Arts & Culture in Culver City

The Los Angeles Ballet is a group of more than two dozen dancers who prance across the stage like marionettes controlled by Santa's team of bethumbed reindeer. See this renowned company perform a holiday classic to the choreography of experienced husband and wife team Thordal Christensen and Colleen Neary.

In 2008, South Pacific swept the Tony Awards®, capturing seven golden trophies, including Best Musical Revival and Best Director for Bartlett Sher. Based on James Michener's Pulitzer Prize–winning book, Tales of the South Pacific, South Pacific tells, dances, and sings the story of two couples—Navy nurse Nellie Forbush with French plantation owner Emile de Becque, and airman Joe Cable with lovely native lass Liat— torn by war and the temptations of tropical paradise. The original production won the Pulitzer Prize for drama in 1950, with its frank depiction of racial prejudice as a central theme.

Before El Cid's skilled professional dancers and musicians strut and strum their stuff on stage, tuck into dinner fare such as the chipotle short ribs with roasted-garlic butter-whipped potatoes ($14.95), or pollo mole, a dish of seared chicken simmered in mole with red rice and ratatouille ($16.99). Vegetarian diners can hang a fang on stuffed peppers cooked in Grand Marnier ($15.99). There are eight entree selections in all, each of which is served with the soup of the day, a mixed-green salad, and a healthy heaping of zesty flair.