15 culture picks for Labor Day weekend: Lucha VaVoom with Patton Oswalt
Lucha VaVoom and the Met's "Porgy and Bess" are among the streaming concerts, online theater, virtual art offerings and other cultural experiences for your viewing consideration this Labor Day weekend. Here's our latest rundown, all times Pacific.
“Stay-In VaVoom”
Lucha VaVoom, local purveyors of comedy, burlesque and masked Mexican wrestling, join forces with radio station KCRW for a virtual adults-only variety show on Zoom. The lineup includes Patton Oswalt, Andy Richter, Drew Carey and musical guests Starcrawler, Object As Subject and L7 rocker Donita Sparks. DJ Anthony Valadez hosts. 8 p.m. Thursday. $1 and up; free for KCRW members. Register at eventbrite.com
“Porgy & Bess”
Eric Owens and L.A. native Angel Blue star in the Metropolitan Opera’s recent staging of George Gershwin’s musical drama about the lives of African Americans in 1920s South Carolina. Available 4:30 p.m. Friday to 3:30 p.m. Sunday. Free. metopera.org
“Agô Ayó — Spirits Rising”
The Ford Theatres’ new “From the Ford” series continues with this 2017 performance by Afro-Brazilian dance company Viver Brasil. 6:30 p.m. Thursday. Free. facebook.com
“The B-Side: ‘Negro Folklore From Texas State Prisons,’ A Record Album Interpretation”
The Wooster Group streams its 2017 production of this acclaimed multimedia work inspired by a 1964 field recording that captured the songs and stories of Black inmates at Texas’ then-segregated prison farms. Available through Sept. 14. Free. thewoostergroup.org
“Rossini’s Sonatas”
Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra’s virtual SummerFest continues with principal bassist David Grossman leading a quartet in two early works by the Italian composer. 5 p.m. Saturday; available on demand afterward. Free. laco.org, facebook.com/LAChamberOrchestra and youtube.com
“Revolutionary Genocide”
Danny Glover portrays attorney William Lorenzo Patterson and Ben Guillory plays actor-activist Paul Robeson in Robey Theatre Company's live Zoom reading of Melvin Ishmael Johnson's new historical drama set in the 1950s. 3 p.m. Sunday. $10 suggested donation. Register at robeytheatrecompany.org
“Out of the Silence: A Celebration of Music”
The Orchestra Now and the Bard College Conservatory launch this series of four livestreamed concerts with a program of works by Mendelssohn plus Black composers George Walker and William Grant Still. 2:30 p.m. Saturday. Free; reservations requested. fishercenter.bard.edu
“The Last Angry Brown Hat”
Latino Theater Company presents a live reading of Alfredo Ramos’ new drama about the 1960s and '70s Chicano civil rights organization the Brown Berets. 7 p.m. Friday; available through Sept. 13. Free. youtube.com
“Poetry in Color — A Virtual Slam Inspired by Julie Mehretu”
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art presents this live event tied to the museum's recent mid-career survey of the abstract painter's work. 7:30 p.m. Saturday. Free. instagram.com/lacma
Chinese classical music
LACMA also offers a concert featuring traditional instruments and inspired by the recent exhibition “Where the Truth Lies: The Art of Qiu Ying.” 5 p.m. Sunday. Free. youtube.com
“World Festival at the Hollywood Bowl”
This series of one-night-only audio streams continues with encore Bowl performances by punk-pop pioneers Blondie and Swedish dance-pop star Robyn. 6 p.m. Sunday. Free. 89.9 KCRW-FM and KCRW.org
“The Mission (Accomplished)”
City Garage in Santa Monica streams this 2008 production. Through the lens of the Iraq War, Charles Duncombe reimagines Heiner Müller’s drama about the French Revolution. 8 p.m. Friday through midnight Wednesday. Pay what you can. youtube.com
Digital Dance DTLA
The virtual version of Music Center's popular outdoor summer series concludes with an evening of samba led by Fransini Giraldo. 7 to 8 p.m. Friday. Free. musiccenter.org
Dorian Wood
The non-binary Latinx musician and multidisciplinary artist performs a live concert from the Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. Noon Sunday. $5. patreon.com/dorianwood
“As You Like It”
The Long Beach Shakespeare Company streams an archival performance of the Bard’s sylvan comedy about a young noblewoman on the lam. Available through Oct. 4. $25. www.LBShakespeare.org
Our recurring coronavirus-era recommendations are indexed in the same place arts event listings (sigh) used to post.
