Advertisement

Woody Allen bringing jazz band to Orpheum Theatre in August

Woody Allen has been playing the clarinet since his youth. His jazz band performs in August in Los Angeles.

Woody Allen has been playing the clarinet since his youth. His jazz band performs in August in Los Angeles.

(Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)
Share via

Woody Allen is expected to be back in Los Angeles this year with a revival of his production of Puccini’s “Gianni Schicchi,” at L.A. Opera, starting Sept. 12.

But before that, the director is scheduled to perform with his New Orleans jazz band on a tour that will bring him to the Orpheum Theatre in downtown L.A. in August.

Allen’s concert is scheduled for one night only on Aug. 8 at 8 p.m. The multi-state tour will also take him and his band to Minneapolis, Seattle and San Francisco. The musical ensemble has played in L.A. before, including a 2011 concert at Royce Hall at UCLA.

Advertisement

The tour, which is being presented by Nederlander Concerts, is expected to feature Allen alongside his regular bandmates in a program that will feature 20th century New Orleans-style music, though there is no official playlist as the band tends to make decisions on the fly.

Allen has played the clarinet since his youth -- one of his muscial idols is Sidney Bechet -- and has performed with the band at the Carlyle in New York for decades. The band also has toured internationally and was the subject of the 1997 documentary “Wild Man Blues,” which followed Allen and the ensemble around Europe.

“My attitude is: ‘Look, I’m playing for fun, for my own enjoyment, and if the people want to come and enjoy it, great. If not, then not,’” he told The Times in 2011.

Advertisement

L.A. Opera will present Allen’s staging of “Gianni Schicchi” on a double bill with a revival of Franco Zeffirelli’s production of “Pagliacci.” Placido Domingo, who is the company’s general director, will star in the former opera and will conduct the latter. The double bill is set to run Sept. 12 to Oct. 3 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.

Allen first staged the Puccini opera in 2008 for L.A. Opera. The Teatro Real in Madrid will present the production, with Domingo, starting in June prior to its L.A. revival.

“Irrational Man,” Allen’s latest feature film, recently debuted at the Cannes Film Festival and is set to be released in the U.S. later this year.

Advertisement

Twitter: @DavidNgLAT

Advertisement