Melanie Tiang wanted to do her research before writing the script for this year’s United Khmer Students Culture Night play. Instead of turning to history books, she asked her fellow club members about their Cambodian upbringings. Read more...
Photo: Club members of United Khmer Students of UCLA rehearse for their play “Lost in Translation” for this year’s Cambodian Culture Night. “Lost in Translation” is based on the effects of the Cambodian genocide in the 1970s. (Eileen Lising/Daily Bruin)
A charter bus with 20 members of the UCLA Bruin Marching Band cruised down Sunset Boulevard and stopped in front of United Recording Studios in October. Read more...
Photo: UCLA Bruin Marching Band members Brendan James (left), Christina Martin (center) and Patrick Chesnut (right) were three instrumentalists who recorded in October for the television show “Imaginary Mary.” (Hannah Burnett/Daily Bruin)
A lovesick poet, a goddess disguised as a man and a slew of drunken students walk into a tavern. So begins Los Angeles Opera’s current production of Jacques Offenbach’s “The Tales of Hoffmann,” the story of an oft-inebriated writer named Hoffmann (Vittorio Grigolo) recounting his failed experiences with three past lovers before realizing that his true love is for his art. Read more...
Photo: In the first act of “The Tales of Hoffmann,” the titular character (Vittorio Grigolo) falls in love with a mechanical doll named Olympia (So Young Park) after mistaking her for a real woman.(Ken Howard / LA Opera)
Side projects by musicians are often hit-or-miss, musically exploring either too little or too much. Chaz Bundick is no stranger to this balance, since a majority of his recent musical activity stems from side projects. Read more...
Photo: (Company Records)
Disney is as renowned for its timeless music as for its enchanting animation. Unfortunately, the music of Disney’s reboot of “Beauty and the Beast” verges more toward beastly than beautiful. Read more...
Photo: The 2017 live-action reboot of Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast” features heavily Auto-Tuned singing by Emma Watson and two versions of the soundtrack’s titular song. (Walt Disney Records)
Many indie bands have consigned to a political agenda in response to today’s controversial political atmosphere, but The Shins have remained blissfully aloof. Fellow indie rockers, such as How To Dress Well and Toro y Moi, have focused their artistic efforts toward an anti-Trump agenda by adding their songs to the protest compilation “Our First 100 Days,” but The Shins have remained mostly quiet in the years following their last album release of 2012’s “Port of Morrow.” “Heartworms,” The Shins’ fifth studio album released Friday, is a refreshing escape from the political debates found online. Read more...
Photo: (Columbia Records)
Belly dancers rehearsed to the beat of traditional Arab doumbek drums in Freud Playhouse. This year’s iteration of the Iranian Student Group’s annual culture show Friday and Saturday will showcase such traditional and modern Iranian dances, along with singing and comedy skits displaying customs reaching as far back as A.D. Read more...
Photo: Paniz Arab, a fourth-year global studies student, will participate in the Iranian Student Group’s culture show, which will showcase both traditional and modern Iranian dances. (Photo illustration by Habeba Mostafa/Daily Bruin and Jintak Han/Assistant Photo editor)
