Entertainment & Arts

2011 Calendar Holiday Gift Guide

Calendar writers and critics make holiday gift-buying suggestions. Items involving 'Dexter,' 'Star Wars' and Thelonious Monk make the cut. It used to be relatively easy to pick out an entertainment-related gift: a holiday music CD, a ticket to "The Nutcracker," a poster from "Home Alone" and you were good to go. But in the confusing new world, entertainment choices are everywhere and seemingly endless; it's easy to get lost in Web "clouds" and app forests. To guide you through the thicket we asked Calendar writers and critics to select some prime choices for your holiday gift buying. For each area -- movies, TV, theater, classical music, etc. -- we have four categories of gifts: digital and nondigital, splurge and bargain. We cover the waterfront, items as varied as an iPad app that lets you make music by recording sounds from everyday life, Dr. Ward's Classic Throat Lozenges so you won't cough during a Mahler symphony at Disney Hall, pocket-sized flash drives designed as characters from "Star Wars" and T-shirts saluting Thelonious Monk. So dig in, the selections are delicious. And if none of them work for you, "The Nutcracker" is coming back to town.

Calendar writers and critics make holiday gift-buying suggestions. Items involving ‘Dexter,’ ‘Star Wars’ and Thelonious Monk make the cut.

It used to be relatively easy to pick out an entertainment-related gift: a holiday music CD, a ticket to “The Nutcracker,” a poster from “Home Alone” and you were good to go.

But in the confusing new world, entertainment choices are everywhere and seemingly endless; it’s easy to get lost in Web “clouds” and app forests. To guide you through the thicket we asked Calendar writers and critics to select some prime choices for your holiday gift buying.

For each area -- movies, TV, theater, classical music, etc. -- we have four categories of gifts: digital and nondigital, splurge and bargain. We cover the waterfront, items as varied as an iPad app that lets you make music by recording sounds from everyday life, Dr. Ward’s Classic Throat Lozenges so you won’t cough during a Mahler symphony at Disney Hall, pocket-sized flash drives designed as characters from “Star Wars” and T-shirts saluting Thelonious Monk.

So dig in, the selections are delicious. And if none of them work for you, “The Nutcracker” is coming back to town.  (Smule; Mimoco.com; Friend or Foe Clothing; Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times; Image Entertainment)

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Classical Music: Splurge/Bargain

Splurge: New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. $295/year or 29.95/month. http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com

“The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians,” however much everyone gripes about errors and biases, is the single greatest musical encyclopedia ever compiled. The latest (2004) edition, in 29 volumes, lists at $1,575 but is being remaindered around the country for as little as $60 new, because the only way it matters anymore is having “The New Grove” online, with all the benefits of search engines, error correcting, updating, etc. It’s no bargain that way, with subscriptions costing $295/year (or $29.95/month).

Bargain: Lofthouse’s Fisherman’s Friend. Available from drugstores everywhere, $2.99; Dr. Ward’s Classic Throat Pastilles, about $2.20. http://www.gso.se

Lofthouse’s Fisherman’s Friend is the strongest over-the-counter cough drop, with 10 milligrams of menthol. That makes it a gift for everyone sitting near a cougher in the concert hall. The taste is strong, which means it keeps you awake. But if you want to be unbelievably cool give Dr. Ward’s Classic Throat Pastilles, instead. They are also strong, and the cool part is that they are the cough drop of the Gothenburg Symphony, Gustavo Dudamel’s Swedish orchestra. “Dr. Ward” happens to the orchestra’s urbane publicist, Urban Ward. The pastilles can be ordered on the orchestra’s website. It’s only in Swedish, but with the help of Google Translate you should be able to find the tab for the orchestra’s store, and then look under “other.”

-- Mark Swed  (Graham Barclay / Los Angeles Times; Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Dance: Splurge/Bargain

Splurge: American Ballet Theatre, world premiere of “The Firebird,” Segerstrom Center for the Arts, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. March 29-April 1. Tickets $16-$115 (on sale Feb 19). (714) 556-2787 or http://www.scfta.org

Here’s a must for any dance lover: A promise to take them to see American Ballet Theatre’s highly anticipated world premiere of “The Firebird” by Alexei Ratmansky (at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts). Ratmansky, ABT Artist in Residence, is using Igor Stravinsky‘s complete score for his remake of this Russian folk tale. Russian star Natalia Osipova has been cast as the mythical creature, and so have two ABT soloists who are increasingly being tapped for leading roles, Isabella Boylston and Misty Copeland (the Spotlight Award-winner who grew up in San Pedro). The uncommon program features two other treats, Christopher Wheeldon’s new “Three Diversions” and the late Merce Cunningham‘s “Duets.” The best seats in the house will be $115.

Bargain: Gert Weigelt calls his work “physical photography” and as you look at his 2012 Dance Calendar (teNeues Publishing) you feel the muscles contracting and stretching in your body. Weigelt is a former member of Nederlands Dans Theater, Royal Swedish Ballet and Cullberg Ballet, and like other former dancers-turned-photographers, he has an unerring eye for that moment of astonishing athleticism. But he also captures the unusual spatial angle, such as in November’s overhead shot from “Swan Lake.” This calendar mixes recent and older photographs of companies not often seen here, including the late Pina Bausch‘s Tanztheater Wuppertal, Cloud Gate Dance Theatre and Ballett det Staatsoper Berlin.

-- Laura Bleiberg  (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times; teNeues)

Theater: Splurge/Bargain

Splurge: Gift cards can be ordered over the phone though the Geffen’s audience service line at (310) 208-2028 or online at http://www.geffenplayhouse.com by clicking the “Tickets” tab at the top of the home page.

Psychologists have pointed out that the best gifts are experiences rather than material objects. If you want to create lasting memories for a loved one, why not give them something you can enjoy together? Theater provides such an opportunity — an outing that has the potential to expand your horizons, or at the very least, set conversation heatedly in motion during the drive home. The Geffen Playhouse has a gift card option that allows you to give the gift of a single show (perhaps Kathleen Turner in “Red Hot Patriot: The Kick-Ass Wit of Molly Ivins”), an entire-season subscription or some dollar amount in between. What better way to honor the memory of Gil Cates, the Geffen’s irreplaceable founder who died this fall? Supporting local theater is good for the city, good for your lucky recipient and good for your own morale.

-- Charles McNulty

Bargain: “Iris” soundtrack $15, eboutique.cirquedusoleil.com and other album outlets.

It was kind of a no-brainer for Cirque du Soleil to hire Danny Elfman to compose the soundtrack to its movie-themed show “Iris,” which opened this fall at the Kodak Theatre. Before he became one of Hollywood’s most prolific composers (“Batman,” “ Spider-Man 2,” “Alice In Wonderland”), Elfman was the songwriter and driving force behind the genre-busting L.A. rock band Oingo Boingo. In a previous creative life, Elfman was a member of the French magic-theatrical troupe Le Grand Magic Circus. Not surprisingly, the 17-song soundtrack Elfman has devised for “Iris” is a mood-rich montage that synthesizes rock, Latin jazz, Balinese gamelan, Japanese taiko drums and serialism. It evokes Hollywood genres like film noir and 1930s musicals, with an athleticism and grace that’s equally suitable if you’re swinging from a trapeze or chilling on the sofa.

-- Reed Johnson  (Robert Lachman / Los Angeles Times; Cirque Du Soleil)

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