This edition of ON Culture was originally emailed to subscribers on April, 25, 2025. To receive Leslie Dinaberg’s arts newsletter in your inbox on Fridays, sign up at independent.com/newsletters.
ON the Stage
Two more Santa Barbara Bowl shows have been announced: The Marías take the stage on July 19 and Mac DeMarco returns on September 29. Both are on sale now at sbbowl.com. There’s nothing like a night under the stars with great music. In case you missed my review of the season opener, The Avett Brothers, you can read it here. Up next is two nights with James Taylor, May 13 and 14. Here’s my review of his 2023 Bowl show. Like a fine whiskey, I’ll never say no to an opportunity to imbibe.
Also returning in May — to the Lobero on May 22 — are Jakob Dylan and the Wallflowers. Read my review of their 2023 show here, and get tickets to next month’s concert here. I’m also looking forward to Sunday night’s show with roots-rocking sisters Larkin Poe (Rebecca and Megan Lovell) coming to the Arlington in a UCSB Arts & Lectures show. “It’s clear these women are the new face of gutsy blues rock,” wrote American Songwriter. Come see for yourself. Ticket information is here.
People tell me that I have the best job of anyone they know. And they may be right. It certainly felt that way last week when just minutes before going to see the world-renowned Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater perform at the Granada, I sat with a few lucky guests of UCSB Arts & Lectures (A&L) and heard a bit about the show from Interim Artistic Director Matthew Rushing. It was indeed a gorgeously glorious performance of the Rushing choreographed Sacred Songs, as well as Treading, Solo, and Grace. The second night’s program (a completely different one) was by all accounts equally fabulous.
The high level of dance programming that we get in Santa Barbara is due in no small part to the tireless work of A&L’s Celesta Billeci, who is retiring at the end of this season. She’s got some huge shoes to fill, and we certainly owe her a standing ovation.
Speaking of ovations, earlier that week I had the opportunity to sit on stage as part of action in Out of the Box Theatre’s production of Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812 — a rip-roaring musical production set in Tolstoy’s time. I’m a fan of musical theater in general, but like most entertainment, it’s even better with a shot of vodka!
And this week’s cultural fun included an early preview of the Santa Barbara Fair & Expo, followed by a special performance by State Street Ballet, whose upcoming Brilliance Program (May 9-10 at the Lobero) looks like something special. “This unforgettable program features iconic works by two of ballet’s most influential choreographers: George Balanchine’s jazzy, spirited ‘Who Cares?’ set to the music of George Gershwin, and Gerald Arpino’s vibrant ‘Birthday Variations,’ a sparkling tribute accompanied by the music of Giuseppe Verdi,” shared Executive Director Cecily MacDougall. Tickets are available at lobero.org.
Hershey Felder’s portrayal of Rachmaninoff in Ensemble Theatre Company’s production of Rachmaninoff and the Tsar was so impressive, when they announced after Saturday’s show that he’d back in town in May for short run as George Gershwin in George Gershwin Alone, the crowd at last weekend’s matinee performance immediately rushed to the box office to get tickets for this limited special engagement May 23-25. Gershwin must be in the air with both ETC and State Street Ballet paying tribute.
Directed by Joel Zwick (My Big Fat Greek Wedding), George Gershwin Alone has played to sold-out houses from Broadway to London to L.A., and now comes to Santa Barbara for a limited run that promises to be just as unforgettable. See etcsb.org for tickets.
ON the Page
The Yiddish title of Santa Barbara–based author, motivational speaker, and 10-time world champion triathlete Barbara Edelston Peterson’s upcoming book caught my eye. Kvell – A Word You Should Know (Post Hill Press / Simon & Schuster) comes out on May 6, and, according to a press release, it’s a short, powerful, and beautifully written work that brings to life the often-overlooked Yiddish word kvell — to express pride, joy, and encouragement for others.
ON the (Big) Screen
Before SBIFF’s Film Center shuts down for renovations on May 12 — to make it into a brand-new, state-of-the-art five-screen theater in the heart of Downtown Santa Barbara (I’m so excited!) — they’re screening an excellent series of classic films by Claude Lelouch May 2-8. Films include: A Man And A Woman (New 4K Restoration), And Now My Love, Cat and Mouse (with Lelouch’s short film Rendevous), Le Bonne Année, Les Misérables, and Les Uns Et Les Autres (Bolero). See https://sbifftheatres.com/ for the complete schedule
ON the (Small) Screen
Étoile — a new series about the world of ballet from Gilmore Girls and the Marvelous Mrs. Maisel creator Amy Sherman-Palladino and co-creator Dan Palladino — finally had its premiere last night on Prime Video. I was busy the night it premiered, so I’ve blocked out a chunk of my weekend to watch this new dramedy. It follows two elite ballet companies in Paris and New York as they swap star dancers in a high-stakes effort to revive their fading glory. Tiler Peck, who we got to see in Santa Barbara in 2023 (read my interview here) is one of several real-life notable ballet dancers featured in the show, including Robert Fairchild, Brooklyn Mack, and Unity Phelan. See the trailer here.
ON the Walls
See Santa Barbara Museum of Art as you’ve never seen it before, with the new exhibition of work by Elliott Hundley that includes an innovative installation By Achilles’ Tomb, rethinking the current display of Greco-Roman antiquities in the Museum’s Ludington Court. The prominent entryway has been mischievously upended and transformed to create a dialogue between past and present and make the galleries feel active, accessible, and fun. It takes what began as a straightforward mid-career survey of Hundley’s work and transformed it into an experiment for SBMA and a consequential expansion of Hundley’s practice into the reinstallation of a museum collection. All of this is with the goal of revealing that despite its apparent playfulness Hundley’s art dwells on profound issues — mortality, violence, the ephemerality of beauty, and the inescapability of fate — and returns painting and sculpture to something closer to ritual or ceremony in which lines between art and life, fiction and fact are blurred. His art imagines a world where the pagan gods acted like humans, and human heroes, such as those in the Iliad and Odyssey, could attain something like the status of Greek gods. See sbma.net for details.
Art meets science at Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History exhibition opening today and on view through September 7. Drawn from Nature: The Maximus Legacy marks 30 years of appreciating the art of science in the John and Peggy Maximus Gallery. To celebrate the milestone, Curator Linda Miller chose 57 works from among the thousands of antique prints in the museum’s collection, reflecting a wide range of subjects featured by the most famous scientific illustrators of the past four centuries.
“Originally created for purposes of identification and sharing knowledge, as more talented artists were involved, these works became sought after for their intrinsic beauty,” Miller said. “On display is a sampling of the range of subjects in our collection. It’s a chance for the public to see these rare and beautiful works. Usually, they are kept in the dark in flat files in the climate-controlled collection room. But when we take them out, frame them and put them on exhibit with interpretation for context, you have a special experience.” For more information, visit sbnature.org.
ON the Canvas
Lotusland and the Santa Barbara Museum of Art are teaming up for what sounds like an inspiring afternoon of painting in the garden on May 2 with teaching artist Nicola Ghersen. Artists of all levels of experience are invited to paint en plein air in the beautiful outdoor areas of Lotusland’s gardens, inspired by the works of Georgia O’Keeffe and Mimi Lauter which are currently on view at the museum. This promises to be an interesting examination of these two artists with such different color palettes and levels of abstraction. And there will even be a small printmaking station set up for participants to create a print of their finished pieces. Click here for more details.
ON the Calendar
MCASB’s last mini concert — with Los Tranquilos (see story here) — was so popular that they’re bringing another mini concert to the Center Stage Theater on Sunday. See Valgur — a psychedelic-pop / indie-pop band hailing from the town of Juchitán de Zaragoza in Oaxaca, Mexico — on April 27 at 6 p.m. Rolling Stone called their album Armageddon one of the best Spanish-Language albums of 2023, with a review that read: “From the disco-tinged attacks on gender normativity of “Máscara de Niña,” to the post-punk incantations of “El Castillo De La Pureza,” Valgur handily delivered one of the year’s most thrilling mindfucks.” Color me intrigued. Tickets are $24 in advance or $26 at the door. Click here to purchase.
For a complete calendar of events this week and beyond, visit independent.com/events/.
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