Posts by Bondo Wyszpolski
An ancient castle, a primeval forest, and forbidden love
Somewhere in time Debussy’s “Pelléas et Mélisande” at the Music Center by Bondo Wyszpolski It’s always autumn in a Symbolist work of art, often lit by the pale, fading light of dusk. And even if that’s not quite the case every time it’s elevated and exemplified in Claude Debussy’s dreamily sensual opera which he composed…
Read MoreAll she needs is wealth, culture, and social standing
Rags to Riches A big hand for “Little Me” in Manhattan Beach by Bondo Wyszpolski The Manhattan Beach Community Church Theatre began with a few productions in the latter 1950s, and then really went to town in the ‘80s and hasn’t stopped since. While we often speak of theater groups as companies, this one seems…
Read MoreChild drama, adult trauma
Scattered leaves “The Secret Garden” wilts at the Ahmanson by Bondo Wyszpolski In the 1911 novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett a cholera epidemic sweeps through British India and 10-year-old Mary Lennox is orphaned, then sent to Uncle Archibald Craven in Yorkshire, to a forlorn mansion that would be at home in a gothic tale by…
Read MorePoetic license
Sensible and sensitive Jess Morton’s transition from physics to poetry by Bondo Wyszpolski For half a century, JB Kennedy sold secondhand books, moving from one South Bay beach town to another. My initial encounter with him was in the late 1970s when his bookstore was on Pier Avenue in Hermosa Beach. He later owned a…
Read MoreArt, yes; grace and beauty
Pictures from an exhibition The art looked nice, and so did many of those in attendance by Bondo Wyszpolski The LA Art show is up through Sunday, Feb. 19, in the West Hall at the LA Convention Center, 1201 S. Figueroa St., Los Angeles. I took a few photos, and here are some of them.…
Read MoreMusic of the spheres at Disney Hall
Starlight, star bright To the heavens with the Los Angeles Master Chorale by Bondo Wyszpolski Well, with one thing and another, I’ve missed attending performances by the L.A. Master Chorale, but I’m grateful to have attended “Choose Something Like a Star” this past Sunday at the Walt Disney Concert Hall. The program, conducted by Grant…
Read MoreFounding fathers found in Torrance
John Adams, rock star The Aerospace Players fly high with “1776” by Bondo Wyszpolski Okay, there were some tech issues and so forth on opening night, but the large and mostly amateur cast that staged the musical “1776” pulled it off. And quite well, actually. We’re talking about the 1969 work with music and lyrics…
Read MoreMotown melodies
The musical legends of Motor City “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg–The Life and Times of the Temptations” (a review) by Bondo Wyszpolski For some viewers this is a new experience – Ah, so that’s what it was like! – and for others it may be a two-hour trip into the past, immersed in the era’s…
Read MoreMeanwhile, down in San Pedro…
Making a show of it Ron Linden has championed artists for over two decades by Bondo Wyszpolski When the gallery director resigned from Los Angeles Harbor College, Jay McCafferty knew who to ask to take over her position. “And I said sure,” Ron Linden recalls. “I’d had limited experience when I was fresh out of…
Read MoreBringing that blank page to life
“Novelist as a Vocation,” by Haruki Murakami, trans. by Philip Gabriel and Ted Goossen (Alfred A. Knopf, 208 pp, $28) by Bondo Wyszpolski With over 20 books available in English, Haruki Murakami is the most widely-read Japanese author in this country. His recent novels include “Killing Commendatore” and “Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of…
Read MoreRoots of the Romantic era
“Magnificent Rebels”, by Andrea Wulf (Alfred A. Knopf, 495 pp, $35) by Bondo Wyszpolski I suppose not many people in this country have heard of Jena, which in the late 18th and early 19th centuries had a population of about 4,500. It was, however, a university town, and for some years an oasis of free…
Read MoreIt’s spider season in Palos Verdes!
Spiders from Mars… and other 8-legged wonders by Bondo Wyszpolski Visitors to the Spider Pavilion, a tent-like enclosure at the South Coast Botanic Garden, are greeted near the entrance by a tarantula of gargantuan proportions. It’s either a signal to turn around and go home or to bravely step forward and enjoy your arachnid experience.…
Read MoreStep right up, folks! Circus Vargas is back
All aboard for the “Circus Vargas Express” Thrills and chills under the big top by Bondo Wyszpolski The pandemic hasn’t been kind to traveling shows of any sort (when was the last time you saw an ad for Cirque du Soleil?), but there’s been a gradual comeback, and among those who’ve taken to the road…
Read MoreCy Twombly: Something to be desired?
Classical gas Works by Cy Twombly at the Getty Center by Bondo Wyszpolski It would be fair to ask me, Why did you persist in reading through the entire catalogue for “Cy Twombly: Making Past Present” when you were all but convinced that he’s an overrated artist? It’s because I wanted one of the essay…
Read MoreHot and heavenly: My Three Angels
Trouble in the tropics “My Three Angels” onstage in Manhattan Beach by Bondo Wyszpolski If we mix in a few ingredients — French Guiana, 1910, Christmas Eve, and 104 degree weather — I think we’ll have the makings of a compelling play. Samuel and Bella Spewick certainly thought so, and in 1953 they wrote a…
Read MoreLucia di Lammermoor: A killer opera
It’ll get a little crazy “Lucia di Lammermoor” opens the new season at LA Opera by Bondo Wyszpolski Things are frenetic from the get-go in “Lucia di Lammermoor,” Gaetano Donizetti’s tale of murder, madness, and betrayal. Bolstered by Salvatore Cammarano’s smart libretto and based on Sir Walter Scott’s 1819 novel, “The Bride of Lammermoor,” the…
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