Arts Briefs: Ragged Union show set Sunday; Glendale Adventist Academy puts on ‘Les Miserables’
If bluegrass is often considered a gentle style of American roots music, the band Ragged Union is on a mission to spread the sound of its “hard-driving” and “red-blooded pickin’” version of the beloved subgenre of country and folk. The Colorado-based sextet performs Sunday, May 15, at the Coffee Gallery Backstage in Altadena.
The six-piece band is led by husband-and-wife vocalists Geoff and Christina Union, who met in 2008. Ragged Union mixes traditional songs with original compositions with modern lyrics that step far outside that tradition, sometimes interested much more in moonshine than love songs.
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Geoff Union has been playing bluegrass bands for nearly two decades, including seven years in the nationally touring Two High String Band. In 2012, he released a solo bluegrass album called “Cold as Steel.” The debut album of Ragged Union, “Hard Row to Hoe,” was released in 2014.
Sunday’s intimate concert begins at 7 p.m. in the 49-seat room. Tickets are $18. The Coffee Gallery Backstage is located at 2029 N Lake Ave. in Altadena. More information at (626) 798-6236.
Musical Students
Students of the Glendale Adventist Academy will perform “Les Miserables,” the drama department’s spring presentation, on Saturday, May 14, in the school auditorium.
The popular musical is based on the novel by Victor Hugo. The play, with music by Claude-Michel Schönberg, was made into a film in 2012 and won three Academy Awards.
The Glendale Adventist Academy performance begins at 8 p.m.; doors open 30 minutes before show time. Glendale Adventist Academy is at 700 Kimlin Drive. Tickets are $12 for adults, $8 for children. More information at (818) 244-8671.
Art Experiments
The rediscovered work of artist Claire Falkenstein will be the subject of a discussion May 21 between curator Jay Belloli, educator Maren Henderson and writer-curator Michael Duncan at that Pasadena Museum of California Art.
The talk is in connection with the museum’s current exhibition, “Claire Falkenstein: Beyond Sculpture,” up through Sept. 11. Belloli is curator of the show and will lead the discussion on the artist’s prolific and experimental career. The show is the artist’s first retrospective.
Marquee writer Kirk Silsbee recently wrote: “Paint, paper, canvas, glass, wood, brass, obsidian, aluminum, copper, bronze, bamboo — Falkenstein used them all.”
The announcement describes her oeuvre as “often characterized as ‘style-less style’ because of its almost incomprehensible variability — in the context of the post-World-War-II world as well as the international vanguard’s role as a precursor for more contemporary art.
The talk on Saturday, May 21, begins at 1 p.m. and is free with museum admission. The PMCA is located at 490 E. Union St. in Pasadena. More information at (626) 568-3665 and pmcaonline.org.
Local Playwright
La Crescenta resident Garry Michael Kluger will have the world premiere of his play, “A Thorn In the Family Paw,” June 3 at Theatre West in Hollywood. The piece looks at four days in a family’s life.
Kluger is the author of 11 plays, including “In A Yellow Wood” and “Walking In Space” (semifinalists in the O’Neill Playwrights Conference), and three books. “A Thorn In the Family Paw” was initially showcased at the award-winning Gallery Theatre in 2013. The script was also a semifinalist at the O’Neill conference.
The play runs through June 26, at 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturday; 2 p.m. Sundays. Theatre West is at 3333 Cahuenga Boulevard. More information at theatrewest.org.
Marquee staff