Orpheum Theatre

A paradox of the Renaissance is that its epochal creativity emerged amid untenable social inequities. The era was harsh on women, whose status as men's chattel underpins William Shakespeare's gender-warfare farce "The Taming of the Shrew." One seldom finds a modern realization willing to play the Bard's politically incorrect account of Padua's well-heeled hellion and her fortune-hunting soul mate straight, without conceptual resetting or deconstruction.

The Los Angeles Conservancy's Last Remaining Seats film series , which shines the spotlight on historic movie palaces in downtown Los Angeles, is kicking off June 1 at the Orpheum Theatre with Alfred Hitchcock's 1955 romantic thriller, "To Catch a Thief. " Tickets for the series are on sale now. June 5 will bring a screening of 1987's "La Bamba" at the Palace Theatre. The Dorothy Chandler Pavilion at the Music Center, which was the home of the Academy Awards for several years, will host a screening of the beloved 1964 Oscar-winning film, "My Fair Lady," with Rex Harrison and Audrey Hepburn.

Rock fans have learned to be wary whenever the singer of a favorite band embarks on a solo project, which is often the first step toward a breakup. Not so for Korn's Jonathan Davis, whose first solo tour landed at the Orpheum Theatre on Tuesday and came off not as restless ego but as a chance to stretch out musically for an intimate crowd of fans and friends. Korn is very much alive and already planning its next album, Davis has said in recent interviews.

Iranian-born singer Sussan Deyhim , who contributed to the soundtrack of Ben Affleck's new Oscar-buzzed movie "Argo," as well as to Joe Jackson's new Duke Ellington tribute album, has canceled her scheduled Oct. 14 concert at the Orpheum Theatre in downtown L.A. A spokesman confirmed the cancellation but provided no reason for it. Deyhim, whose repertoire includes classical, pop and traditional Persian music, has been described as one...

Dwarfed by the cavernous stage of downtown's Orpheum Theatre, indie film icon Kevin Smith held court Saturday night on a black leather couch that looked as if it came straight from 1994. Bathrobe clad, he took questions from faithful fans with an outing that, were it anyone but the affably crude Smith, might be billed as a one-man show. Here it was just "An Evening With Kevin Smith," the latest in a touring series of lengthy Q&A's that the auteur periodically does to sold-out crowds in venues such as New York's Carnegie Hall or Roy Thompson Hall in Toronto.

Outfest When: July 7-17 Where: The Eli and Edythe Broad Stage; the Directors Guild of America; the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre; Laemmle's Sunset 5; Orpheum Theatre; REDCAT; L.A. Gay and Lesbian Center's Village at Ed Gould Plaza Price: $5-$18; opening night gala tickets $150 Information: http://www.outfest.org

The Last Remaining Seats When : 8 p.m. Wednesdays (2 p.m. matinee on June 30). Doors open one hour before each screening. Cost : $20 ($16 for Los Angeles Conservancy members) Info : (213) 623 2489; http://www.laconservancy.org . Schedule : June 6: "Tootsie" (1982). Orpheum Theatre, 842 S. Broadway, L.A. June 13: "The Big Sleep" (1946). Los Angeles Theatre, 615 S. Broadway, L.A. June 20: "Los tres mosqueteros" (The Three Musketeers)

The Ovation Awards, L.A.'s peer-judged theatrical honors program, will be presented Nov. 23 at downtown's Orpheum Theatre. Center Theatre Group's Gordon Davidson and Deaf West Theatre's Ed Waterstreet will receive special awards. On Thursday, bandleader and longtime Angeleno Artie Shaw will donate two of his clarinets to the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History and receive a lifetime achievement award from the Smithsonian

What's happening the next few weeks: * "Edward Weston: Photography and Modernism" opened Sunday at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. The exhibition, which includes 140 Weston prints, runs through May 28. 465 Huntington Ave. (617) 267-9300. * The play "Ohio State Murders" runs March 31-April 16 at the American Repertory Theatre's Hasty Pudding Theatre, 12 Holyoke St., Cambridge. (617) 496-8400. * The dance company Pilobolus performs May 17-21 at the Emerson Majestic Theatre, 221 Tremont St.

How is it that more rock fans aren't talking about Dr. Dog ? The Philadelphia group possesses an encyclopedia's worth of knowledge of '60s and '70s pop and rock. Its expert "Shame, Shame" was an underrated gem from 2010, and its follow-up, "Be the Void," scuffs up the edges of the group's well-crated sound for jangly instrumentation and a raucous, feel-good core that's awfully tough to resist. Orpheum Theatre, 842 S. Broadway, L.A. 8 p.m. Fri. $22.50. http://www.ticketmaster.com .

On a rainy, wind-swept night in 1959, Alfred Hitchcock and his wife Alma attended the premiere of the classic Cary Grant movie “North By Northwest” at the United Artists Theatre in Chicago. To re-create the scene for a forthcoming movie about the legendary suspense director, however, the producers of “Hitchcock” didn't fly to the Windy City. Instead, they cast the exterior of the Orpheum Theatre in downtown Los Angeles to play the part. Hundreds of extras dressed as Chicago reporters, photographers, police officers and theater patrons recently congregated outside the cinema on Broadway, surrounded by aerial cranes, Klieg lights and a line of vintage limos and other cars.

The Last Remaining Seats When : 8 p.m. Wednesdays (2 p.m. matinee on June 30). Doors open one hour before each screening. Cost : $20 ($16 for Los Angeles Conservancy members) Info : (213) 623 2489; http://www.laconservancy.org . Schedule : June 6: "Tootsie" (1982). Orpheum Theatre, 842 S. Broadway, L.A. June 13: "The Big Sleep" (1946). Los Angeles Theatre, 615 S. Broadway, L.A. June 20: "Los tres mosqueteros" (The Three Musketeers)

How is it that more rock fans aren't talking about Dr. Dog ? The Philadelphia group possesses an encyclopedia's worth of knowledge of '60s and '70s pop and rock. Its expert "Shame, Shame" was an underrated gem from 2010, and its follow-up, "Be the Void," scuffs up the edges of the group's well-crated sound for jangly instrumentation and a raucous, feel-good core that's awfully tough to resist. Orpheum Theatre, 842 S. Broadway, L.A. 8 p.m. Fri. $22.50. http://www.ticketmaster.com .

Outfest When: July 7-17 Where: The Eli and Edythe Broad Stage; the Directors Guild of America; the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre; Laemmle's Sunset 5; Orpheum Theatre; REDCAT; L.A. Gay and Lesbian Center's Village at Ed Gould Plaza Price: $5-$18; opening night gala tickets $150 Information: http://www.outfest.org

The 28th annual gay and lesbian film festival Outfest kicks off with a screening of "Howl," the hypnotic new biopic about Allen Ginsberg and his most famous poem, starring "Spider-Man's" James Franco. The screening is followed by an opening-night gala after party, open to all ticket holders. Orpheum Theatre, 842 S. Broadway, Downtown. Opening-night gala 8 p.m. Fri. $50-$150. General screenings $13-$18. Through July 18 at various venues. See http://www.outfest.org for complete schedule.

It's hard to feel sorry for Norah Jones: At 31, she's already sold more records than most artists will over a lifetime, and despite her soccer-mom appeal, she's retained a kind of cool-musician cachet, collaborating in recent years with Bright Eyes, Beck and the Beastie Boys. In an unsteady music industry, hers is a success story with both commercial and creative dimensions. Still, on Friday night at the Orpheum Theatre, where Jones played a sold-out date on her current U.S. tour, your heart went out to the singer a little bit when her promise to "go back in time" to her early work earned a more enthusiastic reaction than did the new songs that preceded it. Jones opened the show with a long stretch of material from last year's "The Fall" — moody, groove-based tunes such as "Chasing Pirates" and "Even Though," in which she projected a soulfulness and a devotion to rhythm largely absent from her first three albums.

A lot of theater folk saw the renovated 2,000-seat Orpheum Theatre in downtown L.A. last Sunday, at the Ovation Awards ceremony. Now comes word that the first multi-week production to be scheduled since the renovation is "The Taming of the Shrew," in a Zoo District production next August. No, the sub-100-seat Zoo District isn't planning to take on the expense of producing at the 2,000-seat level. Instead, the production will be based primarily in the enormous lobby. Capacity will remain at 99.

Dwarfed by the cavernous stage of downtown's Orpheum Theatre, indie film icon Kevin Smith held court Saturday night on a black leather couch that looked as if it came straight from 1994. Bathrobe clad, he took questions from faithful fans with an outing that, were it anyone but the affably crude Smith, might be billed as a one-man show. Here it was just "An Evening With Kevin Smith," the latest in a touring series of lengthy Q&A's that the auteur periodically does to sold-out crowds in venues such as New York's Carnegie Hall or Roy Thompson Hall in Toronto.