Arts Briefs: Pasadena Playhouse stages West Coast premiere of ‘Casa Valentina’
Beethoven in Love
Even the great classical composer Ludwig van Beethoven had to go through his share of drama. In the centuries before TMZ, the uncomfortably intimate details of Beethoven and his contemporaries were harder to come by, so it’s up to historians and fiction writers to fill in the gaps — including a new book called “Beethoven in Love; Opus 139 Concerto Quasi Una Fantasia.”
Author Howard Jay Smith will be discussing his historical novel 7 p.m. on Thursday, March 24, at the Brand Library. The book examines the challenges and motivations during Beethoven’s life composing some the most important musical pieces in history. Smith will be joined there by award-winning pianist Tae Yeon Lim, performing Beethoven music live to set the proper mood.
Admission is free. The Brand is at 1601 W Mountain St., Glendale. For more information, contact (818) 548-2051 or www.brandlibrary.org.
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Mixing and Matching
A performance from the upcoming West Coast premiere of Harvey Fierstein’s “Casa Valentina” at the Pasadena Playhouse will be part of the theater’s “LGBT Spotlight Mixer” on March 26. In addition to the performance of the play, the pre-show mixer begins at 7 p.m., hosted by the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles.
“Casa Valentina,” which was nominated for four Tony Awards in 2014, takes place in a bungalow colony in the Catskills in 1962, and stars Christian Clemenson (FX’s “American Crime Story: The People v. O. J. Simpson”) and Nike Doukas (“Desperate Housewives”). Preview performances of the play begin March 15, with the official opening on March 20. It runs through April 10.
A review from its original run in the New York Times said the play “poses some genuinely arresting questions about identity … and conveys the blessed consummation that occurs for ordinary people when they’re transformed externally into what they think they are inside.”
Tickets are $25 to $77 (with premium seating at $125). The Pasadena Playhouse is at 39 South El Molino Ave. in Pasadena. More info at (626) 356-752 and www.PasadenaPlayhouse.org.
A Day with the Bard
The 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare’s death will be marked by a day of events and performances at the Huntington Library on April 16.
Actors from Independent Shakespeare Co. and the Guild of St. George will present scenes from Shakespeare plays across the Huntington grounds. Songs taken from operas based on his plays will be sung by performers from the L.A. Opera, and the Music Center’s touring Will & Co. ensemble will deliver an adaptation of “Romeo and Juliet” for children.
Aside from those and other live performances, visitors can view the Huntington’s “First Folio” edition of Shakespeare’s collected plays and other related works. The events will be presented 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens is located at 1151 Oxford Road in San Marino. More info at (626) 405-2100 and www.huntington.org.
Schools of Art
“Lights, Camera, Art!” is the annual exhibition of student artwork from Burbank public and private schools, grades kindergarten through 12th.
Opening April 7, it is hosted by the city of Burbank Creative Arts Center Gallery and the Fine Arts Federation, which will be awarding prizes for artists in the group categories of elementary school level, middle school and high school.
Gallery hours are Monday through Thursday 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., Friday 9 a.m. 7 p.m., and Saturday 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The gallery is closed on Sunday. The Creative Arts Center Gallery is located at 1100 West Clark Ave. in Burbank. More info at (818) 238-5397.
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