On the fifth anniversary of the COVID-19 pandemic, what have we learned?: L.A. Arts and Culture this week

Los Angeles Times

10-03-2025

Today is March 10. Five years ago (on March 12, 2020, to be exact) news hit that the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Los Angeles Opera and Center Theatre Group were canceling performances in response to COVID-19. I remember that day well. I was already working from home and I sat at a makeshift desk in my kitchen as a wave of press releases hit my inbox, each alerting me to another cancellation. The world was shutting down around me, but I had no idea what was coming.
In the year that followed, I kept a daily journal of what it was like to raise my 4-year-old daughter in pandemic isolation. I recently came across this letter I wrote to her as Christmas approached. I am sharing it here as a reminder that although the pandemic narrative has calcified around all the things we did wrong, there was nothing incorrect about our instinct to protect others, including those we love.
For the record:
8:01 a.m. March 10, 2025Friday's Essential Arts said the Broadway show 'Hell's Kitchen' won last year's Tony Award for best musical. 'The Outsiders,' based on S.E. Hinton's novel, was the winner.
Dear Henri Boo,
You tried to play Twister alone last week, and I hit a breaking point. It might have been the most soul-crushing moment of the pandemic — an image summing up all the loss, pain, heartache and anxiety of the year: You in your blue-and white unicorn pajamas struggling to put your right hand on yellow, while your left foot was on blue, and then having no idea how you would flick the spinner to decide your next move.
You collapsed in tears onto the floor next to the Christmas tree, the cheap plastic game board wrinkling beneath your small, shaking body.
The endeavor was doomed to failure from the moment you took the game out of the cabinet, and I should never have let you do it. But I did anyway — just trying to buy a bit more time for myself on the computer — typing away at a sad story, and doom scrolling the latest death toll and infection rates in the states where people I love live.
Things are bad, Henri Boo. So bad. I can't explain it to you. But you feel it somehow, even though you don't understand what it means. The mood in the house. The sorrow. The quiet terror at a world that appears to be sifting to dust.
There are more than 315,000 Americans dead at this point, and the hospitals in L.A. County have reached a nadir of 0% capacity. A colleague of mine at the L.A. Times just wrote a story about a woman who died in the ER after waiting 12 hours to be seen.
Public health officials say 1 in 80 people in L.A. County is actively infected. There is a viral wildfire outside these walls. So we wait inside, wondering how much worse it will get before it gets better.
We are lucky, though. The house is warm, and we had a Christmas tree delivered. A beautiful bushy tree that leans to the left under the weight of the old aluminum foil star that your father made for our first Christmas together.
I would have taken you to see Santa, except Santas are sitting behind plexiglass this year, and like many COVID-era substitute experiences, this is not one I want for either one of us. So we will forgo the tradition.
I am edgy and impatient. You need attention all the time. You are desperate for it. You are bone tired of playing alone. You want to play 'family' often. Cat family and bunny family are your favorites. You also like to play a game called 'Cheetah Cuddle,' in which we are cheetah sisters and we cuddle.
'Sister, sister,' you say with your sweet little lisp. 'Your fur is so soft.'
You stroke my back and cuddle into me. I tell you your fur is soft too, and that I like your spots.
One day this will be over, Boo. I promise you that a lot.
I tell you that things will be 'normal' again, even though I know we will be forever altered. The wounds inside me are raw and bleeding. They will scab over, and one day they will heal. But the scars on my soul will remain.
Two vaccines have been approved, and more than 100,000 health care workers, including your cousin Alyssa, have been vaccinated. This is good news. People say it is the beginning of the end of the pandemic. But as many as 200,000 more people could die in America before the bulk of us get a shot.
I tried to explain the vaccine to you the other day. I told you it was going to change our situation, that it was going to make things better. Daddy listened to me struggle with my words.
'How do you describe a vaccine to a 4-year-old?' he asked.
I'm not sure I did it well, but I somehow did it. You listened closely. You seemed thoughtful, looking at me intently with your clear, blue eyes.
You asked if you would get a lollipop after you got the shot.
I said you would, but I knew you wouldn't.
I love you my sweet girl, my darling daughter, my cheetah sister,
Mama
I'm arts and culture writer Jessica Gelt thinking about all the people we lost during the pandemic and hoping we have learned enough to not let such a thing happen again. Ashley Lee and I have your arts news rundown for the week.
'Here There Are Blueberries'Moisés Kaufman's documentary play centers on a set of photographs, sent to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2007, that captured the daily lives of Auschwitz concentration camp workers. 'When I first saw the Tectonic Theatre Project production at La Jolla Playhouse in 2022, I was unprepared for the quiet devastation of this contemplative drama,' wrote Times theater critic Charles McNulty earlier this year. 'A Pulitzer Prize finalist, the play examines the Holocaust from the vantage of the perpetrators, training an objective eye on those who carried out the unimaginable. It dares to look at how humanity could so profoundly betray itself. The result is documentary theater at its most harrowing — and essential.' Performances start Thursday and run through March 30. The Wallis, 9390 N. Santa Monica Blvd., Beverly Hills. thewallis.org
L.A. Omnibus: Tren Al SurTo all my fellow Carolina A. Miranda fans: The beloved former Times columnist will be in conversation with L.A. Omnibus series curator Raquel Gutierrez, discussing all things art, culture and movement in L.A. At the event, both writers will also read from their respective works-in-progress memoirs; the evening also includes musical performances by Rubén Martínez, Júan Pérez and Marco Amador. 8 p.m., Thursday. UCLA Nimoy Theater, 1262 Westwood Blvd., Westwood.
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra'Theirs is not a sound but a sensitivity to sound and a standard,' wrote Times classical music critic Mark Swed of the Austrian ensemble when they were last in Southern California more than 10 years ago. 'It's a way of players blending with other players that may be integral to Viennese culture but that also transcends race, gender and nationality.' The orchestra, who had a sold-out event Sunday, is putting on a second concert, with Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducting Schubert's 'Tragic' symphony and Dvorák's 'From the New World' symphony. 8 p.m. Tuesday. Segerstrom Center for the Arts, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. philharmonicsociety.org
— Ashley Lee
TUESDAYGhosts of Segregation Photographer Richard Frishman chronicles the residue of segregation, slavery and institutional racism that remains visible in American architecture. 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesday-Wednesday, Friday-Saturday; 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Sunday, through March 29. Laband Art Gallery, Loyola Marymount University, 1 LMU Drive, Westchester. cfa.lmu.edu
David Hammons A reprise of the artist's acclaimed installation work 'Concerto in Black and Blue' is shown for the first time in 20 years.11 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesdays-Sundays, through 1 June. Hauser & Wirth, 901 E. 3rd St., downtown L.A. hauserwirth.com
Michael Kohn Gallery MKG marks its 40th anniversary with an exhibition featuring work by Keith Haring, Chiffon Thomas, Alicia Adamerovich, Martha Alf and others, plus the restoration of Bruce Conner's 1967 documentary short 'The White Rose.'1227 N. Highland Ave., 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesday-Friday; 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday, through April 19. kohngallery.com
Holly Lowen The artist's solo exhibition, 'Entanglement,' explores the complexities of human and animal behavior.Through March 30. Visit by appointment. Hill House, Pasadena. [phone]. simchowitz.com
WEDNESDAYLizzo The classically trained flutist turned Grammy-winning hip-hop star plays a smaller-scale theater show.8 p.m. The Wiltern, 3790 Wilshire Blvd. wiltern.com
THURSDAYAmerican Ballet Theatre Studio Company The troupe of rising stars performs works including 'Interplay' by Jerome Robbins, 'Tarantella' by George Balanchine and the Black Swan pas de deux from 'Swan Lake.'7:30 p.m. Lisa Smith Wengler Center for the Arts, Smothers Theatre, Pepperdine University, 24255 Pacific Coast Hwy., Malibu. arts.pepperdine.edu
Anora This year's Academy Award winner for best picture gets a four-day run in 35 mm at one of the theaters owned by Quentin Tarantino, who presented Sean Baker his directing Oscar last week. 7:30 p.m. Thursday; 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 6:30 p.m. March 16. New Beverly Cinema, 7165 Beverly Blvd. thenewbev.com
Branford Marsalis Quartet The Grammy-winning saxophonist and composer and his group tour ahead of the release of their Blue Note Records debut, 'Belonging,' an interpretation of Keith Jarrett's 1974 jazz album of the same name.7:30 p.m. Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts, 18000 Park Plaza Drive ccpa.cerritos.gov
Midori The Japanese violinist and her longtime recital partner, Özgür Aydin, perform selections from Brahms, Poulenc and Ravel.8 p.m. Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 S. Grand Ave., downtown L.A. laphil.com
Schlitzie: Alive and Inside The true story of the misunderstood sideshow performer who appeared in the 1932 film 'Freaks' and found a family with other marginalized and disabled artists comes to life.8 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays; 7 p.m. Sundays; through March 30. Heritage Square Museum, 3800 Homer St. rogueartists.org
Step + Repeat An exhibition of 46 Southern California artists inspired by I the historical Pattern and Decoration movement of the mid-1970s.1-4 p.m. Sunday, for public reception. 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays; through May 18. Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Barnsdall Park 4800 Hollywood Blvd., lamag.org
Tren Al Sur L.A. Times (and Essential Arts newsletter) alum Carolina Miranda and writer Raquel Gutierrez discuss art, culture and movement in Los Angeles, and read from their respective works-in-progress memoirs; with musical performance by Rubén Martínez, Júan Pérez and Marco Amador.8 p.m. UCLA Nimoy Theater, 1262 Westwood Blvd. cap.ucla.edu
With Christian nationalism on the rise in Washington D.C., Times art critic Christopher Knight explains the history behind a statue called 'The Puritan,' by the American Beaux-Arts sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens of a pious leader named Deacon Samuel Chapin. Chapin arrived in America in the 1600s and happens to be Knight's ancestor. In his column, Knight discusses how the Puritans' move to mix religion and politics failed spectacularly — and speculates that a similar fate might await the current administration if it continues its strident faith-based trajectory.
The first Los Angeles museum survey of French Impressionist painter Gustave Caillebotte's work in nearly 30 years is on view at the J. Paul Getty Museum. Titled 'Gustave Caillebotte: Painting Men,' the exhibit uses more than 60 paintings and dozens of drawings and studies to examine the artists relationship with the male identity. Unlike many of his peers, including Manet, Degas, Morisot, Monet, Renoir, Cassatt — who put plenty of focus on female subjects — 'it's raining men' in Caillebotte's paintings, writes Knight in his review.
Suzan Lori-Parks' play 'Topdog/Underdog' won the 2002 Pulitzer Prize, making Parks the first Black woman to receive the award for drama. The play also landed her on Broadway. Since then, 'Topdog/Underdog' has remained a beloved work with a panel of New York Times critics ranking it No. 1 on a 2018 list of 25 great works of American drama since Tony Kushner's 'Angels in America.' Unfortunately, a new revival directed by directed by Gregg T. Daniel at Pasadena Playhouse does not rise to the level of greatness achievable by the script, Times theater critic Charles McNulty writes in his review.
Los Angeles Philharmonic announced the final season for its beloved music and artistic director Gustavo Dudamel, who, after 17 years will move on to helm the New York Philharmonic. Called 'Gracias Gustavo' the offerings including the second Wagner 'Ring' opera, 'Die Walküre,' with sets by friend and collaborator Frank Gehry.
The Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle, composed of professional theater critics and journalists, announced its 2024 season award finalists. The best production category includes a list of favorites, including Center Theatre Group's 'A Strange Loop' at the Ahmanson Theatre; 'Fat Ham' at the Geffen Playhouse; 'Company' at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre; 'Crevasse,' a co-production of Victory Theatre Center and Son of Semele; 'Dido of Idaho' at Echo Theater Company; 'Funny Girl' at the Ahmanson and Segerstrom Hall; and 'Reefer Madness: The Musical' at The Whitley.
The Marciano Art Foundation has extended Doug Aitken's 'Lightscape' installation through May. It was originally scheduled to close on March 15. Free weekly dance and music programming is also being expanded, including performances by Suzanne Ciani, Beck with La Lom , Carlos Niño, LA Dance Project, Konkrete and LA Master Chorale.
— Jessica Gelt
At the end of the day, says this dude under an umbrella (who also happens to be a producer), theater is a business.