For more than 50 summers, Shakespeare in the Park has been a New York experience like none other.

This summer, Shakespeare in the Park on a 100-plus degree night took that only-in-New York tradition to a new level.

One of the hottest shows of the season -- Al Pacino playing Shylock in "The Merchant of Venice" on a Central Park stage -- got a whole lot hotter Tuesday night.

Hundreds of New Yorkers not only camped out for hours Tuesday in the broiling sun to get two tickets to watch Shakespeare for free, they also sweated through two and half hours of Shakespeare in a stifling and breeze-free outdoor theater.

Shockingly, almost no one left during intermission. New Yorkers aren’t shy about such things. They don’t like it, they don’t stay.

But a 70-year-old Pacino and an ensemble cast including Lily Rabe as Portia kept a riveted if not heat-subdued audience in their wooden seats. The actors roared through scene after scene without a hint of the suffering they had to be feeling in period costumes that covered them from below their chins to the ends of their toes.

During a scene added for this production, Shylock submits to a forced baptism in a small onstage pool. Pacino’s silent anguish as his face was dunked repeatedly in the water seemed only deepened by the thirst for it in the audience.

The J. Paul Getty Museum is poised to pay $44.9 million for this J.M.W. Turner 1839 painting, "Modern Rome -- Campo Vaccino," but don't make plans to see it in Brentwood just yet.

The Getty was the high bidder for the painting today at an auction at Sotheby's in London. But under British law, art works of special significance that have been on British soil for more than 50 years can't be sold and exported without a license -- and the deal can be sunk if a British institution, or sometimes an individual, steps up to match what the foreign buyer was willing to pay.

The Getty knows the drill: In 2002, it tried to buy Raphael's "Madonna of the Pinks" from the Duke of Northumberland. The sale was a no-go: the National Gallery in London got the painting instead after coming up with $46.6 million over the ensuing two years to buy the painting in the Getty's stead.

David Bomford, the Getty Museum's acting director, said it bid on the Turner painting knowing it could be balked once more. But for now, there’s the thrill of being very close to completing what he described in a statement as an “acquisition [that] ranks among the greatest in the history of the Getty Museum….Paintings by Turner rarely come to market and the absolutely flawless condition of this one makes it the work against which all other works by Turner will be judged.”

“Turner is quite simply the greatest British painter of the 19th century and occupies a unique and pivotal position in the history of art,” said Scott Schaefer, the Getty’s senior curator of paintings.

John Marciari, now curator of European art at the San Diego Museum of Art, has made the front page of newspapers in Spain. 

His news? He has published an article in the new issue of the Madrid quarterly Ars making the case that a painting he found in storage in 2004 at the Yale University Art Gallery, right, is actually an altarpiece by the celebrated Spanish painter Diego Velázquez. 

"The Education of the Virgin," missing paint in spots and trimmed at the top, looked "pretty beat up," when he first saw it as a junior curator at the Yale gallery, Marciari says. "It was dirty, with a bit of tissue paper stuck on the canvas to hold the paint in place."

It wasn't until a few months later that it hit him: "This is an early Velázquez." And in the years since then he has marshaled stylistic evidence and technical data to help build his case.

Reattributions are tricky, and don't stick without the support of other experts in the field. Which makes this case even more extraordinary so far. 

Even though they have yet to see the painting in the flesh, some Velázquez experts have already expressed enthusiasm about the discovery for providing new insight into the artist's early development. Next step is for curators at the Prado, the mother lode of Velázquez paintings, to weigh in. 

For the full story, click here.

-- Jori Finkel

www.twitter.com/jorifinkel

Image: "The Education of the Virgin," circa 1617, attributed to Diego Velázquez. Courtesy Yale University Art Gallery.  

 
The evening was already turning cold Tuesday when the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Master Chorale opened this summer’s classical season at the Hollywood Bowl with the “Lacrymosa” movement from Mozart’s Requiem, performed in memory of Ernest Fleischmann, who died on June 13.

As head of the Los Angeles Philharmonic from 1969 to 1998, Fleischmann reinvented summer concerts with fireworks, “Star Wars” extravaganzas, Mozart and modern music marathons, Peter Sellars nights of experimentation, concert opera with emerging artists (with the likes of Jessye Norman, Luciano Pavarotti and James Levine way back when), and with cheap, young, even teenage talent (one Simon Rattle included).

From his central box, Fleischmann cajoled audiences over the loudspeakers, screamed at air controllers over his phone to keep the bloody planes and helicopters away, and commanded engineers in the sound booth to boost violins when they weren’t coming through to his satisfaction. He railed and he reveled, always in the end believing in the magic of music, no matter what, to win over audiences.

He was right, and he was proven right once again Tuesday. A large crowd of 9,545 braved the chill wrapped in winter fleece and blankets. The program was not, on paper, populist or stellar opening night material. Grant Gershon conducted Vivaldi’s “Gloria” and Poulenc’s “Gloria.” He began with a rare Haydn “Te Deum.” At the end, though, came the fun of Handel's “Hallelujah” chorus with fireworks.  

In June, the San Diego Union-Tribune issued a pink slip to Robert L. Pincus, its art critic and book editor who has covered the city's art scene for close to 25 years. It was part of company-wide layoffs that eliminated 35 newsroom jobs. 

Since then, the newspaper has seen a public backlash over Pincus' termination, with online campaigns and  other forums demanding that it reinstate the art critic.

As reported by Modern Art Notes, there is a Facebook campaign and a blog devoted to bringing back Pincus. In addition, media outlets such as radio station KPBS and the San Diego Reader have devoted time and space in support of the critic.

On his own Facebook page, Pincus has commented that "the layoff was a shock, after 25 years of writing at the U-T. But the new publisher and editor apparently care little about the quality of the art writing. So they eliminated my position in their reorganization."

He also wrote that the newspaper's arts reporting and criticism "can't be done with smoke and mirrors, no matter what the editor says about maintaining art coverage."

Before joining the Union-Tribune, Pincus contributed arts stories to the Los Angeles Times during the early 1980s.

The creator of the Facebook campaign and the blog, Roxana Popescu, was quoted by Modern Art Notes as saying that the aims of the sites are to "allow people to voice their support and concerns, and to alert the decision makers at the newspaper that San Diegans care deeply about the arts — and want Bob back.”

-- Hidden masterpiece?: The Yale University Art Gallery could be in possession of an early work by artist Diego Velazquez. (Los Angeles Times)

-- Starchitecture: French architect Jean Nouvel has unveiled his first completed work in Britain -- a red-hued structure for the Serpentine Gallery in London. (Agence France-Presse)

-- Back in the habit: Whoopi Goldberg will join the London cast of "Sister Act the Musical" in the role of Mother Superior. (Playbill)

-- Religious art: The recent dismantling of a statue in Indonesia by Islamic radicals has caused a public outcry. (Time)

-- Toward solvency: The North Carolina Symphony reports an improving financial outlook. (The News & Observer)

-- Moving on: The executive director of the Paper Mill Playhouse in New Jersey has stepped down. (Newark Star-Ledger)

-- Possible discovery: A German museum has discovered what it believes to be a previously unknown work by German Expressionist artist Ludwig Kirchner. (Associated Press)

-- Cashing in: The family of Princess Diana has sold a painting by Peter Paul Rubens for approximately $13.7 million at auction. (Reuters)

-- Big trouble: Russian conductor and pianist Mikhail Pletnev has been charged in Thailand with having sexual relations with a child. (Agence France-Presse)

-- Public art controversy: The city council of Bemidji, Minn., has voted unanimously to return a controversial sculpture depicting a giant beaver with a vagina to its place on a public sculpture walk. (City Pages)

-- Also in the L.A. Times: Conductor Kent Nagano is reportedly stepping down from his post at the Bavarian State Opera; a conversation with Dance Theatre of Harlem's co-founder Arthur Mitchell.

-- David Ng

Photo: "The Education of the Virgin," circa 1617. Attributed to Diego Velazquez. Credit: Yale University Art Gallery.

For O-Lan Jones, the site-specific musical performance piece "Songs and Dances of Imaginary Lands" explores themes so large that it's like a grand opera -- minus the angst.

"It's a playful look at 'Hey, what is the meaning of life?' without the ugh part of it," Jones says, making a rough groaning noise. 

As its director, Jones has devoted seven years to the creation of "Songs and Dances," which inhabits a vacant 25,000-square-foot car dealership in Culver City for two weeks of performances that begin Thursday night.  The audience traverses the space either by a "train" (pictured) or on foot (dragging along their folding chairs) to accompany the main characters on a journey to 21 "lands," each invoked by a distinct set, design, libretto and music.

According to Jones, audiences responded positively during a run of four preview performances last week.  She says, "It's been my experience that people from 18 to 80 appreciate something that has at its heart a basic sense of joy and fun." 

  David O, the musical director, has enjoyed observing the interaction between the performers and the audience. He notes that the show constantly evolves based on where the train stops and where the audience members decide to plunk down their chairs.

Snezana Petrovic, the set and costume designer, loves that "the show is huge." As well, she says "Songs and Dances" is exciting because "it's something that you cannot commonly find in L.A."

See further coverage here about the melange of elements that makes "Songs and Dances" a unique new theatrical work for Los Angeles audiences, and check out more pictures by clicking on the photo gallery above.

-- Daina Beth Solomon

Photo: Audience members watch a scene unfold while seated on their "train." Credit: Christina House / For The Times

If an image of a painting that pops up on a computer screen can be considered a viewing, then Frida Kahlo may be setting a record today for the most glimpses of an artist's self-portrait -- thanks to Google, which is marking her 103rd birthday by incorporating her art into the Google logo on its search engine.

This tradition of "Google doodles" to mark holidays, birthdays and other special occasions goes back to 1999.

In order to make Kahlo's birthday a happier one, however, the Google artists seem to have taken some liberties to make the 1940 self-portrait upon which the doodle image appears to be based a tad more festive -- and perhaps to skirt the need for copyright approval.

Instead of the necklace of thorns the artist wears in the painting that most closely resembles the doodle, Google has outfitted her with a necklace made of bone that's seen in another self-portrait. Also understandably absent are the bloody droplets and scratches seen on Kahlo's throat in the thorn-necklace image. And the Google birthday girl sports a rich blue robe, replacing the drab greenish-brown one in the original.

But when it comes to birthdays, it's the thought that counts -- no? Kahlo joins Karel Capek, Anton Chekhov, Norman Rockwell, Frederic Chopin, Tchaikovsky, Antonio Vivaldi, Napoleon Orda, Robert Schumann and Django Reinhardt among playwrights, musicians and visual artists whom Google has doodled to mark their birthdays so far in 2010.

The tradition goes back to 1999, when Google artists began tinkering with the search engine logo to mark special people, occasions and events. They include a couple of turns by notable guest artists: Jeff Koons providing a bouquet of colorful metallic lollipop-looking shapes on April 30, 2008, and Shepard Fairey doing the honors on an image of Martin Luther King Jr. to celebrate King's birthday on Jan. 19, 2009.

The official word from company spokesman Gabriel Stricker: "Google doodles aim to celebrate interesting events and anniversaries around the world that reflect Google's personality and love of art and innovation. In honoring Frida Kahlo's birthday, we're continuing a tradition of celebrating artists who have transcended their genre to become cultural icons that have made a lasting impact on people around the world."

For all the doodles to date, click here.

-- Mike Boehm

Photo: Frida Kahlo birthday image. Credit: Google

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“I didn’t want to be a ballet dancer. My motivation was the musicals,” says Arthur Mitchell, one of the 20th-century’s noblest classical dancers, who grew up in New York City in the 1940s enamored of Broadway.

“Vaudeville was incredible. The Apollo, fantastic. Fred Astaire? When I auditioned for the High School of the Performing Arts, I rented top hat, white tie and tails, and sang “Steppin’ Out With My Baby.” They took me not because I was good but because I had so much nerve,” he says.

Memories flow freely, and with laughter, from Mitchell, 76, visiting Los Angeles to mark the July 4 closing of California African American Museum’s “Dance Theatre of Harlem: 40 Years of Firsts.” The exhibit celebrated the multiracial ballet troupe, which disbanded in financial insolvency in 2004. (The Dance Theatre of Harlem school still operates at 152nd Street and Amsterdam Avenue.)

Courtly in his demeanor and with noble carriage that screams “prince,” Mitchell seems born to entrechat-six. In reality, this son of a Harlem building superintendent was a plucky street kid, sneaking into Lucky’s nightclub to watch hoofers.

“I took over running the family when my father left. I was 12. I shined shoes and delivered meat for a butcher. He paid me in meat for my family. I ran errands for the girls in a neighborhood bordello. Growing up on Sugar Hill, attending Harlem’s incredible annual Easter Parade, I saw ‘class’ all around me.”

A huge contributor to American dance, Mitchell has offered more than 50 years of valiant service to two voracious dance organizations. He was one of New York City Ballet’s sparkling principal dancers during George Balanchine’s prime productive years. His peers: Allegra Kent, Suzanne Farrell, Edward Villella, Jillana, Violette Verdy, Patricia McBride and many more. After retiring from City Ballet in 1966, Mitchell co-founded Dance Theatre of Harlem, and for four decades ran the pioneering troupe. (He still advises DTH as artistic director emeritus; ballerina Virginia Johnson holds leadership reins).

Conductor Kent Nagano will be stepping down as music director of the Bayerische Staatsoper (Bavarian State Opera) in Munich, according to reports Tuesday from the German media.

Nagano was quoted as saying that he won't renew his contract with the opera company, which is set to expire in 2013. The conductor joined the company in 2006 after serving as principal conductor and music director at the Los Angeles Opera from 2001 to 2006.

The conductor's planned departure from Munich is surrounded by controversy. Nagano was quoted as saying that his resignation is due to the "policy developments in the last months in Munich – at the State Theater at Gärtnerplatz and at the Munich Philharmonic."

It remains unclear what specific policy developments Nagano is referencing, but in recent weeks, there have been rumors of friction between the conductor and the the city’s culture and education minister, Wolfgang Heubisch.

There also has been speculation, as reported in the Montreal Gazette, about possible acrimony between the conductor and Nikolaus Bachler, the artistic and managing director of the Bavarian State Opera.

Yet another rumor reported in MusicalAmerica.com has it that Nagano doesn’t like the company's Strauss-Mozart-Wagner repertoire and that Heubisch had to make a decision to fire him.

Nagano, who also holds the position of music director of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, is highly regarded in his field for championing new music. Originally from Northern California, he has spent much of his career in Europe, holding leadership positions at the Opera de Lyon in France, the Halle Orchestra in the U.K. and the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin in Germany.

-- David Ng

Photo: Kent Nagano. Credit: Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times

RECENT AND RELATED

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Its financial footing is still shaky and the overall donor environment remains soft, but Los Angeles Opera apparently feels confident enough to add a new name to its roster of top leaders.

According to a hiring notice that is circulating among public-relations professionals, L.A. Opera is looking to fill a vacant position that will oversee the company's marketing and communications efforts.

The job, which carries the title of vice president of marketing and communications, involves overseeing a staff of about 10 individuals. The person hired for the position would report to the company's chief operating officer, Stephen Rountree. 

A spokesman for L.A. Opera said Tuesday that the position was previously occupied by Hope Boonshaft, who left the company in 2008. He added that the company was waiting until the end of the recent production of Richard Wagner's "Ring" cycle to fill the vacant post.

L.A. Opera already has a director of marketing and a director of communications and public relations. Those individuals would eventually report to the person hired for the position.

The company has suffered a series of financial blows over the last two years. Last week, the company said that it incurred an approximately $6-million budget deficit from its first-ever production of Wagner's "Ring" cycle, partly because of weaker-than-expected demand for tickets. In late 2009, the company received a $14-million emergency loan from L.A. County to help cover operations and mounting debt.

Also in 2009, L.A. Opera laid off 17 employees, or approximately 17% of its staff.

The new hire will put L.A. Opera in line with some major U.S. opera companies. Both the Metropolitan Opera and the Washington National Opera have similarly titled positions.

Here's an excerpt from L.A. Opera's hiring notice for the open post.

-- Riding the wave: "Glee" summer camps, inspired by the hit Fox series, are popping up across the country. (Chicago Tribune)

-- Controversial donations: BP says it plans to continue spending on the arts and cultural institutions despite recent protests concerning the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. (NPR)

-- Breaking and entering: Rare artifacts are stolen from Bangladesh's National Museum in Dhaka. (BBC News)

-- Backstage drama: Conductor Jean-Christophe Spinosi has abruptly left a production of "The Barber of Seville" at La Scala in Milan. (Agence France-Presse)

-- Hiring: Major orchestras in the U.S. have vacancies in their musical ranks. (New York Times)

-- Digging deep: A profile of Peter Paul Biro, a forensic specialist who carries out authentication of artwork. (New Yorker)

-- Dimming the house lights: Israel Hicks, a stage director and the artistic director of L.A.'s Ebony Theatre, has died at age 66. (Denver Post)

-- Operatic legend: Italian bass singer Cesare Siepi has died at age 87 in Atlanta. (Los Angeles Times)

-- Also in the L.A. Times: Choreographer Donald McKayle retires from UC Irvine but will continue to work; Laurence Fishburne talks about Thurgood Marshall.

-- David Ng

Photo: some of the stars from Fox's "Glee": Chris Colfer, Kevin McHale, Amber Riley, Lea Michele, Jenna Ushkowitz and Cory Monteith. Credit: Matthias Clamer / Courtesy Fox Broadcasting Co./MCT)

Donald's McKayle's history as a dancer and choreographer stretches back to the late 1940s, and as he turns 80 Tuesday, his dance-making efforts continue. In my story about his life and work, here and in the Calendar section, one of the themes that emerges is the range of entertainment fields in which he has worked -- in addition to modern dance, he has choreographed for Broadway, movies and television, as well as being a dance educator.

Critical consensus, including McKayle's own estimation, is that his biggest impact piece of choreography is the stirring “Rainbow Round My Shoulder” from 1959. The 10-minute excerpt above from near the time of the piece's creation conveys its emotional wallop.

After retiring as a dancer, McKayle transitioned to Hollywood in the late 1960s to choreograph for movies and television. In 1969, at the behest of Diana Ross, the 39-year McKayle again donned dancer's togs to briefly return and partner Ross in a number he choreographed to "Soulful Strut." This clip, from the "Hollywood Palace" broadcast, has an extensive lead-in sequence from comedian Soupy Sales; McKayle and Ross' number begins about 5 minutes and 45 seconds into the video:

-- Christopher Smith

Donald McKayle retires from UCI but not from dance

Donald McKayle: A dance career in pictures

Donald McKayle opens his memory bank

Donald McKayle has retired, but his work dances on at UC Irvine

When is a mansion more than just a mansion? Take a world-famous architect and throw in a juicy back story and you have what may turn out to be a bona-fide tourist attraction.

The Chicago Tribune is reporting that a 1900 mansion designed by Frank Lloyd Wright is scheduled to open for public tours and will be turned into an arts education center.

Located about 60 miles south of Chicago in the town of Kanakee, the B. Harley Bradley House has been purchased for $1.7 million by a group historic preservationists.  According to the report, the purchase price is $200,000 less than the asking price of the owners -- Gaines Hall, an architecture professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and his wife, Sharon.

The house has seven bedrooms and features more than 100 of Wright's art-glass windows. It is considered by some to be an example of Wright's Prairie style. Elisabeth Dunbar, the preservationist group's president, told the newspaper that it has a 30-year mortgage on the mansion. Tours are expected to begin this summer, with tickets costing $15 a person for a tour lasting just more than an hour, said the newspaper.

The mansion, which was renovated by the previous owners, comes with a lurid history involving a past resident, Stephen Small, who was a vice president of Mid-America Media. In 1987, kidnappers abducted Small from the house and and buried him alive in a box as part of a ransom scheme.

According to a report at the time, the box was equipped with a jug of water, candy bars, a battery-powered light and an air pipe. The kidnappers tried to extort $1 million from Small's family, but the victim suffocated before being found.

Read the full story at the Chicago Tribune.

-- David Ng

Photo: the B. Harley Bradley House. Credit: Chicago Tribune

"O, let me not be mad, not mad, sweet heaven!" King Lear cries as he begins to realize how dearly his rashness will cost him -- leaving him without daughters, home or country.

Yet is Lear, perhaps, better off mad? That question resonates among the psychological complexities of Shakespeare's "King Lear." It also resounds through Alan Bennett's 1991 play "The Madness of George III," about another troubled monarch.

In each play, the seeming loss of sanity is accompanied by a shutdown of social filters. Thoughts and emotions rush forth unrestrained. The kings become like children again; they are closer to their natural states, more truly themselves. They are free.

Such comparisons are invited this summer by the presence of both "King Lear" and "George" in the Old Globe's Shakespeare Festival. The third play, "The Taming of the Shrew," is also, in its way, about madness and social filters. All are performed on the Globe's outdoor stage.

"Lear" is already running and reviewed; "George" -- more widely known in its 1994 film adaptation, "The Madness of King George" -- opened Saturday. The former perfectly sets up the latter, so it's too bad the occasion is spoiled by the choice to render most of "George's" historical personages as broad caricatures. The approach -- which diminishes the script to a sort of 18th century political cartoon -- is entertaining in its own right but never approaches the sweetness or heartbreak of Nicholas Hytner's movie version.

No conductor likes turning his back on an orchestra, but when the 34-year-old Danish violinist Nikolaj Znaider makes his Hollywood Bowl conducting debut Thursday with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, he will have no choice. The program includes Brahms’ “Tragic” Overture and Schumann’s Symphony No. 2, but its centerpiece is Mozart’s Second Violin Concerto, which Znaider will also perform.

Will he conduct with his bow, while holding the violin?

“It’s a big challenge,” Znaider said recently. “You have to turn your back on the orchestra, because the f-holes [on either side of a violin’s bridge, from which the sound emanates] need to be turned out or the audience won’t hear a thing.”

According to Znaider, pianists who conduct from the keyboard have it much easier. And not just because they face the orchestra and can stand or sit according to their mood in the work or passage they are playing.  “A piano is open and the sound goes everywhere, but violin sound goes forward, so even the orchestra will hear you delayed or very soft. So there’s a limit to how much repertoire you can play on violin without a conductor, more so than with piano for exactly this reason.”

As a soloist, Znaider prefers conductors who can “make a big statement” during the orchestral passages when the violinist is silent. His own experience and his mentors – conductors Daniel Barenboim, Valery Gergiev and Colin Davis – taught him that “something needs to be said” during that time “if the violinist is to enter into a dialogue with the orchestra.”

“If a conductor tries to bend a soloist to his will, you feel somehow violated,” he added. “And the ones who try just to follow – it’s even implied: You follow somebody, you’re late. I don’t need a conductor to follow me. I would love somebody to go with me.”

On Thursday, with Znaider serving as both conductor and soloist in the Mozart concerto, that shouldn’t be a problem.

For my Arts & Books section article looking at the phenomenon of instrumentalists who make the transition from soloist to conductor, click here.

-- Rick Schultz

Photo: Nikolaj Znaider performing last summer at the bowl. Credit: Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times.

 

Sometimes it seems that Los Angeles is one burbling stew of subcultures or esoteric cults, each absorbed by their own mystic rights.

The other night one such possessed group gathered at the Hollywood Bowl — fans of “Grease,” summoned by a first-time sing-along in the tradition of the bowl’s popular “Sound of Music” nights.  Fans were advised to bring their best poodle skirt and saddle shoes, biker jacket & shades for a pre-film parade.

The Times dispatched artist JT Steiny to memorialize the colors (pink, mainly), the atmosphere and all that hair. Click on the gallery to see the scene.

Credit: JT Steiny.

The first thing you notice is the assured bearing and the deep, authoritative voice (this guy did play Morpheus, after all). Then the judicious observations, the strategic dropping of a timely anecdote, the eyes that calmly take your measure, like a barrister scanning a thick stack of legal briefs.

Laurence Fishburne isn't a lawyer, but he’ll be playing one this summer in his one-man show “Thurgood” at the Geffen Playhouse in Westwood.

Of course, calling Thurgood Marshall a lawyer is a bit like calling Jackie Robinson a ballplayer. Like Robinson, Marshall was not merely a legendary member of a famous nine-man team but a history-making figure in his own right. He made his name nationally as the civil rights attorney who successfully argued the 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education desegregation case. Then he went on to become the first African American to don the robes of a U.S. Supreme Court justice.

“This cat, he was too important not to play,” Fishburne said during a recent interview, sprawled in a booth at a Beverly Hills cigar club. Elaborating about what drew him to George Stevens Jr.’s bio-drama, the Oscar-nominated actor and star of CBS’ “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” said he considered it “quite a gift,” not only for the chance to play the towering title role but because of the game-changing events the play encompasses.

“Thurgood” arrives at the Geffen after successful runs on Broadway, where it earned the 49-year-old actor Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle awards, and at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. There, the audience reportedly included Marshall's widow, current U.S. Supreme Court justices Stephen Breyer and Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Chief Justice John Roberts. Another attendee was Elena Kagan, a former law clerk for Marshall. Now herself a nominee for a seat on the nation’s highest court, Kagan last week was grilled by senators about her association with the liberal justice at her confirmation hearings last week.

For the full Arts & Books story, click here. 

Photo Credit: Joshua Roberts / For The Times.

How do you squeeze 65 million years of mammalian history into an eye-popping, mind-bending, crowd-pleasing exhibition?

Not easily, even if you have a stellar collection of prehistoric specimens and a talented team of curators, scientists and designers who like to tell big stories with the help of interactive technology. Or if the showcase is part of a $107-million architectural restoration project.

But after years of planning, seismic retrofitting, construction and fine tuning, “Age of Mammals” will open July 11 at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County in Exposition Park.

It’s a giant step for a 97-year-old institution in the process of reinventing itself. The sweeping exhibition — tracking the evolution of mammals through epochal changes in geology and climate — will fill the dramatically renovated northern wing of the museum’s original building. The adjacent rotunda, meticulously restored to its former glory, will offer a provocative installation of historical curiosities and paintings of mammals through the ages by American artist Charles R. Knight.

“July 11 will be like a coming-out party for us,” says Jane Pisano, president and director of the museum. “This is an opportunity for us to re-present this institution to the public in a stunningly restored architectural space. We have done a lot of internal work, asking ourselves about the role of a natural history museum in the 21st century and what difference we can make in our community. These new galleries are the result of that.”

For the full Arts & Books story on the museum and the exhibition, click here.

-- Suzanne Muchnic

Photo: Exhibit showing a tiger, zebra and alpaca at the new Age of Mammals wing at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. Credit: Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times

Artist Craig Kauffman, who passed away in May at the age of 78, was a Los Angeles icon whose brightly colored plastic works embodied the spirit of Southern California. This month, his friends and fans will have a chance to honor him in a memorial at the Museum of Contemporary Art.

[Updated at 11:51 a.m.: An earlier version of the post incorrectly said that the service would be open to the public. It will be a private service.]

The private event is scheduled to take place on July 21 at MOCA's downtown location. The announcement was made by Jay Belloli, who organized the show "Craig Kauffman: A Retrospective of Drawings" in 2008 at the Armory Center for the Arts in Pasadena.

Kauffman died in the Philippines, where he had lived for a number of years. The cause of death was complications from pneumonia, after a recent stroke, according to the Frank Lloyd Gallery, which represented the artist and hosted his most recent exhibition that opened in April.

Born in L.A., Kauffman studied at USC and UCLA. He was associated with the legendary Ferus Gallery, which served as a nucleus of the city's post-war art scene and helped launch the careers of artists such as Ed Moses, Ed Ruscha and Billy Al Bengston.

Click here for a photo gallery of Kauffman's life and work.

-- David Ng

Photo: Craig Kauffman. Credit: © Kauffman Trust