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Austin360 blogs > Austin Arts: Seeing Things > Archives > 2008 > July > 29
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Long Center announces 2008-2009 season
Patti LaBelle, Marvin Hamlisch, the Blind Boys of Alabama with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, and “The King Operetta,” the critically acclaimed musical dramatization of the last days of Martin Luther King Jr., are just some of the shows the Long Center for the Performing Arts has booked for the 2008-2009 season. The Long Center announced the shows today. Tickets will go on sale soon.
Family-friendly shows and popular entertainment spectacles form the majority of the lineup, though celebrated and sublime Austin piano master Anton Nel will give a major solo recital in March.
Tickets to Patti LaBelle are already selling well, Long Center representatives report, as are tickets to “Cirque Dreams: Jungle Fantasy.” And back by popular demand in March is “Video Games Live,” the visual and musical celebration of video game music that recently wowed Austin fans.
However, five-time Tony Award-winning musical “The Drowsy Chaperone,” originally scheduled for Aug. 19-24, has been canceled because of lack of ticket sales. Seems the musical about a die-hard musical theater fan hasn’t been doing great guns in other markets on its national tour.
From the Long Center season announcement news release, here’s the full schedule:
KIDS/FAMILY
CIRQUE DREAMS JUNGLE FANTASY, Nov. 25-30, 2008: Direct from Broadway, Cirque Dreams Jungle Fantasy is an exotic encounter inspired by “nature’s unpredictable creations” that are brought to life by an international cast of 25 soaring aerialists, spine-bending contortionists, acrobats, jugglers and musicians.
BOB THE BUILDER LIVE!, March 1, 2009, 3 p.m. 7 p.m.: Everyone’s favorite fix-it guy is steamrolling into town and bringing his lovable gang along for the ride in Bob the Builder Live.
DANCE SPECTACLE
REVOLUTION, Oct. 9, 2008, 8 p.m.: A brand new show that incredibly blends tap with rock n’ roll music, Revolution is a sweaty mix of live music, sex appeal and some of the world’s best Irish and tap dancing for the “tweeners” generation. Creators Mike Schulster and Joel Hanna of Riverdance are joined on stage by a live rock band and a dance ensemble direct from Broadway.
GARTH FAGAN DANCE, Feb. 18, 2009, 8 p.m.: Critically acclaimed Garth Fagan Dance has toured for 35 years on six continents under the direction of Tony Award-winning Garth Fagan, choreographer of Broadway’s The Lion King. The contemporary dancers in this Rochester, New York-based company are renowned for their individuality, unmannered approach and virtuosity.
JUNGUA, May 23 and 24, 2009, 8 p.m.: a show for all ages and inspired by the rich culture and traditions of China, Jungua balances traditional yin and yang by combining masculine martial arts and kung fu and quigong with the feminine grace of contortion, acrobatics and dance.
MUSIC
3 MO’ DIVAS, Oct. 19, 2008, 7:30 p.m.: From the creator of the hit concert 3 Mo Tenors, Marion J. Caffey’s brings 3 Mo’ Divas, a musical journey celebrating the amazing versatility of three classically trained female voices in a theatrically staged event. The Divas deliver their versions of opera, Broadway, jazz, movie soundtracks, blues and rock ‘n’ roll.
DOWN BY THE RIVERSIDE: THE BLIND BOYS OF ALABAMA WITH THE PRESERVATION HALL JAZZ BAND, Nov. 23, 2008, 7:30 p.m.: New Orleans’ legendary Preservation Hall Jazz Band and vocal titans the Blind Boys of Alabama join forces to present this musical journey combining jazz and gospel hymns.
ONE NIGHT OF QUEEN, March 8, 2009, 8 p.m.: One Night of Queen celebrates the iconic passion of Freddie Mercury, his music and the genius of Queen.
THE TEN TENORS, April 8, 2009, 8 p.m.: Australian group the Ten Tenors is a platinum record-selling singing act bringing their interpretations of the tenor repertoire in a splashy concert; from classical and operatic arias, to Neapolitan ballads, to their native Australian folk songs.
SPECIALS
ANTON NEL, March 29, 2009, 8 p.m.: Winner of the 1987 International Piano Competition at Carnegie Hall, Austin’s own classical pianist Anton Nel has played in major musical halls the world over, including South Africa, Europe, Asia and North and South America. He makes his Long Center recital debut with this concert.
DRUMLINE LIVE!, Jan. 11, 2009, 8 p.m.: DRUMLine Live! brings the black marching band traditions to the theatrical stage for the very first time, featuring a large cast of performers from the country’s top historically black colleges and universities.
THE|KING|OPERETTA, Jan. 17 and 19, 2009, 8 p.m.: Turbulent and uplifting, The|King|Operetta tells the story of Martin Luther King from April 4, 1967, to April 4, 1968 - the last year in his life, featuring a score of hard-edge rock, blues and funk. The New York Times hails the work as, “brilliant, original and inspired.” From the New York Drama Desk Award nominated Waterwell Theater Company.
MARVIN HAMLISCH, March 26, 2009, 7:30 p.m.: As composer and conductor, Hamlisch has won virtually every major award that exists: three Oscars, four Grammys, four Emmys, a Tony and three Golden Globe awards and a Pulitzer Prize. Hamlisch is best known for scores to such films as Ordinary People, The Way We Were, and Sophie’s’ Choice; and such Broadway musicals as A Chorus Line, They’re Playing Our Song, and Seesaw.
VIDEO GAMES LIVE, March 28, 2009, 8 p.m.: Back by popular demand for one night only, VIDEO GAMES LIVE, presented by Razer, has the power and emotion of a symphony orchestra mixed with the excitement and energy of a rock concert and the technology and interactivity of a video game, all completely synchronized to amazing cutting edge video screen visuals, state-of-the art lighting and special on-stage interactive segments with the audience.
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Review: ‘I Google Myself’
Go ahead and admit it: You’ve googled yourself. You just had to know how you turned up on the popular Internet search engine. Or perhaps you were curious if someone out there had the same name as you did.
Cyber curiosity — and cyber vanity — is the premise of Jason Schafer’s entertaining, if ultimately slight, play “I Google Myself,” now getting a tight re-staging by Capital T Theatre. After their popular production of “Google” delighted audiences and critics at FronteraFest in Feburary, Capital T producers decided on an encore presentation which runs through Saturday at Hyde Park Theatre.
A onetime writer for the Showtime series “Queer as Folk,” the New York-based Schafer picked up a nomination for a GLAAD (Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) award for “Google” last year.
Schafer is touching on a timely issue here: there’s plenty to be explored about the new behavior produced by our connection to the Internet. But ultimately “Google” is more a frothy pulp that collapses under its own ridiculousness than it is trenchant theater. And I’m not sure Schafer intended it to be camp.
Directed by John Carroll, “Google” starts with a nerdy fan (Cliff Miller) interviewing a conceited gay porn star (Jude Hickey) for a local community free weekly newspaper. But quickly we discover the interview is a ruse. The fan, an obsessive and asocial Home Depot employee, shares the same name as the porn star.
It turns out the two men have more in common than the same name (which is never revealed).
But that’s just the first of many convoluted plot set-ups. The ludicrous (and ultimately predictable) plot twists escalate after that and snowball into absolute silliness. A barely literate car mechanic with a blog? A brawl backstage at a talk show that rivals anything seen on “Jerry Springer”?
Though the cast of three (Chase Wooldridge joins the cast as the third man with the same name) all deliver tight and spot-on performances, the acting talent doesn’t rescue “Google” from its own goofiness.
“I Google Myself” continues at 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday at Hyde Park Theatre, 511 W. 43rd St. $15-$25. www.capitalt.org
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Exhibit sings praises of media arts
Media messages implore us to be happy — and buy products and services that will make us happy. Yet the stronger the commercial drive to contentment, the more the lines of spirituality and materiality blur.
For the new exhibit at Art Palace “Songs of Praise for the Heart Beyond Cure,” independent curator Katie Geha has gathered new work by a handful of New York-based emerging yet celebrated multimedia artists — Cooper Battersby and Emily Vey Duke, Jenny Perlin, Deborah Johnson, Siebren Versteeg and Melissa Scherrer — that explores those blurred boundaries.
Digital video by Battersby and Duke mixes animation and random footage to tell a strange and bleakly humorous tale in praise of the natural world. Perlin merges drawing and 16 mm film to create an offbeat history of the shopping mall.
The exhibit continues from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesdays and noon to 5 p.m. Saturdays through Aug. 30. Art Palace Gallery, 2109 E. Cesar Chavez St. www.artpalacegallery.com
Still from “Songs of Praise for the Heart Beyond Cure” by Duke & Battersby.
Johnson and Versteeg.
Images courtesy Art Palace
