€uroMeinke
06-02-2007, 09:34 AM
I just got the Season Brochure for UCLA yesterday, and while they don't seem to be booking as much cool stuff as they used to, there are still a few things that caught my eye.
The first is what looks to be a creepy marionette show with Danny Elfman's name attached:
http://www.uclalive.org/Event_Graphics/fortune-teller-header2.jpg
The Fortune Teller
Erik Sanko, creator and director
INTERNATIONAL THEATRE FESTIVAL
Danny Elfman and Erik Sanko, composers; Gavin Friday, recorded narration
West Coast Premiere
“For those souls with a taste for the elegantly macabre, attendance is highly advised.” –The Village Voice
Edward Gorey meets Tim Burton in this deliciously twisted marionette play by former Lounge Lizards bassist and hip New York City puppet maker Erik Sanko. Featuring a grotesque array of 15 artfully handcrafted figures, this dark comic tale unfolds in a fantastic Victorian world as seven characters representing the seven deadly sins convene at a dead millionaire’s estate to claim their inheritance as determined by a fortune teller. One by one, each is delivered what they have coming to them, but perhaps not what they are expecting—a brutal, but suitable, demise. Featuring the gravelly, recorded narration of Irish vocalist Gavin Friday and an eerie score by Sanko and Grammy-winning film composer and former Oingo Boingo frontman Danny Elfman, this sinister puppet theater spectacle is a perverse, but gleeful morality tale for grown-ups.
I think we'll be doing the Dance series this year, as they've booked some of my favorites, Pina Bausch, Ultima Vez, and La La La Human Steps:
http://www.uclalive.org/Event_Graphics/pina-bausch-header.jpg
Pina Bausch Tanztheater Wuppertal
Ten Chi
North American Premiere
Widely regarded as the most influential and controversial choreographer of her time, German-born Pina Bausch has practically invented “dance theater,” fusing elements of American musical theater, vaudeville and political cabaret into mesmerizing and bittersweet meditations on the human condition. Now for the first time in eight years, “the uncrowned empress of modern dance” (Newsweek) returns to Los Angeles with a work many are calling her most stunning masterpiece to date. Created in Japan in 2004, Bausch’s poetic Ten Chi is the most recent in a series of what might be called choreographic travelogues—works deeply informed and inspired by the countries and regions where they are created. On a stage decorated with cherry blossoms and a whale fin, the skilled dancers of Tanztheater Wuppertal explore with empathy and humor the sounds, sights, joys, and paradoxes of modern Japanese culture.
Ultima Vez (http://www.ultimavez.com/)
Spiegel
Wim Vandekeybus, choreographer and filmmaker
Los Angeles Premiere
For 20 years, Belgian choreographer Wim Vandekeybus and his company Ultima Vez have created daring, confrontational and intensely physical works that push dancers and technology beyond their limits. The French newspaper Le Soir described this master of movement, film and sound as “a cross between Trisha Brown and John Woo.” Vandekeybus’ latest endeavor, Spiegel (Mirror), is a retrospective exploring the explosive energy and emotions of his world-renowned creations. Featuring remarkable scenes from his extraordinary body of work, Spiegel is a journey in search of the essence of Vandekeybus’ movement idiom. Nine dancers – company veterans, as well as newcomers – collaborate with Vandekeybus to reimagine the material in inspiring new ways.
http://www.uclalive.org/Event_Graphics/la-la-la-header.jpg
La La La Human Steps
Amjad
Édouard Lock, artistic director and choreographer
U.S. Premiere
“(Lock’s choreography is) a Jackson Pollock painting in dance.”
– The Gazette (Montreal)
“[Édouard] Lock surpasses all limits. His revolutionary physical language has influenced an entire generation of dancers…” –Die Welt (Berlin)
Known for its high-energy, acrobatic dance and punkish cool, Montreal’s most daring dance company returns with another thrilling production. Inspired by Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty, Amjad audaciously deconstructs the romantic ballet and probes the schism between classical and modern dance. Expanding the limits of physical, vertiginous, and sensual movement, choreographer Édouard Lock adapts and reinvents classical sources deeply rooted in our collective memory, infusing them with rawness and fresh energy. Amjad includes nine dancers in a radiant display of demanding technique, intricate structure, and breakneck speed—often on pointe—featuring film and original live music performed by four musicians and composed by Bang on a Can's David Lang. also on the Calendar is the Tiger Lilly's - we saw their Shockheaded Peter which was delightfully dark and quirky - and the last time we saw them was at the time of the many So Cal Fires and they sang songs involving the screaming of fire in a crowded theater - gotta love them and their dark sense of humor:
http://www.uclalive.org/Event_Graphics/tiger-lillies-header.jpg
The Tiger Lillies
Misery Guts
“A Tiger Lillies gig is a journey into wild emotion that passes right through melodrama and out the other side into bizarre beauty.” – Evening Standard
Britain’s favorite purveyors of the gloriously obscene, The Tiger Lillies create dark, gleefully twisted cabaret that leaves audiences squirming in their seats. Led by the bizarre and beautiful falsetto of Martyn Jacques, this three-piece band became an international sensation after their 1998 “junk opera” Shockheaded Peter, a deliciously macabre children’s fairytale demonstrating the disastrous consequences of misbehavior. Following their 2003 Grammy-nominated collaboration with the Kronos Quartet inspired by the lyrics and illustrations of iconoclastic artist Edward Gorey, The Tiger Lillies return to Royce Hall with their eccentric and perverted mix of Brechtian drama, black comedy and all-around blasphemy.
Oh and an age old favorite (been seeing her since the early 80's) Laurie Anderson, who's performance art is always provokatice as well as entertaining:
http://www.uclalive.org/Event_Graphics/laurie-anderson-header.jpg
Laurie Anderson
Homeland
West Coast Premiere
“Laurie Anderson is a singer-songwriter of crushing poignancy—a minimalist painter of melancholy moods who addresses universal themes in the vernacular of the commonplace.” –Rolling Stone
A major force in the American cultural landscape, Laurie Anderson is one of this era’s most prolific and farsighted artists, playfully taking our imaginations beyond the boundaries of the expected with her provocative mixed media extravaganzas. Joined by a trio of musicians, today’s most celebrated performance artist returns to UCLA Live with the premiere of another insightful work. A combination poem, play and concert, Homeland explores America’s obsessions with security, distance and information, the relationship of fear and freedom, the increasing acceptance of violence, and the persistent new language of war. Using the synthetic language of technology and sensuous language of song writing and poetry, it will look at American style totalitarianism, shifting images of empire, and reality shows, among other things.
Tickets for series are on sale now, single events go on sale July 23 - to see what else they offer go to www.uclalive.org (http://www.uclalive.org/default.asp)
The first is what looks to be a creepy marionette show with Danny Elfman's name attached:
http://www.uclalive.org/Event_Graphics/fortune-teller-header2.jpg
The Fortune Teller
Erik Sanko, creator and director
INTERNATIONAL THEATRE FESTIVAL
Danny Elfman and Erik Sanko, composers; Gavin Friday, recorded narration
West Coast Premiere
“For those souls with a taste for the elegantly macabre, attendance is highly advised.” –The Village Voice
Edward Gorey meets Tim Burton in this deliciously twisted marionette play by former Lounge Lizards bassist and hip New York City puppet maker Erik Sanko. Featuring a grotesque array of 15 artfully handcrafted figures, this dark comic tale unfolds in a fantastic Victorian world as seven characters representing the seven deadly sins convene at a dead millionaire’s estate to claim their inheritance as determined by a fortune teller. One by one, each is delivered what they have coming to them, but perhaps not what they are expecting—a brutal, but suitable, demise. Featuring the gravelly, recorded narration of Irish vocalist Gavin Friday and an eerie score by Sanko and Grammy-winning film composer and former Oingo Boingo frontman Danny Elfman, this sinister puppet theater spectacle is a perverse, but gleeful morality tale for grown-ups.
I think we'll be doing the Dance series this year, as they've booked some of my favorites, Pina Bausch, Ultima Vez, and La La La Human Steps:
http://www.uclalive.org/Event_Graphics/pina-bausch-header.jpg
Pina Bausch Tanztheater Wuppertal
Ten Chi
North American Premiere
Widely regarded as the most influential and controversial choreographer of her time, German-born Pina Bausch has practically invented “dance theater,” fusing elements of American musical theater, vaudeville and political cabaret into mesmerizing and bittersweet meditations on the human condition. Now for the first time in eight years, “the uncrowned empress of modern dance” (Newsweek) returns to Los Angeles with a work many are calling her most stunning masterpiece to date. Created in Japan in 2004, Bausch’s poetic Ten Chi is the most recent in a series of what might be called choreographic travelogues—works deeply informed and inspired by the countries and regions where they are created. On a stage decorated with cherry blossoms and a whale fin, the skilled dancers of Tanztheater Wuppertal explore with empathy and humor the sounds, sights, joys, and paradoxes of modern Japanese culture.
Ultima Vez (http://www.ultimavez.com/)
Spiegel
Wim Vandekeybus, choreographer and filmmaker
Los Angeles Premiere
For 20 years, Belgian choreographer Wim Vandekeybus and his company Ultima Vez have created daring, confrontational and intensely physical works that push dancers and technology beyond their limits. The French newspaper Le Soir described this master of movement, film and sound as “a cross between Trisha Brown and John Woo.” Vandekeybus’ latest endeavor, Spiegel (Mirror), is a retrospective exploring the explosive energy and emotions of his world-renowned creations. Featuring remarkable scenes from his extraordinary body of work, Spiegel is a journey in search of the essence of Vandekeybus’ movement idiom. Nine dancers – company veterans, as well as newcomers – collaborate with Vandekeybus to reimagine the material in inspiring new ways.
http://www.uclalive.org/Event_Graphics/la-la-la-header.jpg
La La La Human Steps
Amjad
Édouard Lock, artistic director and choreographer
U.S. Premiere
“(Lock’s choreography is) a Jackson Pollock painting in dance.”
– The Gazette (Montreal)
“[Édouard] Lock surpasses all limits. His revolutionary physical language has influenced an entire generation of dancers…” –Die Welt (Berlin)
Known for its high-energy, acrobatic dance and punkish cool, Montreal’s most daring dance company returns with another thrilling production. Inspired by Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty, Amjad audaciously deconstructs the romantic ballet and probes the schism between classical and modern dance. Expanding the limits of physical, vertiginous, and sensual movement, choreographer Édouard Lock adapts and reinvents classical sources deeply rooted in our collective memory, infusing them with rawness and fresh energy. Amjad includes nine dancers in a radiant display of demanding technique, intricate structure, and breakneck speed—often on pointe—featuring film and original live music performed by four musicians and composed by Bang on a Can's David Lang. also on the Calendar is the Tiger Lilly's - we saw their Shockheaded Peter which was delightfully dark and quirky - and the last time we saw them was at the time of the many So Cal Fires and they sang songs involving the screaming of fire in a crowded theater - gotta love them and their dark sense of humor:
http://www.uclalive.org/Event_Graphics/tiger-lillies-header.jpg
The Tiger Lillies
Misery Guts
“A Tiger Lillies gig is a journey into wild emotion that passes right through melodrama and out the other side into bizarre beauty.” – Evening Standard
Britain’s favorite purveyors of the gloriously obscene, The Tiger Lillies create dark, gleefully twisted cabaret that leaves audiences squirming in their seats. Led by the bizarre and beautiful falsetto of Martyn Jacques, this three-piece band became an international sensation after their 1998 “junk opera” Shockheaded Peter, a deliciously macabre children’s fairytale demonstrating the disastrous consequences of misbehavior. Following their 2003 Grammy-nominated collaboration with the Kronos Quartet inspired by the lyrics and illustrations of iconoclastic artist Edward Gorey, The Tiger Lillies return to Royce Hall with their eccentric and perverted mix of Brechtian drama, black comedy and all-around blasphemy.
Oh and an age old favorite (been seeing her since the early 80's) Laurie Anderson, who's performance art is always provokatice as well as entertaining:
http://www.uclalive.org/Event_Graphics/laurie-anderson-header.jpg
Laurie Anderson
Homeland
West Coast Premiere
“Laurie Anderson is a singer-songwriter of crushing poignancy—a minimalist painter of melancholy moods who addresses universal themes in the vernacular of the commonplace.” –Rolling Stone
A major force in the American cultural landscape, Laurie Anderson is one of this era’s most prolific and farsighted artists, playfully taking our imaginations beyond the boundaries of the expected with her provocative mixed media extravaganzas. Joined by a trio of musicians, today’s most celebrated performance artist returns to UCLA Live with the premiere of another insightful work. A combination poem, play and concert, Homeland explores America’s obsessions with security, distance and information, the relationship of fear and freedom, the increasing acceptance of violence, and the persistent new language of war. Using the synthetic language of technology and sensuous language of song writing and poetry, it will look at American style totalitarianism, shifting images of empire, and reality shows, among other things.
Tickets for series are on sale now, single events go on sale July 23 - to see what else they offer go to www.uclalive.org (http://www.uclalive.org/default.asp)