CALENDAR

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 18, 2020:: LATIMES.COM/CALENDAR

E

On Sunday night, Mayor

Eric Garcetti made an an-

nouncement that movie the-

aters in Los Angeles, along

with other entertainment

venues, bars and fitness cen-

ters, would all be closed until

at least March 31 to slow the

growing coronavirus pan-

demic. On Monday that

shutdown was expanded to

include all of Los Angeles

County. National cinema

chains such as AMC and Re-

gal also closed all their ven-

ues.

For independent thea-

ters in Los Angeles, the shut-

down comes at an already

perilous time, as they fight

for audiences against the

larger chains and studio

blockbusters, as well as the

increasing dominance of

streaming platforms as part

of audiences’ entertainment

options.

“Frankly, we’ve already

been in a fight to stay above

water with streaming,” said

Christian Meoli, owner and

operator of Arena Cine-

lounge in Hollywood.

Initially, Meoli thought

he would be able to stay

open as the city encouraged

social distancing and at first

looked to merely limit the

size of audiences.

“We’ve recently been see-

ing an upswing in our at-

tendance and so over the

weekend I thought that we

were going to be in the clear

because Garcetti had kept it

to 50 seats. And I’m a 49-seat

art house,” said Meoli. “But

the news, it’s just decimat-

ing.”

Greg Laemmle, presi-

dent of Laemmle Theatres,

said that the venues in his

chain, all of which are in the

county of Los Angeles, had

Indie

movie

houses

in dark

place

The already struggling

theaters have been hit

hard by closure over

coronavirus concerns.

Gift cards can help.

By Mark Olsen

[SeeIndies, E4]

Celeste Ng is walking inside her
own imagination. At least, it feels
that way.
The author of “Little Fires Ev-
erywhere,” the bestselling 2017 nov-
el that explores the intricate rela-
tionship between mothers and chil-
dren, is wandering a cavernous
soundstage in West Hollywood for a
glimpse of her book’s transforma-
tion into a Hulu limited series star-
ring and executive produced by
Reese Witherspoon and Kerry
Washington.
“I think of myself as being like
this little intruder,” she whispers
during a break from shooting in
mid-July while walking back in time
through the series’ re-created ’90s
suburbia. “I don’t want to mess
things up, but I also want to dissect
everything.”

CELESTE NG,author of “Little Fires Everywhere,” visits the set of Hulu’s adaptation of her book in West Hollywood last July.

Christina HouseLos Angeles Times

Stoking ‘Fires’ into

mothering inferno

KERRY WASHINGTON,left, and Reese Witherspoon execu-

tive-produce and star in the eight-episode series “Little Fires

Everywhere,” about relationships between mothers and children.

Hulu

[See‘Fires,’E5]

Author admires

creative spark of

novel’s adapters

By Yvonne Villarreal

Los Angeles State Historic

Park, where the opera is

staged. On this evening, his

deep melancholic notes

sound especially mournful.

It is Sunday, in the hour

before sunset, and as the

cast pours its heart into

what will be its final, impro-

vised performance of “Sweet

Land,” Mayor Eric Garcetti

is preparing to announce the

closure of bars, movie thea-

ters and gyms and placing

limitations on restaurants

to prevent the spread of the

novel coronavirus responsi-

ble for COVID-19.

“This is the last day we

could do something like

this,” says co-conductor

Jenny Wong, who also plays

Totaa’ar, as she steps into

the set with the other per-

formers. “Just everyone stay

6 feet apart.”

With the opera’s remain-

ing shows canceled —

“Sweet Land” had been

scheduled to close on March

22 — the video will be an at-

Like every show before it,
this one began with a thrum
of discordant strings, the
singers, in costume, stand-
ing at attention, as they
await their musical queues.
Unlike every other show
before it, the seats are empty
of spectators. For its final
show, the Industry’s criti-
cally acclaimed new opera,
“Sweet Land,” is being
staged only for a trio of video
cameras.
As the action unfolds,
Derrell Acon, a bass-bari-
tone singer dressed in red-
and-white regalia in the role
of Grandfather, presents a
bowl of fruit to the open sky
in the open-air theater in

Last chance to get their opera on camera

Behind the scenes

with Yuval Sharon’s

‘Sweet Land’ amid

coronavirus whiplash.

By Carolina
A. Miranda

DERELL ACONin a taping of the Industry’s “Sweet Land” on Sunday, after live performances were canceled.

Carolina A. MirandaLos Angeles Times

[See‘Sweet Land,’E4]

Museums keep

up pay, for now

Many say they will

continue to pay hourly

and part-time staff,

but the institutions’

futures are unclear. E3

Comics...................E6-7

What’s on TV..........E8

Engaging melodrama and

stumbling social commentary meet

in “Little Fires Everywhere,” Hulu’s

eight-part adaptation of Celeste

Ng’s bestselling 2017 novel of the

same name, which opens with a

well-to-do woman watching in dis-

belief as her suburban McMansion

burns down.

Keeping up appearances while

getting to the bottom of things is a

dangerous combination in this not

too heavy, not too light miniseries

about what happens when a

planned community is upended by

unplanned events. Casual quaran-

tine viewing wasn’t likely the goal of

“Little Fires Everywhere,” but it

hits that middling mark and arrives

[SeeReview,E5]

Not very searing,

but the drama

hits the mark

LORRAINE ALI

TELEVISION CRITIC

TELEVISION REVIEW