Colorado Springs Artsblog

SEE US AT A NEW ADDRESS!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Warren Epstein) — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 19:52:00 +0000

The Gazette Arts Blog now is at
http://csartsblog.freedomblogging.com/

Come Celebrate With Us on August 8!

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Arnest) — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 18:11:00 +0000

August 11 will be my last day at the Gazette. The next day I'll begin a new job as director of communications for the Colorado Springs Philharmonic - and because I have so many incriminating photos of Warren, he's agreed to host a public going-away party on Friday, August 8.

Where and when? For the moment those details must remain veiled in mystery, but it will be downtownish, and after-workish.

When I get a moment, I'll write more about the change. Right now I just want to thank all those who have supported and challenged me through 15 years as the Gazette's arts writer. It's been an amazingly interesting and stimulating job, with a wonderful group of co-workers.

LIVE ARTS BLOG ABOUT THE STATE OF THE ARTS SCENE

noreply@blogger.com (Warren Epstein) — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 21:26:00 +0000

This link, then scroll down the page a bit.

Youth rep's "Working" sets a new standard

noreply@blogger.com (Warren Epstein) — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 19:31:00 +0000

I shook my head.

The crowd that came out for the Youth Rep production of "Working" at the FAC this weekend was mostly parents of the performers.

Shame on me for not making a bigger deal of these shows in our GO! magazine. This wasn't just some glorified high school show. The musical performances in "Working" were among the finest performances I saw on this stage all year.

Let me be clear here. I'm not saying these were the best "youth" performances I'd see here. They were among the best of any kind!

When Alexandria Cambell belted out her "Loving Al" ode to valet parkers, I figured that was it. She was the big standout this year. There's always one or two.

But then Sara Barad came on and did her way-too-authentic-for-her-years torch song to the nightclub singer, while she played along. Then Carmen Vreeman gave her lament about "Milwork," with a passionate rendition that could teach James Taylor a thing or two. Then Brendan Kane gave a monologue about retirement that, again, was so authentic, it was stunning. Then Mary Earle showed that sheer charisma and verve can raise a waitress to staggering heights. The show-stoppers went on and on.

What the heck do these kids know about working for a living? I don't know. But darned if they didn't sell this very difficult show.

You should have been there.

The next day, I wondered about these exceptional kids. Some of them, no doubt, will "make it." Unfortunately, to find their fame and fortune, they'll have to go far from the Springs, taking with them our greatest assets.

Let's hope they remember to write.

"Singing With the Stars" post-mortem

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Arnest) — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 16:19:00 +0000

Everybody I talked to - including me - was thrilled with Jessica Gisin and Halee Towne winning the Colorado Festival of World Theatre's "Singing With the Stars" competition. (The story in Sunday's paper, alas, isn't online.) They were fantastic, and I can't wait to see what they do in September's My Favorite Things.

But everybody I talked to from the theater community - including me - was flabbergasted that Amy Sue Hardy didn't make the finals. To my ears her performance was the best of the semi-finals, closely followed by Towne's.

What happened?

One issue was the ballot: Any time you're picking a bunch of people - in this case, the audience members got to vote for six of the 12 semi-finalists - the voting will be skewed, because it doesn't reflect actual commitment. Your vote for your sixth-favorite performer counts just as much as your vote for your favorite performer. The result is that a performer who everybody thinks is okay will show up on more ballots than a performer who polarizes the audience - one whom most people love but a few people hate.

(I learned about this effect a few years ago when I was on the theater jury for Pikes Peak Arts Council awards. One year we nearly gave the Best Actress award to someone whom none of the judges thought had actually had the best year. But we could vote for three, and we all thought she'd had the third-best year, even though we didn't agree on who we liked more. Fortunately, we figured out what was going on in time to re-vote.)

(And no, I don't remember who it was.)

So Amy Sue must have been one of those polarizing performers, and I think the reason lay mostly with the song she chose: "The Sun and I" from "Hot Mikado."

It was a jaw-droppingly virtuoso performance of a virtuoso vehicle, topped off by a two-octave pianissimo upwards glissando. Vocally, none of the other semi-finalists showed as much range of tone, dynamics or expression - not even Towne, whose "The Girl in 14-G" is a tour-de-force.

But Ko-Ko, the character who sings this song in Act 2 of "Hot Mikado," is a self-engrossed young woman, and it's difficult to empathize with the self-engrossed. It works within the show because we've already learned how naive and charming Ko-Ko is, and who can blame someone who's young and beautiful for thinking she's the cat's pajamas? But without this context, "The Sun and I" comes off like a hymn to narcissism, and the virtuosity, instead of a young woman reveling in her powers, can seem like mere showing off.

This must be the impression some of the audience members got on Saturday: A glamorous woman, the best-known contestant, past winner of every prize Colorado Springs has to offer, comes out and sings a song that basically says, "look at me, I'm wonderful." Is that the classic stuck-up diva, or what? Everybody who knows Amy Sue - even barely, like me - knows how poorly that image describes her, but it's no surprise that some of the audience members didn't take to her.

First Concert in Cornerstone

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Arnest) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 23:23:00 +0000

Belated ruminations on the June 16 opening concert at Colorado College’s Edith Kinney Gaylord Cornerstone Arts Center...

Barber’s Knoxville Summer of 1915: Soprano Tony Arnold filled in admirably on short notice for an indisposed Measha Brueggesman. The student orchestra sounded radiant, and conductor Scott Yoo’s pacing was perfect. I don’t expect ever to hear a more moving performance of this exquisitely nostalgic score.

Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9: I had some trepidation going in. I’d heard Yoo conduct Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 a few years back, and it was everything I dislike about modern Beethoven conducting, with all suppleness, tenderness and expressive weight sacrificed to speed and nervous energy. (It was exciting!) But there were only echoes of this approach in the 9^th Symphony, mostly in the first movement, during which the relentless forward momentum became tiresome. Otherwise, Yoo’s interpretation was brilliant, and in the adagio, revelatory.

Beethoven was the first composer to make extensive use of the metronome – a device for giving exact tempos in beats per minute in contrast to the old generalized tempos of allegro, andante, etc. But many of his markings are controversial – and none more so than his marking for this movement. At quarter-note equals sixty beats a minute, it’s quite brisk for a piece marked adagio molto y cantabile, and he curiously gives the same metronome mark a page later when the tempo designation of andante moderato suggests something considerably faster. The most probable explanation is that Beethoven wanted the pulse to be a half-note in the opening section, but a quarter-note in the andante.

But the second-most probable explanation is that Beethoven muffed the initial metronome mark. And so, until a couple of decades ago, conductors routinely ignored it. For instance, the legendary 1942 broadcast with Furtwangler and the Berlin Philharmonic has an opening tempo of a little less than half what Beethoven specified – about 58 beats per eighth-note - and lasts a tad over 20 minutes.

The problem with Beethoven’s metronome mark generally arises about two-thirds of the way through the movement, where the music returns to B-flat and the time signature changes to 12/8. At the faster tempo, the first violin part - first in 16^th-notes and then in 16^th-note triplets – tends to sound unnervingly etude-like. Yoo solved the problem by putting in practice an idea suggested by musicologist Richard Taruskin years ago (though Yoo is smart enough to have thought of it on his own): He had the violins play pianissimo, underneath the hymn-like theme in the woodwinds. Instead of an etude, the violin line became a joyful commentary.

Yoo didn’t convince me that the faster tempo is better. With music this beautiful, I’d prefer to prolong the experience, at least when musicians can sustain the line like Furtwangler and the BPO could. But unlike other performances I’ve heard at this tempo, this one worked, and worked marvelously.

Unlike the first and third movements, Yoo’s approach to the second and fourth movements was more traditional – or rather, the traditional tempos of these movements differ little from Beethoven’s metronome markings. The weakest movement was the famous finale. Yoo’s architectural grasp deserted him midway through, and the movement became sectional – a series of scenes rather than an integrated whole.

But all in all it was an amazing experience to hear how well this epic symphony worked with the Colorado College Summer Music Festival's pared-down forces. The Colorado Vocal Arts Ensemble performed the difficult chorus part near-perfectly, and mezzo soprano Shannon McGee and bass Ashraf Sewailam led the strong quartet of vocal soloists. The student performers, nearly all of whom were playing their first Beethoven 9^th, held nothing back, with especially stellar work from the woodwind players.

The tunable hall sounded great, though I’ll have to hear some other performances before commenting.

Youth rep gains great rep

noreply@blogger.com (Warren Epstein) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 14:00:00 +0000

I saw the Youth Rep's production of "You Can't Take It With You," Thursday night and it was delightful.

These are high school kids, but these are hardly high school productions. (The production is running in rep with the musical "Working.")

Cory Moosman directed this Pulitzer Prize-winning comedy about an eccentric, embarrassing family and what happens when a daughter's boyfriend brings his parents for a visit.

We've all been there.

Several of the actors showed the kind of promise that suggests serious acting careers await them.

Among them: Patrick Yukman, who gave me a serious case of the yuks. He played the grandpa, a man who has found joy in amusement by dropping out of society. This kid knows how to wield a one-liner like nobody's business. I also loved Katy Williams as the loopy mom, who jumps from painting to writing novels and back again in a constant effort to amuse herself.

But even the kids who weren't quite on that level managed to find moments where they could shine and do something special.

It's a show worth seeing, even if you don't have a kid in the cast.

I hope to see "Working" on Sunday. For details about the shows, check out the GO! section.

Don't miss our State of the Arts section and live blog

noreply@blogger.com (Warren Epstein) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 13:59:00 +0000

We have a special section coming out Sunday and a live blog with some key arts members at 2 p.m. Monday.

See gazette.com for details.

Cornerstone Theater Acoustics

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Arnest) — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 18:01:00 +0000

A story in today's Go! section mentions the electroacoustically tuneable acoustics in Colorado College's new Cornerstone Theater. Here's more about the system - called the Constellation system - from its manufacturer, Meyer Sound.

And here's a review from somebody who's actually experienced the system.

Fascinating stuff. I can't wait to hear Monday's concert and get a first impression.

"Playboy of the Western World" and "Rabbit Hole"

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Arnest) — Fri, 02 May 2008 17:35:00 +0000

This is the last weekend for TheatreWorks' student production of Playboy of the Western World - and it's well worth your time to see it.

First, J. M. Synge's 1907 play is much more than an historical curiosity. Though it no longer inspires riots as its premier did, its depiction of rural Irish life - and by extension, human nature - is still bitterly, riotously funny. And the language has a lyric beauty that's all but vanished from the world. (For reasons Synge explains in his preface to the play.)

Second, it's one of the finest student productions I've seen at TheatreWorks, with clear direction from Laura Tesman, a gorgeous Roy Ballard set, and some thrilling fights choreographed by Gene Gillette. Colin Gregory shows tremendous skill range as Christy - the mysterious stranger who's lionized in a small Irish town for having murdered his father.

Synge's play twists and turns as it explores mob mentality. The final master-stroke is both the crowning absurdity and the gateway into the play's profound ending.

Meanwhile, this is also the final weekend for the Star Bar Players' excellent production of Rabbit Hole. Playboy is upstairs in the Dusty Loo Bon Vivant Theater; Rabbit Hole is downstairs at the Osborne Studio Theater.

If you could only attend one, I'd recommend Rabbit Hole. Its cast is more skillful and more experienced, with a performance by Steve Emily as Howie that's not likely to be bettered this year. David Lindsay-Abaire's tale of a family's reaction to the death of their child isn't likely to age as well as Synge's masterpiece, but it's still an extraordinary script in which every line and every reaction rings true.

So what accounts for the disparity in attendance between the two productions? On Thursday night, Playboy was absolutely full; when I saw Rabbit Hole on opening night, a smaller house was about two-thirds full. Is this simply a result of TheatreWorks's superior marketing and larger subscriber base? Really cheap tickets for Playboy? The fact that it has a large student cast, all of whom have numerous friends? The arguably off-putting subject matter of Rabbit Hole?

I am, as usual, mystified.

The Star Bar Players present Rabbit Hole
When: 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday
Where: Osborne Studio Theater, UCCS, 3955 Cragwood Drive
Tickets: $15/$12 seniors, military and students; 573-7411 or starbarplayers.org

TheatreWorks presents The Playboy of the Western World
When: 7:30 p.m. today, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday
Where: Dusty Loo Bon Vivant Theater, 3955 Cragwood Drive,
Tickets: $10; 262-3232 or theatreworkscs.org

New Directions in Theater

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Arnest) — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 21:27:00 +0000

Two recent shows show theater taking some encouraging new directions in the Pikes Peak region.

The first was Rebecca Buric's "Signature" at the Manitou Art Theater. Virtuoso one-person shows are nothing new at this venue; neither are new shows created by MAT producers Birgitta De Pree and Jim Jackson.

But "Signature" was developed at the MAT with Buric, a Boulder-based actress. Last year she auditioned for the annual "10 Minutes Max" show with a short monologue that impressed Jim and Birgitta so much that they (1) put "Signature" on their season calendar, and (2) then worked with Buric to turn her monologue into a full-length show.

(Jim and Birgitta are firm believers in the "schedule it and it will come" school of creation.)

"It was so satisfying," Birgitta told me. "She's an extraordinary actress, but she had no experience creating her own work."

The result was a powerful and heartbreaking piece of theater. As Aida, a young mother and victim of the Serbo-Croatian War, Buric wove together the story of Aida's last moments with old family tales, creating a marvelous sense of color, texture and place. By the end, I felt I'd been on a journey that was as much physical as it was emotional.

I doubt that Jim and Birgitta could turn my life into such riveting theater: In addition to having a story to tell, Buric is a sensational actress, with a winsome manner and a lithe, expressive body. (Aida imitating an old lady was just one of many great touches.) Though Buric played only one character, her focus was so intense that you began to see the people she was talking to.

And last week, at the 40 Thieves Hookah Lounge. Moody Mystery Theatre made its debut with a new adaptation "Alice in Wonderland."

Though the venue made even the MAT seem opulent - were some of the actors making their entrance from the restroom, or was the smoke just making me light-headed? - and piece was as raw as "Signature" was polished, this imaginative production was further cause for hope. The adaptation by director Cyndi Parr and Tammy Smith was very free with the story's details: For instance, there were three Alices, representing different aspects of her personality. But it stayed true to Lewis Carroll's spirit, especially the part of the Lewis Carroll that loved bad puns and general absurdity.

But what was most gratifying to a fogey like me was the cast and the audience. Except for veteran Danine Schell as the White Queen, this was theater of, by, and for young adults. And everything was marked by a spirit of experimentation and collaboration, with belly dancers - including the amazing Frank Farinaro - tango dancers, and drummers. In short, it was a fun, unpretentious evening of theater - just, I hope, the first of many from Moody Mystery Theatre.

Yuja Wang and Rebecca Buric

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Arnest) — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 16:54:00 +0000

If you're reading this criminally undermaintained blog on a dreary Sunday morning, here are two hot tips for today's performing arts:

Yuja Wang, who appears with the Colorado Springs Philharmonic this afternoon at 2:30, is simply one of the most musical and technically brilliant pianists I've ever heard. I'd be there again, if I could.

Full review here.

But I can't, partly because I've had two friends call me to say how amazing Rebecca Buric's "Signature" is. Her last performance of this one-person show about war in the Balkans is today at 2 p.m. at the Manitou Art Theatre.

(I know what you're thinking - "He's a critic. He can't possibly have two friends.")

Kudos to 'Carmen'

noreply@blogger.com (Warren Epstein) — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 00:30:00 +0000

I took my 15-year-old skateboarding baskeball-playing son to see the last show of "Carmen" on Sunday.

It was his first opera, and he really liked it.

Of course, casting Jennifer De-Dominici in the title role helped. She's amazingly hot -- and she wonderfully captured the spirit of the fiery gypsy.

I've been impressed with how far the Opera Theatre of the Rockies has come. "Carmen" was a production worthy of a Central City.

Caveman and vaudevillians

noreply@blogger.com (Warren Epstein) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 16:43:00 +0000

My wife and I saw the one-man show "Defending the Caveman" at the FAC this weekend.

What a fun date night. Cody Lyman did a great job in what is essentially a stand-up routine about the battle of the sexes. We laughed all the way through it. But it kinda bugs me that this isn't Cody's piece. It was Rob Becker's. It's been preserved like a museum piece and farmed out to various actors.

It had me longing for something fresh. I felt the same way after seeing TheatreWorks' "Blithe Spirit" last weekend. Wonderfully talented cast. But some Noel Coward has gotten tired. Again, some fine laughs. But ....

Then, last Saturday, I found something fresh: "10 Minutes Max" at the MAT. The sixth annual outing of this vaudeville show based on short bits was the best ever. The comedy, the dancing, the magic ... there wasn't a weak link here.

I especially loved actress Ashley Crockett's poetic monologue, "Hair" about her relationship with her hair from the time when she was a kid to when she lost her locks to cancer.

But it was the enormously versatile Emily Keller as the ticket girl who pulls a Lucy and tries to sneak into the show who ended up stealing it.

House concert recap

noreply@blogger.com (Warren Epstein) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 16:07:00 +0000

Gazette columnist Barry Noreen caught his first house concert last night. Here are a few of his thoughts:

Patty Larkin was well received Sunday night as she gamely performed while suffering from a bad cold. Because of that she did only one long set and there was not the customary intermission. Her cold robbed her of a few high notes but did not hurt her performance on some songs, such as "Johnny was a Pyro," which is done in sort of a talking style anyhow. She did a really nice job on "Mary Magdalene" and I would say that her guitar work has matured a bit since we saw her 7 or 8 years ago.

"Our House" at the Denver Center

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Arnest) — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 04:09:00 +0000

The 3rd annual Colorado New Play Summit began tonight with "Our House," Theresa Rebeck's dramady about the increasingly thin line between news and entertainment on television.

The first hour of this new 90-minute play is excellent. The characters, who range from relatively unlikable to cringe-inducingly loathsome, are memorable and sharply drawn - including a cynical, profit-minded network head, a beautiful and ambitious news anchor, and four roommates with serious issues. Rebeck's dialogue sizzles. The characters often talk over one another, heightening the sense of realism. The situations are cleverly handled, especially a meeting of the roommates, which takes a reality-TV twist. As life imitated reality TV - pulling together some of the play's most important threads - it looked as though "Our House" might be a great contemporary play.

But as is often the case in real life, everything went awry with a gunshot. With Jennifer, the news anchor, on the scene to cover a hostage situation, Merv, the passive-aggressive TV-addict, suddenly begins spouting articulate criticisms of the medium.

It's not bad dialogue at all, except that it doesn't even remotely sound like Merv. It sounds as though Rebeck - who's written extensively for television - really wanted to say some things about the medium, but lacked a character who could give them voice. The final few minutes are a grab-bag of interesting lines, spoken by whoever happens to be available. Even Wes, the virulently anti-intellectual network head, turns philosophical.

Rob Campbell as Merv and Kate Nowlin as Alice, the household antagonist whose hatred of Merv reduces her to incoherent stammering, deliver particularly strong performances. But as the writing falls off near the end, so does the acting, and several actors were reduced to mugging.

One decision by director Daniel Fish works so well that I'm surprised I've never seen it elsewhere: At times, two spaces spaces exist simultaneously on stage - for instance, Jennifer, in the TV studio, walks past Merv slumped in front of the TV in his house. It's wonderfully theatrical and prevents set changes from slowing the TV-like pace. Of course, it's only possible because Andrew Lieberman's unfinished plywood set is completely non-naturalistic.

"Our House," which opened January 11 and closes Sunday, is the first of three world premiers on the Denver Center season. The New Play Summit continues Friday with two staged readings and a full production of "Plainsong," which runs through Feb. 23. Saturday will feature two more readings and a full production of "Lydia," which runs through March 1.

Kudos to the Denver Center Theatre Company and its artistic director, Kent Thompson, for making the commitment to new work. There's no way to know how a play is going to work until you see it, and to see your work for the first time in such a polished and thoughtful performance must be a playwright's dream.

Saturday in the FAC with "George"

noreply@blogger.com (Warren Epstein) — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 18:48:00 +0000

Another profound waste of talent at the FAC. Sure, the sets and staging are brilliant. Sure, the orchestra sounds great. Sure, the leads have strong voices.

But what a horrible, horrible show. Mark tells me Sondheim was working his way through a midlife crisis and searching for something original as the rest of Broadway was growing stale. The result was "Sunday in the Park With George," a musical about the artistic process.

Whatever the reason, he came up with a musical that's cold, dull and off-putting. I hear a lot of people have been leaving after the first act. They're lucky. It gets worse in Act II. I absolutely hated the artist schmooze reception scene.

The show gave me nobody to really care about. I suppose I had mild interest in Georges' girlfriend, Dot. But when she leaves George for the baker, it was a big so-what.

The cast is mostly fine, but there's one supporting player who just annoys the heck out of me.

Am I missing something? Are people loving this show?

FAC Modern gets weird

noreply@blogger.com (Warren Epstein) — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 20:46:00 +0000

Weird is good, especially for what had been a rather stodgy institution.

I checked out the new "Altered Spaces" show at the FAC Modern on Friday, and I wasn't blown away by it. I liked the artificial camping scene, with an interesting use of projection. But much of it, I felt I just didn't get.

I appreciate it more since I've seen the You Tube interviews with the artists. Check them out here:

Gwen Laine

http://www.csfineartscenter.org/2008/01/interview-with-altered-space-artist_8692.html

Matt Barton

http://www.csfineartscenter.org/2008/01/interview-with-altered-space-artist_29.html

Christina Marsh

http://www.csfineartscenter.org/2008/01/interview-with-altered-space-artist.html

The FAC folks also put together some beautiful wallpapers:

http://www.csfineartscenter.org/wallpaper.asp#altered

Here's a look at opening night (No. 117) from Springs Culture Cast:

http://springsculturecast.blogspot.com/

Bernhard comes loaded for bear (and Oprah)

noreply@blogger.com (Warren Epstein) — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 20:33:00 +0000

PHOTOS BY GOD'S GIFT TO THE CAMERA ... TOM KIMMELL

Sandra Bernhard strutted onto CC's Armstrong Hall stage Wednesday night, saying how happy she was to be here, in the shadow of NORAD, home of the Air Force Academy. She was thrilled about getting back to her conservative roots.

Of course, the sassy uber-liberal icon was here to take on the conservatives, spitting her playful venom at Rush Limbaugh, President Bush, Ann Coulter, Dick Cheney and others.

But what really blew me away was that she was the first white comedian I've ever heard take on liberal black icon Oprah Winfrey. She made fun of how Oprah, when campaigning for Obama in the South, developed more ghetto in her voice. Only Berhard could get away with mocking Oprah.

This free stand-up show, compliments of CC's IDEA program, would have been worth at least $60 a head. Berhard was hilarious, and her musical interludes were like Jack Black's ... done with a half-satirical tone, but displaying an intensity and commitment that shows she could tour on the stength of her music alone, if she wanted to.

Institutional Memory at the Fine Arts Center

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Arnest) — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 19:20:00 +0000

On balance, I view Michael De Marsche's tenure at the Fine Arts Center as a spectacular success. His achievement in getting the expansion built - and in getting such a wonderful expansion built - will be an enduring legacy.

But it's undeniable that in at least one area, he left the center immeasurably poorer than when he arrived in August 2003: Institutional memory. The creative staff turned over entirely during his tenure. Curator Cathy Wright went to the Albuquerque Museum, librarian Rod Dew was fired, performing arts director Sandra Womochil Bray left without explanation. (I've given up even trying to worm it out of her, but she's returned to the Colorado Springs School.) And that's just three names out of many.

Between them, Wright and Dew had about 50 years at the FAC. Bray wasn't at the center that long, but she'd been part of the local theater scene for at least two decades. In contrast, the new department heads are all from out of town, and have no long-standing connection either with the FAC or with the region's arts in general.

That's not entirely a bad thing, especially when you're dealing with an arts community that's accustomed to struggling. Sometimes it takes outsiders to break out of long-entrenched patterns.

But it leads to occasional gaffes. When interviewing curators Blake Milteer and Tariana Navas-Nieves about "Altered Space," both seemed unaware that edgy, contemporary installation art is nothing new at the FAC. This installation isn't as provocative, for instance, as the summer 2002 exhibit of Larry Kledzik's "Diet: The Butcher, The Baker, The Candlestick Maker," and Cory Mahler's "On Longing: The Physicality of Absence." just one of several contemporary exhibits brought in by then-curator of visual art Scott Snyder.

And when the center re-opened in August, nobody on the staff seemed aware that the Frederick R. Weisman collection, one of the re-opening's centerpieces, had been exhibited at the FAC in 1988 - albeit a smaller selection of work.

If there's a point to this rambling post, it's that the De Marsche era was a revolution, not an evolution - a change as great or greater than the gutting of the art school in the 1950s. The new director, when he or she arrives, will have what's as close to a clean slate as is possible in an organization of this size. It's an exhilarating but not entirely comforting thought.

I practically grew up in the Fine Arts Center. I often posed - usually for hands - for my father in his studio: Everything else he could paint effortlessly from memory. I fell into the pond in the courtyard, back when there was a pond; I was aghast at the gory wooden sculptures of the Crucifixion. (TV was a lot tamer then.) I loved the old FAC, but it's gone. Long live the new FAC.

Christo update

noreply@blogger.com (Warren Epstein) — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 21:01:00 +0000

Christo, Over The River, Project For Arkansas River, State of Colorado
Drawing 2007 35,2 x 38,7 cm (13-7/8" x 15-1/4”)
Pencil, pastel, charcoal, enamel paint and wax crayon.
Photo: Wolfgang Volz, ©Christo 2007

We ran a story a few days ago that the BLM has asked Christo and Jeanne Claude to submit some more info before they do their big environmental impact study.

Here's a response about that from the project director:

Mark:

Thanks for your interest, Mark. In answer to your question, no, this was not news to us. We met with BLM in December and they explained that they needed additional information before the EIS could get underway. We are in the process of gathering that additional information and plan to submit to BLM in the coming weeks. We have already taken this into account in our schedule and are still aiming for Over The River to be exhibited in a two-week period between mid-July and mid-August, 2012.

With regard to the report itself, we are pleased that BLM has released this. There is a significant amount of important analysis and information in the report and it will help inform the discussion and analysis during the EIS process. It is important to point out that this is preliminary information that will be thoroughly evaluated by the contractor that BLM selects to prepare the EIS. We look forward to getting that process underway and are committed to working with the local communities and the governmental agencies to address the issues and concerns and ensure that Over The River is a positive cultural and recreational experience for all involved.

Attached are 3 fact sheets on Over The River that you might find helpful when reporting on this. Thank you for your questions - providing accurate information to the public is a top priority for the OTR team. You may also address inquires to Steve Coffin or Megan Lane at GBSM, a communications firm we working with in Denver. Thanks again for your interest in Over The River.

Jonita Davenport

A Peek at "Album Amicorum"

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Arnest) — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 23:50:00 +0000

I was at the Business of Art Center yesterday to meet the new director, Patty Arnold (who seems very competent, btw - more about her later) and took a quick peek at "Album Amicorum: Gems of Friendship in a Frightened World," the international paper marbling show that opens Friday.

Briefly, it's stunning: Colorful, hypnotic, and enchanting.

The text hadn't been installed yet, but its absence only highlighted what an international medium marbling is. It was rare that you could tell whether the artist was American, German, Japanese, or Turkish.

Marbling is also a gentle reminder that abstraction is nothing new or necessarily modern in art. Artists have been fascinated by the swirling, repetitive patterns of marbling for over 500 years.

There will be a preview in Friday's "Go!" But to appreciate this work, you have to see it live and up close.

The opening is 5-8 p.m. on Friday at the Business of Art Center, 513 Manitou Ave., Manitou Springs.

Image by Brazilian artist Renato Crepaldi

The MAT breaks out

noreply@blogger.com (Warren Epstein) — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 18:43:00 +0000

I couldn't talk my kids into joining me for the Kennedy Center Imagination Celebration's Aesop's Fables.

Because I'm a judge on the Pikes Peak Arts Council theater category, I'm trying to see every local show produced. Man, there are a lot of shows.

I tried not to feel like a perv here, being the only adult at the show without kids.

But the show was well worth it, even for adults. Jim Jackson and Birgitta De Pree, the brilliant clowns behind the Manitou Art Theater, merged the stories from Aesop with their great circus schtick.

Naturally, there was juggling, balancing and Jim's favorite illusion: in which he straddles a mirror to give the appearance that both legs are off the ground and he's flying. It looks even better when Birgitta joins in.

I thought the best gag was during the story about how sticks are stronger in a bundle than they are separately. But, as we learn by the sound effects off stage, even the bundle can't hold up to a chain saw.

Jim and Birgitta have created a fun, if not-quite seamless, kids' show that with a little minor tweaking, could be a popular road vehicle.

Margaret Miller and Arnold Bax

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Arnest) — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 05:32:00 +0000

Margaret is giving a viola recital at the Louisa Performing Arts Center today (Thursday), in which she'll be joined by Jeri Jorgensen on violin, Paul Nagem on flute, Sara McDaniel on piano, and, um, me. (I feel like the obvious answer to the question, "which one doesn't belong?")

I'm joining Margaret for the first movement of Arnold Bax's Sonata for Viola and Piano. It's an interesting piece, and I'm grateful to have had an opportunity to learn it.

Grossly oversimplified, most music that doesn't make it into the canon of accepted masterpieces is insufficiently worked out. The Gottschalks and Moszkowskis of the world sometimes have ideas on a par with Beethoven and Brahms; they just don't get as much out of them.

The Bax Sonata doesn't fit this pattern. If anything, Bax crams too much into it. He's continually altering and developing his themes, sometimes in extremely subtle ways. Near the end, for instance, the piano has a descending E-flat, D-flat, B, pungently harmonized over a sustained G; Bax immediately repeats the melodic motif a half-step higher, similarly harmonized over the same G. It serves a musical purpose, as Bax is preparing for a radiantly major ending, but few in the audience will notice the change in pitches.

Harmonically, it's extremely heterogeneous, alternating English modal harmonies, scraps of Debussy-like Impressionism, chains of chromatically altered secondary dominants, and even a few bars that wouldn't sound out of place in the Berg sonata. Sometimes he tries to reconcile them, as in the second statement of the second theme, in which a few extraneous chromatic chords in the piano part disturb the diatonic lyricism. Other times he just butts one harmonic system up against another without so much as a how-do-you-do.

The piece was written in 1923, and audiences of that period probably found this lack of harmonic unity more disturbing than today's audiences. In this respect it contains a streak of post-modernism lacking in that era's avant-garde productions. For instance, while Copland's 1930 Piano Variations are much more dissonant and modern-sounding than the Bax, I could tell within a week of starting to learn them when I was hitting a wrong note: It's that tightly written. With the Bax, I was goggling myopically at the music for a month, trying to figure out the harmonies.

The form is also interesting in a non-groundbreaking way. The sonata form is traditional; the proportions, anything but. The exposition is leisurely - more than half the movement, much of it consisting of a strangely repetitive transition to the second theme. The development is short, as are the extremely compressed recapitulation and coda. (The recapitulation begins in the wrong key - or actually, in no key at all, as the main theme returns in a whole-tone variant.) The intensity builds naturally with the compression.

It's an odd piece, but I love it, both for its gorgeous melodic material and for the imagination with which Bax treats it. And I admire Bax's courage in keeping it truly a viola sonata. Composers of chamber music sometimes succumb to a misplaced sense of fairness - one instrument played the theme, so the other(s) should get their chance - but Bax will have none of this. The themes are lyrical, and the viola is the more lyrical instrument, so that's where he concentrates the melodic interest. The piano part is difficult and intricately written, but I don't even play some of the themes.

Margaret plays the piece beautifully, and shares enough of my enthusiasm that we're going to at least attempt to learn the other two movements - a demonically difficult scherzo and a bleak, dissonant slow finale which turns consoling only at the last moment.

The concert is part of the Thursday Night Recital Series. The Louisa Center is located at the Colorado Springs School, 21 Broadmoor Avenue. (You can see a map at PeakRadar.com.) Tickets are $15 adults/$10 seniors; call 475-9747 for more information.

"1940s Radio Hour" in Boulder

noreply@blogger.com (Mark Arnest) — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 21:00:00 +0000

Though the Boulder production differed from last year's Fine Arts Center production in many respects, they were remarkably comparable in quality. The women were a slightly better here; the men were slightly better in Boulder. (Scott Beyette as the comic Neal was outstanding.) I preferred Boulder's thrust stage, because it puts the audience closer to the actors, and this semi-chaotic show doesn't really benefit from the framing of a proscenium stage. The band here was better, but the band in Boulder had the advantage of being unamplified (except for the string bass and the piano, which was electronic).

The show itself is as mystifying as ever. Why not do a simple revue of period songs? The wisps of story and characterization add little, while creating a very real challenge: For a revue, all you need is a bunch of excellent singers who maybe dance a little; "1940s Radio Hour" requires people who can sing, dance and act. The result - at least in these two productions - is a show about professional radio singers performed by people who mostly don't sing well enough to be professional radio singers. The dramatic gain from the nostalgic atmosphere doesn't counterbalance the almost-inevitable drop in vocal quality.