The city now has its best view yet of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s new Peter Zumthor-designed David Geffen Galleries. Late last week the poured-concrete building shed the last of its scaffolding, and the museum announced it would open to the public in April 2026.
I recently took a 360-degree walk around the structure and was particularly struck by the way the part of the building that bridges Wilshire Boulevard frames Chris Burden’s iconic “Urban Light” sculpture. I imagine it also will frame the sunset if you happen to be traveling west down the boulevard around happy hour. I’ve heard many conflicting opinions from readers, friends and colleagues about the new design and its functionality as a county museum — and that is not likely to let up, even after the building opens. But one thing is for sure: The city has a brand-new cultural landmark on its hands, and that’s exciting.
How it will work out as a museum, and custodian of a world-renowned collection of global art, remains to be seen, and much will surely be written about that.
In the meantime, I’m arts and culture writer Jessica Gelt, enjoying the idea that change is the only constant in life. My colleague Ashley Lee and I have got your arts bases covered this week.
Best bets: On our radar this week
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Mallory Portnoy in “The Streetcar Project,” performed at New York’s Rachel Comey store in 2023.
(Walls Trimble)
‘The Streetcar Project’
No set, no props. Just four actors and Tennessee Williams’ complex classic “A Streetcar Named Desire,” performed in an abandoned airplane hangar for three weeknights and then a warehouse in Venice this weekend. The stripped-down production, created by director Nick Westrate and actor Lucy Owen, makes its West Coast debut after presentations in similarly unconventional theater performances spaces — a clothing store, a church, a movie house — in and around New York. Monday through Wednesday, 7 p.m., 2415 Eads St., Frogtown; Friday through Sunday, 7 p.m., 2100 Zeno Place, Venice. thestreetcarproject.com
‘Mapping the Infinite: Cosmologies Across Cultures’
This Los Angeles County Museum of Art exhibit, created with scientists at the Carnegie Observatories and the Griffith Observatory, “features artworks throughout history and across cultures that seek to explain those ever-elusive questions: Who are we and how did we get here?” writes Jessica Gelt in the Times’ guide to PST Art exhibitions. Today at 1 p.m., LACMA curator Stephen Little leads a walkthrough of the exhibit, which opened last week and is on view through March 2. LACMA, 5905 Wilshire Blvd., Mid-Wilshire. lacma.org
“Suspiria.”
(From Cinespia)
‘Suspiria’
Ditch your trick-or-treating duties for a screening of Dario Argento’s 1977 film, one that former Times film critic Justin Chang called “a landmark in the Italian giallo horror tradition, an Art Nouveau nightmare doused in candy-apple blood and a demon-possessed music box of a score by the progressive rock group Goblin.” The Cinespia screening includes photo opps and a DJ. (Check features columnist Todd Martens’ list of the best spooky season events for more Halloween night to-dos.) Thursday, 9 p.m. Orpheum Theatre, 842 S. Broadway, downtown. cinespia.org
If you happen to be attending Tuesday’s performance of the musical “American Idiot” at the Mark Taper Forum, you’ll see me there! I’m moderating a postperformance conversation with Snehal Desai, the production’s director and Center Theatre Group’s artistic director.
— Ashley Lee
The week ahead: A curated calendar
Singer-songwriter-composer Rufus Wainwright plays the Wallis Thursday through Saturday.
(V. Tony Hauser)
MONDAY
Rod Wave Rap’s reigning trap-soul balladeer, who made Times pop music critic Mikael Wood’s 20 best albums of 2023 list, performs live.
7:30 p.m. Intuit Dome, 3930 W. Century Blvd., Inglewood. intuitdome.com
TUESDAY
David Gilmour The English guitarist, singer and songwriter delivers music from his latest album, “Luck and Strange,” alongside classics from Pink Floyd.
7:30 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday. Hollywood Bowl, 2301 N. Highland Ave. hollywoodbowl.com
WEDNESDAY
Kehlani The Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter from Oakland performs in support of their newest album, “Crash.”
8 p.m. Kia Forum, 3900 W. Manchester Blvd., Inglewood. thekiaforum.com
Lucha VaVoom de La Liz Masked Mexican wrestling, burlesque, aerialists, comedy, music and more collide in “A Nightmare on Hill Street.”
7 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday. The Mayan, 1038 S. Hill St., downtown L.A. themayan.com
Rufus Wainwright Inspired by his “Quarantunes” videos, the Canadian American singer-songwriter performs music from his entire catalog in three thematically organized performances.
“Songs of Youth and Addiction,” 7:30 p.m.; “Songs of Love and Desire,” 7:30 p.m. Friday; “Songs of Contempt and Resistance,” 7:30 p.m. Saturday. The Wallis, 9390 N. Santa Monica Blvd., Beverly Hills. thewallis.org
THURSDAY
Halloween What better way to mark the holiday than with John Carpenter’s 1978 slasher classic and its spine-tingling score?
4:45 and 7:30 p.m. Vidiots, 4884 Eagle Rock Blvd. vidiotsfoundation.org
Culture news and the SoCal scene
Here’s my full story on the recent LACMA opening-date announcement for its David Geffen Galleries, including details of what can be seen as you walk around the new building. I also write about how Zumthor employed certain nontraditional design elements in an attempt to shed a hierarchy of space in favor of a structure with no main entrance or façade. The concrete structure is expected to wear its weathering on its sleeve, so to speak, but the exterior should clarify — refine and cure with age — within its first decade or two. That’s just what concrete does.
Times classical music critic Mark Swed checked out a one-night-only Halloween event — a goth opera titled “Black Lodge” — presented by the Center for the Art of Performance at UCLA and Beth Morrison Projects at the United Theater on Broadway. The piece was a finalist for a Grammy this year in the opera recording category, and was written for the fantastic tenor Timur Bekbosunov. Swed’s take: “As an opera, ‘Black Lodge’ is a mess. As a song cycle, it’s a revelatory marvel.” Read all about it here.
A mural honoring legendary Dodgers pitcher Fernando Valenzuela was just being started in Boyle Heights by painter Robert Vargas when news broke that Valenzuela had died at age 63. The wall where Vargas was working suddenly became an impromptu altar.
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Bernadette Peters, Lea Salonga and the company of “Old Friends.”
(Danny Kaan)
Film and TV star — and Broadway mainstay— Bernadette Peters will appear for two nights only to open the Pacific Symphony’s 2024-25 Pops Season, now led for the second year by Principal Pops Conductor Enrico Lopez-Yañez. Expect tunes from Rodgers & Hammerstein, Stephen Sondheim, Jerry Herman and more on Friday and Saturday, Nov. 1 and 2, at 8 p.m., in the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall in Costa Mesa.
Beverly Hills-based entertainment conglomerate Endeavor announced that it is considering the sale of its popular Frieze art fair and media brand. The news comes on the heels of a deal that would take Endeavor private, and is expected to close early next year.
And last but not least
Halloween is creeping in, waiting to jump-scare us with its passing, because we all know that once the candy is consumed and the nausea of over-indulgence abates, the real holiday season comes barreling down on us.
If only we could skip the election and head straight for the New Year.
— Jessica Gelt