Posted By Rosemary Ponnekanti on November 20, 2009 at 6:27 am Share this

New York Chamber Soloists play “Water Music”

Appropriately enough for a rainy November, the New York Chamber Soloists are in town courtesy of Tacoma Philharmonic to play Handel’s “Water Music,” plus three Mozart works. 7:30 p.m. Nov. 20. $32.50-$62.50. Pantages Theater, 901 Broadway, Tacoma. 253-591-5894, www.tacomaphilharmonic.org, www.broadwaycenter.org

MLKBallet does another Move!

Move! #15 features a stellar line-up, including MLKBallet with Vicci Martinez, Spectrum Dance, Barefoot Collective, Tacoma Dance Collective and Coriolis. Proceeds go to this downtown tuition-free ballet school. 7 p.m. Nov. 20, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Nov. 21. $12 advance/$15 at door. SOTA Theater, 1118 Commerce St., Tacoma. 253-906-2190, www.brownpapertickets.com

Tacoma Concert Band blows into autumn

In the aptly-named “Autumn Winds” concert, the TCB under Robert Musser presents a mix of standard and new compositions. 7:30 p.m. Nov. 21. $15-$30. Pantages Theater, 901 Broadway, Tacoma. 253-591-5894, www.tacomaconcertband.org, wwwbroadwaycenter.org

“Mozart Meets Beethoven” at the Symphony this time

The second in a two-concert festival of these two beloved composers, “Mozart Meets Beethoven” features the Tacoma Symphony under two different conductors. Includes Beethoven’s “Emperor” piano concerto and Fifth Symphony. 2:30 p.m. Nov. 22. $24-$77. Rialto Theater, 301 S. 9^th St., Tacoma. 253-591-5894, www.broadwaycenter.org, www.tacomasymphony.org

Categories: Critic's Picks
Tags: MLKBallet, New York Chamber Soloists, Tacoma Concert Band, Tacoma Philharmonic, Tacoma Symphony
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Posted By Rosemary Ponnekanti on November 19, 2009 at 6:48 am Share this

When it's dark, gloomy and rainy it's always good to have something bright to look forward to. And this Saturday, that's the Dickens Festival. Held every year in the Stadium District, this is a festival that links the shops and businesses from Rankos through to The Grand Cinema with entertainment worthy of Mr. Pickwick. From 10:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. there's live music, a marionette show (though no Punch and Judy this year, alas), magicians, a fascinating-sounding walking ballgown by artist Lynn DiNino, carriage rides and a screening of "Oliver" at The Grand. And it's all free, except for the Dickens Ball in the evening ($40 tickets.) For full schedule, visit www.dickensfestival.net.

Meanwhile, get into the mood by renting or scrabbling together a costume for yourself: buttoned-up blouses and long skirts for ladies, top hats and coats or caps and waistcoats for men, short-sleeved dresses and muffs for girls and Oliver-Twist-style urchin outfits for boys. You might even win the costume contest. Need to bone up on Fezziwig, Fagin and (my all-time favorite) Uriah Heep? A good information site is charlesdickenspage.com

Categories: free events
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Posted By Rosemary Ponnekanti on November 18, 2009 at 6:37 am Share this

I can't believe Tacoma Art Place has been around for two years now. The community art center just off MLK Jr. Way on the Hilltop is celebrating its second birthday this Saturday with an open house full of – what else? – free art classes. TAP was set up by local art co-operative diva Linda Danforth along the model of one she visited in Africa. The theory was that for a small, affordable membership fee, artists and community members could get access to loaned equipment, donated supplies and work space that would otherwise be too expensive. Here's the story I did back then.

Since then, TAP has organized fashion show fundraisers, held gallery shows, offered all sorts of classes and generally brought the community together.

Here's what's on offer at the birthday party on Saturday from 10 a.m.-6 p.m.: (more...)

Categories: free events
Tags: Tacoma Art Place
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Posted By Rosemary Ponnekanti on November 17, 2009 at 10:04 am Share this

In the rush of traffic on North 30th Street the small Sandpiper Gallery tends to get swept by. And being in Old Town, it doesn't have the same lure as all the downtown venues on ArtWalk night (this Thursday, BTW.) But when it's not showing generic misty Puget Sound photographs or watercolors, Sandpiper has some good stuff. This month it's "Vessels," mother-daughter pair Jill Nordfors Clark and Erica Nordfors Applewhite combining the sculptural and the flat, the abstract and the figurative in a really pleasing way.

Clark is a weaver. Recently featured in a prestigious collection show at Bellevue Arts Museum, her baskets layer clear stretchy hog gut with various other elements to produce vessels that, like blown glass, are as much about the material as the shape. In "Weir" the gut is laced with black twigs and reed to make a tall prism that's formal, almost industrial. "From the Weaver's Hand" combines black bamboo and parachute cord in earthy ochres and browns, curving up and around a translucent internal skin like a protective veil. In "Wave," the parachute cord is royal blue and aqua, winding with palm tree fronds in a gorgeous liquid motion. "Road Trip" curls pink, maroon and lavender yarn (wrapped around bamboo) for a fantasy garden effect.

Some of Clark's baskets are set on horizontal mirrors – it's a nice, elongating effect up close.

Applewhite, Clark's daughter, chooses people over form. Her "Ferry Drawings" capture in reddish-brown pencil intimately cropped scenes from individual lives. The shading is complex – the back of a curly head of hair, or a heavily cross-hatched coat – and the portraits are often highly foreshortened: You're right next to all these unknown commuters as they read, doze or dream.

By the window Applewhite also has four sweet little woodblock prints: a curious turtle, three robin-blue eggs in a chaotic nest. At around three by four inches they're overframed, but worth seeing more of.

"Vessels" runs through Nov. 30 at Sandpiper Gallery, 2221 N. 30th St., Tacoma. noon-5 p.m. Monday-Saturday. Free. 253-627-6667

Categories: art - galleries
Tags: Erica Nordfors Applewhite, Jill Nordfors Clark, Sandpiper Gallery
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Posted By Rosemary Ponnekanti on November 16, 2009 at 10:17 am Share this

Well, I was busy this weekend. Apart from an illuminating concert from the Northwest Sinfonietta (to find out just what difference a conductor makes, go here for the review) I also went along to the Barefoot Collective's latest evening show at the Merlino Arts Center. The review's here, but I just have to say that seeing what Barefoot and Tacoma City Ballet are doing in that building to create a multi-discipline, collaborative arts center is inspiring. The two very different dance companies share rehearsal space, collaborate on projects, join each other in class and even dance in each other's shows (watch out for Barefoot's Katie Stricker as The Mouse King in TCB's upcoming "Nutcracker.") The building also includes the Merlino artist loft studios, which TCB director Erin Ceragioli includes in her gallery evenings, and of course Two Vaults gallery and The Grand Cinema.

The other side of the dance triangle in the Merlino is MLKBallet. The tuition-free ballet school isn't officially housed there – they give classes along the street at Urban Grace. But they often hold shows there, and some MLK dancers will also star in the TCB "Nutcracker": Kate Monthy as the Snow Queen, Joel Myers as the Cavalier.

But you can see them sooner than that. MLKBallet is presenting it's 15th Move! dance concert this weekend on Friday and Saturday. It's not at the Merlino, but at the black-box SOTA theater (and to be honest, this is a lot better for contemporary dance than the gilt-edged, purple-ruffled TCB ballroom, beautiful though that space is.) The program features dancers from MLK, Seattle's Spectrum, the Robin Jaecklein-run Tacoma Dance Collective (haven't seen them for a while!) and Barefoot themselves. Proceeds go to MLK's classes.

Move! shows at 7 p.m. Nov. 20, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Nov. 21. $12 advance/$15 at door. SOTA Theater, 1118 Commerce St., Tacoma. 253-906-2190, www.brownpapertickets.com

Categories: dance - contemporary
Tags: Barefoot Collective, Merlino Arts Center, MLKBallet, Northwest Sinfonietta, Tacoma City Ballet
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Posted By Rosemary Ponnekanti on November 13, 2009 at 12:15 pm Share this

Last night I went to see ghost and homeless people in Old City Hall. No, it's not what you think – it's an evening of two new plays by Tacoma playwright Nick Stokes. My review's here, and I definitely think you should see it before the run ends on Nov. 22.

But what's really interesting about this show (apart from the plays, of course) is that Stokes got a great venue for cheap. Tacoma's Old City Hall is far from the glory days of 2006-07, when developer The Stratford were angling for luxury-condo clients like Dale Chihuly for their suites in the 115-year-old Italian Renaissance-style landmark. Since April this year the boot's been on the other foot, as my former colleague Dan Voelpel reported, with current manager David Morton begging the local arts community to rent cut-price studio space and make the place – empty except for the Pierce County AIDS Foundation and a photography studio – seem a little less like a haunted house. But apart from a 100th Monkey party a few months ago, there've been no takers.

Which brings us to Stokes, who thanks to Morton and a City of Tacoma TAIP grant was able to afford to stage his plays in what has to be the coolest venue around town at the moment. I took a walking tour around this building in daylight a couple of years ago, including the decrepit bell tower (yes, I rang the bell!), but go in there at night and it's a different story. The corridors echo away into darkness, the staircases twist spookily into unknown areas, and the streets around are deserted.

Add in Stokes' fantastic imaginings of ghostly motel rooms and homeless guys dying in nearby Fireman's Park, and you've got Halloween all over again.

Just imagine what this place could be like as a permanent arts center: open spaces for theater, music and dance, quirky studios for artists, a bookshop and cafe (Blackwater, we need you!). Maybe Dale Chihuly could even buy the penthouse suite and finance the whole deal. The ghosts could stay.

Anyone interested?

Categories: stage - theater
Tags: Nick Stokes, Old City Hall
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Posted By Rosemary Ponnekanti on November 13, 2009 at 6:50 am Share this

“Mozart Meets Beethoven” at the Sinfonietta

The Northwest Sinfonietta kicks off a two-concert festival of the two iconic composers, with conductor Christophe Chagnard sharing the baton with Tacoma Symphony’s Harvey Felder. 7:30p.m. Nov. 14. $19-$49. Rialto Theater, 310 S. 9^th St., Tacoma. 253-383-5344, www.nwsinfonietta.com

King’s Books Poetry Marathon

Like poetry? You’d better, since there’ll be 13 poets of renown reading their work throughout Saturday at King’s Books, interspersed with three open mic sessions for the rest of us. It’s all courtesy of the Puget Sound Poetry Connection. 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Nov. 14. Free. King’s Books, 218 St. Helens Ave., Tacoma. 253-272-8801, www.kingsbookstore.com

Cello and piano, together again at First Lutheran

Second City Chamber Series’ Spotlight Concert this Sunday features cellist Miriam Shames and pianist Tonya Siderius playing duo repertoire by Brahms, Beethoven and Hindemith. 4 p.m. Nov. 15. $20/$10. First Lutheran Church, 524 S. I St., Tacoma. 253-572-8863, www.scchamberseries.org

ArtWalk with Krogstad, geography and more

The Third Thursday ArtWalk this month includes paintings by filmmaker Karl Krogstad at Two Vaults, geography exploration at Tacoma Art Museum and fiber art at BKB & Co. Most events from 5-8 p.m. Nov. 19. All free. Two Vaults: 602 S. Fawcett Ave., 253-759-6233, www.twovaults.com. TAM: 1701 Pacific Ave., 253-272-4258, www.tacomaartmuseum.org. BKB: 1734 Pacific Ave., 253-272-6884, www.bkbcompany.com. Other venues: www.artwalktacoma.com

Categories: Critic's Picks
Tags: Artwalk, King's Books, Northwest Sinfonietta, Poetry Marathon, Second City Chamber Series
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Posted By Craig Sailor on November 12, 2009 at 11:47 am Share this

It’s back to the future Friday night at the Blue Mouse Theatre when the movie house celebrates its 86th birthday with the same silent film that opened the theater in 1923.

That film, “The Green Goddess” starring George Arliss, follows three Brits who crash their plane in a kingdom near India, where they are held prisoner by the Rajah. His subjects believe that their Green Goddess has delivered the lives of the three fliers in return for the lives of Rajah’s brothers, who soon will be executed in India. Plot twists and intrigue abound.

Dennis James, a Tacoma resident who is considered one of the top silent movie organists and historical revivalists in the world, will accompany the film on a recently refurbished 1940s organ. He wrote the score for the “The Green Goddess” in 1988 as a commission by the film print’s owner, David Packard of the Packard Humanities Institute.
(more...)

Categories: film
Tags: Blue Mouse Theatre
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Posted By Rosemary Ponnekanti on November 11, 2009 at 9:11 am Share this

A couple of weeks ago I had the great fortune of spending 11 days in New York attending classical music events and journalism lectures with some of the best in the country. I was one of 20 fellows in the annual Arts Journalism Institute co-sponsored by the National  Endowment for the Arts and Columbia University, and it was a terrific experience both musically and journalistically.

Not that every concert was a highlight. Two shows – Strauss' "Der Rosenkavalier" at the Met Opera and Bernstein's "West Side Story," newly revived at the Palace Theater, exemplified both the high and low points of musical drama. Interestingly, they're both shows that are possibly coming, in some form, to the Northwest in 2010: "Rosenkavalier" in a screening of the Met Live in HD at Century Theatres, Federal Way on January 9, and "West Side Story" in a possible national tour next year.

It's banal to compare such different art forms, so I won't. I will say, though, that dramatically, each strove in very different ways to achieve the same thing: a gripping, musically engaging story told on stage. One achieved it; the other didn't.

At the Met, the principal factors for success were the artists (a stunning Renee Fleming as the broody Marschallin, a well-sung, less-well-acted Susan Graham as her naive lover-boy Octavian) and some 40-year-old sets that didn't look a day over 21. The frilly Rococo extravagance in pale blue and gold still had a brilliant effect, combined with some complex blocking for the busy crowd scenes to contrast with the Marschallin's solo scenes contemplating old age and loneliness. It played excellently off the gleeful ironies in Strauss' score, conducted well at the last minute by Edo de Waart.

At the Palace, meanwhile, the set and movement was equally stunning, but the singing wasn't. This revival of the Bernstein classic by original author Arthur Laurent plays on the racial tensions of the Upper West Side 1950s, and the mixing in of Spanish lyrics and dialogue added realism. But apart from a couple of feisty, snappy scenes with Maria (Josefina Scaglione) and her girlfriends, the singing was atrocious. As Tony, Matt Cavenaugh sang with a nasal tenor that dragged Scaglione out of tune and belied Tony's machoism. His Jets cohorts weren't much better, and when sound system glitches chimed in and out the effect was disastrous, Karen Olivo's Tony-winning Anita notwithstanding. Luckily the towering sets of overhead trainlines and chainlink fences, plus some hot choreography, distracted from the score.

Meanwhile, for the rest of the week, I took in the London Symphony under Bernard Haitink playing Mahler (delicious,) some Magyar chamber music (dull,) Chinese folk bands (energetic,) Schubert in nightclub Le Poisson Rouge and more. Workshopping my writing with New York Times and Washington Post reviewers was really encouraging, and I learned a lot about how journalists around the country are covering the arts in their hometown.

Categories: music - opera
Tags: Met Opera, West Side Story
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Posted By Rosemary Ponnekanti on November 11, 2009 at 6:25 am Share this

Didn't get a chance to see the juried art show at the Proctor Arts Fest this summer? Want to see it again? The art is on show through this Sunday in the Proctor District Art Walk, a free, once-a-year event where the work of the winners of the show are featured in the 22 local stores.  Most merchants are open daily from 10 a.m. -6 p.m. Maps may be picked up at participating merchants or at the Proctor Art Gallery , 3811 N. 26th St., Tacoma.  

Says gallery owner Carolyn Burt: "The Art Walk is our kick off to (Proctor holiday event) “Celebrating the Seasons.”

For more information contact Carolyn Burt, 253-759-5168.

Categories: art - galleries
Tags: Proctor Art Show
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