Category Archives: Arts

How to spell overrated: C-A-T-S Webber’s musical disappoints, lacks cohesive qualities By Denise Cruz and Robert Stevens Daily Bruin Senior Staff Here’s a money saving tip. The gimmick behind Andrew Lloyd Webber’s highly successful and world renowned musical "Cats" is that … well, they’re cats. This tremendously effective theatrical device ­ people acting like cats […]

Crosspulse’s percussion skills visit UCLA By John Mangum Not many people can go from banging on pots and pans on their mom’s kitchen floor to being one of the world’s leading percussionists. The thing is, Keith Terry brought the pots and pans with him. As an innovator in an innovative field, Terry combines numerous instruments […]

Martin’s comic antics paint ‘Picasso at the Lapin Agile’ Bartender, patrons add extra fuel to comedic production at Playhouse By Jennifer Richmond Daily Bruin Staff Steve Martin. That "wild and crazy guy" who made Martin a household name through his bizarre sketches on Saturday Night Live (SNL). The same man who expanded his repertoire by […]

UCLA prof dresses up the best Ramicova brings experience, insight to UCLA campus By Barbara E. Hernandez Daily Bruin Staff For being in a small and very competitive field like costume design, Professor Dunya Ramicova has done extremely well. Sitting at her desk, the youthful Ramicova says, "right now I’m working on "The Faerie Queene" […]

Seances lift ‘Spirit’ to comedic heights By Lawrence Sullivan Although written in five days during one of the darkest years of World War II, there is no darkening of manners among the pompous British upper-class characters of Noel Coward’s play, "Blithe Spirit." Poised against the mantelpiece, one hand in the double-breasted jacket pocket, the other […]

Sappy rhetoric loses ‘Paradise’ Depression-era play depicts life during hardship By Lawrence Sullivan During the Great Depression my grandfather sold mustard door to door in Chicago. When it comes down to pushing condiments to muster up a living, Leo Gordon in Clifford Odets’ "Paradise Lost" seems justified in saying "the world has a profound dislocation." […]

Maniacal Natalie Merchant: ‘What is the matter here?’ By Michael Tatum No music figure I revile intrigues me more than Natalie Merchant, formerly of the pop group 10,000 Maniacs. As I mentioned in a previous column, I find her impotent three-note range, her inexplicable drawing out of vowels and her inability to sing consonants at […]