By Michele E. Buttelman
Signal Staff Writer
‘Tis the season for the bounty of the fall harvest, apples, pumpkin spice lattes and the approaching ghostly goings-on. Fall is nearly upon us bringing entertainment that is ripe with exciting movies, theater, music and more.
Fall Films
Sept. 15 ‘A Haunting in Venice’
Sleuth Hercule Poirot, played by Kenneth Branagh, comes out of retirement when somebody dies at a Halloween séance in Venice. As a woman who hears the dead, best actress Oscar winner Michelle Yeoh, lends gravitas to a film that’s more darkly supernatural than Branagh’s prior Agatha Christie romps. Tina Fey plays the Agatha Christie-like writer Ariadne Oliver.
Sept 22 ‘The Expend4bles’
One of my favorite film franchises presents its swan song with the aging mercenaries righting more wrongs. Sadly, Sylvester Stallone, has yielded his starring role to Jason Statham.
Sept. 23 ‘She Came to Me’
Outstanding cast with Peter Dinklage playing the role of a New York opera composer with writer’s block and Anne Hathaway, as his wife, a therapist with obsessive-compulsive disorder. The duo get mixed up with a “romance addict” and tugboat captain played by Marisa Tomei who has a taste for men, and kills them. Not your ordinary rom-com.
Oct. 20 ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’
Based on a true story, the first big case for FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, this 3 1/2-hour movie by Martin Scorsese stars Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio.
Oct. 27 ‘Priscilla’
Elvis Presley’s widow Priscilla Presley, tells her side of the story. Writer, co-director Sofia Coppola.
Fall Theater
Oct. 4-15 ‘Hadestown’
Ahmanson Theatre
www.centertheatregroup.org
Winner of eight 2019 Tony Awards including Best Musical and the 2020 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album.
“Hadestown” intertwines two mythic tales of young dreamers Orpheus and Eurydice, and that of King Hades and his wife Persephone as it invites you on a journey to the underworld and back.
Nov. 14- Dec. 3 ‘“Mamma Mia’
Pantages Theatre
www.broadwayinhollywood.com
The popular ABBA-inspired jukebox musical returns to Hollywood.
Nov. 1-Nov. 26 ‘“Inherit the Wind’
Pasadena Playhouse
www.pasadenaplayhouse.org
Two of the nation’s leading lawyers go head-to-head in the ultimate battle of wit, wisdom and will in this powerful drama. With freedom of speech hanging in the balance, will this small-town courtroom bring us together or tear the nation apart? This fresh production is boldly reimagined for today.
Sept. 23-Oct. 28 ‘“Over the River and Through the Woods’
Canyon Theatre Guild
www.canyontheatre.org
A boisterous funny and heartwarming story about Nick Cristano, the only family member left who religiously spends every Sunday with his tender hearted, loud and loving grandparents in Hoboken, N.J. The routine is about to be broken because Nick has been offered the job of a lifetime 2,800 miles away in Seattle. The grandparents devise a scheme to get Nick to change his mind.
Music
Oct. 1 ‘When You Wish Upon a Star’
Santa Clarita Performing Arts Center
pac.canyons.edu/shows/wish.php
A jazz tribute to 100 years of Disney. Celebrate 100 years of Disney through the lens of jazz, performed by the newly created house band of The National Jazz Museum in Harlem.
The National Jazz Museum in Harlem is a Smithsonian-affiliated museum, led by artistic directors Jon Batiste and Christian McBride, to preserve, promote and present jazz by inspiring knowledge, appreciation and the celebration of jazz.
Oct. 27 Gin Blossoms
Santa Clarita Performing Arts Center
pac.canyons.edu/shows/gin-blossoms.php
Gin Blossoms dominated radio and MTV playlists for most of the 1990s with their unique fusion of pop, melodic rock, folk and country elements.
They rose to prominence following the 1992 release of “New Miserable Experience” and the first single released from that album, “Hey Jealousy.” “New Miserable Experience” eventually went quadruple platinum; four other charting singles were released from the album. The band’s follow-up album, “Congratulations I’m Sorry,” went platinum and the single “As Long as It Matters” was nominated for a Grammy Award.
Ghouls and Ghosts
This Halloween-themed attraction is bringing the “scare” to September, as Halloween starts earlier and earlier.
Sept. 28-Oct. 31 Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County Presents ‘Boney Island’
nhm.org/boney-island-nhm
Just in time for Halloween, the Natural History Museum will transform its Nature Gardens into a hauntingly whimsical interactive light-up experience for all ages.
Featuring familiar sights for long-time Boney Island fans including skeletons performing rope tricks, levitating through hoops, shadow puppetry and more.
The museum will put its own spin on the event with artistic performances, real fossils, live animal presentations, trick-or-treating and other ghoulishly glowing installations.
Explore the garden paths, as creepy crawlies, silly skeletons and carnivores from the Cretaceous abound.
Wander through the gardens and encounter packs of festively fiendish animals celebrating Halloween in the Deadwood Forest, meet talking and singing plants in the Hauntington Gardens and discover prehistoric creatures in the Prime Evil Pass.
Take a stroll through the Haunted Hallowe’en Light Trail, hear a skeleton orchestra playing classical music and enjoy a haunted-mansion cauldron water show.
Surprise demonstrations from the Live Animals Team, special presentations of Museum Collections and performances will take place at the Magic Theater near the Pirates Pond.
Food trucks, photo ops and exclusive Boney Island merchandise available during the event.
Boney Island was created by “The Simpsons” producer, Rick Polizzi, for his family more than 20 years ago. It grew from a front yard display to a huge affair in Griffith Park with a cult-like following of Halloween lovers of all ages. The attraction closed in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, after a three-year hiatus, the Natural HIstory Museum is bringing back this crowd-pleasing event.
