Do As The Locals Do

By Angela Rocco DeCarlo Renee and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall Segerstrom Center for the Arts Costa Mesa, CA February 23, 25, 28 – 8 p.m. Aida, the spectacular Giuseppe Verdi opera of 1871, alight with a dramatic love triangle, political and military intrigue, and the glorious aria “Celeste Aida” in Act 1, and the “Triumphal March” of Act II, comes to Orange County, California, February 23, 25 and 28. This is the opera everyone should experience at least once. Verdi was the most successful and widely performed composer in opera history. No opera season in the world is complete without including at least two of his major pieces. The Pacific Symphony, with Carl St. Clair conducting, at Renee and Henry Segerstom Concert Hall, Costa Mesa, CA, presents Verdi's dynamic masterpiece in a full-orchestra of  88 musicians, “semi-staged” concert presentation, featuring stellar performers, including local diva, Milena Kitic, who was the ferocious gypsy beauty of Bizet's Carmen, in thePacific Symphony production of a few years ago. She performs Amneris, the Egyptian princess in love with military hero, Radames. Making her North American debut, South African mezzo, Kelebogile Besong, sings the role of Aida, captured Nubian princess, slave to Amneris. Unknown to others, Aida and Radames share a deep love ...

About the only thing missing from Odysseo, the mesmerizing equine show from Cavalia, the Cirque du Soleil-style horse show, is Pegasus, the winged horse. Stabled in the huge white tent - looks like a marvel of engineering, at the 405 and 133 in Irvine, CA, we, together with our younger grandchildren were entranced by the grace and charm of humans and their mighty steeds in this exciting show. We had seen Cavalia when it was in the same location in 2007  with our older grandchildren. I wanted to see it again and it was well worth a second look. There is a certain magic in watching a 2,000 pound animal dance gracefully. The brilliance of Odysseo's designers in having a beautifully formed horse shown on a hill in the distance, illuminated in black silhouette, was stunning. Everyone has seen horses execute nimble movements, but this depiction of control, training and charm was unique due to the staging. The audience was so enchanted it's doubtful few noticed stage front becoming a shallow pond. A wonderful effect as riders then took their mounts to gently splash in the little stream. The show begins slowly enough, to give the audience a chance to review the numerous animals in a pastoral scene, before set exercises begin. I found the white horse close drill fascinating as they ...

By Angela Rocco DeCarlo The Costa Mesa opera house audience in Orange County, California, went wild. The Segerstrom Center for the Arts’  performance, October 2,  featuring the Francis Ford Coppola masterpiece film,"The Godfather" with a full symphonic orchestra onstage providing the beautiful music of Nino Rota's Academy Award winning score, conducted by UCLA alum, Justin Freer, was sensational. The word was the symphony's trumpet player, Robert Frear, of Long Beach State music department, was the original musician from the film. His featured solo, The Godfather Waltz,  in that haunting opening scene in Don Corleone's office, as Bonasera is asking for a favor to avenge his daughter, primes the audience for what is to come. As an Opera Pacific docent I've enjoyed many operas in that theater, but I can not recall such a vocally appreciative audience. Of course, The Godfather, is, in a certain sense, an opera. It is something Puccini or Verdi might have fashioned. It has all the elements of a great opera - love, loyalty, betrayal and revenge. Especially loyalty and revenge. And there are certainly enough deaths to satisfy that element of operatic trauma. Poor Michael Corleone is the perfect Aristotelian tragic hero. His flaw of family love and devotion to his father causes him to lose his soul. He abandons his planned life to avenge his father. So sad. In ...

by Angela Rocco DeCarlo Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, Costa Mesa, CA Renée Fleming is a big deal. The opera soprano is celebrated for her beauty, charming grace and acclaimed vocal talents.   She will be performing with the Pacific Symphony orchestra, conductor Carl St. Clair, in Orange County September 13, 8 p.m., at theRenée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, singing a varied program including songs from the Rogers & Hammerstein musical "The King and I," as well as opera favorites such as Leoncavello's "Mattinata," and Mozart's Overture to "The Abduction from the Seraglio."  Of particular anticipation will be her presentation of Richard Strauss's hauntingly beautiful "Four Last Songs."               Renée Fleming  is someone who should be on everyone's "bucket list" of great performers to see in person. Her repertoire of dozens of operas has taken her to opera houses all over the world. Yet, she continues to add to her artistic endeavors with recitals and mentoring budding opera artists with master classes while sending opera into the Chicago community of public schools. She serves as creative consultant to Lyric Opera of Chicago.               This September 13th Fleming recital is a stellar opportunity to experience the very best musical entertainment by a performer at her peak. It will be an evening of glistening music, with something special for everyone.    Fleming is the "gold medal" ...

by Angela Rocco DeCarlo Let's face it. A tea party is a fantasy experience. It is presented in a frou-frou environment and the food can best be described as "doll food." Often good, but diminutive. Nonetheless, it is my favorite meal, aside from Chicago deep dish pizza. As my granddaughter Serritella Danielle DeCarlo's "Golden Birthday" was upon me I felt a tea party was the perfect way to celebrate her. She became eleven on July eleventh. An artist, dancer and writer who looks like she stepped out of a fresco in ancient Pompeii, not far from where her great-grandmother, Vita Serritella, was born in 1903, before coming to America in 1911. I began my search for a proper tea room in the city of Orange...a local place fit the bill, alas, no openings and parking is quite dicey. Tried polling pals for suggestions, but then my husband searched online and found Pamela's Tea Room, Garden Grove, CA, which was the best location at the 405 and 22, for guests coming from Huntington Beach, Long Beach and LA. It turned out to be a marvelous find. Having taken tea at many swanky places I can say when done well lit is a lot of fun, especially if you favor a light repast with a variety of textures and flavors in ...

Directed by Bailey Kobe and Featuring Actors Shaun Sipos, Julie McNiven, Jessica Camacho, Michael Steger, Michael DeLorenzo, Mark DeCarlo, Phillip Garcia, and Kelly Perine “The Babymoon”, a film by Director and Writer Bailey Kobe (“Caterpillar’s Kimono” with Ben Savage), will be featured at Dances With Films Festival for its World Premiere on Friday, June 10th, 2016 at the TCL Chinese Theatre in West Hollywood, CA. An invite-only red carpet event at 1:45 p.m will be followed by the screening at 2:45 p.m and after-party at 4:30. RSVP is required for press line and admittance to the screening. Press is also invited to attend after-party at Loews Hotel immediately after. Please email kate@doubleententefilms.com by June 9th to RSVP. TCL Chinese Theatre is located at 6925 Hollywood Boulevard, Hollywood, CA. For more information please visit the Facebook Page or website. www.fb.com/TheBabymoonAdventure or www.TheBabymoon.org. ba·by·moon (bābēˌmo͞on) noun: a relaxing or romantic vacation taken by parents-to-be before their baby is born. In “THE BABYMOON”, a fragile relationship coupled with an unpredicted pregnancy, takes the unsuspecting parents to a place they only dreamt of - only to find themselves in the throes of a poorly-planned political revolution. WHAT:   Film Screening: “The Babymoon” WHO:  Writer/Director Bailey Kobe (“Caterpillar’s Kimono” with Ben ...

Never before in recorded history has there been a visionary as gifted... or hilarious, as Dr. Lars Dingman, the iTunes Psychic. Award-winning radio personality Dr. Lars Dingman, will offer every audience member the opportunity to come on stage for a free psychic peek at their future during his live broadcast. Using only the last 3 songs, randomly picked by the subject's digital music player, Earth's first Digital Age Psychic will predict the future and reveal past lives. FREE VACATION: Someone in the audience will win a FREE CANCUN VACATION Lars already knows who's going to win, but you have to show up to find out. Don't miss the oracle the HuffingtonPost calls "Earth's funniest psychic... Dingman's uncanny accuracy - and lunatic hilarity - deftly merge comedy and Psychic phenomena. A MUST SEE!" See and Hear his amazing predictions at www.itunespychic.com and follow him on Twitter @itunespsychic. Video: https://youtu.be/t8Ge-JdLEoc WATCH LIVE THIS MONDAY! Dr. Lars Dingman, iTunes Psychic Monday, May 23 2016 7:00pm   $5 UCB Sunset 5419 W Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90027

Ground Breaks for New York City’s Virgin Hotel VOA begins construction on the 412,000-square-foot Virgin Hotel in NoMad The VOA-designed Virgin Hotel will be located on Broadway between 30th and 29th Streets. Last Friday, ground broke in Manhattan for the world’s second Virgin Hotel. Designed by the New York–based architecture firm VOA, in collaboration with developer the Lam Group, the 412,000-square-foot tower will contain 465 guest rooms and offer roughly 70,000 square feet of retail space at its base. With a slim façade that grows larger through sections that jut out from its sides, the 39-story building will bring a flash of modernity to the historic NoMad neighborhood. “Where the building appears to be shifting to the sides, we deducted some bulk out of the corners of the structure so we could reuse the floor area higher up,” says Brian McFarland, VOA’s lead architect on the project. “This allowed us the opportunity to create more corner windows at a higher elevation so those rooms could enjoy views the lower rooms wouldn’t allow.” Virgin Hotel in NoMad Virgin Hotels, a division of Richard Branson's Virgin Group, plans to roll out hotels of distinct designs in various cities around the world, and as such, “the Virgin Hotel ...

There’s something about Miami. It welcomes you by not making too much of a fuss about you. “Oh, so there you are,” it seems to say. “Great. Dale, Chico. Te veo después y nos tomamos un café." And you know, it’s happy to see you. My favorite spot to welcome the day in all of Miami is not anywhere near the infamous SoBe of the tanned and gorgeous. It’s not on a boat gliding past tall downtown buildings on bayside waters. It’s sitting on the sidewalk facing the huge, colorful, exhuberant sculpture at the entryway of the otherwise unremarkable Dadeland Metrorail Station in South Miami. It ́s fittingly called “Welcome” and stands amid the light gray concrete on mornings when my own bed wants nothing to do with me and, as my mother would say, “el que me fume, pierde el vicio.” And here's the trick: you sit on the sidewalk in front of it with your newspaper and your strong, sugary, Cuban coffee... you look at it for awhile... and pretty soon you start to feel happy and... god forbid... optimistic. By then you’ll look a little crazy to couples walking by with their strollers or their dogs, so taking a few ...

https://youtu.be/Y7AxRA8kCX8 The Travel Adventure Show 2016 will be at the Pennsylvania Convention Center all weekend long – from March 19 to March 20. Make sure you get your tickets now, because you won’t want to miss this exciting event. Click Here to get those tickets now: http://travelshows.com/philadelphia/. Our team is so pumped they’ve even come up with a list for visitors of the top three (3) things to do at the #PhillyTravelShow. As you walk around the exhibition floor, we hope this list helps direct you on exactly how to find the best ways to plan your ultimate dream vacation. Talk to the Experts At America’s Favorite Travel Show, you’ll be able to speak directly with the travel experts that represent hundreds of the top destinations from around the world. You can plan your next escape with renowned travel agents, customize your trip preferences and learn about the different experiences and excursions at each location, and collect the “inside knowledge” so you can travel like a “local” when you get to your destination. You’ll receive local knowledge and travel advice on where to go, what to do, where to stay and how to ensure that you have a personalized travel experience. At http://travelshows.com/shows/philadelphia/plan-your-experience/, you can ...