Arts Preview
Coming events in arts and entertainment
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Lost Nation Theater will celebrate Halloween with “An Edgar Allan Poe Spooktacular.” Photo by Tara Lee Downs |
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Published: October 30, 2009
Edgar Alan Poe Spooktacular!
MONTPELIER – Lost Nation Theater presents the party of the year! It's "An Edgar Allan Poe Spooktacular," Halloween night, Saturday, Oct. 31. It's spooky-kooky fun! Petrifying candle-lit, atmospheric performance of the best of that master of the macabre – Edgar Allan Poe – followed by a costume contest, raffle drawing, and a great dance party. At 8 p.m., Poe takes the stage in "The House of Murder," assembled from the creepiest creations from the fevered pen of Edgar Allan Poe, wherein a Mystery Woman teams with Poe's ace detective Auguste C. Dupin to uncover the motive behind the master of the macabre's most gruesome murders. Experience highlights from such classics as "The Fall of the House of Usher," "The Black Cat" and "Tell Tale Heart" as 12 favorite LNT performers get in on the act of creating Poe: surrounding and weaving through the audience employing choral treatments, actor-generated sound effects, haunting improvisations — and of course, candlelight. It's Halloween for grown-ups – that the whole family can enjoy. Your admission includes desserts and coffee/cider. A cash bar will be available. City Hall Arts Center will be transformed into a hauntingly hip chamber for dancing and Poe shows! Doors open at 7:30 p.m. The Poe performance begins at 8 p.m. and dancing begins at 9 p.m.
Admission is $20 in advance, $25 at the door; call (802) 229-0492, or go online to www.lostnationtheater.org.
Bluegrass Gospel Project benefit
BURLINGTON – The Bluegrass Gospel Project will perform a benefit concert for Volunteer Vermont on Friday, Nov. 6, at 7:30 p.m., at the Unitarian Church, at the top of Church Street at 152 Pearl St. Robert Resnik, host of the radio program, "All the Traditions" on Vermont Public Radio, will introduce the evening. The band features six of the Northeast's premier bluegrass, country and folk musicians who gathered nine years ago for a one-time performance at Burlington's First Night and never disbanded. They play throughout the Northeast, and frequently perform benefit concerts for a wide range of causes. The beneficiary for this concert, Volunteer Vermont, is a nonprofit organization that mobilizes high schools students to work on building projects in the South over the spring school break. "There's some seriously good chemistry between all of us in the band," says Gene White Jr., founder of the Bluegrass Gospel Project, "and it reaches the audience. When we play a benefit concert, we're all there to help one another. We feel it, the audience feels it, and the music soars."
Tickets are $20, 12 and younger free; call the Flynn Regional Box Office, (802) 863-5966, or go online to www.flynntix.org.
'Rosalee Was Here'
BURLINGTON – "Rosalee Was Here," written and directed by award-winning playwright Maura Campbell, will be the fifth of the last six productions by the Green Candle Theatre Company to be authored by a Burlington playwright. Rosalee Darien loves singing, Shakespeare and a boy named Ethan. Arrested at the age of 11 for sexually abusing her younger sister, she is now in the eighth grade and in state custody. Molly, an aide at school assigned to monitor her every move, tries helplessly to keep up with Rosalee, but the young girl has become a master at outwitting, outmaneuvering and outrunning the system that has stripped her of most of her individual freedom. "Rosalee Was Here" is a funny and crazy look at what can happen when children are treated as criminals, but it is also a story about how compassion and patience have the power to transform a young person's life. The production stars Liz Gilbert, Tracey Girdich and Dennis McSorley.
Performances are on Nov. 6, at 9 p.m., and Nov. 7-8, 13-15 and 20-22, at 8 p.m., at Outer Space Café, in the Flynndog, 208 Flynn Ave. Tickets are $20; call the Flynn Regional Box Office, (802) 563-8966, or go online to www.flynntix.org.
Momix's 'Passion'
LEBANON, N.H. – The Lebanon Opera House will present Momix in "Passion" on Friday, Nov. 6, at 7:30 p.m. "Passion" is an enchanted synthesis of theater, circus, athleticism and modern dance. Director Moses Pendleton joins forces with Peter Gabriel, to create a breakthrough in multimedia dance theater with a powerful score and lush exotic imagery. The triumph of "Passion" lies in the eerie and otherworldly mood it creates, transporting audiences into a world of form, movement and emotion. Momix, a company of dancer-illusionists, is known internationally for presenting work of exceptional inventiveness and physical beauty. For over 25 years, Momix has been celebrated for its ability to conjure up surreal images with the use of props, lighting, shadow, humor and the human body. Under the foundering direction of Moses Pendleton, Momix has performed throughout the United States and the world, spreading a revolutionary and unique form of dance that has been embraced by audiences and critics alike. The company's critical acclaim is echoed in such achievements as a spot in the "Homage à Picasso" in Paris, a feature on PBS's "Dance in America" series and representation of the United States at the European Cultural Center in Delphi.
Reserved seats are $45, $35 or $25, with additional discounted tickets for seniors and children; call (603) 448-0400, or online at www.lebanonoperahouse.org.
Dartmouth winds
HANOVER, N.H. — Great Britain's stellar contributions to 20th-century wind ensemble music are featured in a concert Tuesday, Nov. 10, at 7 p.m., by the Dartmouth Wind Symphony, in Spaulding Auditorium of Hopkins Center. The concert is the group's first under the baton of Matthew M. Marsit, who succeeded director Max Culpepper when the latter retired this summer. Marsit, 28, comes to Dartmouth from Cornell University, where he was assistant director of wind ensembles. "Old English – and Something New" samples the work of British composers who led the way in employing the wide range of tone color and dynamics that the modern wind ensemble offers — a far cry from the military marching band or brass band of the 19th century, from which it evolved. "There are more available tonal color combinations in a wind ensemble than in symphony orchestra," says Marsit. "While there are some variations between a violin and a cello, a string is a string, whereas, in a wind ensemble, you are blending instruments of completely different timbres — euphonium and clarinets, for example, or trumpet and oboe."
Tickets are $14, $6 for students; call (603) 646-2422, or go online to www.hop.dartmouth.edu.
'Amadeus' meets 'Austin Powers'
BURLINGTON – Saint Michael's major fall theater production will be "The School for Scandal," the classic 18th century play by Richard Brinsley Sheridan, transported into the 1960s. All performances of the show will be staged in the FlynnSpace, 147 Main St., Wednesday, Nov. 4, through Saturday, Nov. 7, each evening at 7 p.m. (All performances are in the FlynnSpace because the SMC McCarthy Arts Center is being renovated.) Director Peter Harrigan, SMC associate professor and chair of the fine arts department, describes the production as "Amadeus" meets " Austin Powers." Saint Michael's cast and crew transport Sheridan's classic, comical language to the groovy milieu of the Swingin' Sixties, proving that "treachery and gossip (unfortunately) never go out of style."
Admission is free but tickets are required; call Jane at (802) 654-2621 for ticket information.
Dartmouth gospel
HANOVER, N.H. – Fresh from a guest appearance with Don Byron's New Gospel Quintet on Oct. 17 at the Hopkins Center, the Dartmouth College Gospel Choir presents its own program of joyous and power-packed old and new songs of love, faith and inspiration on Sunday, Nov. 8, at 2 and 5 p.m., in the Hop's Spaulding Auditorium. To accommodate the full houses the choir has been attracting as it enters its seventh year under the direction of Chicago-based gospel artist Walt Cunningham, the group will present two shows. Each show will contain about 75 minutes of music, and about half of the second concert will be material not covered in the first concert, Cunningham says. As usual, the approximately 90-member choir will be joined by Dartmouth and Chicago-based musicians and vocal soloists.
Tickets are $14, $5 for Dartmouth students and $6 for all other students; call (603) 646-2422, or go online to www.hop.dartmouth.edu.
'Mini Mud!'
RANDOLPH – "Mini Mud!" returns to Chandler. The season has changed, but the young talent remains stellar. The fourth annual "Mini Mud!" variety show will be presented on Saturday, Nov. 7, at 7 p.m., at Chandler. "Mini Mud!" will feature 88 talented youth and teens from the central Vermont area. "Mini Mud!" is a more youthful version of Chandler's Mud Season Variety Show, with performers ranging in age this year from 7 to 18. The performance will offer 22 acts featuring a variety of dance, song, comedy, piano, skits, and much more. Participants are coming from near and far, including the towns of Bethel, Berlin, Braintree, Chelsea, East Barre, East Randolph, Montpelier, Northfield, Randolph, Randolph Center, Royalton, South Royalton and Tunbridge. Area teens Steven Neas, Kenny Neas and Joe Fiorillo will be on hand to help to introduce the acts. Chandler's teen tech assistants will be working behind the scenes. "Mini Mud!" is a fundraiser for the youth programming offered at Chandler throughout the year.
Reserved tickets are $15, $8 for students; call (802) 728-6464, e-mail: tickets@chandler-arts.org, or go online to www.chandler-arts.org.
Jesse Cook flamenco
WOODSTOCK – Jesse Cook, the sizzling Juno Award-winning guitarist whose music has topped Billboard and World charts for the past decade, makes his sole New England appearance this tour on Saturday, Nov. 7. The Town Hall Theatre performance begins at 7:30 p.m. Cook's live shows, which are performed regularly throughout his native Canada, the U.S., Europe, Asia, and points beyond are notorious for drawing throngs of fans who sing and dance along during the entire performance. Those in attendance who may not yet be as familiar with his intoxicating rumba flamenco are quickly placed under the spell of passionate guitar work, Moorish rhythms, and Cook's smoldering on-stage charisma. Multiple encores are the rule and audiences find it difficult to let it all end. In fact, his performances often bring out the wilder side of the audience. Women have even been known to throw their bras onto the stage, Tom Jones style.
Tickets are $30, $25 for children under 18, and may be reserved by contacting the Pentangle Arts Council Box Office at (802) 457-3981 or online at www.pentanglearts.org.
Vermont Public Television
Sunday: At 7 p.m., "Pioneers of Primetime" features Milton Berle, Sid Caesar, Bob Hope, Steve Allen and other funny people in a treasure trove of clips from the golden age of TV comedy. The program will air again on Thursday at 8 p.m. At 9 p.m., "Masterpiece Contemporary" presents the first of a two-part drama called "Place of Execution." In 1963, a 13-year-old girl vanishes. Forty years later, a high-profile TV journalist begins to unravel the mystery. At 10:30 p.m. on the Latin music series "Voces," Marc Anthony and others pay tribute to the late Tito Puente.
Monday: At 7:30 p.m. on "Profile," Fran Stoddard interviews Moses Pendleton, the choreographer who founded Momix and Pilobolus dance companies and was raised on a Vermont dairy farm.
Tuesday: At 9 p.m., comedian Stephen Fry (of "Jeeves and Wooster" fame) begins a six-part journey called "Stephen Fry in America." He sets out in a London-style taxi to visit all 50 states. Beginning in New England, he stops to do some lobstering in Maine. In Vermont, he helps develop a new ice cream flavor at Ben & Jerry's.
Wednesday: At 8 p.m., "Bill Cosby: The Mark Twain Prize" covers the festivities as the comedian was honored — and roasted — at the Kennedy Center on Oct. 26. The stellar cast includes Jerry Seinfeld and Chris Rock. Following at 9:30 p.m. is an encore of last year's event, "George Carlin: The Mark Twain Prize."
Saturday, Nov. 7: From 9 to 11 p.m., VPT presents the PBS TV event "John Fogerty: Live by Request." The rock legend will choose his set based on fan requests, including those sent in during the show. Fogerty's newest album, "The Blue Ridge Rangers Rides Again," was released in September.
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