From 'Passion' to a Scary Berry Farm

L.A. Times Archives

Oct. 11, 1996 12 AM PT

* MOVIES: In Orange County, it’s a good time to reach into the past. At the Orange County Performing Arts Center tonight, there’s “The Passion of Joan of Arc” (1928). Carl Theodor Dreyer’s silent film is accompanied by a live performance of Richard Einhorn’s oratorio “Voices of Light.” The program is repeated Saturday and Sunday at Veterans Wadsworth Theater in Westwood. . . . Also tonight, at UC Irvine’s Crystal Cove Auditorium, there’s Jean Vigo’s 1934 masterpiece “L’Atalante,” about a young woman who leaves her seafaring husband to experience city life. . . . The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Beverly Hills will celebrate the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Cinematheque Francaise with a public screening tonight at 8 in its Samuel Goldwyn Theater of Chris Marker’s “La Jete” and Jean-Luc Godard’s “Contempt,” both landmarks in modern French cinema, plus “Preamble to Cinema: Etienne-Jules Marey.” . . . “Secrets & Lies” (selected theaters), wizardly British director Mike Leigh’s story of the love and chaos created by a young woman’s search for her mother, is a completely accessible work that goes straight to the hearts of audiences. It was honored as best picture and for best actress (Brenda Blethyn) at Cannes. . . . “Ed’s Next Move” (selected theaters), a classic tale of a country innocent trying to survive in Manhattan, is a lightly eccentric romance playful enough to make you smile. . . . As a prelude to Halloween, the historic Orpheum Theater in Los Angeles tonight is launching its second annual “Spook-a-Thon ‘96,” held Fridays at 7:30 p.m. through Oct. 25, with Edgar Ulmer’s “The Man From Planet X” (1951), one of the first “invaders from outer space” movies.

* DANCE: Ballet Pacifica will open its new dance season with premieres of two works, David Allan’s “Out of the Shadows” and Stephen Mills’ “The Naughty Ones,” today at 8 p.m. at the Irvine Barclay Theatre. The program, which also includes Robert Sund’s “Tchaikovsky Trio” and Rick McCullough’s “By Lamplight,” will be repeated on Saturday at 2:30 and 8 p.m. . . . Germany’s Pina Bausch Tanztheater Wuppertal performs the 210-minute neo-Expressionist epic “Nur Du” (Only You) tonight through Sunday afternoon in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles. . . . In its first local appearances, Australia’s Queensland Ballet dances the full-evening “Pirates!” (based on Gilbert and Sullivan) tonight at the Alex Theater in Glendale, then switches to “Scheherazade” and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” on Saturday at Citrus College in Glendora.

* FAMILY: Bone-chilling events will unfold at Knott’s “Scary” Farm’s “Halloween Haunt” on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and Oct. 30 through Nov. 2. . . . Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia holds its own “Fright Fest” for the next three Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays and Oct. 31. . . . Queen Mary’s “Shipwreck ‘96” will feature its annual “Haunted Hull of Horror” and a new “Londontowne of Terror” maze, today-Sunday, Oct. 18-20, 25-31 and Nov. 1-2 in Long Beach.

* POP MUSIC: In celebration of Tuesday’s release of “Overnight Sensation,” the latest sonic blast from German punk-metal band Motorhead, the group’s lead singer Ian “Lemmy” Kilminster plans to make a guest appearance Saturday with local rockers X-Members at Club 369 in Fullerton. . . . Beck comes home to L.A. from the road, playing music from his “Odelay” album tonight at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium and Saturday at the Ventura Theatre. (FYI, the album title is his pronunciation of the Spanish slang word “Orale!”--roughly translated as a beckoning.) . . . The Low & Sweet Orchestra headlines the Troubadour in West Hollywood tonight.

* MUSIC: Conductor Richard Kapp brings his New York-based orchestra, Philharmonia Virtuosi, to the South Bay Center for the Arts at El Camino College in Torrance Saturday night for a program ranging from Locatelli and Mozart to Elgar and Holst. . . . The annual Los Angeles Philharmonic fund-raiser, the Peninsula Music Fair, takes place again at the Chadwick School campus on Palos Verdes Peninsula, Sunday from 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Michael Christie will conduct the Philharmonic; appearing during the day will be pianist Robert Thies and violinist Michi Wiancko, among others. . . . Coleman Concerts begins its 69th year of chamber music events, Sunday at 3:30 p.m., hosting the Emerson String Quartet in Beckman Auditorium at Caltech in Pasadena.

* JAZZ: Legendary “Take Five” pianist Dave Brubeck appears with a quartet and with members of the Pacific Symphony on Saturday at the Orange County Performing Arts Center. . . . Top-shelf pianists Kenny Barron and Barry Harris are in from New York for concerts at the Hermosa Beach Civic Auditorium Saturday and Sunday. They’ll work with bassist Buster Williams and drummer Ben Riley.

* THEATER: “Laura Dennis,” Horton Foote’s recent, telling drama about a close-knit 1938 Texas town and the repercussions of hidden unpleasant truths, receives a masterful staging at the Zephyr Theatre in Hollywood. . . . A top-notch cast and solid direction highlight “Supernormal Clutches,” Pamela Gray’s sidesplitting, mainstream-accessible “lesbian comedy” at the Celebration Theatre in Hollywood.

* ART: Painters, sculptors, photographers and others whose work employs a gestural quality bordering on written script are the subject of “The Calligraphic Mark” at the Irvine Fine Arts Center. With the exception of Los Angeles artist Marc Pally, most of the 22 artists are emerging or little known. . . . Noted landscape photographer Richard Misrach continues his 20-year epic exploration of the American desert in “Desert Canto XVIII: Skies” on view through Saturday at Jan Kesner Gallery in Los Angeles. Misrach’s latest series of pictures include large-scale abstract color images of skies, captured in rich hues of blues, reds and grays.

From ‘Passion’ to a Scary Berry Farm

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