Let’s do the time warp again with The Rocky Horror Picture Show on the big screen! Sing along with the 1975 rock musical classic.

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The Rocky Horror Picture Show

The John Anson Ford Theatre

serpentwithfeet’s experimental electronic music explores passion and love between gay Black folks so tenderly, The Guardian said of his 2021 record DEACON, “There can be few albums this year more wholesome, soppy, or unabashedly life-affirming.” He joins with MacArthur “genius” fellow Wu Tsang and choreographer Raja Feather Kelly to present Heart of Brick, a theatrical dance and musical performance that tells the story of two men finding themselves and falling in love in a gay dance hall—and captures the multi-generational spirit of the Black queer community. Combining music created for the performance with material from serpentwithfeet’s new album, as well as older songs, Heart of Brick is an evocative new work that embodies the sweetness and sincerity at serpent’s core.

serpentwithfeet: Heart of Brick

Time travel through the different eras of Argentine Tango from its origins to the present. In this stunning new production by Fabrizio Mocata and GD Tango (directed by Guillermo De Fazio and Giovanna Dan), Tango music and dance are mixed with humor, parodies, and heartfelt performances from a multidisciplinary cast. Audiences will be thrilled at the charm and charisma of the ensemble’s movements and the intensity of its music.

Starting May 9, get up to two free tickets for kids 12 and under with every full-priced ticket purchase!

Un Viaje por Buenos Aires with GD Tango

Founded by Jose Vences in September 2003, Grandeza Mexicana Folk Ballet Company commemorates its 20th anniversary by celebrating the splendor of Mexican folk dance. The program will feature a variety of works like La Marimba del Sureste–a collage of pieces from the regions of Chiapas, Oaxaca, and Tabasco–as well as the Los Angeles premiere of the Dia de Muertos suite. Come and be part of the festivities as they return to The Ford for an incredible night filled with fan favorites from the last 20 years and the debut of new pieces, showcasing Mexico's grandeur, La Grandeza Mexicana.

20 Años de Grandeza Mexicana

Drawing inspiration from the deep history of folk festivals around the world, The Milk Carton Kids invite some of their favorite songwriters to gather in Los Angeles and share their songs and stories. It’s a two-day celebration of intimate songcraft and the city of Los Angeles’ historic role as an epicenter of modern folk music. Additional headliners to be announced soon!

Los Angeles Folk Festival

AL SUR DE LA FRONTERA brings together the traditional music from the Sierra Zapoteca of Oaxaca with experimental arrangements, featuring the Oaxacan LA-based Maqueos Music youth philharmonic band, multidisciplinary artist Dorian Wood, indigenous trilingual Mixtec rapper Una Isu, Latina coloratura Soprano Maria Elena Altany, Chicano “futuristic laser gangster bass” electronic musician Baseck, multi-instrumentalist and conductor extraordinaire Yulissa Maqueos, and the Mexican extreme vocalist and interdisciplinary artist Carmina Escobar.

Created and directed by Boss Witch Productions, an artistic production company focused on the intersection of experimental sound art, ritual performance, video art, and transmedia collaboration within natural landscapes, unconventional performance sites, theaters and concert venues. Founded and led by queer and trans artists, Boss Witch is co-directed by Madeline Falcone and Carmina Escobar, working to establish a sustainable and artist-driven infrastructure for the creation of experimental, site-specific work. We seek to reimagine our relationship to the world around us, creating immersive innovative exhibitions, performances, and sound art related to land, ritual, and the constant transformation of tradition.

AL SUR DE LA FRONTERA

Come along on a Crescent City inspired, jazzy music adventure with Jazzy Ash & the Leaping Lizards. The talented and prolific songwriter/musical treasure hunter highlights traditional songs, rhythms, and rhymes that have been handed down by African American children, adults, and musicians for generations. 

Starting May 9, get up to two free tickets for kids 12 and under with every full-priced ticket purchase!

Jazzy Ash & the Leaping Lizards

The iconic songs of Linda Ronstadt’s Canciones de Mi Padre album led to a renaissance of Mariachi music in the United States. This concert reimagines Linda’s contributions to the genre and American music in general, calling on a new generation to preserve and present the Mariachi tradition to established and new audiences. Leading the new generation in Ranchera music is Grammy Award-nominee Lupita Infante, granddaughter of beloved artist Pedro Infante. She will be joined by Mariachi Lindas Mexicanas, up and coming El Gallo Dez, and SFS founder-singer songwriter Doris Anahí in an evening of powerful rancheras loved through generations.

Canciones de Mi Madre

The children of a Swiss father and Ecuadorian mother, Alejandro and Estevan Gutiérrez play guitar with the kind of intricate, unspoken intuition you’d expect from a pair of brothers. Their instrumental guitar music is informed by expansive plains and rough wildernesses, saguaros and surf, the spaghetti western drama of Ennio Morricone and the surreal psychodrama of David Lynch. On their latest album, El Bueno Y El Malo, produced by the Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach, they show off the depths of their bond—all without saying a word.

Hermanos Gutiérrez

Witness the iconic Tejano singer’s rise to stardom and the top of the Latin Music charts, on the big screen! Join us during Hispanic Heritage Month for a night of celebration featuring Selena-inspired musical performances that will get you moving!

Selena

The brilliant jazz pianist Vijay Iyer, Grammy-winning singer Arooj Aftab, and multi-instrumentalist Shahzad Ismaily continue their brilliant, beautiful conversation. The trio met in New York City and dubbed themselves Love in Exile. Together they’ve forged a singular voice that takes their distinct backgrounds and vast histories of collaboration as a starting point. Individually, they’re extraordinary musicians who see through boundaries between genres and cultures without abandoning the particulars of either. Together, though, they’re artists painting in tandem, their music developing from wisps of piano and shimmers of texture, with Aftab’s voice whispering along the edges and commanding center stage—all without sacrificing their keen sense of interdependence. This is delicate, imaginative music defined by a sense of timeless beauty and sudden surprise.

Love In Exile

Celebrating Samba takes audiences on a cultural journey to Salvador, Bahia with electrifying Afro-Brazilian dance and music to experience a jolt of joyful color, thrilling rhythms, and communal celebration. This year’s show will present the royal ORIXAS of the water and the forest, joyful samba, the Bahian Carnaval Bloco afro Motumbaxé, and an interactive dance experience for all.

Starting May 9, get up to two free tickets for kids 12 and under with every full-priced ticket purchase!

Celebrating Samba with Viver Brasil

Raised between Washington, D.C. and Reykjavik by Icelandic and Chinese parents, Laufey was classically trained on piano and cello by her mother but found her true love in her father’s jazz album collection. The result, as NME described her 2022 LP, offers “velvet-smooth harmonies, swelling string sections, and the faintest crackle of an old jazz record” that all combine to find the magic in life’s little moments. Laufey’s musical storytelling is as likely to pull from Ravel and Chopin as Ella Fitzgerald or Billie Holiday, and she makes her Ford debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

Laufey with the LA Phil

Ryan Beatty’s warm, emotive vocals have already made him a favorite among the singer-songwriter set, and on his new album Calico, he presents a rich tapestry of sound. Working with a phenomenally nuanced band, he weaves together his songs with strands drawn from his inner life and a spirit of exploration. On his Ford debut, he explores the tensions we feel between protecting our hearts longing for the connection that comes with true vulnerability.

Ryan Beatty

Flypoet All-Star Spoken Word Summer Classic features a highly curated line-up of the hardest hitting, most-decorated spoken word artists in the country and then punctuates the night with a surprise performance by a  major R&B and soul musical guest. Flypoet returns to The Ford for an entertaining night of art, music, and of course, lyrical fire.

Flypoet All-Star Spoken Word Summer Classic

For centuries, the voices of women like Chavela Vargas, Lola Beltran, Lucha Villa, Rocio Durcal, and Selena have led the way in Mexican music, breaking barriers, gender roles, borders, and cultural expectations. This night of female power and passion will pay homage to these women featuring LA’s favorite all-female string mariachi ensemble Las Colibrí, the explosive artistry of San Cha alongside celebrated LA poet Yesika Salgado, the Chicana voice of ranchera music Marisa Ronstadt and the acclaimed dance troupe Ballet Folklorico Ollin.

Viva La Tradición Palomas Negras: Chavela, Selena, and More

Os Mutantes formed in the heady days of the late 1960s Brazil, at a time when political protest and psychedelic music were both expanding minds and busting norms in the South American country. As integral members of the tropicália movement, Os Mutantes combined all-out guitar squalls, traditional Brazilian rhythms, a soulful outlook on the future, and a sense of melody so chipper it earned them numerous comparisons to the Beatles. They’d go on to influence everyone from Beck to Flea to David Byrne, and they keep their torch burning brightly in their Ford debut.

Os Mutantes

Noche de Cumbia brings Los Angeles based music and art collective, Cumbiaton, Bay Area sisters Mariposas del Alma, Discos Resaca, and Yeison Landero grandson of the legendary Andrés Landero to showcase the diversity, beauty, and resilience of Cumbia throughout Latin America. Audiences can expect a safe, intergenerational space with the various styles, dances and rhythms from the heart of Colombia, Centro America, Mexico, and the U.S.

Noche de Cumbia: Yeison Landero, Mariposas del Alma, Discos Resaca, Yosimar Reyes

MEMORY GAME is both a look back at a pivotal point in Meredith Monk's storied career, and a richly layered portrait of how vocal music—under the guidance of an indefatigable master—can play with our expectations in poignant and compelling ways. For this journey, Monk and her ever-versatile vocal group join forces with Bang on a Can All-Stars, whose “lean, emphatic, and muscular execution suits the precision of Monk’s writing perfectly”.

Meredith Monk & Vocal Ensemble and Bang on a Can All-Stars

On their debut album for Daptone Records, Thee Sacred Souls are warm and alive, mixing the easygoing grace of sweet ’60s soul with the grit and groove of early ’70s R&B. And even as they look across the world for inspiration—citing the classic sounds of Chicano, Philly, Chicago, Memphis, and Panamanian soul—they’re grounded in the reality of everyday life in 2023. They’ve impressed on Colbert and Kimmel, and they make their Ford debut as a crackling seven-piece band.

Thee Sacred Souls

Armenian folk ensemble, Element Band, returns to The Ford with a 14-piece ensemble and a rich new repertoire. Their new album, PYUR, will be released and make its live debut the night of the show, promising the group’s signature spin on Armenian songs, Mediterranean sounds, and Latin fusion.

Element Band

José James is one of the most daring jazz singers of his generation—or as Pitchfork called him, “one of the suavest vocal improvisers on the scene.” His arrangements and approach are in deep conversation with funk, R&B, and hip-hop, so it’s no surprise to find him paying tribute to one of the greatest multi-genre talents around: Erykah Badu. With a stellar band at his back, James takes us on a jazz odyssey through Badu’s incredible songbook and sings a few songs of his own.

José James

Set in current-day Hollywood, pop princess Rosina is fresh out of rehab after a messy breakup and public meltdown. She’s moved in with her overbearing producer and manager, Dr. Bartolo, who has more than her career on his mind. With the assistance of aging rock legend, turned celebrity voice coach, Don Basilio, Bartolo hopes to marry the young Rosina. However, Hollywood heartthrob Count Almaviva also has his eye on Rosina but wants to win her heart the old-fashioned way, not because of his fame, so he disguises himself as a humble student to approach her. Figaro, a stylist to the stars, and a man-about-town is on the scene to aid with the love connection. A host of personal assistants, housekeepers, out-of-work actors, and even the LAPD show up in this laugh-a-minute comedy.

The production is sung in Italian with English supertitles and an orchestra.

The Barber of Seville

Calling all fans of soulful and smooth music! This unforgettable concert features the Philippines' King of R&B, JayR, delivering powerful performances of his biggest OPM hits and fresh spins on classic tracks that will have you singing and dancing all night long. Joining in the fun is the five-man vocal band The Filharmonic, who has appeared on many TV shows, in the Pitch Perfect movies, and performs its mix of original songs and covers on its active social media channels. The collaborative result? A perfect blend of R&B, soul, and pop, making it impossible not to feel the groove.

FILAM JAM with JayR and The Filharmonic

CONTRA-TIEMPO is a bold, multilingual Los Angeles-based activist dance theater company. Their multi-year project ¡Azúcar! is shaped by a creative team of twenty brilliant artists from across the country and explores how the sugar trade has left a lasting impact on the history of Latin America. Created in collaboration with Afro-Cuban artist and educator Kati Hernandez, ¡Azúcar! is rooted and inspired by the sacred feminine, the vibrations of Celia Cruz, personal narratives about sugar, Afro-Latine ancestral technologies, and healing as a community practice.

¡Azúcar! by CONTRA-TIEMPO

Explore the sounds and rhythms that can be found in our everyday life through a sing-along hour that celebrates how the world is made of music! It’s a Musical World features a rousing repertoire of symphonious surprises. From self-strumming guitars to a parade of jubilant drums, this variety show gets your toes tapping Bob Baker style! 

Melodic magic is all around us, as we bring music to life with the pluck of a few strings…puppet strings. Where else could an ordinary drum spring to life, and march to his own beat? Come join our ensemble. Sing along if you know the songs!

It’s a Musical World with Bob Baker Marionette Theater

Lucinda Williams is “one of America’s greatest living songwriters,” as Rolling Stone says. As a singer, her voice is unmistakable: full of grit but sweetened with soul. Her Grammy Award-winning album Car Wheels on a Gravel Road is a certified classic of baleful country-adjacent rock and folk music, and in the decades since, she’s only refined her sound. She tangles with darkness, depression, and the lingering feeling that the world around us is unstable, but her work is tied together with a commitment to perseverance, resilience, and ultimately hope. Los Angeles musician Sam Burton presents songs from his new records that are reminiscent of Glen Campbell, Tim Buckley, and Gram Parsons.

Lucinda Williams

Marcella Arguello has built her comedy around her willingness to explore any topic—from wild anecdotes to race and gender to dating guys shorter than her 6’2” stature—and she is always able to find the humor in it all. Latin Media said her recent debut special on HBO “manages to ruffle feathers while delivering a routine that feels absolutely joyous.”

After years of performing rooms all over town, she grew tired of being one of the only women on the schedule and created Women Crush Wednesdays. With a fresh and diverse line up every month, which includes national headliners as well as bright up-and-comers, Marcella mercilessly hosts the best curated show in all of Los Angeles. Don’t miss the opportunity to experience some of the funniest women in the business at The Ford.

Comedy Under The Stars: Women Crush Wednesdays

Meant to preserve, celebrate, and uplift the bolero tradition in Los Angeles, Boleros De Noche returns to take us on a journey through the world of the classic Puerto Rican romantic ballads with Trío Remembranza, one of the top active bolero groups from the island. The evening also features a special performance by Martha Gonzalez—a Grammy Award-winning Chicana musician, composer, feminist music scholar, and founding member of the band Quetzal—who will perform an all-bolero repertoire.

7th Annual Boleros de Noche

Describing themselves as “ethno-chaos,” DakhaBrakha starts with folk music from their Ukrainian homeland and blends it with instrumental influences from India, Africa, and the Arabic world. Their name reflects that trans-national pastiche, translating to “Give/Take,” and NPR called their music “fierce, exuberant, and understitched with humor.” The theatric Kyiv-based quartet is the world’s best-known ambassadors of Ukrainian music—performing everywhere from Lincoln Center to Glastonbury Festival—and they bring their message of cultural and artistic liberation to The Ford.

DakhaBrakha

LA indie rockers Local Natives celebrate the 10-year anniversary of their second album Hummingbird by playing it in its entirety. Praised for its “shimmery songcraft” (The Independent), the album balances poignant lyricism with bright melodies and vivid production; “Local Natives take you to the beach and cry in your umbrella drink,” as Rolling Stone described it at the time. The intimacy of The Ford makes it the perfect place to revisit this quintessentially California album.

Local Natives

A hushed voice and a knack for lovely melodies have made singer-songwriter Jorge Drexler a legend in his native Uruguay. He sings softly, evoking vulnerability, hope, and wistfulness, with one eye trained on the cosmos as he contemplates the ways of the world. His latest album, 2022’s Tinta y Tiempo, explores love as a survival mechanism—“driving energy, life’s dynamo,” as he puts it, and features appearances from Rubén Blades, C. Tangana, Noga Erez, and Martín Buscaglia. The winner of seven awards at the 2022 Latin Grammys (and 13 overall), he won an Oscar in 2005 for his song “Al Otro Lado Del Río,” from The Motorcycle Diaries. He brings songs of wonder and wisdom from across his three-decade career in his Ford debut.

Jorge Drexler

With nothing more than a title shouted from the audience, The Improvised Shakespeare Company creates an entire play on the spot—comedy, tragedy, or history in the Shakespearean mold, all of it delivered in the “thee” and “thou”-laden English of The Bard. Nothing is planned, nothing is rehearsed, and each play is completely new and starts with one audience suggestion to kick off the fun. The LA-based troupe got its start in Chicago and has performed everywhere from Bonnaroo to Montreal’s Just for Laughs to local comedy spots Largo at the Coronet. See the show TimeOut Chicago calls “staggeringly brilliant” and “downright hilarious!” You've never seen the Bard like this before!

The Improvised Shakespeare Company

This special summertime concert highlights Darren Criss’ wildly eclectic career as both a songwriter and performer. Come for unique interpretations of contemporary pop and Broadway classics, along with music from his own EP releases throughout the years. Criss makes every set unique for every performance, featuring first-time-ever surprises, requests performed on the spot, and a healthy serving of Criss’ distinct brand of spontaneity, humor, and insight.

Darren Criss

JAZZ Re-EVOLUTION offers an electrifying fusion of stories, songs and jazz to convey the rich history and power of America's greatest original art form. Acclaimed actors, singers and world-class musicians shine a spotlight on the seminal and contemporary artists who have become legends – from Mary Lou Williams, Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald to Louis Armstrong Herbie Hancock, Poncho Sanchez and Wayne Shorter – through memoir excerpts and selections from the writings of literary legends such as John Edgar Wideman, Gwendolyn Brooks, Maya Angelou, and Langston Hughes, audiences of all ages will be transported from the birthplace of jazz in New Orleans to Harlem, to the fame-making cities of Europe, to Chicago, to the Los Angeles clubs that thrived along Central Avenue in the Prohibition Era, into the contemporary LA music scene whose musicians keep innovating while continuing to draw inspiration from our city's rich jazz heritage.

JAZZ Re-EVOLUTION

Mac DeMarco is a Canadian singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer based in Los Angeles. Mac and his band will be performing his album Five Easy Hot Dogs in its entirety, along with several songs from his previous catalog with new arrangements.

The Ford

Oct 28, 2023

The Rocky Horror Picture Show

Oct 21, 2023

serpentwithfeet: Heart of Brick

Oct 15, 2023

Un Viaje por Buenos Aires with GD Tango

Oct 14, 2023

20 Años de Grandeza Mexicana

Oct 7, 2023

Los Angeles Folk Festival

The Ford

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