed the magical feat of making kids fall in love with science. He became the idol of many a child when he showed how to turn old......
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Bow Wow Now

Mary Beth Crain
Photos by Anne Fishbein At Lovey Dash’s offices on Beverly Boulevard, it’s a regular dog-day afternoon. Her 1-year-old toy Chinese crested hairless, Zeuss, a tiny, oddly spotted creature with wild hair sprouting from the top of his head like an unruly exotic plant, is attired in an “at-home lounging housecoat”......
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Homeland Insecurity

Mary Beth Crain
Gil Kofman’s new farce, American Magic, has the look and feel of kinky political satire. Not only is this tweaked fable a refreshing antidote to all the post–9/11 paranoia we’ve been tube-fed by the government and media, it also exhibits a sexy chaos not often glimpsed onstage. Then, halfway through,......
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Sweet and Lowdown

Mary Beth Crain
“3 a.m. Paris. Montparnasse, fabled haunt of Hemingway and his pack and still a center of Parisian nightlife. A last-minute decision to add one of the great viol fantasies to a recording devoted to Purcell has us working late. To capture the viol’s throaty resonance and the fantasy‘s intricate polyphony,......

Forever Edie

Mary Beth Crain
This weekend, Grey Gardens, Albert and David Maysles' 1976 cinema verite classic about Edith Bouvier Beale and her daughter, Edie, reopens for a weeklong run at the Nuart. In the film, the 79-year-old "Big" Edie, a former society beauty and sister of Jacqueline Onassis' father, "Black Jack" Bouvier, lies in......
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The Little Girl With a Big Head

Mary Beth Crain
Just before Christmas, amid a jumble of half-built sets and strange props that make you feel like you're in the middle of a junk shop, an early rehearsal for a production of Oscar Wilde's most misunderstood work, Salome (which opened last week at Actors' Gang Theater), is in full swing......