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Life! Feb 16, 2022
Hike or dance up to the Griffith Observatory. | Photo courtesy of What the Float
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If you’re still recovering from celebrating the Rams’ Super Bowl win, you might not have had time to plan for this weekend’s fun. From classical music, to an aerial drag show, to Disney princesses, antiques, raggae and Shakespeare, you’re sure to find something to appeal to your sensibilities.
“… (Iphigenia)”
The Broad Stage | 1310 11th St., Santa Monica, CA 90401 | Feb. 18-19 | thebroadstage.org
Composer Wayne Shorter and librettist and performer esperanza spalding’s “… (Iphigenia),” unlike its forebears, is not an adaptation of the Greek myth as much as it is an intervention into myth-making itself, and an intervention into music and opera as we know it. Classical and jazz forms collide in a full orchestral score that features Shorter’s groundbreaking method of symphonic improvisation. spalding’s libretto is deeply poetic and then suddenly radical.
Noche De Amor Presents Amor Eterno Variety Show
The Mixx | 443 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101 | Feb. 18 | themixxclub.com
Finish off the work week with a night featuring seven seductive aerial and drag performers and a musical piñata.
Chocolate And Art Show
The Vortex | 2341 E. Olympic Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90021 | Feb. 18 | eventbrite.com
Indulge in LA’s up-and-coming artists, photographers and creators and check out some body painting, local vendors, live music and, of course, free chocolate!
Disney Princess: The Concert
Bank of America Performing Arts Center | 2100 Thousand Oaks Blvd., Thousand Oaks, CA 91362 | Feb. 19 | disneyconcerts.com
You have two opportunities to be a guest at this celebration of Disney princesses featuring a quartet of Broadway and animated film icons.
Endless Night: Los Angeles Vampire Ball 2022
Globe Theatre Los Angeles | 740 S. Broadway, Los Angeles, CA 90014 | Feb. 20 | eventbrite.com
Dress up in your best Victorian, Edwardian or any other garb in the dress code for this vampire-themed event featuring a red carpet, DJs, and live musical performances. The theme is “Anti-Valentines Day.”
Alhambra Lunar New Year Festival
Alhambra Farmers Market | 100 S. 2nd St., Alhambra, CA 91801 | Feb. 20 | alhambralunarnewyear.com
Celebrate the year of the tiger with food, lion dances, kung fu demonstrations, and activities for the family.
Big Fat Nudes: A History Of Flesh On Canvas
Virtual | Feb. 21 | eventbrite.com
Part of an ongoing feminist lecture series, London Drawing Group’s Lily Holder and Luisa MacCormack ask whether the representation of fat figures in art led to equal societal footing or if their presence was used to mock, shock, stigmatize and fetishize. Holder, an artist and life model, will discuss the “Rubenesque” form in history while drawing on her own experience as an artists’ model.
The Allman Family Revival
The Wiltern | 3790 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90010 | Feb. 22 | thewiltern.net
Classic rock lovers won’t want to miss the Allman Family Revival, an annual music event paying homage to Gregg Allman and the Allman Brothers Band, which this year will be joined by Robert Randolph, Eric Gales, Jimmy Hall, Donavon Frankenreiter, Joanne Shaw Taylor, Cody, and Luther Dickinson, Lilly Hiatt, Lamar Williams Jr., and many more.
Global Spin Live: Amber Liu
Grammy Museum L.A. Live | 800 W. Olympic Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90015 | Feb. 23 | grammymuseum.org
Pop star and California native Amber Liu will discuss her new EP “Z!” and give a special performance. Liu debuted in 2009 as part of the female group f(x), the record-breaking electro-pop-based South Korean group.
Artist Talk: Andi Xoch And Latinx With Plants
Campus Inn | 3600 Workman Mill Road, Whittier, CA 90601 | Feb. 24 | eventbrite.com
Artist and entrepreneur Andi Xoch discusses her business Latinx with Plants, community advocacy, plant parenthood and more.
Segerstrom Cabaret: Caissie Levy
Segerstrom Center for the Arts | 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa, CA 92626 | Feb. 24-26 | scfta.org
After two years of a successful Broadway run, Caissie Levy took her last bow as Elsa, the role she originated in Disney’s production of “Frozen.” This will be Levy’s debut in the cabaret series. Levy has also starred as Fantine in the Broadway revival of “Les Misérables”, and is known to Broadway and West End audiences for originating the roles of Sheila in the Tony Award-winning revival of “Hair”, and Molly in “Ghost.”
Rock En Español: Enanitos Verdes vs. Soda Stereo Tribute Night
The Mixx | 443 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101 | Feb. 25 | themixxclub.com
Kick your weekend off with a battle of the tribute bands. Will the tribute to Soda Stereo or Enanitos Verdes win?
The Great Junk Hunt
Fairplex Expo Hall 9 |1101 W. McKinley Ave., Pomona, CA 91768 Feb. 25-26 | fairplex.com
The Great Junk Hunt has gathered a group of curated vendors selling vintage, handmade and repurposed goods, cocktails and live music.
Women Of Will: Shakespeare’s Heroines With Amanda and Miranda
Zoom | Feb. 26 | bostoncourtpasadena.org
Shakespeare scholar Miranda Johnson-Haddad and cabaret legend Amanda McBroom discuss Shakespearean heroines and the portrayal of women in Shakespeare’s plays.
The Encore Float
Bear Statue at Griffith Park | 2100 Fern Dell Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90027 | Feb. 26 | whatthefloat.com
What the Float is bringing back Float Out of this World after fans voted for their favorite pick of 2021. Get to Griffith Park by 4 p.m. with your comfiest hiking shoes on because you won’t want to miss the floats, music, sunset, guided meditation or snacks.
African American Festival
Aquarium of the Pacific | 100 Aquarium Way, Long Beach, CA 90802 | Feb. 26 | aquariumofpacific.org
The 20th annual African American Festival will feature music, dance, storytelling and historical displays.
Reggae Fest LA
Globe Theatre Los Angeles | 740 S. Broadway, Los Angeles, CA 90014 | Feb. 26-27 | reggaefest.com
DJs will be spinning the best in dancehall, reggae, soca, afrobeats and more.
Heartbeat Opera
The Broad Stage | 1310 11th St., Santa Monica, CA 90401 | Feb. 26-27 | thebroadstage.org
Heartbeat Opera — the New York indie opera company whose re-imagined, re-orchestrated, and stripped-down stagings of classic operas have been called “radical” by The New Yorker and “pioneering” by The New York Times — has mounted a four-city tour of its powerful 2018 adaptation of Beethoven’s masterpiece “Fidelio,” which Heartbeat artistic director Ethan Heard conceived for the era of Black Lives Matter.
A Song Returns
South Pasadena Theatre Workshop | 1507 El Centro St., South Pasadena, CA 91030 | Feb. 26-27 | eventbrite.com
According to event organizers, “A Song Returns consists of vocal performances, accompanied and a cappella, that celebrate a mix of modern music with the ancestral sounds of bygone eras and faraway homelands, interspersed with curated prose and poetry.”
Fan Girl Cafe Presents: Jax, Kat Cunning, TRACE, Alicia Blue And More
Troubadour | 9081 N. Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069 | Feb. 27 | eventbrite.com
A new music oriented neighborhood cafe and wine bar focusing on female musicians, queer artists and community building, Fan Girl Cafe is gathering up-and-coming artists like Jax, Kat Cunning, TRACE, Alicia Blue, KingQueen and Noah Vonne for its first event hosted by KROQ’s Megan Holiday and drummer/podcast host Jess Bowen.
LA Quinceañera Expo
Fairplex Expo 6 | 1101 W. McKinley Ave., Pomona, CA 91768 | Feb. 27 | eventbrite.com
This is your one-stop shop for any quinceañera needs. Quinceañera Magazine has gathered vendors for quinceañeras, brides, sweet sixteens and prom queens.
“Full Circle: A Return To The Land”
Descanso Gardens | 1418 Descanso Drive, La Cañada Flintridge, CA 91101 | Through March 13 | descansogardens.org
This exhibition chronicles human interaction with the land in and around Descanso Gardens from the Tongva through various cultures, up to today.
“Assassins”
East West Players | 120 Judge John Aiso St., Los Angeles CA 90012 | Through March 20 | eastwestplayers.org
East West Players, the nation’s longest-running Asian American theater and the largest producer of Asian American theatrical works, is resuming in-person productions with “Assassins.” With music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and book by John Weidman, “Assassins” is a darkly comic Tony-award winner that examines the motives of the nine notorious Americans who took their shot at the President of the United States
Enrique Martinez Celaya ‘SEA SKY LAND: towards a map of everything’
USC Fisher Museum of Arts | 823 W. Exposition Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90089 | Through April 9 | fisher.usc.edu
This exhibit brings together 30 large-format paintings and sculptures created by Enrique Martinez Celaya. Each of the three galleries at the Fisher Museum will present the artist’s writings alongside paintings and sculptures dedicated to one of three motifs—sea, sky, and land.
Mixpantli: Space, Time, and the Indigenous Origins of Mexico
LACMA | 5905 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90036 | Through May 1 | lacma.org
LACMA is marking the 500th anniversary of the fall of Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital and site of Mexico City. According to LACMA, the exhibition “subverts the traditional narrative of conquest by centering the creative resilience of Indigenous artists, mapmakers, and storytellers who forged new futures and made their world anew through artistic practice.”
Tupac Shakur. Wake Me When I’m Free
The Canvas at L.A. Live | 944 Georgia St.,Los Angeles CA 90015 | Through May 1 | wakemewhenimfree.com
Created in collaboration with the Shakur Estate, this exhibit delves into Tupac’s activism, music and revolutionary art through technology, art and artifacts from the rapper’s personal archives.
Mapping Fiction
The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens | 1151 Oxford Road, San Marino, CA 91108 | Through May 2 | huntington.org
This new exhibit focuses on the ways authors and mapmakers have built compelling fictional worlds. The exhibit includes a first edition of James Joyce’s “Ulysses,” early editions of Lewis Carroll’s “The Hunting of the Snark, Robert Louis Stevenson’s maps from “Treasure Island” and “Kidnapped,” J. R. R. Tolkien’s map from the trilogy “The Lord of the Rings,” and science fiction writer Octavia E. Butler’s hand-drawn maps from notes for “Parable of the Talents” (1998) and her unpublished novel “Parable of the Trickster.”
