Valentine's Day ideas: 6 nights out for culture lovers

If you haven’t made plans for Valentine’s Day and you consider yourself the classy type who won’t resort to buying a six-pack of Bud and some 7-Eleven roses for your loved one, fear not -– choices still abound in the arts, performance, film and music world. Here are some suggestions for love with a degree of culture:

'Dirty Looks: Long Distance Love Affairs'

This New York-based roaming screening series plays matchmaker with East Coast and California-based queer experimental filmmakers currently working and the recent past. Featuring works by Cecilia Dogherty, Deanna Erdmann, Rhys Ernst, Glen Fogel, Mariah Garnett, Jonesy, Dani Leventhal, Charles Ludham, Narcissister, Luther Price and Michael Robinson. Hammer Museum, 10899 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles. hammer.ucla.edu. 8 p.m. Tuesday. Free.

'Cyrano de Bergerac'

On the Knightsbridge Theatre’s production poster for this classic play, there’s a cheeky tagline: “He’s famous for his long… sword.” Oh, my! Actually, in Edmond Rostand’s play, Cyrano suffers for his grotesque nose but we recommend you make as many puns and double-entendres as your significant other can stand. Knightsbridge Theater, 1944 Riverside Drive, Los Angeles. (323) 667-0955. 8 p.m. Tuesday through March 18. $18-$20.

'Two Pianos, Four Hands'

Racy title, we know, but that's how Pasadena Symphony is selling its Live at Noor, a night of piano music in the sleek digs of Noor Restaurant. Hosts Yana Reznik and Esther Keel will tickle the ivorys and chat elegantly, all the while treating the audience to selections from Brahms, Bearber, Chopin and a closing sensual tango by Piazzola. Noor Restaurant, 260 E. Colorado Blvd. Pasadena. 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. pasadenasymphony-pops.org. 

Moby is leaking L.A.'s secrets on his new architecture blog

The techno-musician Moby, an official Los Angeles resident since December 2010, is giving away our best secrets via his new architecture blog. We Angelenos are going to have to teach him why this is strictly against code. More on that in a moment, but first some background.

Once the consummate New Yorker who owned a vegetarian tea house on the Lower East Side, Moby purchased the Wolf's Lair, a broken-down castle in the Hollywood Hills for just shy of $4 million in 2010. Apparently, his newfound sobriety and sudden realization that New York is crazy-expensive prompted the move.

Welcome, Moby. We're glad to have you, but you've got to learn to keep your mouth shut about the hidden glories of Los Angeles.

Ai Weiwei and Herzog & de Meuron to build Serpentine pavilion

Four years after collaborating on the Bird's Nest Olympic stadium in Beijing, the Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron and the Chinese artist Ai Weiwei will reunite to build a temporary construction that will be connected with the end of London's Cultural Olympiad.

For the last several years, the small Serpentine Gallery (a former tea house) has been commissioning pavilions, built as a temporary adjunct to their space, from some of the world's most renowned designers, including Zaha Hadid, Frank Gehry, Rem Koolhaas, Daniel Libeskind and Oscar Niemeyer.

A few details about the Weiwei and Herzog & de Meuron commission -- the 12th so far -- have been released, the most notable being that the floating platform of a roof will barely be five feet off of the ground. The idea is that it will collect rainwater on the surface, perfect for reflecting the moody London sky, or it can be drained for dance events. The trio also plans to dig a few feet deep into the soil below so that visitors can walk beneath the roof, which will be supported by 12 columns, 11 representing past pavilions and one for the current.

Mike Kelley is remembered for more than his art

 
Anyone who knew Mike Kelley knew the importance of music in his life -- he was a musician himself, loved Iggy Pop and had collaborated with Sonic Youth. As an art student in the 1970s, he helped found  the band Destroy All Monsters.

Kelley, who died Tuesday, formed the band in 1973 with fellow University of Michigan art students Jim Shaw, Cary Loren and a woman known as Niagara.

"He worked way too hard for way too long and he never rested," Niagara said Wednesday by phone from Detroit.

PHOTOS: Mike Kelley | 1954-2012

An exhibition of artwork created by band members --and  co-curated by Kelley -- recently ran at the Prism Gallery in West Hollywood, and Niagara was in town for the opening. The show included about 140 individual works, the gallery said.

Kelley was very emotional about his years in Michigan and working with the band, according to Niagara. "Mike was a sentimentalist -- you wouldn't see it at first," she said. "He would do huge installations about being in high school and living in Detroit. We were a kooky team trying out new ideas constantly."

Pranava Prakash's nude paintings prompt scuffle in India

The art world has suffered a couple of indignities lately -- with nudity at the heart of the matter, however strangely.

First, in case you missed this bit of Internet cotton candy the first time around, a Colorado woman allegedly damaged a painting from the late abstract expressionist artist Clyfford Still to the tune of $10,000 by "sliding her buttocks" against it, among other offenses.

Now, Indian neopop artist Pranava Prakash has been thrashed, according to the Times of India, by unidentified men who took issue with nude depictions of several Bollywood stars, including Vidya Balan and Pakistani actor Veena Malik. Whatever happened to taking your complaints to video, like the honorable if misguided Andy Rooney did in his codgerly rant against public art?

Anyway, the Times of India goes on to report that Prakash was attacked in Noida's Espace Alternative Gallery on Sunday after the men barged into the space, yelling out "slogans" against nudity. According to the gallery owner, the artist tried to calm them and was promptly pushed around, his paintings also torn down.

Kathleen Turner will return to 'High' for a San Francisco engagement

Despite a disappointing run last year on Broadway, Matthew Lombardo's play "High" will return with star Kathleen Turner for a San Francisco engagement March 21-25.

Beleaguered by sluggish ticket sales and middling reviews, ''High'' -- the story of a relationship between a nun and a 19-year-old drug addict -- closed after eight regular performances, causing Perez Hilton, of all people, to fret over Turner's career. 

But he worried too soon. The two-time Oscar and Tony nominee has been selling a certain journalist's fiery humor in "Red Hot Patriot: The Kick-Ass Wit of Molly Ivins" at the Geffen Playhouse since it opened Jan. 11, even if, as The Times' Charles McNulty pointed out, the script really isn't hot stuff.

Turner, he wrote, "has that same 'Do you really want to reckon with me, cowboy?' bravado that makes this straightforward tribute to Ivins ... diverting despite its pedestrian nature." Entertainment Weekly had higher praise for the show and its star, writing that Turner "fully embodies the late journalist" in a can't-miss performance.

No matter its troubles on Broadway, "High" nabbed Turner a Drama League Award for Distinguished Performance. Perhaps it'll find its heart in San Francisco. Tickets for the SHN Curran Theatre run go on sale on Friday.

ALSO:

Broadway's 'High,' starring Kathleen Turner, will shutter early

Kathleen Turner to portray journalist Molly Ivins at Geffen Playhouse

Theater review: 'Red Hot Patriot: The Kick-Ass Wit of Molly Ivins' at Geffen Playhouse

-- Margaret Wappler

Photo: Kathleen Turner stars as Molly Ivins in the "Red Hot Patriot: The Kick-Ass Wit of Molly Ivins" at Geffen Playhouse. Credit: Mark Garvin / Philadelphia Theatre Company production

Monster Mash: Annie Leibovitz's new show; 'Superstar' kerfuffle

'Christ' clash: Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber are publicly at odds over a new production of "Jesus Christ Superstar," which Webber plans to cast via a television contest. (Telegraph)

Interview: Annie Leibovitz's new show of landscapes and objects at the Smithsonian is a departure from her popular celebrity portraits. (Associated Press/Washington Post)

Sale of the ancients: Desperate for funds, Greece's Culture and Tourism Ministry announced new lower rates for permits to film at the Acropolis and other historical sites. (Bloomberg News)

For the record: The Atlantic Theater Co. is mounting the play "CQ/CX," which deals with former New York Times reporter Jayson Blair, who was fired for filing false stories. (Playbill)

Tense talks: Union art handlers and the Whitney Museum are in protracted negotiations over a contract that expires Jan. 31 -- just before preparation for March’s Whitney Biennial kicks into high gear. (Art Info)

Silent ball: In celebration of the documentary "Marina Abramovic: The Artist Is Present," the performance artist hosted a Silence Is Golden fete at Sundance. (New York Magazine)

Noisy fest: London's Southbank Centre will host a yearlong music festival in 2013, inspired by critic Alex Ross' study of 20th century classical music, "The Rest is Noise." (Guardian)

Stage presence: Actor Helen Hunt and director David Cromer talk about their production of "Our Town," playing at the Broad Stage in Santa Monica. (KCRW's Soundcloud)

Dominant company: Led by best director Mike Leigh ("Grief") and best actor Benedict Cumberbatch ("Frankenstein"), London's National Theatre won more than half of the 2011 Critics Circle Stage Awards. (Stage)

Lipstick on a corpse? New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has announced plans to demolish the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, but architect Bruce S. Fowle is continuing with a $390-million renovation started six years ago. (New York Times)

Passing: Experimental filmmaker Robert Nelson dies at 81. (New York Times)

Also in the L.A. Times: Charles McNulty reviews "A Raisin in the Sun" at the Kirk Douglas Theatre.

-- Margaret Wappler

Photo: Photographer Annie Leibovitz leads a media tour of her exhibit, "Pilgrimage," at the Smithsonian. Credit: Jacquelyn Martin / Associated Press

 

'Leonardo Live' coming to big screens in February

Next month "Leonardo Live" will hit the movie theaters, billed as a high-definition tour through England's National Gallery’s sold-out exhibition "Leonardo da Vinci: Painter at the Court of Milan," which opened in November 2011. "Leonardo Live" features commentary from scholars and curators, but sorry, no 3-D. You'll have to see "Pina" for that.

Opening on Feb.16 in nearly 450 theaters across the country, "Leonardo Live" will showcase major works from the Italian Renaissance polymath, including the “Belle Ferronière," the “Madonna Litta," a full-scale copy of the “Last Supper" and "Salvator Mundi," a painting known for many years but only recently attributed by some Renaissance scholars to Da Vinci.

Last year Los Angeles Times art critic Christopher Knight traveled to the UK to review the exhibition. He wrote: "Leonardo's greatness lies in his capacity to create belief in the fiction you see. Endless nonsense gets written analyzing his various sitters' psychology — think "Mona Lisa" — as if such a thing were possible. But really it's belief and love that animate his art."

RELATED:

Did Leonardo da Vinci paint 'Salvator Mundi'?

Getty Museum denies interest in Leonardo da Vinci painting 

Leonardo da Vinci gets his first museum show of paintings

-- Margaret Wappler 

Photo: "The Last Supper" in downtown Milan's Santa Maria delle Grazie church. Credit: Antonio Calanni / Associated Press.

'Clybourne Park' moving to Broadway after Mark Taper Forum run

After its highly anticipated run at the Mark Taper Forum set to start Jan. 25, "Clybourne Park," Bruce Norris' 2011 Pulitzer Prize-winning drama, will open on Broadway at the Walter Kerr Theater on April 12, according to a spokesman for the show.

It has been a circuitous path to New York's famed theater district, but at least it has carried many of the original crew along for the ride. Pam MacKinnon will direct at both the Taper and the Walter Kerr; she directed the show's original incarnation at off-Broadway's Playwrights Horizons in February 2010. The move to Broadway is expected to include that entire cast, including Tony Award-winner Frank Wood (“Side Man”), Annie Parisse (“Becky Shaw”), Crystal A. Dickinson, Brendan Griffin, Damon Gupton, Christina Kirk and Jeremy Shamos.

The show's strong reviews at Playwrights Horizon seemed to merit a Broadway run, but Norris' satire closed in New York. It eventually was embraced by London's Royal Court Theatre and the West End's Wyndhams Theatre.

The play's international path turned out to be the recipe for success; in 2011, "Clybourne Park" snagged both the Pulitzer and Britain’s Olivier Award for best new play. Soon thereafter, the Mark Taper Forum snapped up the original Playwrights Horizon cast for the run this winter.

RELATED:

Mark Taper Forum's 2012 season may feature two Broadway imports

'Clybourne Park' paired with 'Raisin in the Sun' by Center Theatre Group

Theater review: 'Clybourne Park' at San Francisco's A.C.T.

-- Margaret Wappler

Photo: Christina Kirk, left and Crystal A. Dickinson at a rehearsal of “Clybourne Park” earlier this month at the Mark Taper Forum. Credit: Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times

 

 

Monster Mash: Brian Stokes Mitchell on 'Glee'; a new Liz auction

That explains it: Tony award-winning actor Brian Stokes Mitchell and film and television's Jeff Goldblum will appear on "Glee" as Rachel's gay dads. (Broadwayworld. com)

Sign of hope: The New York City Opera and its orchestra union have reached a tentative agreement on a contract, a step toward a new season. (New York Times)

Saved: The American Folk Art Museum is declared "reasonably secure," with more than $3.5 million in contributions and pledges since it sold its main building to the Museum of Modern Art last year. (Bloomberg News)

For sale: Elizabeth Taylor's collection of paintings and drawings by British modernist Augustus John will be sold at a Christie's auction in February. (The Telegraph)

Encyclopedia black: Wikipedia and other popular websites will black out their services Wednesday to protest the Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect IP Act. (Los Angeles Times)

Circling for a space: Big-name architects are taking on the most basic of urban structures: parking garages. (Wall Street Journal)

Asian power: Chinese artist Zhang Daqian surpasses former champion Picasso as top auction earner, with $506.7 million from auctions in 2011 alone. (Huffington Post)

Early music boon: The Juilliard School announces a $20-million gift to endow its graduate-level program in historical performance. (New York Times)

Spy zone: The heart of the former East German police state -- the office of Stasi chief Erich Mielke -- has been restored as a museum, "Haus 1," open now in Berlin. (BBC News)

Generous: "Phantom of the Opera" will celebrate its 10,000th performance on Broadway with a benefit for the Actors Fund on Feb. 11. (Theater Mania)

Tribute: Writer Jake Gorst reflects on contributions from his grandfather, architect Andrew Geller, to mid-century design. (The Architect's Newspaper)

Passing: Gustav Leonhardt, master harpsichordist, dies at 83. (New York Times)

Also in the LA Times: Jori Finkel previews the PST Performance Art Festival; David Ng follows the 'Spider-Man' vs. Julie Taymor scuffle; more casting news for the L.A. staged reading of Dustin Lance Black's Proposition 8 play, "8."

-- Margaret Wappler

Photos, from left: Jeff Goldblum (Credit: AFP/Getty Images); Lea Michele (Adam Rose / Fox); Brian Stokes Mitchell (handout).