“Is it time?” asked Renée Elise Goldsberry. The Grammy and Tony Award winner was headlining the Richard and Karen Carpenter Performing Arts Center’s 30th anniversary gala concert on Saturday night, and yes, it was time: Richard Carpenter took the stage of the Long Beach theater for a rare performance and accompanied Goldsberry on the piano for the Carpenters’ hit “Rainy Days and Mondays.”
The event raised funds for the Center’s Arts for Life program, which serves thousands of local students and community members with arts education offerings including free community concerts, artist residency workshops for Cal State Long Beach students and hands-on learning for elementary school classes.
“I have an opportunity to come and support people who are doing more than just loving art and ingesting art, but actually getting access to other people,” Goldsberry told the audience. “We are the good ones tonight. We’re not always the good ones! But tonight, just because we’re here, we are the good ones.”
Goldsberry shared personal stories and played a dynamic setlist, spanning personal favorites like Aretha Franklin’s version of Simon & Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water” and Patty Griffin’s “Up to the Mountain (MLK Song)” to numbers from her Broadway shows “The Lion King,” “Rent” and “Hamilton.” She ended the night with songs from her forthcoming debut album “Who I Really Am,” including a newly orchestrated version of “Satisfied” that’s been blessed by “Hamilton” creator Lin-Manuel Miranda.
I’m Ashley Lee, and I’m carrying with me Goldsberry’s tuneful reminder to not only appreciate art myself but help others gain access to the arts as well. My colleague Jessica Gelt and I are here with your Essential Arts rundown.
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Playwright Keiko Green, who wrote “You Are Cordially Invited to the End of the World!”
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
Pacific Playwrights Festival
South Coast Repertory’s annual launchpad for new plays includes five staged readings of works by jose sebastian alberdi, JuCoby Johnson, Kate Cortesi, Jake Brasch and Talene Monahon, as well as performances of two world-premiere productions currently running at SCR: Keiko Green’s surreal family comedy “You Are Cordially Invited to the End of the World!” and Noa Gardner’s mysterious tale “The Staircase.” The three-day festival also includes a Sunday morning panel with the participating playwrights. South Coast Repertory, 655 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. scr.org
Voices of L.A.
This weekend, the “virtuosic and versatile” self-conducted chamber orchestra Delirium Musicum — as Times classical music critic Mark Swed described them in 2023 — is partnering with traditional Korean musicians to explore Los Angeles through music. The first concert is Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at the First Presbyterian Church of Santa Monica, 1220 2nd St., and the second is Sunday at 2 p.m. at L.A. Dance Project, 2245 E. Washington Blvd. deliriummusicum.com
Explode!, “Procession,” 2018.
(Carol Godefroid / Fowler Museum at UCLA)
‘Construction, Occupation’
The Fowler Museum at UCLA’s new exhibition showcases the works of 24 artists and collectives that examine the intersections of art, activism and social justice through the lens of urban transformation — specifically, questions of infrastructure and vulnerability, circulation and segregation, and the body in public space. It opens Saturday night and is on view through Jan. 11. The museum is also presenting a free talk with artist Raphael Escobar, whose work is part of the exhibition, on Tuesday night at the Skid Row History Museum & Archive, 250 S. Broadway, downtown L.A. Fowler Museum at UCLA, 308 Charles E. Young Drive N., Westwood. fowler.ucla.edu
— Ashley Lee
The week ahead: A curated calendar
Kasey Mahaffy stars in “A Man of No Importance” at A Noise Within in Pasadena.
(Daniel Reichert)
FRIDAY
🎼 Beethoven & Dessner
Esa-Pekka Salonen conducts the L.A. Phil.
11 a.m. Friday; 8 p.m. Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday. Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 S. Grand Ave., downtown L.A. laphil.com
🎞️ Boo-ze, Bites & Frights: Half-O-Ween
Street Food Cinema and its pop-up drive-in aesthetic brings the scary six months early with two horror classics.
“The Craft,” 8 p.m. Friday; “Final Destination,” 8 p.m. Saturday. Heritage Square Museum, 3800 Homer St. streetfoodcinema.com
🤼 🎭 🎶 Cinco de Mayan
Lucha VaVoom de La Liz presents its annual holiday show mixing masked wrestling with burlesque performances, aerial acts, comedy, music and more.
8 p.m. The Mayan Theatre, 1038 S. Hill St., downtown L.A. luchavavoomdelaliz.com
🎭 🎶 44
This R&B-fueled musical satirizes the Obama years through the eyes of his wingman, Joe Biden.
Through May 22. Kirk Douglas Theatre, 820 Washington Blvd., Culver City. centertheatregroup.org
🎞️ The 40 Year-Old Virgin
Judd Apatow made his feature directing debut with this raunchy-with-a-heart comedy that also catapulted Steve Carell to stardom; both will appear in person for this 20th-anniversary screening.
7:30 p.m. Academy Museum, 6067 Wilshire Blvd. academymuseum.org
🎞️ Kingdom of Heaven: Director’s Cut
American Cinematheque and Beyond Fest present the world premiere of the 4K restoration of Ridley Scott’s 2005 Crusades adventure starring Orlando Bloom, Liam Neeson and Edward Norton.
7 p.m. Egyptian Theatre, 6712 Hollywood Blvd. americancinematheque.com
🎤 Kylie Minogue
The Australian pop star is joined by Rita Ora.
8 p.m. Crypto.com Arena, 1111 S. Figueroa St., downtown L.A. cryptoarena.com
🎞️ 🎭 Vanya
Andrew Scott stars in a solo production of the Chekhov classic adapted by Simon Stephens and directed by Sam Yates at the National Theatre in London, recorded live.
7 p.m. Friday. Boston Court, 70 N. Mentor Ave., Pasadena; 10 a.m. Sunday, 7 p.m. Monday. Laemmle Theatres, Claremont, Encino, Glendale, Newhall and Santa Monica. vanya.ntlive.com
SATURDAY
🎭 🎶 The Hurricane
Vocal ensemble Tonality teams with guitarist Janet Robin on a blues-, country- and gospel-laced score in a concert presentation of a new musical by composer Carla Patullo, with a book and lyrics by Cory Hinkle.
8 p.m. Boston Court, 70 N. Mentor Ave., Pasadena. bostoncourtpasadena.org
🧶 📿 🖌️ Pasadena Artazan Show
Inspired by the Arts & Crafts movement of the late 19th century, artists and makers present their handcrafted work, everyday items that offer both utility and beauty.
10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday; 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. Pasadena Convention Center, Hall B, 300 E. Green St., Pasadena. artsandcraftsshow.com
🎸 Quetzal
The group boasts a multiethnic sound blending Mexican, Afro-Cuban, rock and jazz influences.
8 p.m. UCLA Nimoy Theater, 1262 Westwood Blvd. cap.ucla.edu
🎭 La Razón Blindada
Written and directed by Argentine playwright Arístides Vargas, the play was inspired by testimonies from political prisoners and the writings of Kafka and Cervantes; performed in the original Spanish with English supertitles.
Through May 18. 24th Street Theatre, 1117 W. 24th St. 24thstreet.org
SUNDAY
🎭 Debate: Baldwin vs. Buckley
Arts organization the american vicarious re-creates the 1965 battle of words at Cambridge Union between writer and civil rights activist James Baldwin and conservative critic William F. Buckley.
3 p.m. Sunday; 8 p.m. Friday; 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday; 3 p.m. May 11. Ebony Repertory Theatre, 4718 W. Washington Blvd. ebonyrep.org
Los Angeles Immersive Invitational
In an incubator for immersive art, eight teams of artists have less than 48 hours to build, rehearse and present new performances.
Noon, 4 and 7 p.m. Los Angeles LGBT Center, The Village at Ed Gould Plaza, 1125 N. McCadden Place. lalgbtcenter.org
🎭 A Man of No Importance
Julia Rodriguez-Elliott directs this evocative, intimate musical gem from composer Stephen Flaherty, lyricist Lynn Ahrens and bookwriter Terrence McNally, based on the 1994 Albert Finney film about an amateur theater group in 1960s Dublin.
Through June 1. A Noise Within, 3352 E. Foothill Blvd., Pasadena anoisewithin.org
🎞️ May the 4th Celebration
The Academy Museum raises a lightsaber to George Lucas’ Star Wars universe with screenings of “Episode I — The Phantom Menace” (1999), “Episode V — The Empire Strikes Back” (1980) and “Episode IX — The Rise of Skywalker” (2019).
“Phantom,” 11 a.m. “Empire,” 3 p.m.; and “Rise,” 7:30 p.m. Academy Museum, 6067 Wilshire Blvd. academymuseum.org
🎼 🎷 Symphonic Jazz Orchestra
The 68-member ensemble, conducted by music director Mitch Glickman, is joined by saxophonists Ernie Watts and Bob Mintzer in a concert celebrating composer Jack Elliott and more.
5 p.m. Carpenter Center, 6200 E. Atherton St., Long Beach. carpenterarts.org
Culture news and the SoCal scene
“Dead Outlaw” on Broadway.
(Matthew Murphy)
Times theater critic Charles McNulty was in New York to catch the Broadway opening of “Dead Outlaw,” a strange and unexpected new musical that sneaks up on its audience with surprising stealth. Created by the team behind the Tony-winning musical “The Band’s Visit,” the show follows a crook who died in a shoot-out after a botched train robbery in 1911. His preserved body eventually experiences an extraordinary afterlife. “Stephen Sondheim might have enjoyed the challenge of creating a musical from such an outlandish premise,” McNulty writes in his review.
“‘Furlough’s Paradise’ is a small play that expands outward to the social and metaphysical worlds,” writes McNulty in his review of a.k. payne’s new play, having its West Coast premiere at the Geffen Playhouse. The show is about two cousins with divergent life experience who reunite at the funeral of a family member. The intense and thoughtful two-hander is directed by Tinashe Kajese-Bolden, and McNulty notes, “The acting is grounded in realism but the writing refuses to keep the characters under lock and key.”
Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s new David Geffen Galleries is readying for its first big public viewing. In late June, Grammy-nominated composer and jazz musician Kamasi Washington, joined by an ensemble of more than 100 musicians, will perform a series of three shows inside the new Peter Zumthor-designed building. Tickets for the June 26, 27 and 28 shows go on sale in three phases: May 2, May 22 and June 12.
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Grant Gershon conducts the Los Angeles Master Chorale at Walt Disney Concert Hall in a celebration of the chorus’ 60th anniversary.
(Jamie Phan / Los Angeles Master Chorale)
Los Angeles Master Chorale announced its 2025-26 season at Walt Disney Concert Hall under Artistic Director Grant Gershon, and Associate Artistic Director Jenny Wong. The offerings include beloved works of the classical canon including Beethoven, Verdi and Mozart, as well as contemporary composers suchas Jeff Beal, Marques L. A. Garrett and Hyowon Woo.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art has acquired an important pair of paintings by Manuel de Arellano (1662–1722). The paintings depict a man and woman inside an oval frame, however they don’t represent actual individuals, but rather are meant to embody different racial types. The paintings are a precursor to Mexico’s famous catsta (caste) paintings — a genre invented to depict biracial families that was omnipresent during most of the 18th century.
The Wallis held a benefit gala earlier this week, with proceeds supporting wildfire relief efforts. Actor Jane Fonda hosted the affair, which drew a flashy crowd including Bob Iger, Willow Bay, Rufus Wainwright, Kristen Bell, David Bohnett and Jon Batiste. The benefit honored Dominic Ng, chairman and CEO of East West Bank, who was named the inaugural recipient of the Wallis Icon Award for his work in corporate philanthropy.
— Jessica Gelt
And last but not least
Features columnist Todd Martens hung out with Bob Gurr — the designer of Disneyland’s monorail, Matterhorn bobsleds and Haunted Mansion “doom buggies” — and brought us all along for the ride.
