Melissa McCarthy's improv skills are Oscar-bound

Melissa McCarthy’s improv schooling didn’t keep her from getting flustered during her (Glenn) Close encounter at the Golden Globes. The newly minted Oscar nominee and Groundlings alum has said she slipped out a four-letter word when meeting the “Albert Nobbs” star and lead actress contender.

The two are likely to meet again, this time inside the Kodak Theatre for the Academy Awards on Feb. 26. McCarthy on Tuesday scored a supporting actress nod for her outrageous “Bridesmaids” role.

As our sister blog 24 Frames reports, five Groundlings vets earned Oscar nominations, including original screenplay nominees Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo, who penned McCarthy's career-changing part.

Oh and about Close, "If I get to re-meet her," McCarthy told People on Tuesday, "I hope I say something that's not as jackass-y."

ALSO:

High-impact works at PST's Performance and Public Art Festival

William Shatner bringing solo show to Pantages for one night

'Stephen Sondheim: In Conversation' rescheduled for summer

-- Jamie Wetherbe

Photo: Melissa McCarthy in “Bridesmaids.” Credit: Suzanne Hanover/Universal Pictures

Geffen Playhouse founder Gil Cates is dead at 77

Gil Cates, who founded the Geffen Playhouse in 1994 and remained its producing director, has died at age 77.

Cates also was the former dean of the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television. A prolific television producer as well as the director of the films "I Never Sang for My Father" and "Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams," Cates is perhaps best-known for the 14 Academy Award shows he oversaw.

Check back with Culture Monster for more about Cates' life and career.

 

Photo: Cates directing the musical "Nightmare Alley" at the Geffen in 2010. Credit: Gary Friedman/ Los Angeles Times

Music review: A.R. Rahman and the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 'Journey to India' at Hollywood Bowl

  
In a Hollywood Bowl weekend dominated by film scores, the Los Angeles Philharmonic turned from “West Side Story” on Friday and Saturday to a Sunday program that could have been titled “East Side Story,” music from India culminating in performances of newly arranged soundtrack excerpts composed by A.R. Rahman.

Winner of two 2009 Academy Awards (best score and song) for “Slumdog Millionaire,” Rahman is a master of epic themes embellished with artful textures and details. The Bowl selections ranged from Rahman's first film score, “Roja” (The Rose),  in 1992 to the sci-fi fantasy “Endhiran” in 2010.  Music for  “The Rising: Ballad of Mangal Pandey” (2005) demonstrated one Rahman extreme -- maximum power and sweep --but  the soulful delicacy of “Chan Chan” (from “Water,” also 2005) sounded no less impressive.

Arranger/conductor Matt Dunkley may have provided too many subdued endings, but the orchestra played sumptuously for him, and all the gracefully integrated instrumental, vocal and choral guests added to the richness of the occasion. In eight of the pieces, subtle use of the Raagapella vocalists and/or Cal State Fullerton University Singers created a glow or aura around the orchestral sound (sometimes nearly subliminal), and a playoff between Asad Khan's sitar and Rahman's piano created extra interest in the “Slumdog” suite.

Danny Boyle's 'Frankenstein' in London wows the critics

Danny Boyle may be known to much of the world as the director of Oscar-winner “Slumdog Millionaire” and the Oscar-nominated “127 Hours,” but Culture-Monsters-in-the-know remember that he was a theater guy back in the day. His return to the stage this month after a 15-year absence with “Frankenstein” at London’s National Theatre has been greatly anticipated and the hot ticket in town.

And now that the reviews are out, that ticket is even hotter.

Based on Mary Shelley’s classic 1818 novel about the scientist and his creation, Boyle alternates Jonny Lee Miller ("Trainspotting") and Benedict Cumberbatch (TV's new Sherlock Holmes) in the roles of Victor Frankenstein and the Creature. One night you might see Miller’s monster, the next night Cumberbatch’s, and it seems the gimmick works. The production drew high praise from critics for its staging and acting, while taking a hit on the script by Nick Dent and excessive stage effects.

Can’t make it to London? Or worse, you’re heading to London but can’t snag a ticket? Fear not -– you may be able to catch “Frankenstein” in the comfort of your local theater thanks to NT Live, the National Theatre program that broadcasts productions live from the stage to select movie theaters around the world. In the Los Angeles area, you can see the show March 17 at Mann's Chinese 6 in Hollywood or March 22 in La Mirada at the La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts. Click here for all U.S. venues and dates.

Watch the trailer above and check out what the critics had to say after the jump.…

Eli Wallach: Portrait of a somewhat Methodical master

 
Eli Wallach will be presented with an honorary Oscar on Nov. 13, and though this award salutes his wide-ranging film career it will also serve more broadly as a reminder of his fine contribution to American acting. Wallach's work, whether in theater, TV or film, sets a standard that has made him a consummate actor's actor.   

An Actors Studio stalwart and an expert practitioner of the "Method," Wallach isn't an ideologue about his craft. His pragmatic approach, recognizing methods of working rather than a single model, has given him a wide-ranging career that has commuted comfortably between westerns and Tennessee Williams.

Wallach turns 95 on Pearl Harbor Day (it's how the WWII vet refers to his birthday), but his energy and capacity for scene stealing remain undiminished.

To read this Sunday Arts & Books feature on Eli Wallach, click here.

-- Charles McNulty

Twitter.com\charlesmcnulty

Photo: Eli Wallach. Credit: Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times

At the Oscars, David Rockwell's architecture of forced intimacy

The slim credit that flashed by at the end of the broadcast -- "Production Designer: David Rockwell" -- hardly hinted at the deep, sometimes very odd architectural symbolism that piled up during Sunday night's Academy Awards.

Rockwell, a New York architect known for his lengthy resume, shaggy hair and productive ease with the press, had been brought in to thoroughly re-image the interior of the Kodak Theatre, where the Oscars have been held since 2002. Working closely with Bill Condon, one of the evening's producers, Rockwell set out to make the stage layout less of a static backdrop and more of a high-low proving ground where digital effects and personal emotion could have room to roam.

Oscar nominee James Newton Howard is moving beyond celluloid

When composer James Newton Howard's name is read out at tonight's Academy Awards ceremony — his music for "Defiance" is among the nominees for best original score — it will mark his eighth time as an Oscar hopeful. Unfortunately for him, the smart money's on Bollywood veteran A.R. Rahman to take home the statuette for his score for "Slumdog Millionaire."

In the scheme of things, though, this week may contain a more significant milestone for Howard than any Oscar would be, for he will also hear the premiere of his first composition for the concert hall. The 19-minute piece, titled "I Will Plant a Tree," was commissioned by the Pacific Symphony for the 2009 edition of the annual American Composers Festival. It will, in fact, receive four performances during the festival.

Composing "I Will Plant a Tree," Howard told Jon Burlingame for an article in the Arts & Books section, represented "a soul-cleansing process for me — to be able to write completely unrestricted, provide my own narrative and work with [music director] Carl St.Clair and an orchestra the caliber of Pacific Symphony."

The theme of this year's Pacific Symphony festival is "Hollywood's Golden Age," and among the other composers whose music will be played are three, all now deceased, whose output represents some of the finest of that era: Miklós Rózsa ("Ben-Hur"), Erich Wolfgang Korngold ("Kings Row") and Bernard Herrmann ("Vertigo"). All won Oscars. But then, at 57, Howard still has many more years to vie.

— Craig Fisher

Photo: James Newton Howard. Credit: Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times

LA Opera's "Das Rheingold": 2 hours, 45 minutes, no intermission

Culture Monster is ever so excited that the Los Angeles Opera production of  Richard Wagner's "Das Rheingold" -- the first opera in Wagner's epic 15-hour, four-opera cycle "The Ring of the Nibelungs" -- is opening Saturday night at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. The production kicks off a two-year "Ring"-o-rama for the opera company: All four operas, directed by Achim Freyer, will be presented singly in 2009 and 2010, and performances of the four operas in sequence will be given between May 29 and June 26, 2010.

But even the Monster could not help but be alarmed upon receiving e-mail notice from the L.A. Opera that the running time of "Das Rheingold"  is 2 hours, 45 minutes -- and that it will be performed without intermission.

And much of the action takes place in and around the Rhine River -- well, that's a lot of water imagery, given the circumstances. Do we need to spell it out? Applause isn't the only thing you'll have to hold until the end.

Don't blame it on the L.A. Opera, or director Freyer; blame it on Wagner (that's the culprit at left): L.A Opera spokesman Gary Murphy tells us that  "Das Rheingold" is always performed in four scenes with no intermission because that's the way Wagner wrote it. E-mails are sent to ticket buyers warning them of the fact.

But not to worry, Murphy adds: Allowances will be made to let patrons back into the house if they need to flee for the restroom, and seats will be held at the rear for those returning individuals.

And since the Oscars are coming up, it should be noted that "Das Rheingold" is actually two minutes shorter than "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," albeit without Brad Pitt.

Because there will be a lot of Wagner in L.A. in 2009 and 2010, Murphy points out that locals may want to take advantage of a companion book called "Wagner Without Fear," by William Berger, which provides a guide through the "Ring's" world of giants, gods, water spirits and dwarfs (the Nibelungs). No word as to whether the guide addresses the challenges of potential "Ring" audiences with Nibelung-size bladders.   

-- Diane Haithman

Photos: Rehearsal of L.A. Opera's "Das Rheingold," Credit Lawrence K. Ho/Los Angeles Times. Richard Wagner, 1877. File photo/Los Angeles Times 

 

   

Monster Mash: Breaking news and headlines

-- What to do when a show flops and the bills aren't paid? For the producer of "A Christmas Carol": Remount the show.

-- Petition calls for the Obama administration to create an "arts stimulus package."

-- Forget secretary of the Arts -- how about a White House arts advisor instead? Another view.

-- The American Institute of Architects lobbies for $100 billion in federal stimulus funds.

-- Who says "art" isn't selling? A prop portrait of Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy goes for about $16,500 at auction.

-- Creating art, on the other hand, is getting tough on the streets of Paris.

-- Broadway makes a showing at the Oscar nominations with nods going to "Doubt," "Frost/Nixon," "The Reader's" David Hare ("The Year of Magical Thinking," "The Vertical Hour") and Stephen Daldry ("Billy Elliot"), "Slumdog Millionaire's" A.R. Rahman ("Bombay Dreams") and "In Bruges' " Martin McDonagh ("The Pillowman"), among others.

-- A $173-million national art collection, which includes works by Andy Warhol, Gilbert & George and Damien Hirst, will be shown up and down Britain.

-- Los Angeles Philharmonic to announce its first season with Gustavo Dudamel.

-- Egypt asks Sweden to return 212 artifacts taken out of the country in the 1920s.

-- Tony Kushner discusses the value of humor in playwriting.

-- Like everyone else, Arizona's arts groups are suffering.

-- Lisa Fung

Photo (top): Christopher Lloyd as Scrooge in " A Christmas Carol." Credit: Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times.

Photo (bottom): Portrait of Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy. Credit: BBC News

Hugh Jackman as the Boy from Osc: an Academy Award-worthy plan

Now that it's confirmed that Culture Monster's favorite Boy from Oz will be hosting the Oscars this year, we'd like to remind any skeptics (believe it or not, they're out there) that  Hugh Jackman has experience in this area.

Jackman shined as the singing and dancing host of the 2003, 2004 and 2005 Tony Awards at Radio City Music Hall. He even scored an Emmy in 2005 for his efforts leading the 58th annual awards, above.

Need more evidence (or just want to see more Hugh)? Here is a clip his performance at the Tonys, the year he won the award for portraying Peter Allen in the Broadway hit "The Boy From Oz." And here is one more memorable Jackman Tony turn.

So take a look, and decide for yourself. We know that on Feb. 22 we'll have our TiVo set.

-- Lisa Fung