Looking Ahead:
Sum-Sum-Summertime
Well, you probably won’t hear any songs by
Mungo Gerry or The Jamies at the Fine Arts Quartet’s “Summer Evenings of
Music,” but a lot of people have made this a regular part of their June
traditions. This year, the FAQ is celebrating the 25th anniversary of
three of its members (violist Yuri Gandelsman is the upstart – he’s only been on
board for seven years). This year’s summer series, “Family and Friends,” will
feature – you guessed it – guest artists who are either relatives or friends of
the members. This Sunday, cellist Daniel Laufer, son of cellist Wolfgang Laufer,
joins the group. The young Laufer joined the Dallas Symphony at the tender age
of 18. Dad’s lessons obviously paid off. Music by Mendelssohn, Arensky and
Rachmaninov.
Comedy Shorts
Martin Short likes to have
a bit of variety in his career: Broadway, film, television and (apparently)
jaunts to Wisconsin to keep his improv chops sharp. Coming off his own Broadway
show, which ran for six months last year, Short is making little trips here and
there with his “one-man variety show.” Expect songs, dance, characters (Franck
from Father of the Bride, Jiminy
Glick and Ed Grimley), and Short’s inimitable way with on-the-spot
one-liners. The Pabst is
a big house, but Short doesn’t need all that Jiminy Glick padding to be
“larger-than-life.”
Hahn Solo…ist
The Milwaukee Symphony
Orchestra mirrors the Spring warmth with a program of romantic classics
featuring violin wunderkind Hilary
Hahn. Being a musician of a certain generation (she’s 28), her Web site isn’t just filled with concert
dates and recording plaudits. For example, you will find that she owns a guinea
pig and a mouse, likes badminton and bowling, and – at last count – she has
played 813 concerts in 27 countries. Here, she’ll play the familiar Tchaikovsky
violin concerto. Anyone who can keep recordings of Sibelius and Schoenberg on
the classical charts for several months is sure to find something interesting
and new in any warhorse.
Looking Back:
Sew What?
There’s a windblown, gossamer feeling when you enter the
Woodland
Pattern gallery space these days. Many of the pieces in the current show
there, Devotion to Thread, hang on the wall, transparent and delicate,
without the help of frames or mats. But the subjects are often weighty, and many
of the artists love exploring this contradiction. Lisa Solomon sews patterns of
color into shooting range targets that makes them seem like relics of a hopeful
future. Orly Cogan’s images have the look of traditional needlepoint, but I
doubt grandma ever stitched the image of coke-snorting teens juxtaposed with
fluffy cupcakes. Melissa Woods’ series of small panels resemble country kitchen
hot pads, but the near abstract rag doll figures carry a variety of objects,
from a wolf to an assault rifle.
Other pieces are less jarring and provocative. Chris Niver captures the
simple elegance of Chinese landscapes with black threat on white cotton. Kristen
Loffer-Theiss mirrors the fluidity of a pen and ink drawing. And Diem Chau
creates lovely domestic miniatures on fabric stretched over ceramic cups and
saucers.
Curator Faythe
Levine (owner of Paper Boat
Gallery and guru of American DIY art) certainly has her finger on the pulse
of what’s happening in needle arts (thread arts?) around the country, but the
richness, variety and substance of this work will surprise you.
Y’all Come
The Broadway musical is moving in different directions
these days. We’re still turning movies into musicals (Cry-Baby, Little
Mermaid, Young Frankenstein), and still revisiting the nostalgic days of the
Golden Age (The Drowsy Chaperone, A Catered Affair). But with shows like
Spring Awakening and Passing Strange, there’s change in the air.
The genre is expanding.
Take The Spitfire Grill,
for example. It may be the little Wisconsin musical that could, but there’s a
whole lotta Nashville in its heart. The songs (music by James Valcq and lyrics
by Fred Alley) are elemental, wholesome and expertly crafted, just the kind of
work that can rise up the country charts. And I mean that as a compliment.
Skylight Opera just opened its second production of Spitfire (it’s only
eight years old), and its no-frills pleasures capture the spirit of the show.
Bill Theisen sticks to the basics here: the set (by Peter Windingstad) is a
simple network of rough hewn platforms, the characters generally sing full out
to the audience, opera style, and the story buzzes by efficiently. There were
times, in fact, when I wished the cast drew some more drama out of the scenes,
as when Percy (Katy Blake) encounters the mysterious visitor for the first time.
But most of the drama here is in Valcq and Alley’s beautiful songs. Two of
the best, “Wild Bird” and “When Hope Goes,” are sung by Shelby (Elizabeth
Moliter), who finds all the soul and color in the melody and images. Blake
handles “Shine” with aplomb of a great Broadway belter, upstaging the dazzling
sunrise (created by lighting designer Doug Vance).
Spitfire celebrates a small-town America that is as mystical
(fictional) as any far-away land, Narnia and Middle Earth included. But it still
tugs at the heart with an appeal to grand American mythologies: Hope springs
eternal. Decency triumphs over pettiness. And a good cup of coffee can turn your
life around.
