Performers Silent, Museums Close

From the Latin Grammys at the Forum to Madonna at Staples Center to Esa-Pekka Salonen conducting at the Hollywood Bowl, cultural events were canceled throughout Los Angeles and Southern California Tuesday night. Administrators and artists at theaters and museums throughout the region were struggling late Tuesday with the question of when to resume programming--perhaps as a distraction for shellshocked citizens.

Citing “unimaginable events,” Latin Grammy organizers called off Tuesday night’s ceremony and broadcast, and said no plans were in place yet to restage the event. A spokeswoman for the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences said there were no indications that any of the show’s scheduled performers, presenters or guests were aboard the downed flights that never made it to Los Angeles.

The Madonna concert Tuesday night at Staples Center, part of one of the most anticipated tours of the year, was also called off. Ticket-holders were advised that a rescheduled show would be announced in upcoming days or, if that option is not workable, refunds would be given. The pop superstar’s Drowned World Tour had been scheduled to conclude Thursday and Friday at Staples, and, as of Tuesday, those shows were still in place.

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art temporarily canceled its plan to announce the selection of the architect who will design a major renovation and expansion of its Wilshire Boulevard complex. The five finalists--Paris-based Jean Nouvel, Berlin-based Daniel Libeskind, Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas and Americans Thom Mayne and Steven Holl--were scheduled to arrive in L.A. this week to meet with museum officials and discuss their designs. Museum officials, who were to make their announcement next Tuesday, said they plan to reschedule meetings with the architects for a later date.

At the Music Center, officials at the Ahmanson Theatre canceled Tuesday’s final preview of Matthew Bourne’s “The Car Man,” then later decided to call off tonight’s opening-night performance as well. “There will be no official opening,” said Tony Sherwood, press director at the Ahmanson Theatre. “Performances should resume on Thursday.”

The Mark Taper Forum canceled its Tuesday night performance of “In Real Life” but planned to resume with a matinee today. Theater employees at the Taper/Ahmanson were making calls Tuesday to more than 1,000 ticket-holders to inform them of the cancellations.

Los Angeles Opera will delay its decision on whether to go forward with tonight’s opening of “Lohengrin” until after a meeting this morning of Music Center officials, said opera spokesman Gary Murphy. Kent Nagano, who was flying to the U.S. from Frankfurt after conducting his German Symphony Orchestra Berlin at the new Jewish Museum opening, was diverted back to Germany, but was scheduled to arrive at LAX on Wednesday afternoon. Opera officials said that if the opening goes on as planned, Christophe Durrant will conduct if Nagano is unable to make it back to Los Angeles.

The Los Angeles Philharmonic canceled a concert scheduled for Tuesday night at the Hollywood Bowl, with Salonen conducting. That concert was rescheduled for Sept. 28. A jazz program, with the Clayton-Hamilton Orchestra, scheduled for tonight at the Bowl, is expected to go on as scheduled, as is a program Thursday with Wynton Marsalis, the L.A. Philharmonic and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. Officials said a portion of the proceeds from Thursday’s program would be donated to the American Red Cross.

The Geffen Playhouse canceled its first preview performance of “The Unexpected Man.” “Out of respect to the nation, we aren’t going to have our first preview,” said spokeswoman Patty Onagan. “We will begin our performances” today.

The Pasadena Playhouse canceled its Tuesday preview performance of “A Life in the Theatre.” A member of Pasadena Playhouse’s board, television producer David Angell, was a passenger on one of the downed jets.

A Reprise! series performance of “1776” at UCLA’s Freud Playhouse was initially scheduled to go on Tuesday night but was later canceled.

Also canceled were Tuesday performances of “The Lion King” at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood, “Kiss Me, Kate” at the Shubert Theatre in Century City, “The Circle” at South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa, “The Vagina Monologues” at the Canon Theater, “Spinning Into Butter” at the Laguna Playhouse, “Chicago: The Musical” at the Fred Kavli Theatre at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza and “Diva” at the La Jolla Playhouse. Most shows were expected to resume performances on Thursday, but ticket-holders were advised to phone the box office before the shows.

A Tuesday concert by the Black Crowes at the Greek Theatre also was canceled. Blink-182 postponed performances scheduled for tonight at Long Beach Arena and at the Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim Thursday.

The Getty Center, which closed on Tuesday, will remain shut today. The Museum of Contemporary Art and the Japanese American National Museum both closed their doors Tuesday.

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At the Laugh Factory in Hollywood, a marquee outside read, “No Laughing Tonight.” Owner Jamie Masada canceled Tuesday’s stand-up acts, explaining: “Sometimes comedy is healing for tragedy . . . but this is so big, you cannot cheer people up. It’s too much.”

Some organizations decided to go ahead with shows as a means for people to find an escape from the news of Tuesday’s tragic events.

A preview performance of “The Last of Mrs. Lincoln” at El Portal Center for the Arts in North Hollywood was scheduled to go on Tuesday night, with a moment of prayer held prior to the performance. The play, which begins with the sound of a bullet as Abraham Lincoln is assassinated, is “an appropriate play,” said El Portal managing director Pegge Forrest. “It’s not a comedy or a musical. It’s almost a memorial service.”

She added that callers to the theater “said they want to turn off the TV and be with other people.”

At the Carpenter Center for the Performing Arts, “Dance, the Spirit of Cambodia” was set to go on as planned today and Thursday with two sold-out public performances and a matinee for schoolchildren--although the ultimate decision on when the center reopens rests with the state of California, since the theater is part of Cal State Long Beach, said Carpenter executive director Peter Lesnick.

I feel pretty strongly that we should go on with the show,” Lesnick said. “It’s a tribute to the resiliency of the Cambodian people. It’s spectacular art--that’s No. 1--and with 90% of the artists having been murdered in Cambodia, it’s a tremendous testament to the will of the human spirit. This really isn’t a business decision, it’s just the right thing to do.”

Artists and record industry executives who had converged on Los Angeles for Tuesday’s Latin Grammy ceremony trickled into the lobby of the Beverly Hilton Hotel, where many were lodged, expressing shock at the attack on U.S. soil and scrambling to find alternate ways home after the show’s cancellation.

With airports closed, some performers and managers chose to take long cross-country trips by train, and at least one group of stars from Miami rented an RV to drive home.

Puerto Rican singer Carlos Ponce said he tried six rental agencies before locating the last available RV at one location. Ponce, who originally was scheduled to be in Mexico today to film a TV soap opera, instead took on other riders heading back to Florida, including singer Jon Secada.

“My problems are such a little thing compared to what happened,” said Ponce. “How could we celebrate anything after the death of our brothers and sisters? There is nothing sadder. Tonight, we plan to pray for the whole world.”

Times staff writers Diane Haithman, Suzanne Muchnic, Don Shirley, Nicolai Ouroussoff, Agustin Gurza, Robert Hilburn, Richard Cromelin, Geoff Boucher, Roy Rivenburg, Lynne Heffley, Mike Boehm and Randy Lewis contributed to this report.