Tribute to Peter Matz highlight of Gay Men’s Chorus show
A special tribute to the late Peter Matz, famed music arranger,
accompanist, composer and conductor, will be one of many highlights
when the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles returns this weekend for its
second show of the season at The Alex Theatre in Glendale.
Touting a patriotic theme, “Red, White and Blues, -- An American
Music Celebration,” the concert offers a broad sampling of American
music styles, both classical and popular.
Two songs in the show, “God Bless America/Color Out of Colorado,”
were arranged by Matz and Larry Moore.
Matz was best known for creating the orchestral back-ups for most
of Barbra Streisand’s early recordings as well as her first two
television shows, her movie, “Funny Lady,” and “The Broadway Album.”
He also worked with Tony Bennett, Carmen MacRae, Rosemary Clooney and
many others.
For television, he was arranger/conductor for eight years on “The
Carol Burnett Show.” His film composing credits include Sidney
Lumet’s “Bye Bye Braverman” and dozens of other features as well as
more than 50 movies for television.
Matz was a dear friend to the Gay Men’s Chorus, said Bruce
Mayhall, artistic director and conductor.
“He introduced us to many entertainment business people who helped
us with fund-raising and building of awareness of the chorus,” he
said.
Matz accompanied the chorus on piano at past concerts and had
arranged music for some of the concerts, Mayhall said.
“He was very active in the community with raising funds for AIDS
research and treatment. In addition to that, he was a magnificent
arranger, orchestrator, conductor,” he said.
Matz’s wife, soprano Marilynn Lovell Matz, joined her husband
supporting fund-raising projects for AIDS Project Los Angeles and
others, Mayhall said. She will be the guest artist during the
concerts this weekend.
“She is a wonderful performer and marvelous human being in her own
right,” Mayhall said. “So we wanted her to be a part of the tribute
to him, and share her great performing ability with the audience.”
Marilynn has had several featured roles in film and toured with
the international company of “Hello Dolly” with Mary Martin.
The invitation to perform with the chorus makes her feel “joyous,
loved and appreciated,” she said.
She, in turn, appreciates the chorus’ tribute to her husband.
“It is indeed an honor,” she said. “There are lots of people they
could honor and do. It also feels appropriate, because he
accomplished so much.”
Show times are 8 tonight and 3 p.m. Sunday. Tickets range from $15
to $45. The Alex is at 216 N. Brand Blvd., Glendale. Tickets are
available by calling The Alex Theatre box office at 243-2539.
The Gay Men’s Chorus is also appearing in segments on Home Box
Office’s television show, “Six Feet Under.” The chorus’ second of
five appearances on the show will be Sunday night.
“That’s been thrilling,” Mayhall said. “Almost everyone is a great
fan of the show. It is so intelligently and wonderfully written.”
In addition, the chorus released its 10th CD, “Jerry’s Boys!”,
Friday, featuring legendary composer and lyricist Jerry Herman. It
was the first CD produced under the baton of Mayhall, celebrating his
second season with the chorus.
“Jerry’s participation made it a real treat,” he said.
SPECIAL EVENTS
CHOREOGRAPHERS GIVE BALLET WORKSHOP
Guests of the Media City Ballet Company will witness the process
of how a choreographer works with the dancers to create a finished
piece beginning at 4:30 p.m. Sunday at the Media Dance Centre in the
Burbank Village.
Artistic Director Natasha Middleton will be working on the ballet
“Rachmaninoff Sketches” to be featured in the company’s next
performance May 18 at The Alex Theatre in Glendale.
“You are seeing a work in progress,” she said. “I will explain the
‘Rachmaninoff Sketches,’ why I called it that, and I’ll talk about
the composer. People will hear the music. Dancers will be doing
dances that are rehearsal slices of major dance works.”
It will be an educational experience for the public, Middleton
said, as those watching will not only see the dancers sweat, but the
choreographers sweat as well.
“It’s like going into the classroom,” she said. “I will be doing
the correcting of the dancers, and if he is lifting her a certain
way, I’ll explain why I chose these types of movements to give them.”
The workshop will show what the ballet dancer goes through to
perfect their role and perfect the style of dance they are given, she
said.
Middleton will also introduce two Russian dancers who have joined
the company as principal dancers two months ago.
Askar Alimbetov, who is originally from Russia, was trained in
Russia and danced with the Moscow Ballet.
Askar Kettebekov, also from Russia, also trained in Russia and
danced professionally with the Boston and San Diego ballets.
Associate Director Ruben Tonoyan will be discussing his ballet,
“Gayne,” which will be included in the May 18 performance. It
features Armenian classical/folk dancing. Jennifer Wilson, also a
principal dancer with the company, will perform it, along with
several male dancers.
This is the second event in the Sunday Afternoon at the Ballet
series at the Media Dance Centre, 237 E. Palm Ave., Burbank. Tickets
are $15 and can be reserved by calling 972-9692. Funds raised will go
to the May 18 performance at The Alex Theatre.
The next event in the series is Peter and the Wolf on April 13.
Peter and the Wolf also has been selected for the company’s outreach
program to tour schools in the L.A. Unified School District.
NUCLEAR FAMILY EXAMINED IN COLLEGE PRODUCTION
“Keeping Up with the Joneses,” a play by Nate Eppler, is in its
opening weekend in the Glendale Community College Auditorium Studio
Theatre.
Eppler explores the inner workings of a family of geniuses, which
includes a would-be superhero, an ornithologist, a 16-year-old
biology expert and a physicist working for the Department of Defense.
He uses nuclear war as a metaphor for the nuclear family and asks why
anyone would build such a terrible weapon.
“Keeping Up with the Joneses” has been nominated for four
playwriting competitions, including the Mark Twain Award for best new
comedy.
Performances are at 8 tonight and 2 p.m. Sunday. The play
continues at 8 p.m. Thursday, Friday and April 5, 10, 11 and 12 and
at 2 p.m. April 6 and 13.
Due to limited seating, reservations are recommended. Doors open
30 minutes before each show. Tickets are $7, $5 for students and
seniors. For reservations, call 240-1000, ext. 5618. There will be no
late seating.
BURBANK PHILHARMONIC SPONSORS COMPETITION
The Burbank Philharmonic Orchestra, in conjunction with the
Hennings-Fischer Foundation, will present the finals in the second
annual Concerto and Aria Competition at 7:30 tonight at the Hall of
Liberty in Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills, 6300 Forest Lawn Drive, Los
Angeles. Admission is free.
First-place winners in instrumental and opera categories will be
awarded $500 honorariums and will be announced immediately following
the competition.
The judges are Barry Brisk, Fung Ho and Patricia Shanks. Burbank
Philharmonic Maestro Steven Kerstein will preside over the evening.
Established in 2001, the Hennings-Fischer Foundation is the legacy
of violinist, conductor and teacher Noumi Fischer and his wife,
fellow violinist and teacher Audrey Hennings Fischer.
Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills is at 6300 Forest Lawn Drive in Los
Angeles. For more information, call 771-7888 or e-mail burbankphilharmonic@ yahoo.com.
QUILT SHOW OFFERS NEW AND ANTIQUE QUILTS
The Glendale Quilt Guild’s 24th Annual Quilt Show “Where Eagles
Soar” continues this weekend at the Burbank Airport Hilton Convention
Center.
There will be more than 200 new and antique quilts, wearable art
garments and handmade dolls. The show includes classes for all
levels, lectures, quilt appraisals, quilter’s merchant mall with more
than 50 vendors, two sewing machine drawings, an opportunity quilt,
awards banquet, fashion show breakfast and boutique, and more.
Show hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. today and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Sunday at the Burbank Airport Hilton Convention Center, 2500
Hollywood Way in Burbank. Admission is $7, $2 for children. For more
information, visit the Web site at www.glendalequiltguild.org or call
(888) 337-8458.
GLENDALE AUTHOR SIGNS NEW BOOK ‘SALTHILL’
Glendale resident Judith Barnes will be signing her first novel,
“Salthill,” from 3 to 4 p.m. today at Bookfellows, 328 N. Brand
Blvd., Glendale.
Published by St. Martin’s Press, the book is set in British
Columbia in the post-war 1940s and 1950s. The story centers on the
St. Oeggers, an Anglo-Irish family that has emigrated from Calway to
raise Thoroughbred horses on a ranch in the Canadian wilderness. They
are joined by a young black man who has a special gift with horses.
He is asked to stay on and becomes a part of the family.
“It’s a love story, and is literary fiction,” Barnes said about
her book. “I’ve tried to give them a good read.”
IRISH STEP DANCERS STRUT THEIR STUFF
The Glendale Community Concert Assn., celebrating its 50th
anniversary concert season, will feature Common Ground at 2:30 p.m.
today at the Glendale High School auditorium, 1440 E. Broadway in
Glendale.
Common Ground is an ensemble of world-champion Irish step dancers,
country cloggers and quick-footed tap dancers who click, tap and kick
their way through 25 numbers to celebrate the Irish experience in
America.
The finale event of the season is Alison England on April 6.
Membership includes admission to concerts presented by affiliated
Community Concerts groups in other communities.
For more information, call 248-4080 or 248-3133.
JEWEL CITY DOLL CLUB HAS SHOW AND SALE
Jewel City Doll Club will have its 25th annual Doll Show and Sale
from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. today in the upstairs room of the Glendale
Civic Auditorium.
There will be antique and collectible dolls and accessories, paper
dolls, old toys, bears, miniatures and related books. Spectators can
have their picture taken with their favorite doll for free.
Club members will offer for free their expertise in doll
identifications. Special guest is doll book author Patricia
Schoonmaker.
Admission is $5, free for children younger than 12. The auditorium
is at 1401 Verdugo Road in Glendale. For more information, call Dene
Alcott at 248-4862.
ON STAGE
A NOISE WITHIN PRODUCING CLASSICS
A Noise Within’s present offerings are “O Pioneers” and “Measure
For Measure.”
Artistic co-directors and husband and wife, Geoff Elliott and
Julia Rodriguez Elliott, direct “O Pioneers,” a stage adaptation of
Willa Cather’s novel. Heroine Alexandra Bergson leads her family into
the 1880s Midwest to carve out a living from a forbidding land.
It runs in repertory through May 15 with Shakespeare’s “Measure
for Measure,” which continues through May 10.
As part of his plan to arrest the moral decay plaguing his beloved
city, the Duke of Vienna abdicates power to his trusted subordinate
Angelo in order to travel incognito throughout his realm. Angelo, a
man of unblemished reputation, sentences Claudio, an unwitting
citizen, to death for “sinful indiscretions” as an example to all who
would err.
Claudio’s tenacious and pure-hearted sister, Isabella, rushes to
her brother’s aid, unleashing a deadly passion in Angelo. Thus begins
the age-old confrontation between compassion and intolerance, public
morality and private lechery, in Shakespeare’s tale of the measure of
mercy.
The former Masonic temple building is at 234 S. Brand Blvd.,
Glendale. Tickets range from $18 to $38 and can be reserved by
calling 240-0910.
‘CAMELOT’ CONTINUES AT CENTRE THEATRE
Hail back to the glorious reign of King Arthur in Lerner and
Loewe’s “Camelot” produced by Glendale Centre Theatre.
Merlin and the knights of the Round Table are all here as well as
the musical triumphs “The Lusty Month of May” and “If Ever I Would
Leave You.”
The play continues through April 12. Tickets range from $14 to
$17. For reservations, call 244-8481. Glendale Centre Theatre is at
324 N. Orange St., Glendale.
The children’s musical “Cinderella” runs at 11 a.m. Saturdays through June 18.
‘CINDERELLA’ CLOSES AT FALCON THEATRE
The family musical “Cinderella!”, written by Dimitri Toscas,
closes this weekend at The Falcon Theatre in Burbank.
Adapted from composer Gioacchino Antonio Rossini’s classic opera,
“La Cenerentola,” this production combines music, song and audience
participation in telling the tale.
Cast members are Roberta Wall, who portrayed Mrs. Potts in the
first national tour of “Beauty and the Beast,” and Eric Meyersfeld,
who recently starred as The Boy in the record-breaking off-Broadway
production of “The Fantasticks.” Rounding out the cast are Kimberly
Kurtenbach, Peter Allen Vogt and Karen Schnurr.
Performances are at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. today and 1 p.m. Sunday.
Tickets are $10.
The Falcon Theatre is at 4252 Riverside Drive, in Burbank. For
reservations, call 955-8101.
‘2ND WIND THE MUSICAL’ IS BACK ON STAGE
The revival performance of the rock opera, “2nd Wind the Musical
2002,” has returned with two new songs. Show time is 8 tonight at the
Gene Bua Acting For Life Theatre in Burbank.
The story is about an acting coach, Teacher, who rallies together
three celebrity volunteers to help him with a new program at
Strawberry Fields Residential Treatment Center. They attempt to teach
three street kids how to turn their rage, fear and shame into
positive energy through acting.
Tickets are $25 with discounts available for seniors, groups and
teens. Proceeds benefit the nonprofit Here’s To Life Foundation,
reaching at-risk youth through art and entertainment.
For reservations, call (310) 680-9109. The play continues through
May 3.
The playhouse is at 3435 W. Magnolia Blvd. in Burbank.
ART EXHIBITS
ARTIST HAS 33RD EXHIBIT AT DESCANSO GARDENS
Ruth Basler Burr has returned to Descanso Gardens for her 33rd
annual one-woman art exhibit “Reflections.” The former La Canada
Flintridge resident, whose watercolors and prints are in collections
worldwide, will bring familiar scenes this year to Descanso’s Boddy
House Gallery.
The exhibit includes a new group of paintings of the gardens as
she remembers them during the many years she walked its pathways with
her friends. The show continues until April 10.
Gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily, and admission is free
with paid gardens fee. Descanso Gardens is at 1418 Descanso Drive,
La Ca- nada Flintridge. Hours are 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. daily. Parking
is free. Admission fees are $5 for adults; $3 for seniors and
students; $1 for children 5 to 12; and free for members and children
5 and younger. For information, call 949-4200 or visit
www.DescansoGardens. org.
ARTIST SHOWING AT OCEANVIEW BAR AND GRILL
Alyce Cox-Smith of La Crescenta is displaying her art work,
mainly landscapes in oil, throughout March at Oceanview Bar and Grill
in Montrose.
The Montrose hairstylist began her second career as an artist
taking painting classes through the parks and recreation department
in the late 1980s. After a two-year hiatus, she started taking
classes with local artist Margot Lennartz.
For her piece of Cannery Row in Monterey, Cox-Smith received a
second-place honor in the landscape category in a juried show
sponsored by the San Gabriel Fine Arts Assn.
Oceanview Bar and Grill is at 3826 Ocean View Blvd. in Montrose.
For information, call 248-2722.
FAMOUS BATTLE SCENES EXHIBITED AT LOCAL MUSEUM
Paintings of battle scenes by Toluca Lake resident John Pomeroy,
ranging from 9 by 12 feet to wall size, are on exhibit at the Forest
Lawn Museum in Glendale.
A supervising animator with Walt Disney Feature Animation, Pomeroy
has captured in oil such famous scenes as Alexander the Great at the
Battle of Granicus in the exhibit “Windows of War: Historical
Paintings by John Pomeroy.”
The exhibit continues through April 26. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5
p.m. daily. The museum is at Forest Lawn, Glendale, 1712 S. Glendale Ave., Glendale. Admission and parking are free. For more information,
call 204-3131, ext. 4545.
NATIONAL COLLAGE EXHIBIT AT BRAND LIBRARY
A representation of some of the finest contemporary collage works
by artists from throughout the United States are included in the
“Open ‘03,” a show sponsored by the Collage Artists of America at
Brand Library Art Galleries in Glendale.
Seventy original works were selected for the show by juror Suzanne
Muchnic, art writer for the Los Angeles Times and Los Angeles
correspondent for ARTnews magazine.
Residents showing their works are Jane Friend of Glendale and
Sandra Rooney of La Crescenta.
Friend’s entry, “Tide Pool,” was created with handmade paper and
acrylic paint. Rooney’s entry is called “Rhythm in Blues” and is a
mixed-media piece.
Admission and parking are free. The show continues through April
18.
Gallery hours are 1 to 9 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday, 1 to 6 p.m.
Wednesday and 1 to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Brand galleries are at
1601 W. Mountain St., Glendale. For more information, call 548-2051.
A LITTLE JAZZ WITH DINNER
RESTAURANT OFFERS MUSIC FROM ‘20s, ‘30s, ‘40s
The Oceanview Bar and Grill offers live entertainment six nights a
week for diners.
Entertainers perform a combination of piano and jazz guitar
pieces, and some accompany with vocals. Musical selections include a
mix of music from the 1920s, ‘30s and ‘40s to opera to Celine Dion.
Some entertainers also perform their original pieces and invite
diners to sing along with them.
Jennifer Russell and Michael Gayle sing jazz while playing piano
and guitar from 7 to 10 tonight. Singing behind the piano the rest of
the week are Bill Howe on Monday; Travis Warren, Tuesday; Mary Ekler,
Wednesday; Alexandra Caselli, Thursday; and Bob Fetherolf, Friday.
The Oceanview Bar and Grill is at 3826 Ocean View Blvd. For more
information, call 248-2722.
RUSTY PELICAN COOKS WITH LIVE MUSIC
Glendale’s Rusty Pelican, 300 Harvey Drive in Glendale, serves
dinner and Sunday brunch, but really cooks with its live singing and
music.
2AZZ1 and The Body & Soul Band, featuring Burbank residents Craig
and Mary Durst, performs at 7:30 p.m. Fridays. There is no cover and
no minimum.
There’s karaoke from 7:30 to 11 p.m. Wednesdays, live jazz from
7:30 to 11 p.m. Fridays and live blues from 8:30 to 11:30 p.m.
Saturdays.
For more information or to make reservations, call 242-9191.
* If you have press releases for the 48 Hours column, please
call JOYCE RUDOLPH at 637-3241 or e-mail joyce.rudolph@ latimes.com
or fax them to 241-1975.