Living in Los Angeles, the media sensory overload of
conspicuously consuming celebrities can drive students into added
debt for the hottest item on the rack of Fred Segal, or, on the
other extreme, force penny-pinching students to become jaded and
opt for the California uniform of comfortable denim and flip
flops.

Back in the 1990s, members of the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology blackjack team jetted off to Las Vegas and hustled
casinos out of millions of dollars using borderline illegal
card-counting techniques.

The off-Broadway rock musical-turned-movie “Hedwig and the
Angry Inch” gives the drag queen protagonist Hedwig something
that is lacking in almost all other drag queen roles: emotional
depth.

The survival of independent publishing in a corporate mass media
climate is a classic David and Goliath story, except in this case,
the underdog may not succeed against all odds, and must instead
learn how to coexist with his giant opponent.

The average college student has some sort of inexpensive trinket
collection, be it souvenir shot glasses or postcards from friends
traveling abroad. Though students swipe their credit cards for
hundreds of dollars worth of books every quarter, they rarely (if
ever) consider their piles of literature as a precious
collection.

If director John Rando does his job, every member of the
audience will leave the Geffen Playhouse performance of “The
Underpants” feeling a little frisky.
The Tony Award-winning director of “Urinetown” and
UCLA School of Theater alumnus outlined his goals to the gifted
comedic cast of “The Underpants” on day one.

While traditional museum exhibits display art on white walls in
square-shaped rooms, the “Rewarding Lives” installation
of Annie Leibovitz’s photographs presents art in spherical
spaces to complement the two-dimensional photographs.

When casting for his company, Stephen Petronio looks for dancers
who have a fearless attitude toward dancing awkwardly and probably
even looking stupid. Luckily for the eight dancers who performed at
Royce Hall last Friday, only the fearless energy shone through.

“Topdog/Underdog” Ahmanson
Theater

From the beginning, playwright Susan-Lori Parks sets up history
to repeat itself with two brothers named Lincoln and Booth in her
Pulitzer Prize-winning play “Topdog/Underdog.” Parks
pushes the pun further with Lincoln’s job: role-playing as
President Abraham Lincoln in white face makeup at an arcade as kids
re-enact the assassination of the president by shooting him in the
back with a cap gun.

In the abstract realm of dance, many choreographers claim their
work is accessible to the general public. But in reality, few
deliver, and audience members are left scratching their heads in
confusion.