Charles Donelan, Author at The Santa Barbara Independent

Arts & Entertainment By Charles Donelan | Thu Jun 21, 2007 | 12:00pm

Summer Arts Classical Music Preview

Ask those who have attended the concerts and masterclasses of the Music Academy of the West faithfully for years what the best parts of the festival are and you are likely to get many different answers. Some love the picnic concerts, while others are devoted to the Tuesdays at 8 series. Masterclasses offer the higher level of pleasure that can accompany witnessing new musical inspiration strike. Whatever your taste, the academy’s extensive schedule of programs is bound to offer something to please you.

Arts & Entertainment By Charles Donelan | Thu Jun 21, 2007 | 12:00pm

Jane Monheit at SOhO.

Jane Monheit, who was at SOhO for two nights last week, represents much of what is good and exciting about today’s vocal jazz renaissance. She is as comfortable singing in Portuguese as she is in English, and she takes pop songs to intimate, jazzy places. Her band, led by Michael Kanan on piano, is never less than fully alive and responsive, and her tone is crystalline.

Visual Arts By Charles Donelan | Thu Jun 21, 2007 | 12:00pm

Bathers, by Thomas Zika. At Edward Cella Art+Architecture. Shows through July 29.

Thomas Zika’s pictures of bathers currently on view at Edward Cella are an extension of the direction Cella took in the recent Davis Birks show, toward objects that read as though they belong to traditional genres-painting, photography-but on closer inspection, reveal that they have been crafted in ways that significantly complicate the categories.

Theater By Charles Donelan | Thu Jun 21, 2007 | 12:00pm

Summer Arts Theater Preview

Nothing says summer quite like theater under the stars, and there are a number of opportunities to experience drama al fresco in the next few months. PCPA will bring us a full summer season in the beautiful Solvang Theatre, including gems from Sondheim, Wilde, and Cole Porter, and the De la Guerra courtyard will resound with laughter when Shakespeare Santa Barbara puts on The Comedy of Errors.

Theater By Charles Donelan | Thu Jun 21, 2007 | 11:59am

Company, in Concert, presented by PCPA Theaterfest.

The 1970s references in this production began before a word was uttered, not only with the period-perfect costumes, but with such details as the vintage answering machine that Robert (Colum Parke Morgan) listens to when he first appears on stage.

Arts & Entertainment By Charles Donelan | Thu Jun 14, 2007 | 12:00pm

Ojai Music Festival at the Libbey Bowl, Ojai.

These internationally known concerts are going strong in their 61st year, and continue to attract a sophisticated audience to Ojai’s historic Libbey Bowl. Friday evening’s program was a perfect example of why this festival remains great: three incredible pieces of music, four pianos, six percussionists, one living (and conducting) composer-Peter Etvs-and, for the finale, four singers plus the Los Angeles Master Chorale.

Arts & Entertainment By Charles Donelan | Thu Jun 14, 2007 | 12:00pm

Sally Barr Presents Songs for Africa, a Benefit Concert for Direct Relief International

On Thursday, June 21, three of our town’s most creative music ensembles will gather at Center Stage Theater for a concert, titled Songs for Africa, benefiting Direct Relief International (DRI), the Santa Barbara-based philanthropic organization that has been recognized as one of the most important and effective nongovernmental relief organizations in the world.

Theater By Charles Donelan | Thu Jun 14, 2007 | 12:00pm

For Sheer Love of Me at Center Stage.

With its title taken from a line in a Sylvia Plath poem (“Tulips”) and a character’s dog named after Jack Kerouac, one might expect For Sheer Love of Me to be some kind of derivative, American-influenced postmodern trifle. Yet this excellent play, well directed by Mikko Viherjuuri and beautifully acted by the cast of four, is anything but a meta-fictional exercise.

Theater By Charles Donelan | Thu Jun 07, 2007 | 12:00pm

Harsh Words

Cursed with insight into the most egregious aspects of contemporary relationships, Neil LaBute has forged ahead with his new-fangled theater of cruelty to a degree that would have been hard to imagine when he started out a decade ago.

Theater By Charles Donelan | Thu Jun 07, 2007 | 12:00pm

Fifteen Rounds with Jackson Pollock. At Victoria Hall Theater, Thursday, May 31. Shows through June 16.

Jackson Pollock has interested dramatists for decades, mostly for the wrong reasons. Stylish, self-destructive, and immature, the painter’s public persona has the outsized, cartoonish presence of an archetype-the artist as cultural prizefighter.

Charles Donelan

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