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Austin360 blogs > Austin Arts: Seeing Things > Archives > 2008 > December > 15
Monday, December 15, 2008
Review: Viola By Choice
Viola By Choice does everything a classical music group should be doing in the 21st century.
And what is that?
Offering smart and alluring programs that feed the brain and the soul — and do so with polished, enthusiastic musicianship.
That’s what the ensemble, led by violist Aurelien Petillot, did Sunday night at the Episcopal Church of the Resurrection with a brilliant selection of music, a mix of work from typically overlooked yet captivating composers and surprising pieces by familiar composers.
The latter came first in Puccini’s haunting Chrisanthemi string quartet, so jewel-like in its melodic structure (and so vastly different from the sweeping histrionics found in the arias of the composer’s masterworks such as “Madame Butterfly” or “Tosca.”).
Ned Rorem’s Serenande for Five English Poems — featuring the lushly melodic voice of mezzo-soprano Elizabeth Petillot, wife of Aurelien Petillot, was complex, twisting and dark. With aplomb, Elizabeth Petillot (who also sings with Grammy-nominated chorus Conspirare) brought uncommon emotion to the dark, edgy piece — a highlight in an evening of polished performances.
The mood didn’t get any lighter with Philip Koplow’s Sonata in Memoriam Martin Luther King Jr. for Viola and Piano. If Koplow’s academic approach sometimes bested the emotional depth, Aurelien Petillot brought a profoundly personal attachment that brought emotion to the sometimes over-intellectualized dissonance.
And as a perfect finish, Paquito D’Rivera’s Village Street String Quartet flaunted the brio and enthusiasm this ensemble has. Inspired by a Greenwich Village street fair that the composer observed shortly after moving to New York City, the one-movement piece is a celebratory multi-cultural mash-up with strains of tango, klezmer music, African rhythms, jazz and other music combining in a joyous spree.
Violinist Jennifer Bourianoff played with an open and confident presence that never wavered while pianist Nikki Birdsong had a quick elegance. And adding more energy to the already energetic group, Petillot and the violin players performed standing up — forget the fussy static of staying seated.
For its next program, Viola By Choice (Petillot is a passionate champion for his often second-fiddle instrument) takes on new compositions and world premiere pieces. Be prepared to be surprised and enlightened.
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NEA report: More theater, but less audience
A National Endowment of the Arts report on nonprofit theaters, issued today, reveals an interesting drama of supply and demand.
The report — “All America’s A Stage” — analyzed data from more than 2,000 theaters nationwide and found that while the number of nonprofit theaters in the United States has doubled over a 15-year period, attendance remains flat or shrinking.
According to the report, in 1990 there were 991 theaters with annual budgets of at least $75,000. Just 15 years later, in 2005, there were 1,982.
Texas ranked tenth in growth of non-profit theaters with a an increase of 102 percent, and though we have more than 100 non-profit theater in the Lone Star State, we’re not in the top 10 when it comes to number of theaters per capita.
The report also found that the percentage of the U.S. adult population attending non-musical theater has declined from 13.5 percent (25 million people) in 1992 to 9.4 percent (21 million people) in 2008. Measured against growing population statistics, the report found that the absolute size of the audience has declined by 16 percent since 1992.
The data in the report was not specific enough to extrapolate the decline in audience by state.
Writing in an introduction to the report, NEA Chairman Dana Gioia, notes that “the dilemma of nonprofit theater can be simply summarized — supply has outstripped current demand.”
You can read or download the full report here.
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Review: Vestige Group’s ‘Gorilla Man’
The Vestige Group’s new show, “Gorilla Man,” has a punk theater vibe to it, for both better and worse.
The bar venue, the wafting in of cigarette smoke, the live rock band competing with music drifting in from next door and the rest of Sixth street, and high-energy performances on a claustrophobic stage make for an excitingly different sort of playgoing experience. But punk can be messy, too, and energy isn’t always funny.
“Gorilla Man” tells the story of a young man named Billy who discovers that he’s not only becoming a man, but a Gorilla Man. Like his father before him, Billy will grow increasingly hairy and angry. The question is whether he can manage his impulses and be more man than gorilla. At least that would be the question if “Gorilla Man” was aiming to answer any.
Instead, it’s a campy rock musical comedy. But while the live band is energetic and some of the singers can push out a catchy tune, it’s not as funny as it could be. It’s hard not to laugh at a guy in a gorilla suit and cod piece — played with as much charisma as you can in that situation by Benjamin Wright — but too often other jokes get lost in the frantic pace of the staging and sung laugh lines run over in the cramped choreography.
It’s the punk element of the production again: Instead of letting bits breathe, Vestige Group throws more and more energy at them. It’s still funny, but they’re getting chuckles instead of the big laughs the piece can bring.
That works well in a few notable exceptions. Kathleen Fletcher, whether as an enthusiastic, big-faced background dancer, alcoholic fatalist, or B-movie fortune teller, goes so over the top as to move from camp to hilarious parody. Andrew Varenhorst is only slightly more subdued as a politician inciting a riot among a town full of toy action figures, but nails the odd character of a born-again truck driver with a gutturally creepy manner of proselytizing.
Overall the music is catchy, but it’s at its best in the finale, when Billy, played by Bobby Torres, insists on ending with a song and dance number. The cast is given a chance to vamp and groove together all at once. Even if the movements come down to a simple can-can line, it’s infectious. It’s the free-for-all energy that the group has been pushing the whole time.
With a one-act show and the barroom venue, I would almost prefer to watch “Gorilla Man” standing up, dancing (or shifting awkwardly from side to side) with the music, beer in hand, than sitting in rows just feet from the stage. Instead, we’re given a mix of a good bar band performance and traditional theater. One gets by on energy and fun, but the other takes a little more refinement. I get the feeling Vestige Group could do one or the other fairly well. As it is, we get a little bit of both, but with less success.
(“Gorilla Man” continues at 7:30 p.m. Thursday-Saturday through Dec. 20 at Creekside Lounge, 606 E. Seventh St. $15-$25. 474-8497, vestigegroup.org)
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