So Cal Arts & Entertainment

Spike Jones had his offbeat version of “The Nutcracker Suite,” Duke Ellington had his elegant variation. Tchaikovsky’s beloved holiday treat swings into Orange County Dec. 15 when the Duke Ellington Orchestra—the only ensemble continuing the tradition of the...

An invitation from a friend to join him for a multiplex showing of “Joker” last week met with little enthusiasm in these quarters. My contributions to the coffers of creatively bankrupt Hollywood these days are few; I’ve had enough of the superhero and comic book...

Had I read a synopsis of Julia Cho’s “Aubergine” (at South Coast Repertory through Nov. 16) and realized it focused on a dying parent I might have chosen to skip it, having lost both parents this past summer. And I would have missed one of the best plays I’ve seen in...

If it goes without saying South Coast Repertory is among the most consistent purveyors of high quality theatre in So Cal, not every offering meets expectations—at least mine, which may be different from yours. Adam Bock’s “The Canadians,” the latest SCR-commissioned...

Wacky, whimsical, wonderful…and forgotten. That would be Charley Bowers. Haven’t got a clue? Never mind, drop everything and avail yourself of Flicker Alley’s two-disc Blu-ray collection of newly restored films by the animator-comedian while you have a chance. You...

Does everything we see have to make perfect sense or fill in all the blanks? Some would say yes; I enjoy a little mystery. I’d want to know exactly what a party host is putting in my drink but when it comes to theatre, I don’t necessarily want everything fully...

Beckett Central – otherwise known as Center Theatre Group – has come up with yet another must-see for devotees of the Irish playwright, following their first-rate production of “Happy Days” earlier this year. This time it’s an anthology of sorts titled “On Beckett,”...

The butler did it, that much is certain in Jeff Lowe’s hilarious new show, “The Butler Monologues” (presented by Alchemy Theatre Co. at Fullerton’s STAGEStheatre through Sept. 22). But whodunnit in this outlandish murder mystery comedy? Alfred from “Batman”? Kato from...

“Damn Yankees” is one of those old-school musicals they’ve forgotten how to make. When the Douglass Wallopp-George Abbott show (with music and lyrics by Jerry Ross & Richard Adler, based on a novel by Wallopp) first opened on Broadway in 1955 it scored a solid home...

To apply the proverbial lemons from lemonade to Shakespeare Orange County would be something of an understatement. Clearly the company has landed on its feet after being ignominiously booted from Garden Grove Amphitheater, falling into the welcoming embrace of Santa...