Theatre ,
"Around the World in 80 Days"
Jules Verne's classic novel Around the World in 80 Days gets a fresh and sensitive perspective in the Kansas City Repertory Theatre's opening night presentation of Laura Eason's writing and directorial adaptation. From the vantage point of a wired, Googled, You-Tubed, Twittering world, where circumnavigating the globe can be done in under 80 minutes, it was fun to be transported back to a time when performing such a feat in 80 days was considered a quantum leap in world travel.
As Around the World in 80 Days opens, we meet the precise, regimented and very English punctuality of Phileas Fogg (Lance Baker) - a British gentleman of means. He wakes up, eats breakfast, departs, arrives home from social engagements and turns in at exactly the same time each day. He fires his first valet (Usman Ally) because his tea one morning is not precisely 97 degrees, and upon hiring a replacement - his sidekick-to-be, Passepartout (Kevin Douglas) - he mildly chastises him for having his watch a few dozen seconds slow. While noting it to be not of great difference, he nonetheless comments that it is "worth mentioning." This is a man for whom time is a rigid construct to which all matters of life must conform absolutely.
Thus, when presented with the idea that recent advances in world travel (primarily because of the completion of the Suez Canal and the trans-Indian railway) make it possible to circumnavigate in 80 days, the precision with which the task need be accomplished immediately appeals to Fogg. That moment, however, reveals the irony: Fogg's sense of adventure lies not in the circumnavigation but with the precise timing of how the feat must be accomplished, and that he must arrive back at his gentlemen's club by 8:45 p.m. on December 21, 1872. The irony is further reinforced at the play's end when Fogg, preparing to depart on yet another world journey, acknowledges that while he had already traveled the world, he actually has never seen it. Thus begins Fogg's (and Passepartout's) journey, with Fogg content to be armed with only a travel log containing train and steamer schedules for every major station and port in the world. The passage of days, however, brings mounting delays that force Fogg to begin viewing time as a more fluid element, with which the ebbs and flows of life must synergize.
If time is Fogg's inanimate nemesis, time's counterpart in the physical world is Inspector Fix, a bumbling dunce who is convinced that Fogg is the at-large robber of a recent London bank heist. He spends the better part of the play chasing Fogg, well, around the world. Rounding out the quartet of permanent characters (the rest of the ensemble plays multiple roles) is the distressed Indian widow, Mrs. Aouda (Ravi Batista), whom Fogg rescues from ritual sacrifice in Bombay. With her entrance, about halfway through the first act, the two elemental themes of the play - time and personal intimacy - are set. It should come as no surprise that Fogg's lifelong obsession with the former had never left much room for the latter.
Lance Baker was near perfect as the very reserved Phileas Fogg, whose range of emotional development - from precise, reserved, gentleman to malleable, warm, gentle man - was so narrow that the subtlest of nuances are necessary to convey the growth of the character. Baker's mastery of his craft was evident from the opening scene, and watching him convey Fogg's development in minimalism was absolutely mesmerizing.
Kevin Douglas presented an energetic, wide-eyed Passepartout who lent comic relief to the adventures. However, the most generous thing I can say about his presentation is that it was adequate. As perfectly-cast as was Baker's Fogg, Douglas's Passepartout fell short. Here I must also admit a penchant for foreign accents and I found Douglas's French-inflected English to be unconvincing. Douglas's physicality, however, was impressive (think Ben Vereen) in several fight scenes, as well as a circus scene where he very confidently stood and walked on his hands for several seconds.
Joe Dempsey's Inspector Fix was brilliant. The bumbling comedic timing was perfect and hilarious. Physically, in demeanor and carriage, Dempsey/Fix was an absolute dead ringer for Monty Python's Eric Idle - a realization that, for me, made Dempsey's deliveries even funnier. I am not a laugh-out-loud kind of guy - even in live theatre settings - but I found myself doing so more times than I could count.
Ravi Batista's Mrs. Aouda was a warmly genuine Indian lady of the Victorian era, and from a casting standpoint was a perfect match to Lance Baker's Phileas Fogg. Her understated demeanor played nicely off Baker's minimalist development of Fogg, and her own growing warmth - and eventual mutual love - for Fogg was conveyed in a deftly constrained range. The result of the nuanced interplay between them had the unique effect of intensifying the sensation of their growing love in a way that was so subtle it was remarkable for that reason. The awkward hesitations, the "accidental" brushes of the hands/fingers, the knowing glances all combined to convey an extremely realistic and believable romance smoldering beneath the surfaces of two people whose entire lives had been dictated by rigid structure. Baker and Batista are a casting match of the "Jerry Maguire" magnitude - they complete each other perfectly.
By journey's end, Fogg's transformation is complete, where a twist (which I will not spoil) makes it evident that time is no longer of any consequence to him. When a street person comments to Passepartout that Fogg has come away with nothing because the journey cost him £20,000 and he had bet his gentlemen friends £20,000 that he could complete it in time, Passepartout points out that Fogg has, to the contrary, come away with everything - the mutual love and devotion of a good woman.
The supporting ensemble (Usman Ally, Rom Barkhordar, Patrick New and Ericka Ratcliff) provided generally solid transient characters to round out the story, although some were more believable than others. Patrick New's courtroom judge and Rom Barkhordar's sea captain deserve specific mention; Usman Ally was best initially as Fogg's first valet. Erika Ratcliff was, similar to Kevin Douglas's Passepartout, merely adequate, and I found her doubling as a male Captain Von Darius to be a bit of a stretch. Costumes (Mara Blumenfeld) were exquisite. Scenic Design (Jacqueline and Richard Penrod) was efficient and well-staged, with solid lighting design (Lee Keenan) complementing the effect.
Around the World in 80 Days was a well-balanced reinvention of Verne's classic. Children will enjoy the pure adventure, and adults hopefully will come away with an appreciation for the slower things in life. They certainly will remember the night that they watched a stuffy Englishman soften and fall in love with his demure Indian muse, and the hilarity provided by Inspector Fix balances the evening with just the right amount of light-hearted laughter.
REVIEW
Kansas City Repertory Theatre
Around the World in 80 Days
Adapted from the novel by Jules Verne
Directed by Laura Eason
Runs January 22 to February (reviewed Friday, January 29)
Kansas City Repertory Theatre
4949 Cherry Street, Kansas City, MO
For tickets call 816-235-2700 or online at www.kcrep.org
Cover photo: Rom Barkhordar (guide), Kevin Douglas (Passepartout), Joe Dempsey (Inspector Fix), Ravi Batista (Mrs. Aouda), Lance Baker (Phileas Fogg). Photo by Don Ipock.
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Classical,
UMKC Concerto/Aria Finalist Concert
To perform with an orchestra, a soloist must have stage presence, passion and skills. They must be able to handle the pressure, relate to the accompanist and communicate with the audience. The UMKC 2010 Concerto/Aria Finalist Concert was an unparalleled opportunity to view their most talented young musicians. Brass, winds, strings and voice were well represented as twelve top competitors sought to prove themselves to the judges in fifteen minutes intervals.
The selections were a striking combination of traditional, modern and post classical compositions. In addition to the likely suspects of Beethoven and Rachmaninoff, composers such as Meyerbeer, Sibelius, Poulenc, Carl Nielsen and Carl Maria von Weber were on the program. Even more obscure composers such as the living Russian woman composer, Alexandra Pakhmutova, and the recently deceased Jan Koetsier made the list. It's exciting to hear virtuosic 20th century pieces played with such passion.
Each performer was accompanied by an orchestral reduction played by an amazingly talented staff accompanist. When a pianist was competing, the reduction seemed less effective and I had to strive to conceive the accompaniment in symphonic form. Of course, not having the full orchestra present made hearing the winners something to anticipate eagerly.
It was a pleasure to hear instruments not often headlining with orchestras these days. Peter Pirotte performed the Concerto for Trumpet (1955) by Pakhmutova, and Kirsten Gates performed the Concertino for Horn, Op. 74 by Koetsier.
Bass soloist Aaron Sorenson performed Das Thal and Der Einsame by Richard Strauss with refreshing security in his lower register. He has a robust bass that can switch into a sensitive mode with ease.
As with any intense contest, memories lapsed and fingers fluttered but the performances were generally very solid.
Judges Stanislav Ioudenitch (piano) from Park University, Ivalah Allen (voice) from Washburn University and Bruce Sorrell, conductor of the Kansas City Chamber Orchestra, chose the four standout soloists listed below to perform with the UMKC Orchestra on February 26.
Mezzo Soprano Suzanne Hendrix, a DMA candidate, sang the aria Ah, mon fils, soit beni! from Le prophete by Meyerbeer with controlled anguish in her vast and lustrous voice.
The "wunderkind" freshman violinist Sarah Holmes (who should be playing a Stradivarius) passionately related the Sibelius Concerto for Violin in D Minor as if she were pouring out her heart.
Piano duo Jiyun Chung and Chris Parker thrilled with their snippet of the highly entertaining Concerto for Two Pianos in D Minor by Poulenc. It sounded great with just two pianos. I can't wait to hear the piece with full orchestra.
DMA candidate clarinetist Gabrielle Baffoni tackled the insanely difficult Konzert for Klarinet, Op. 57 by Carl Nielsen with a smart, German expressionist sensibility.
Audiences should remember to catch this free performance next year and make sure they secure tickets to hear these fresh performers on February 26 at 7:30 pm at White Recital Hall. UMKC is preparing well the future stars of the world stage.
For more information call 816-235-6222 or online at www.umkc.edu/cto
Dance,
Mexican dances flourish in Heartland
The Heartland was treated to a colorful display of folkloric dance when the Ballet Folklórico de México performed at the Lied Center last Saturday night to a sold out house of enthusiastic patrons.
Part of the excitement for local dancers is that this folkloric dance group, with its theatrical staging by founder Amalia Hernández has not been back to the United States since 1991. Founded in 1952, the Ballet Folklórico de México has set the standard for all folkloric groups that followed. Using Ballet as her model, Hernández changed the face of folkloric dance into a high art form, influencing Mexican folk dance and other folkloric dance forms as well. Often criticized for being more "theatrical" than "authentic," she became the defacto ambassador of the dance, popularizing Mexican folkloric dance across national boundaries and around the world.
The legacy of Hernández, now deceased, has been continued by her children and grandchildren. Salvador Lopez, the grandson of the founder and the current artistic director of the company, said this particular tour is meaningful to the group because it has been almost two decades since its last U.S. tour and because this year marks Mexico's centennial celebration of the Mexican Revolution.
Highlights of this performance included a suite of music and dance depicting the revolution. The suite portrayed aristocrats performing European polkas in fancy garb of the day, interrupted by revolutionary forces performing the "resistance" songs, including the dance of the soldaderas (female soldiers), La Adelita, honoring the women who fought with men in the revolution.
Other highlights included the Charreada, the rope dance, where a male dancer performed lasso rope tricks while dancing, and closing the first half, the Tlacotalpan Festivity, a festival that is reminiscent of Mardi Gras with whimsical characters, set pieces and dancers mimicking brightly colored birds. Other regional dances were based on traditional indigenous dances, such as the Matlachines "jingle" dance that opened the show, the famous Deer Dance (depicting the deer hunt), the Danza de la Pluma (the Zapotec Dance of the Feathers) from the Guelaguetza festival in Oaxaca with its colorful plumed headdresses. Another colorful suite was the fantasy piece Life Like a Game, which presented various characters from Mexican myth brought together into a children's story, and featuring children's songs from Mexico.
Although the company performed well and the performance was wonderful, there were some surprising (but minor) disappointments. The program was almost identical to the program presented two decades ago, making this reviewer wonder whether the company may have lost its creative impetus with the loss of its founder. Another disappointment was the opening number, which was advertised in advance of the show and in the program as The Gods - an elaborate and colorful suite based on Aztec ritual and mythology. Instead of The Gods, the company performed the Matlachines "jingle" dance, which was presented without any explanation, introduction, or description in the program. Despite the excellent execution, for those of us looking forward to the Aztec spectacular, it was disappointing.
Lastly, the final suite of numbers from Jalisco were performed in very colorful red and yellow costumes, but the costumes were based on a Spanish motif, not Mexican, which seemed an unusual choice for presenting Mexico's national dance; and seemed a rather puzzling artistic decision. Usually these dances are presented in traditional Jalisco dresses and/or the La China Poblana costume. These minor flaws, however, did not detract from the overall enjoyment of the concert.
The cast received eight curtain calls with standing ovations and loud cheers, and performed two encore numbers, including the highly anticipated Jarabe Tapatio, (also known as the Mexican Hat Dance and renowned as the national dance of México). The company's performance did not disappoint its audience. This family-friendly entertainment was educational, colorful, lively and worth the price of admission.
REVIEW
Lied Center at KU
Ballet Folklórico de México
Thursday, January 28, 2010
The University of Kansas
Lawrence, KS
For more information call 785-864-2787 or online at www.lied.ku.edu
Classical,
Noble acts of choral beauty
Weston Noble lives up to his name. An elegant man in his late 80's, he exudes a sense of warmth and humble grace. An American patriot, Noble saw action as a tank driver during WWII and fought in the Battle of the Bulge. As music director of the Luther College Nordic Choir, he built its international reputation for choral excellence. As a humanitarian, Weston Noble generously gave his time and talent last Saturday to guest conduct a sing-a-long of choral classics to raise money for a noble cause, The Arts in Prison.
Started by visionary musician Elvera Voth, the Arts in Prison program helps incarcerated men find a new "voice." After retiring from an illustrious choral conducting and teaching career in Alaska, Voth moved to Kansas City. Eager to engage musically again, she approached the Lansing Correctional Facility and founded the East Hills Singers. "The men were so happy to have something to do," Voth said. "That's one of the saddest things about our penal system." The choir combines the voices of inmates with volunteer singers as a way to help them reconnect to society in a soul-fulfilling way.
In 1998 Voth invited her dear friend and internationally acclaimed choral conductor Robert Shaw to lead a community sing-along event in Newton, Kansas, to raise money for an expanded project incorporating all of the arts. It was his last out-of-town performance before his death and the proceeds raised from this momentous occasion established the Arts in Prison Program.
The event last Saturday at Yardley Hall was modeled after the Newton sing-along and used the same program. The song books even included Robert Shaw's performance notes. It began with a workshop with Weston Noble ended with a concert. Members of the Kansas City Chorale, the Kansas City Symphony Chorus, Shawnee Mission North High School and Lawrence High School along with other interested singers from across the metro area participated in the workshop. Weston Noble expressed the importance of music's uplifting and transformational power and emphasized the mind-body connection required for good singing.
The performance began with a rousing rendition of the famous hymn Old Hundred followed by the ever popular Ave Verum by Mozart. He, Watching over Israel from Mendelssohn's Elijah was particularly moving. After a tricky start, the Renaissance masterpiece, O Vos Omnes by Victoria, warmed the audience.
The East Hills Singers took the stage in blue button down prison uniforms and dungarees. A combined chorus of volunteers and inmates, they sang dynamically with discipline and passion. Their first piece, Holy, Holy, Holy, conducted by Elvera Voth, was so sensitively performed that it was hard not to cry. The highly esteemed Kirk Carson, the group's current conductor, took the podium for a moving piece called The Awakening by Joseph M. Martin. The accompaniment was expressively played by Jolynn Cotton.
Bach's Dona Nobis Pacem from the Mass in B minor was conducted by the highly esteemed Maestro Bruffy. His uncanny ability to charm the socks off audiences with his humorous rambling is something to behold. The glorious How Lovely is thy Dwelling Place was followed by a rollicking rendition of A Mighty Fortress is our God. The choirs seemed very secure in the sure hands of Weston Noble. After the Halleluiah Chorus from Handel's Messiah, the angels must have smiled.
Arts in Prison's executive director may have summed up the afternoon perfectly. Standing on the proscenium between the chorus on stage and the singers in the audience, she compared the experience to "what heaven must sound like."
For an avid choral singer, the opportunity to sing some of the finest literature in the repertoire with great conductors in a fantastic venue with full orchestra is an experience to treasure. When the cost of the ticket goes to support a noble cause, the benefits are heavenly.
REVIEW
Sing-Along with Weston Noble and Charles Bruffy
A benefit for Arts in Prison Inc.
Saturday January 30, 2010
Carlsen Center at JCCC
Johnson County Community College, Overland Park, KS
For more information call 913-403-0229 or online at www.artsinprison.org
Theatre ,
It's all right, Ma (I'm only bleeding)
America, like most other nations, can lay claim to a long tradition of kooks, oddballs and three-dollar bills. The British, with their foppish aristocrats, made it sound fun. Francis Henry Egerton, eighth earl of Bridgewater, preferred his twelve dogs to people and each pet had its own servant.
Americans, with their puritanical beliefs that anyone who is unlike them must be trouble, tend to view eccentrics in a saturnine light. The late J.D. Salinger's five-decade self-exile, neither publishing nor even acknowledging that he had ever been an author, mystifies and infuriates even his fans.
E.L. Doctorow's recent novel, Homer & Langley, retells the story of the Collyer brothers of Central Park, whose "manse" in Homer's fictional narration was first their sanctuary, but over the decades became their retreat from the outside world and ultimately their prison, where they both died. Doctorow gives a lyrical voice to these troubled brothers without trying to psychologically explain them in the contemporary American therapeutic manner of confessional memoirs.
The same sympathetic imagination is proffered in the Doug Wright, Scott Frankel and Michael Korie musical Grey Gardens, based on the infamous lives of the aunt and cousin of Jacqueline Kennedy, which premièred at The Unicorn Theatre on January 29. This version - like the Broadway musical of 2006, the recent HBO movie, and the original 1975 Maysles brothers documentary - presents Edith and her daughter "Little" Edie as two-of-a-kind misfits.
Grey Gardens refers to the East Hampton, Long Island, estate of the wealthy Bouvier Beales. It is a world populated by the Dustin Hoffman-Tom Cruise relationship in Rain Man and the preoccupied Wonderland of Russell Crowe's mathematician John Nash in A Beautiful Mind. The ease with which the stage collaborators made the Beales into caricatures is restrained throughout this intimate production.
The musical is in two parts. The first covers an afternoon in 1941, when young Edie (played to perfection by Cathy Barnett) is preparing for her engagement party to Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. (played by Brandon Sollenberger). With the Kennedys en route and her father expected soon, Edie gradually discovers her mother's (Kathleen Warfel) intentions. Edith, with her homosexual "friend" George Gould Strong (Seth Golay), has been rehearsing a group of songs. Believing she is a singer with potential, Edith works on arias and shameless folk tunes. Like a mother who cannot stand to be usurped by her daughter, Edith alternately preens and screams at her daughter. Doug Wright's script may evince memories of Joan Crawford and Douglas Sirk's high-costume dramas; but working with real people, he keeps the outrageous lines to a minimum. The audience never feels it is a voyeur's companion.
The second half opens in 1973 as Grey Gardens (the house) has slipped into the Twilight Zone. The outside looks rundown (nicely, before the show begins and throughout intermission there are recorded meows of cats; evidently, the Beales collected more than fifty); the interior revolves from Edith's messy bedroom to stairways leading to nowhere, and most differently from the first half, both mother and daughter speak directly to the audience. We have slipped into the characters' consciousnesses. Wright performed this trick in his masterful monologue I Am My Own Wife, in which he took a similarly eccentric real individual (a German transvestite during World War II) and made a character out an enigma and back again.
The songs begin to stack up, and magically the audience is drawn further into Big and Little Edie's finely constructed lives, in which the past (Edith's singing, Edie's courtships) is interwoven with their present circumstances (they eat tuna from cans and live filthily). The conceit of the characters, primarily Little Edie, speaking to the audience is never commented upon; and the smooth way in which characters from their past drift in and out for musical numbers is one more way Wright and his collaborators make the true-life Beales' topsy-turvy world appear human. Though the Beales would be reality-TV fodder these days, a sense of formal nostalgia wafts through the musical, softening the documentary, without forgetting the strange circumstances that Jackie Kennedy's own family allowed these women to exist in their own urine. A radio broadcast at the beginning supposedly quotes the former first lady, when the women's existence was revealed, as saying "it is a private family matter."
The two lead actresses play their roles with relish, without ever tipping their hands. Breaking into song, muttering, reminiscing, possibly hallucinating, both Edith and Edie are the sorts of characters that Hollywood stars dig into with Oscar expectations. Yet, Warfel and Barnett seem less to act than inhabit their characters. Their goal is to convey the mystery and the sadness of these women who are stuck in an entangled past together, even when, quite movingly at the end, Little Edie attempts to break away and restart her own life.
The Unicorn's version, directed by Nedra Dixon, communicates the sadness and the strangeness of Edith and Edie Beale's years together, with the understanding that it need not be thoroughly dispiriting if one can sing about it. We can all use a bit more singing in our lives.
REVIEW
The Unicorn Theatre
Grey Gardens
Runs January 29 to February 28 (reviewed January 29, 2010)
The Unicorn Theatre
3828 Main Street, Kansas City MO
For tickets call 816-531-7529 or online at www.UnicornTheatre.org
Top photo: Cathy Barnett as "Little" Edie Beale. Photo by Cynthia Levin
Classical,
String theory
Imagine combining live theatre with a Baroque music concert and you have a good idea of Tafelmusik's presentation of The Galileo Project: Music of the Spheres at the Folly Theatre. With the concert constructed so that "music and science are both celebrated in a tribute to Galileo," it gives me the opportunity to address the concepts together without seeming like a total geek or going too far astray. The art-science juxtaposition was intriguing and surprisingly modern.
The concept of a "music of the spheres" is ancient, but after the 17th century, cosmology scholars began to acknowledge its absurdity. But it leaves one to ponder the irony of modern, and equally bizarre, cosmological oddities such as string theory - the idea that all matter is fundamentally composed of one-dimensional oscillating "strings" that require an 11-dimensional universe for viability. Bizarre scientific theories - now or four centuries ago - aside, Tafelmusik's lively show, up until the end, hit its mark, bringing to life the genius, persecution and eventual vindication of Galileo through a lively and multi-dimensional union of oscillating strings (plus three woodwinds) and eye-catching visual aides.
In this live-theatre experience, Tafelmusik presents the compositions as a character more so than the traditionally-aesthetic role that often is their sole raison d'etre in a normal concert setting. As narrator Shaun Smyth chronicles the life of Galileo in the context of his predecessors (Copernicus), contemporaries (Kepler) and followers (Isaac Newton), the orchestra opened with a tribute to "The Harmony of the Spheres" with works from Vivaldi (Concerto for 2 violins in A Major), Lully (music from Phaeton), and a general selection of "Music from the Time of Galileo," including works by Monteverdi, Merula, Galilei (yes, that Galilei), and Marini. Similarly, the orchestra members were themselves characters in the interplay, moving about the stage in animated fashion and several times some members left the stage to perform from the aisles. The latter provided a natural "surround-sound" effect that gave the already mesmerizing performance yet another spatial dimension. It was a clever device that gave a broader awareness of time and space, both musically and scientifically.
The second half opened with two short pieces by Purcell before moving into a musical tribute to the spheres themselves: Rameau's Entrée de Jupiter, Entrée de Venus, and Entrée de Mercure, Lully's Air Pour les Suivants de Saturne and ending with a whimsical folk tune, The Astronomical Drinking Song. The program closed as it opened, with another tribute to "The Harmony of the Spheres," featuring Bach's Choral Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern ("How brightly shines the morning star") and closing the program with his Sinfonia, BWV 29.
Because the event was as much theatre as concert, I had decided early that some of the very few intonation and note errors could be easily and graciously forgiven in the spirit of the moment. It was therefore so very unfortunate that the closing piece - the Sinfonia - was a near disaster. Violinist Aisslinn Nosky was wholly unimpressive in her horribly intonated and sloppy presentation of a lively and beloved Bach classic that should have put an enthusiastic exclamation point on what had been, up to that moment, a very enjoyable experience. It was shocking to hear that degree of poor technique and musicianship in a venue with as high a caliber as the Folly Theatre. Fortunately, with six other violinists, Tafelmusik presumably has some depth that it can fall back on to remedy such situations.
Having said that, it may come as a surprise that I would give the overall performance a passing grade, but it really was a fun adventure that challenged all the senses. The program was well conceived and the entertainers' lively stage presence was a crowd pleaser. And besides, according to string theory, of the ten simultaneous performances that occurred in the other dimensions, at least a few of them would have had a perfect performance of the Bach Sinfonia. If it's OK with you, I'll just make believe I heard that one...
REVIEW:
The Friends of Chamber Music
Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra
The Galileo Project: Music of the Spheres
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Folly Theatre
300 West 12th Street, Kansas City, MO
For tickets call 816-561-9999 or online at www.chambermusic.org
Theatre ,
Samuel Clemens 'marking twain' at the Coterie
Kansas City has premiered some excellent, locally inspired plays and operas in the past few years. UMKC premiered Quindaro to rave reviews, KU composer Forrest Pierce's operatic adaptation of the the William Inge play Picnic, was delightful and the Coterie Theatre's new musical production of Mark Twain's Life on the Mississippi is destined to be a hit.
The original script by Douglas M. Parker, introduces the young Samuel Clemens as he learns to pilot a steamboat. Through his apprenticeship to Horace Bixby, we watch the whimsical Sam grow into a competent man and excellent listener. The Mississippi river becomes not only a metaphor for the constant change of life but the conduit through which his stories eventually flow.
The set for this production spanned the length of the intimate stage. Designed by UMKC graduate student Megan Catherine Gross, it still had the authentic smell of freshly cut pine planks. The pilot house, which spins to afford different perspectives, had all the curvy charm of a Victorian veranda.
If I were a casting director looking for fresh-faced, "earnestish" young men, I would look no further than the Coterie cast. Price Messick made an outstanding Sam Clemens, an adventurous young man looking to find his way in the world. He captures the wise guy but tempers him with good humor and heart. His close connection to his family via his little brother Henry, played to perfection by KC Comeaux, grounds the play as it floats over the river. When I started to fall in love with them, I knew I was in for big trouble (No spoilers).
The comic Steven Eubank gave his characters, Joe, Crewman and Abner Reese, a bright energy that lit up the stage. One of the highlights of the show is his song, "Duke Joseph," where he tries to convince Sam that he has descended from royalty and tells a very tall tale. With characters like that, it's easy for the audience to see where Mark Twain got his inspiration.
The elder actors, Logan Ernstthal and Matthew Rapport offset the kinetic energy of the youngsters with solid gravity. Being a riverboat pilot takes focus and attention to detail. Ernstthal sporting a bushy black beard baits and jabs the eager cub pilot with the exasperation of a loving father. Rapport's character William Brown, on the other hand, sporting an unnaturally long beard, cuts him down and sets Sam up for failure.
Some of the best moments on stage happen when Katie Karel steps into the light in her luminous blue damask dress. She captivates the boys, but chooses Henry as her beau. The gleeful murder ballad, "Kill him again," reveals the trio in their purest, adolescent abandon.
The music, written and arranged by Denver Casado, was a mix of pop like inspirational songs and parlor-type tunes. "The Other Side of the River" had the poignancy of the well loved "Danny Boy." Sascha Groschang (cello) Daniel Doss (piano) and Ziva Patt-Rappaport (violin) made up the pit and superbly fleshed out the performance, enhancing the action with their expertise.
After the performance, the cast joined the audience to watch the Coterie's teen comedy troupe reenact the entire play as a spoof. I don't know when I've laughed so hard. Kansas City has talent to spare and I hope to have the pleasure of seeing this new crop of youngsters taking the stage someday soon.
As the Midwest continues to create new performance pieces based on our regional history, I hope that other theatres across the country will choose to produce them as well. Life on the Mississippi will be enjoyable to audiences everywhere.
REVIEW
The Coterie Theatre
Mark Twain's Life on the Mississippi
Book and lyrics by Douglas M. Parker
Music by Denver Casado
Runs January 26 to February 28 (Reviewed Friday, January 29)
Crown Center Lower Level
2450 Grand Blvd, Kansas City, MO
For tickets call 816-474-6552 or online at www.coterietheatre.org
Top photo: Sam Clemens (Price Messick) with Bixby (Logan Ernstthal). Photos by J. Robert Schraeder.
Local Arts News,
ArtsKC Fund Campaign
The Arts Council of Metropolitan Kansas City launched its 2010 ArtsKC Fund Campaign on February 1. This year marks the fourth annual campaign for the ArtsKC Fund which benefits more than 100 arts organizations, arts programs and artists combined in the Kansas City metropolitan area.
The ArtsKC Fund is a united arts fund in the Kansas City metropolitan area that raises new money to support the wide range of arts in the community. Diane Barker of Paul Mesner Puppets, a 2009 Grant Recipient, remarks, "The addition of the ArtsKC Fund grant makes a huge difference in our ability to continue to bring quality programming to the children and families of the greater Kansas City area."
Launched in the spring of 2007 with a beta-test workplace giving campaign in 34 metro-area companies, the ArtsKC Fund has grown to more than 65 workplace giving companies. In addition, The ArtsKC Fund raises corporate, municipal and individual donations, to create a diversified source of stable funding for the broader arts community. In only three years, the ArtsKC Fund has granted out $1.3 million to the arts in metropolitan Kansas City.
The goal for the 2010 campaign is $470,000 which is a 6% increase from last year's campaign total. Harlan Brownlee, President and CEO of the Arts Council, reflected upon the 2010 goal. "This year again will be a challenging year for the ArtsKC Fund, but we recognize the real need and importance to our community of establishing a source of funding that helps stabilize and sustain the arts in our region.
Companies interested in participating in the 2010 ArtsKC Fund Workplace Giving Campaign can join now through May by contacting the Arts Council office at 816-221-1777 or Albers@ArtsKC.org. Individuals can make a tax-deductible investment in the ArtsKC Fund by going to the web site at www.ArtsKC.org.
City Classics,
Music and Dance through February 10
Civic Opera Theater of Kansas City
Mozart: A Biography in Music
Friday, February 5 at 8 p.m.
Hemingway Gallery
103 West 19th St., Kansas City, MO
Sunday, February 7 at 2 p.m.
Church of the Resurrection
13720 Roe Blvd., Leawood, KS
For more information call 816-235-6222 or online at www.kccivicopera.org (tickets not available online)
This weekend the Civic Opera Theatre presents a concert of Mozart selections at both a downtown and a suburban location. The concert will present Mozart's life, his letters, and his music through script readings as well as operatic excerpts. This program is being produced with the permission of LyricFest, a major presenter of recitals in Philadelphia. The script is written by Suzanne DuPlantis. Among the featured singers are Kansas City favorites David Adams (also the producing general director of the Civic Opera), Un Chong Yi Christopher, Chad Flynn, Sarah Tannehill, Nathan Johnson, Diane Robertson and Sylvia Stoner.
Lied Center at KU
Pilobolus Dance Theatre
Friday, February 5 at 7:30 p.m.
Lied Center at The University of Kansas
1600 Stewart Drive, Lawrence, KS
For tickets call 785-864-2787 or online at www.lied.ku.edu
Begun in 1971, the Pilobolus Dance Theatre of Connecticut has become known for its athletic and innovative dance interpretations. Known for its "high-flying antics," according to The New York Times, the company is known for its dances that are developed collectively. They typically involve gymnastics, a unique weight-sharing approach to partnering, group structures, mime, showmanship, and overt and implied humor. At the Lied Center, Pilobolus will perform a program in six pieces, including Redline, Gnomen, Walklyndon, Rushes and the world premiere of Hitched.
UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance
Conservatory Orchestra Concert
Friday, February 5 at 7:30 p.m.
White Recital Hall
4949 Cherry, Kansas City, MO
For tickets call 816-235-6222 or online at www.umkc.edu/conservatory
Conductor Robert Olson will present the talented young musicians of the Conservatory Orchestra from the UMKC Conservatory in a program of Beethoven's Leonore Overture No. 3 from his opera Fidelio, along with Prokofiev's monumental Symphony No. 5 and Samuel Barber's interesting 20th century work Medea's Meditation and Dance of Vengeance. As always, these are challenging works, but the outstanding Conservatory musicians led by the talented Robert Olson always seem up to the task. The Prokofiev and Barber have not been heard in these parts for some time, at least according to this writer's memory.
William Baker Festival Singers
Friday, February 5 at 8 p.m.
Pine Ridge Presbyterian Church
7600 N.W. Barry Road, Kansas City, MO
Sunday, February 7 at 2 p.m.
Unitarian Fellowship Church of Lawrence
1263 North 1100 Road, Lawrence, KS
The Kansas City concert is free but with donations collected for a local charity helping the homeless.
For the Lawrence concert, purchase tickets at the door. For more information visit www.festivalsingers.org
The William Baker Festival Singers, an a capella singing group, will perform twice this weekend, in Kansas City and in Lawrence. No information is available about the program for these concerts.
City in Motion Dance
A Modern Night at the Folly: A Choreographer's Showcase
Saturday, February 6 at 8 p.m.
Folly Theater
300 West 12th St., Kansas City, MO
For tickets call 816 474-4444 or 816-931-3330
This writer has found the City in Motion Dance company's annual Choreographer's Showcase at the Folly Theater to be one of the most enjoyable dance evenings in Kansas City. This performance is the seventh annual event and is Kansas City's only adjudicated showcase. It will feature ten of the area's most talented choreographers. Included among the works performed are Michelle Brown, Jeff Curtis, Penelope Hearne, Maura Michelle Garcia, Jane Gotch, Jennifer Owen, Lindsay Pierce, Suzanne Ryan Strati, Patrick Suzeau, and Paula Weber. All should present outstanding creations, but this viewer is especially looking forward to the work of Jennifer Owen of the Owen Cox Dance Group, Michelle Brown of Kacico Dance, and Paula Weber of the UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance faculty.
Venue Visitation
Quink Vocal Ensemble
Saturday, February 6, at 8 p.m.
Visitation Church
5141 Main Street, Kansas City, MO
For tickets call (816) 235-6222 or online at www.umkc.edu/cto
Since the Quink Vocal Ensemble's debut in 1978, this remarkable Dutch group has performed on prestigious concert series around the world. Consisting of five singers, the group has developed a unique sound for a cappella music ensembles. Its repertoire varies from music of the Renaissance and Baroque eras to works by Romantic composers. The ensemble often performs folk song and close harmony arrangements and it concludes its performances with lighter arrangements. In 1983, Quink received its first international recognition when the group was named finalist in a major European music competition. Since then the group has become a frequent guest at music festivals all over the world, and tours the United States twice a year. The group's extensive discography ranges from Renaissance and British madrigals to the works of Rossini and Britten. To this reviewer's knowledge this concert represents the group's debut in Kansas City. The program for the concert has not yet been announced.
Community of Christ Church
Super Bowl Sunday Concert
Jan Kraybill, organist
Sunday, February 7 at 3 p.m.
Community of Christ Church
201 South River Street, Independence, MO
Admission is free. For more information visit www.cofchrist.org/dome_spire/calendar.asp#SuperBowlXI
For the past ten years, Jan Kraybill, the talented organist for the Community of Christ Church in Independence, has been offering a free organ concert on Super Bowl Sunday for those whose leanings are not toward football, or for football fans wishing to enjoy an afternoon of fine organ music before settling in for the game. This year Kraybill's program will range from the early music of Bach and Buxtehude to the Romantic work of Saint-Saens to the 20th century compositions of Leo Sowerby and Noel Rawsthorne. Kraybill's outstanding playing on the superb Community of Christ Casavant organ is always a treat for the senses.
Park University Concert Series
Young International Center for Music Artists
ICM Chamber Orchestra
Sunday, February 7 at 3 p.m.
Park University
Graham Tyler Memorial Chapel
8700 N.W. River Park Drive, Parkville, MO
Tickets available at the door. More information online at www.park.edu/calendar/arts
Park University's International Center for Music, led by artistic director Stanislav Ioudenitch, features an outstanding faculty including Ben Sayevich, Martin Storey, Marina Sultanova and Kanako Ito, the Kansas City Symphony's concert mistress. This Sunday, Ito will direct a program featuring young artists from the Center along with the ICM Chamber Orchestra. The program has not been announced, but previous concerts in this series have proven a delight. Admission is $5 (free to Park University students, staff and faculty).
Local Arts News,
Theatre for Young America now accepting enrollments for 2010 Spring Drama Classes
Preschool through 12th graders wishing to study drama may enroll in classes at either Wonderscope Children's Museum of Kansas City or take classes at the Avila University campus, depending on their proximity to the site where classes are held and the day that would best fit a student's schedule.
Tuesday evening weekly classes begin January 26, 2010 at Wonderscope located at 5700 King in Shawnee, Kansas, and end April 13, 2010.
Saturday morning weekly classes will take place in the Goppert Theatre complex on the Avila University Campus located at 11901 Wornall Road, in Kansas City, Missouri. Spring semester classes at Avila begin on Saturday, January 30, 2010 and end April 17, 2010.
All preschool through 12th graders wishing to study drama are encouraged to enroll. Theatre for Young America is in its 33rd year of theater instruction and follows the model curriculum set out by the American Alliance for Theater and Education. Older students may also have the opportunity to audition for age-appropriate roles in professional Theatre for Young America productions from time to time. TYA is often called upon to recommend students for acting positions in other companies as well.
The eleven-week classes are $124.00 per semester. An additional 10% discount is offered to season ticket holders or to parents enrolling more than one child in a class. Installment payment arrangements are also available. Enrollments may be taken until February 22, 2010 if a class has not yet reached its capacity of 15 students per class. To enroll online go to www.tya.org or to enroll by telephone, call 816.460.2083.
Auditions,
Upcoming Auditions
THE BARN PLAYERS
Auditions for "Pippin"
Music & Lyrics by Stephen Schwartz
Book by Roger O. Hirson. Directed by Nathan Norcross. Musical Direction by Kevin Bogan. Choreography by Rachel Plante
AUDITIONS:
Saturday February 20th from 2:00 - 5:00 PM
Sunday February 21st from 1:00 - 4:00 PM
At St. Pius Church, 55th and Woodson, Mission, KS
The audition will consist of singing a 32 bar selection of a musical theatre song of your choice and learning/performing a short dance routine.
Please bring sheet Music or Accompaniment CD (no vocals) in your key - NO A CAPPELLA AUDITIONS...Headshot/Resume (if available) ...Comfortable, yet form-fitting clothing for dance audition.
Invited Callbacks will be held on Sunday February 1st from 4:00 - 10:00 pm. If you are auditioning, please make sure to clear your schedule Sunday evening, as callbacks are critical to putting together the strongest ensemble for this ensemble piece.
Rehearsals will likely begin the first week of March and the show opens April 16th.
For more information, please contact Eric Magnus, Artistic Director of The Barn Players, at emagnitude@yahoo.com or Director Nathan Norcross at nwn0104@gmail.com.
Local Arts News,
Harriman-Jewell announces 2010-11 season
The Harriman-Jewell Series has just announced its 46th season. The 16-event schedule begins on September 18, with the dynamic dance company, Trey McIntyre Project, and closes on May 5 and 6, 2011, with The Aluminum Show, a shining example of creative movement and theatrical innovation. All 2010-2011 performances will be held at the Folly Theater (12th and Central Sts.) in downtown Kansas City, Mo.
The Series continues its long held tradition of bringing the best performers in the world to Kansas City. Returning Series favorites include opera's beloved soprano Renée Fleming on October 9; six a cappella Brits, The King's Singers, in a holiday concert on December 11; violinist Joshua Bell on January 22, 2011; the profound and poetic pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet on January 28, 2011; Kansas City's world-famous mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato on February 13, 2011; the ever-thrilling chamber orchestra I Musici de Montréal on April 8, 2011; and the Russian National Ballet Theatre performing the love-story ballet Romeo and Juliet on April 30, 2011.
The Harriman-Jewell Series offers three free Discovery concerts in the new season: British violinist Chloë Hanslip will play on October 15, Italian-born pianist Alessio Bax will perform on November 20, and Russian-born pianist Natasha Paremski will appear on March 21, 2011. In an effort to make artistry more accessible, the "new artists for new audiences" Discovery concerts are free to the public.
Of the 16 performances next season, several are Kansas City debuts including Houston Ballet II in a program that includes the third act of the classic ballet Raymonda and Stanton Welch's The Long and Winding Road on October 30; a duo recital by cellist Gautier Capuçon and pianist Gabriela Montero on November 5; the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra as part of its first American tour on February 25, 2011; and tenor Stephen Costello in his American recital debut on March 5, 2011.
The new season's events are on sale now in the form of two six-event packages or a "Complete Series" option, which includes the 12-subscription performances and advance tickets to the three Discovery concerts. All who order event packages by April 1, 2010, also will receive complimentary tickets to The Aluminum Show on May 5, 2011. (Single-event tickets will be available for purchase beginning on August 10.)
More than 850 performances have come to Kansas City by way of the Harriman-Jewell Series-including 19 American recital debuts by prominent vocalists and instrumentalists. The cumulative impact and enduring quality of its programming has earned the Series recognition as a premier contributor to the region's cultural landscape.
For more information call 816-415-5025 or visit www.harriman-jewell.org
Off the Vine, Jazz,
Jammin at the Gem
JAMMIN at the GEM SERIES
Women in Jazz Celebration featuring Oleta Adams
Saturday, March 20 at 8:00 p.m.
Each year the American Jazz Museum pays tribute to Women in Jazz, past and present, through a combination of live performances and education programs. This year's show will feature a longtime resident of Kansas City: Grammy-nominated vocalist/pianist Oleta Adams. Throughout her career, she has inspired a growing legion of fans in the U.S. and Europe with a sound that draws deeply from her gospel roots and crosses over into jazz, soul and R&B.
The Clayton Brothers Quintet
Saturday, April 17 at 8:00 p.m.
Celebrate Jazz Appreciation Month, family-style. Led by brothers John & Jeff Clayton [bass and alto sax], this group's blend of blues, bop, ballads and swing embody all there is to love about jazz.
Tribute to Duke Ellington
Saturday, April 29-30, 8:00 p.m.
This celebration of one of the most important, prolific, and highly revered American composers includes the following activities over two days of live music, education and outreach:
- A day-long educational symposium and master classes for middle school, high school and collegiate level students, including a panel discussion with Ellington specialist, trumpeter and arranger Barrie Hall and NEA Jazz Masters Clark Terry and Dan Morgenstern;
- An Ellington exhibit of photos and artifacts, and the unveiling of a new Ellington bust by Sacramento-based artist Howard Lazar;
- A public outreach presentation on Ellington by renowned jazz scholar and NEA Jazz Master Dan Morgenstern;
- A showcase performance of Ellington music featuring invited student ensembles and a specially formed professional Kansas City All-Star Ellington Orchestra.
NEA Jazz Master Clark Terry, an iconic trumpeter and veteran of Duke Ellington's bands, will also be presented with the American Jazz Museum Lifetime Achievement Award. Tribute concert will be held on Saturday, April 30, 2010.
*The Duke Ellington Tribute is supported by NEA Jazz Masters Live, an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest. For more information on this initiative, visit www.nea.gov/national/jazz.
Bobby Watson and the 18th & Vine Big Band w/Ernie Andrews
Saturday, May 8 at 8:00 p.m.
Closing out the season "KC-style" is our town's very own 18th & Vine Big Band, led by Palmetto Recording Artist, renowned saxophonist and UMKC Director of Jazz Studies Bobby Watson. The Big Band, which features a rotating cast of some of Kansas City's best jazz musicians, will be augmented by the rich, bluesy baritone of special guest vocalist Ernie Andrews.
For tickets to any of these performances call 816-474-6262 or online at www.ticketmaster.com
Gem Theatre
1616 E. 18th St., Kansas City, MO
For information call 816.474.8463 or online at info@kcjazz.org
Local Arts News,
Kansas Arts Commission awards 1.6 million in grants
The Kansas Arts Commission has awarded 298 organizations, communities and artists throughout the state with grants and awards totaling $1,650,536 during Fiscal Year 2010.
These grants recognize the widespread, grassroots nature of Kansas arts. Kansans lead the country in artistic creation, according to a National Endowment for the Arts comprehensive study of nationwide arts participation.
Funds were awarded through the following KAC programs:
American Masterpieces Kansas
Arts-in-Communities Project Grants
Arts-in-Communities Project Mini-Grant Program
Arts-in-Education Grant Programs
Kansas Artist Fellowships (Kansas Master Fellowships, Kansas Mid-Career Fellowships and Kansas Emerging Artists Awards)
Kansas Arts Jobs Program (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 through the National Endowment for the Arts)
Kansas Arts on Tour Presenters Program
Operational Support for Arts and Cultural Organizations
Partnership Agreements
A complete listing of individuals and organizations that received funding can be downloaded from the KAC website at http://arts.ks.gov/news_releases/2010/kac_grants_county.pdf.
Due to budget cuts affecting all state agencies, some grantees may only receive 80 percent of requested funds. Determination of final grant amounts will be made once the current legislative session has ended.
"The Kansas Arts Commission impacts nearly every community in Kansas through grants and by providing business development educational opportunities to local organizations, artists, schools and community organizations," said Llewellyn Crain, executive director. "Results from the recent NEA study indicate that Kansas leads the way in artistic creation, and the KAC is proud to provide Kansans throughout the state with access to exciting, engaging and educational arts programming.
"In addition, the arts are an important economic driver," said Crain. "For every dollar invested in the arts in Kansas, nine dollars are generated, contributing to local economies and government revenue."
The complete National Endowment for the Arts study of nationwide arts participation can be downloaded at http://www.nea.gov/research/ResearchReports_chrono.html. Research notes on State and Regional differences in Arts Participation, can be downloaded at http://www.nea.gov/research/ResearchNotes_chrono.html
The Kansas Arts Commission is a state agency, funded by the State of Kansas and the National Endowment for the Arts, dedicated to promoting and supporting the arts in Kansas. Its mission is to provide opportunities for the people of Kansas to experience, celebrate and value the arts throughout their lives. For more information on the Kansas Arts Commission, please visit the KAC website at http://arts.ks.gov.
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