Category

The Newport Beach Film Festival decided to “Go Deeper” for its 18th annual incarnation that ran April 20 – 27, starting with the opening night film, “Take Every Wave: The Life of Laird Hamilton” (a documentary about an American icon who forever changed the sport of big wave...

Many of us want to leave a legacy behind. Something that we will be remembered for. Leonard Nimoy had no such problem since he is forever and indelibly engraved in our collective social conscience as the iconic Mr. Spock on the Star Trek series. For 40 years Nimoy shared his...

Long-standing resident families vying for advantage, deep-rooted conflicts over land, moneyed power players competing with less affluent interests, authorities straddling alliances. Hmmm…sounds a little like another town we know… The Midwest-set mystery, “The Scent of Rain and...

 “The Long Way Back” is a train wreck of a movie—but it’s one of the most compelling and scary train wrecks you will ever see, and punches you in the gut with the reality of one of the most deadly and preventable diseases in the country: opioid addiction. Directed by Richard...

“Unfortunately, Megan Hilty won’t be able to do the phone interview this morning. Our apologies for the last minute cancellation,” read the email from Pacific Symphony on March 13. The cancellation was understandable—Hilty had gone into labor with her second child! Her son...

Who would have thought that a Campbell’s soup can could be considered art? Andy Warhol did. The iconic pop art pioneer – along with Claes Oldenburg, Roy Lichtenstein, Ed Ruscha, and others – is part of an exhibition at Orange County Museum of Art called “Pop Art Design” that...

“For someone who spends a lot of time lying down, I have accomplished a lot,” joked Charles Busch. Indeed he has. A two-time MAC Award winner, Tony Award nominee and recipient of a Drama Desk Lifetime Achievement Award, the actor, playwright (“Psycho Beach Party,” “Vampire...

In 1994, Opera Pacific presented a full-scale production of Verdi’s grand opera, Aida,” the larger-than-life tale about the doomed love triangle of an Egyptian princess, a young Nubian slave girl, and the soldier they both love. “Aida” is a massive undertaking that takes weeks of...

Last year, Orange County-based dance group Backhausdance (founded in 2003 by dancer and choreographer Jennifer Backhaus, a resident of Newport Beach), took a giant step towards national recognition with its sold-out inaugural concert at Irvine Barclay Theater featuring the world...

What would you call a musical group that takes modern pop and rock songs, “retrofies” and reimagines them as everything from 1920s jazz to 1950s do-wop, shoots low-budget videos of themselves performing the songs in a living room, and then garners millions of views when the...

Who will be the next dance company to hit it big in America? If you placed a bet on Orange County’s own Backhausdance, your bet may soon pay off. Formed in 2003 by Newport Beach resident Jennifer Backhaus, Backhausdance recently returned from a week in New York, where they...

What do Susan Egan, Krysta Rodriguez and Lindsay Mendez have in common? They’ve all performed in Broadway musicals, and they’re all graduates of the Orange County School of the Arts. Established in 1987 and celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, OCSA has an enrollment of...

A pedestrian on 57th Street in New York sees a musician getting out of a cab and asks, “How do you get to Carnegie Hall?” Without pause, the artist replies, “Practice.” Yes, it’s an old joke, but Pacific Symphony has indeed practiced enough to get to Carnegie Hall. The symphony...

Big changes are coming to Segerstrom Center for the Arts! Anyone attending a performance at one of the Segerstrom Center venues will notice that construction has begun on the new Julianne and George Argyros Plaza and the Center for Dance and Innovation. The plaza has been named...

Is it a children’s musical for grownups, or a grownup musical for children? Whatever the case, it’s clear that “Matilda” is popular with audiences of all ages. The show received its West End premiere in November of 2011 and was immediately acclaimed by British critics and...

The sixth incarnation of the Off Center Festival returns to Segerstrom Center Jan. 12 – 28 with an eclectic lineup of performers that include solo shows, musical performances, and a one-night opportunity to join a choir. According to Segerstrom Center President Terry Dwyer, the...

How popular is the movie “La La Land?” So popular that the Orange County Film Society hosted a private “members-only” screening of the film on Tuesday, Dec. 13 at the Lido Theater. In “La La Land,” Mia (Emma Stone), an aspiring actress, serves lattes to movie stars in between...

“Elf” is one of those silly feel-good holiday movies that was a hit when it came out in 2013, so it’s no surprise that in 2010 “Elf” was turned into a Broadway musical, with songs by Tony Award nominees Matthew Sklar and Chad Beguelin (“The Wedding Singer”), and a book by Tony...

Think your schedule is busy this month? Check out the myriad holiday-themed concerts and shows on stage at Segerstrom Center for the Arts in December. Dec. 9-18: Segerstrom Center for the Arts presents “The Nutcracker” by American Ballet Theatre.  Dec. 10: Philharmonic Society of...

 December is nearly here, which means local arts groups are gearing up for a sleigh full of holiday concerts. Pacific Symphony kicks off the fun on Saturday, Dec. 3 with “Nutcracker for Kids” at 10 and 11:30 a.m. in the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall. This condensed,...