Tag archives: Granada

Bravo Gustavo
By Richard Mineards   |   June 13, 2023

The venerable Granada was not surprisingly sold out when the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra under Venezuelan maestro Gustavo Dudamel performed for the last concert of CAMA’s 104th season international series. It was one of the last chances to see Dudamel, 42, at the orchestra’s helm – he took over from Finn Esa-Pekka Salonen who had […]

Onstage Finale
By Richard Mineards   |   June 6, 2023

The venerable Granada hosted its third and final Onstage at the G, sponsored by uber philanthropists Roger and Sarah Chrisman, with the string picking duo of former Westmont student Phil Claypool, guitarist, and Paraguayan Carlos Reyes on violin. More than 80 guests caught the intimate show. Theater executive Tracy Dunn described it “a great success.” […]

Kings Onstage
By Richard Mineards   |   May 9, 2023

Granada chairman Palmer Jackson, who regularly plays guitar with the local band the Doublewide Kings, couldn’t resist the urge to perform when the Alpha Rhythm Kings from the Bay Area performed in the cavernous auditorium for Onstage at the G, the second of a three-part series sponsored by Roger and Sarah Chrisman, and Kyle and […]

Theater Talk: Anya Arrives in Town 
By Steven Libowitz   |   April 25, 2023

Anastasia – the Broadway musical inspired by the 1997 animated film and the 1956 live-action movie that ran in New York from 2017-2020 and has been performed more than 2,500 times worldwide – has its Santa Barbara debut at The Granada Theatre on April 25-26 as part of The American Theatre Guild’s Broadway in Santa […]

Onstage at the G
By Richard Mineards   |   April 4, 2023

Granada Theatre benefactors Roger and Sarah Chrisman hosted the first of a three-part series, Onstage at the G, with 85 guests dining at the cavernous locale with scrumptious food from the Catering Connection. Previously the theater hosted Upstairs at the G in the McCune Founder Room, but the capacity was limited to 40, with the […]

The Lewis, the Max, and the Granada
By Richard Mineards   |   April 4, 2023

Award-winning actor Max McLean, 69, was a true tour de force performing the Chronicles of Narnia author C.S. Lewis in an entertaining one-man show at the Granada. McLean is known for his adaptations of books by the Irish author who died in 1963 at the age of 64. C.S. Lewis is memorialized in Poet’s Corner […]

A Dream Performance
By Richard Mineards   |   March 14, 2023

State Street Ballet’s performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Granada was an enchanting show full of mishaps and mayhem. The William Shakespeare work, with rollicking music written in 1843 by Felix Mendelssohn – he composed the overture when just 17 – and inventive choreography by company founder Rodney Gustafson, transcended the two worlds […]

Lang Lang Plays Again
By Richard Mineards   |   March 14, 2023

It has been a long, long time, eight years to be exact, since Chinese piano legend Lang Lang has played at the Granada. But it was clearly worth the wait as the man, described by The New York Times as “the hottest artist on the classical music planet,” mesmerized the sold-out audience at the concert, […]

Ballet Along the Lake
By Richard Mineards   |   March 7, 2023

The classical 1877 Tchaikovsky ballet Swan Lake took on a whole new complexion when France’s 27-year-old Ballet Preljocaj, based in the charming university city of Aix-en-Provence, performed at the Granada, part of the popular UCSB Arts & Lectures program. With extremely creative video and lighting design by Boris Labbé and Eric Soyer, the 110-minute work […]

Spring Program is in the Cards 
By Steven Libowitz   |   March 7, 2023

State Street Ballet’s (SSB) spring show, which has a single performance on Saturday, March 4, at The Granada, is drawn entirely from its existing repertory. But nobody should think the dance concert will be anything less than thrilling. That’s because co-artistic directors Rodney Gustafson and William Soleau have put together a program that covers the […]

Filharmonie Brno Philharmonic at the Granada
By Richard Mineards   |   February 28, 2023

Aging Cossack Taras Bulba reigned supreme when Filharmonie Brno Philharmonic, the Czech orchestra conducted by Dennis Russell Davies, performed at the Granada, part of CAMA’s international series. The Leoš Janáček work, a three-part rhapsody for orchestra based on the 17th-century historical novella, concluded the first half on a high note after Martinu’s “Sinfonietta ‘La Jolla’” […]

Dancing Along Swans, Industry, and Finance
By Steven Libowitz   |   February 28, 2023

In the early days of the pandemic, Angelin Preljocaj, the French choreographer famed for creating contemporary classics, dove into developing his distinctive version of Swan Lake, perhaps the most iconic ballet in the canon. Transforming the timeless tale of love, seduction, betrayal, and remorse into a modern cautionary story of ecological tragedy and societal failure, […]

A Flipping Good Time
By Richard Mineards   |   February 21, 2023

Cirque FLIP Fabrique staged Muse at the Granada, part of the popular UCSB Arts & lectures series. Playing with gender roles, the production offered up a refreshing view of contemporary circus with the eclectic performers, whether wearing high heels or shoulder pads, football uniforms or ballet attire, using the cavernous stage to its fullest for […]

The ‘Transformation’ of Nash
By Steven Libowitz   |   February 21, 2023

In a season that has seen premieres of two locally generated works in Cody Westheimer’s San Marcos Preserve-inspired Wisdom of the Water, Earth, and Sky and Peter Bernstein’s arrangement of his father Elmer’s Toccata for Toy Trains, the Santa Barbara Symphony’s third successive concert centered on a new work might produce the most profound piece […]

A Stirring Evening
By Richard Mineards   |   February 14, 2023

Pink Martini, the 11-member group of talented multi-lingual musicians, made their 10th appearance in our Eden by the Beach, part of the popular UCSB Arts & Lectures series. The venerable Granada was sold-out as pianist Thomas Lauderdale, the Portland, Oregon-based founder, and his fellow Harvard classmate China Forbes led the group singing songs in Armenian, […]

A Seat at the Table
By Gwyn Lurie   |   February 7, 2023

Anita Hill never wanted to testify before the Senate Judiciary committee. In fact, despite a stellar academic record, you probably would not know the name Anita Hill if not for veteran NPR Legal Affairs Correspondent Nina Totenberg. The same way you wouldn’t know the Watergate Hotel, if not for Woodward and Bernstein. How it came […]

Paying (and Singing) Respect
By Richard Mineards   |   January 17, 2023

The late Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin was a larger-than-life character with vocal talents to match. The singer, songwriter, and pianist, the daughter of a Detroit Baptist church preacher who died in 2018 aged 76, was admirably brought to life again in the American Theatre Guild’s electrifying Broadway production R.E.S.P.E.C.T. at the Granada with four […]

Killer B’s: Broadway, Beatles, and Bond with Bob Bernhardt
By Steven Libowitz   |   December 27, 2022

Back in 2020, the Santa Barbara Symphony canceled its annual New Year’s Eve pop concert due to the pandemic in its pre-vaccine stage. But everyone got to return to the Granada last December 31 to hear the orchestra play movie themes, pop songs, celebratory symphonic favorites and, of course, join in on the sing-along of […]

‘R.E.S.P.E.C.T.’ for the Queen of Soul
By Steven Libowitz   |   December 27, 2022

There has been no dearth of film and Broadway shows about Aretha Franklin since the soul singer-songwriter star died in August 2018. First there was a documentary by Oscar-winning director Sydney Pollack for a documentary about the recording of Franklin’s landmark 1972 Amazing Grace gospel album whose release the singer blocked for decades until after […]

Creativity With Grace
By Steven Libowitz   |   December 13, 2022

In the last several years, Santa Barbara composer and artist Grace Fisher has accumulated a number of admirable accomplishments. She’s written music for symphonies and scores for short films, the latter claiming awards at film festivals. She also created a few animation shorts as well as several paintings, been a part of two locally-created documentaries, […]