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2 weeks ago | 
weliveentertainment.com | Kevin Taft
In what has been a year-long tribute to one of the greatest film composers of all time – if not THE greatest film composer of all time – the Los Angeles Philharmonic celebrated the work of a master of cinema – John Williams. Curated for the LA Philharmonic’s season at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, LA’s favorite conductor, Gustavo Dudamel, led the orchestra in 15 selections from Williams’ oeuvre. The night began with William’s “Olympic Fanfare,” composed for the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
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3 weeks ago | 
weliveentertainment.com | Kevin Taft
A cute but slight call back to the gay rom-coms ‘90s, A Nice Indian Boy is a sort of queer My Big Fat Greek Wedding for a new generation. Based on the play by Madhuri Shekar, the film stars Karan Soni (Deadpool) as Dr. Naveen Gavaskar, a gay Indian guy living in Hampshire, in the UK. The film opens at his sister Arundhathi’s (Sunita Mani) wedding to a stud named Neel (Sean Amsing).
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2 months ago | 
weliveentertainment.com | Kevin Taft
The Gay Hunk of Broadway Claybourne Elder made his Segerstrom Center for the Arts cabaret debut this past weekend, sharing stories and singing Sondheim as only the “Gilded Age” star can. Having starred in such productions as the musical “Benny & Joon,” the remounting of “Company” with Patti Lupone, “Bonnie & Clyde,” “Venice,” and “Sunday in the Park with George,” Elder has been all over Broadway (and beyond) for the past seventeen years.
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Dec 5, 2024 | 
weliveentertainment.com | Kevin Taft
The new horror/thriller Werewolves certainly doesn’t mess around with getting to the point of what the movie is about. Yep, if you guessed “werewolves,” you’d be right. That’s not to say that the film directed by Steven C. Miller (Margaux) and written by Matthew Kennedy (the Simon Pegg/Lily Collins thriller Inheritance) isn’t original. Because of what it is, it does offer something new to the fans of the werewolf genre.
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Nov 26, 2024 | 
weliveentertainment.com | Kevin Taft
A (now) classic musical brought back to the stage, La Cage Aux Folles bursts to colorful life at the award-winning Pasadena Playhouse.
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Nov 20, 2024 | 
weliveentertainment.com | Kevin Taft
As someone who isn’t really a fan of Stephen Sondheim (take away my gay card, I know), I have found myself going through his repertoire over the past year as several LA and Broadway theaters mount revivals. It’s been a good education in his work, and while he’s still not my favorite, I have found I loved a few (“Merrily We Roll Along,” for one).
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Nov 20, 2024 | 
weliveentertainment.com | Kevin Taft
LA’s beloved holiday season event is back! The nighttime wonderland of incredible light installations set to a calming zen-inspired soundtrack returns to – wait for it – enchant its guests through the holidays. Whether you’re traipsing through the light waves of Flower Power, wishing you could spend a night inside artist Tom Fruin’s stained glass houses, or walking around the towering lit-up Oak trees, this is an event like no other. I was thrilled that two of my favorite exhibits were on display.
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Nov 19, 2024 | 
weliveentertainment.com | Kevin Taft
The long-running musical about the Wicked Witch of the West’s origins, which has lit up Broadway for the past 21 years, has, at long last, made its way onto movie screens. Wicked, also known as Wicked: Part 1, is just as much a spectacle as the Broadway hit itself, made even more so by ingenious and dazzling direction from Jon M. Chu.
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Nov 13, 2024 | 
weliveentertainment.com | Kevin Taft
When a film is based on a Williams S. Burrough’s novel, you know it’s going to be something else. The author of such works as “Junkie” and “Naked Lunch,” Burroughs is best known as an experimental and postmodern writer whose works are often about his heroin addiction. So while many might walk into Luca Guadagnino’s new film Queer thinking it’s going to be a sweet recollection of a forbidden romance in 1950s Mexico, they would be sorely mistaken.
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Nov 7, 2024 | 
weliveentertainment.com | Kevin Taft
Despite the positives, I still wonder why Back to the Future: The Musical exists at all. This “musical re-invention” of the time-travel ‘80s classic is outfitted with some shiny parts, such as a great cast and some nifty effects, but what it lacks is any sort of originality in crafting something new to keep it fresh. Musicals based on classic movies (Some Like It Hot) or films that flew under the radar (Waitress) tend to work really well as “new” musicals.
