The Arts

Scripps Ranch Theatre’s ‘Heisenberg’ Shows the Risk-Taking Real Life Requires

By Eva Trieger SCRIPPS RANCH, California — We’ve all heard tales ranging from altruistic to beastly behavior since the start of the pandemic, but how to explain a young woman planting a kiss on a stranger’s neck in a London train station? Simon Stephens’ 2015 play, Heisenberg, is making its San Diego premiere at Scripps

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Eva Trieger, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

YA Fiction: A Magical Journey to Save the Environment

This Young Adult novel is a mystical adventure in which four pre-teenage American girls representing the four cardinal directions are brought together to save the world from environmental disaster. The leader, Maia, representing the North, is a Lakota from South Dakota; the others are a Black-Jewish girl from New York (Sara, East); a Chicana from New Mexico, (Ava, South) and a Chinese girl who had been adopted by a Caucasian family in California (Yue, West). [Donald H. Harrison]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, The World We Share

Brava Cello Performance by a 15-year-old Prodigy

July Galper, America-Israel Cultural Foundation member, introduced the 15-year-old Israeli cellist, Nahar Eliaz for her second appearance in San Diego.  In spite of the rain and the upsurge of the Covid-19 Omicron variant, some 100 plus people ventured out to hear this brilliant talent. Lawrence Family JCC CEO, Betzy Lynch, fully masked, warmly welcomed the attendees. [Eileen Wingard]

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Eileen Wingard, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, San Diego County

Book Review: All You Need is Revolutionary Love

There are voices, in the here-and-now, that are heard, but not listened to, and seemingly ignored and unheeded. One of those voices flows from Rabbi Dr. Michael Lerner, some menschkatz and psychotherapist philosopher with licensing letters succeeding his surname. He is an old and wise hippy who was inspired by the dreams of the 1960s and -70s, fought the good fight, survived that fight, learned from the mistakes of that era, and who, to this day, continues to learn from and educate others. [John E. Finley]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, The World We Share, USA

Tales of a Jewish Santa Claus

I think that most of us have a complicated relationship with Christmas. The lights are pretty, the food is tasty and many of the songs are catchy, but it’s just not our holiday. The über-orthodox just ignore it as it’s no more relevant to them than Diwali, Eid or Buddha’s Birthday, but the vast majority of us don’t live in such an ethno-cultural bubble. When you’re a professional entertainer, this relationship is heightened as it behooves you to own some Santa-themed costume pieces and know the words to Christmas carols. [Eric George Tauber]

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Eric George Tauber, Lifestyles, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

Poems in Paint: Titian at the Gardner Museum

Titian: Women, Myth & Power at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum consists of only six paintings, yet this one-room exhibition feels more like a six-course banquet. So overwhelming, immense and entrancing are the monumental canvases that upon entering the room one must literally catch one’s breath. Titian, greatest of the Venetian Renaissance masters, referred to these paintings, commissioned by King Philip II of Spain, as poesie (poems) and each depicts a different scene from stories in Ovid’s Metamorphoses. [Sam Ben-Meir, Ph.D]

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Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Sam Ben-Meir

Ever Met a Famous Jew? / This Book Tells of Quite a Few!

It’s never too early for a child to be inculcated with Jewish pride.  This board book will be enjoyed both by parents (or grandparents) and the children sitting on their laps both because of the caricatures of famous Jews and the rhyming couplets with which they are described. [Donald H. Harrison]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Donald H. Harrison, Jewish History

Slow Down the Punchline: A Review of ‘Tuesday Night Comics’ at North Coast Rep

By Danielle Levsky SOLANA BEACH, California — “Tuesday Night Comics” advertises itself as “the funniest night of comedy in San Diego” and though initially promising in its lineup, the evening fell short and inconsistent in meeting this claim. Hosted by by comedian and performer Mark Christopher Lawrence (“CHUCK,” “Kirby Buckets,” 2021 Emmy award nominee, San

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San Diego County, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, Travel and Food

Beatles Fan Turns His Hobby into a Museum

When he’s not Robert J. Entel, MD, MPH, FACR, practicing radiology at Mease hospitals in Dunedin and Countryside and Morton Plant hospitals in Clearwater and New Port Richey, he can often be found in Penny Lane at 730 Broadway in Dunedin, surrounded by an astonishing collection of Beatles memorabilia. [Bruce Lowitt]

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Bruce F. Lowitt, International, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, USA

Artist Frieda Salvendy Commemorated in British Town of Her Retirement

Frieda Salvendy moved to Malvern sometime after the end of the Second World War, and died here, in obscurity, in 1965.  A short notice of her death was placed in the local paper and probate details gave her address in Alexandra Road.  Beyond that, it would appear that very few, if any, knew of her existence, or that she had been an eminent European artist. [JASHP}

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International, Jerry Klinger, Jewish History, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts

‘The Surprise Visit’ Embellishes a True-Life Scary Story

While some surprises are good and welcome, others, not so much.  In this horror/thriller based on a real story, The Surprise Visit relates the story of an unplanned visit gone horribly awry. The story has factual historic roots, but co-producer, and actress, Serah Henessey told me that she and husband, Nathan Cowles, “Hollywoodized” it.  I was very happy to hear that as the film disturbed me very much and I was relieved to know that it was embellished and not a precise re-enactment. [Eva Trieger]

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Eva Trieger, Theatre, Film & Broadcast

‘Write Out Loud’ Brings Joy of Storytime to Children and Adults

Who isn’t seduced by a great storyteller?  That enveloping sensation of being caught up in the creative, vibrant snare of a gifted word weaver transforms each of us into wide-eyed innocents, eager to share in the spinning of a yarn. Few raconteurs are as talented as the folks at Write Out Loud. [Eva Trieger]

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Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Eva Trieger, Lifestyles, San Diego County, Theatre, Film & Broadcast