Cabaret

I am writing to you in response to your article "Some Neighbors Not Humoring Comedy Club's Request to Expand" (Feb 2). It pertains to the L.A. Cabaret's request to permit dancing in the lounge and increase the authorized seating capacity to the level as it was when I purchased the club and as it remained for over two years as approved by the city. In your second paragraph and throughout the article you report on the protest of the neighbors and the suggestion that they get no respect.

A group of us were shocked at the positive review of the schlock the Mark Taper Forum is offering audiences this month ("Likable 'Jazz' Gets in the Swing of Things," by Reed Johnson, Dec. 5). We were attracted to the show by the famous names of composer Cy Coleman, writer Larry Gelbart, lyricists Marilyn and Alan Bergman, choreographer Patricia Birch and director Gordon Davidson. What a waste of good talent. "Like Jazz" is a bland cabaret act -- not theater. Why pay major dollars for a Broadway show that should have been presented in an intimate club?

'Leila Diniz' Brazil, 1987, 100 minutes, 10:15 p.m . An ambitious attempt by film maker Luiz Carlos Lacerda to treat Diniz, the popular actress and cabaret star, as the brazen, uninhibited spirit of Brazil, deemed a threat by the military dictatorship. The film suggests that her censorship problems were smoothed over by a highly placed relative and that she had little concern for the fate of regime victims.

EVENTS Celebrate Bastille Day with nearly 20,000 revelers at what is being dubbed the largest French celebration in the United States. The 23rd annual Santa Barbara French Festival promises fun for the whole family, including food, wine, wandering mimes and three stages of non-stop music, cabaret and dance performances. Oak Park, 300 W. Alamar, Santa Barbara. 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sat. and Sun. Free. (805) 564-7274. http://www.frenchfestival.com.

DJ HAPPY HOUR Melody Bar & Grill 9132 S. Sepulveda Blvd., Westchester 4-7 p.m Friday (310) 670-1994 NEW BEER HALL Little Bear, 1855 Industrial St. 5 p.m.-2 a.m. Fri-Sat. (213) 622-8100 '60s SOUL DJs Staycation at Footsie's 2640 N. Figueroa St. 10 p.m. Friday (323) 221-6900 NEW DINING LOUNGE Livello at L'Ermitage Beverly Hills 9291 Burton Way 6-10 p.m dinner Saturday. (310) 860-8660 CABARET An Evening With Rakesh Satyal M Bar, 1253 Vine St. 8 p.m. Thursday.

UCLA Live recently canceled its well-regarded international theater festival, but Calabasas would like to point out that UCLA didn't have a lock on that concept. The city near the southwestern San Fernando Valley is holding its second annual California International Theatre Festival from July 17 to 25. The visiting companies aren't of the same stature as those that UCLA attracted, but they are diverse. The Orto-Da Theatre Group of Israel will perform its work "Stones," Theatre Newfoundland Labrador of Canada presents "Tempting Providence" by Robert Chafe, and Conor Lovett of Gare St Lazare Players Ireland will perform an adaptation of the Samuel Beckett short story "The End."

A high degree of theatrical staging differentiates "The World Goes Round" from typical revues. This compilation of show tunes from the enduring Broadway musical team of composer John Kander and lyricist Fred Ebb sports opportunities for creative contexts to give the songs more stand-alone impact--opportunities director Bonnie Hellman has seized with relish and considerable success in an impressively performed revival for Ventura's Rubicon Theatre.

By his own admission, singer/pianist Steve Ross has been "dragged reluctantly from the '30s." The image seemed precisely right at his opening Thursday night at the Cinegrill, when Ross strolled out looking like the ultimate Princeton undergraduate--slicked-back hair, black tux and tie, and the kind of firm jaw and clear-eyed gaze that might have made him a prime candidate for the presidency of Sigma Chi. But Ross had a lot more to offer than image.