GO Arts

Critic’s Picks: Click Flick “The Princess Bride” at The Grand, Gaelic Storm, Tacoma City Ballet’s Storybook Theater and Pachamama at Pantages

Rosemary Ponnekanti — Fri, 18 May 2012 21:42:33 +0000

Click Flick is “The Princess Bride”

This months’ free Click Family Flick at the Grand Cinema is “The Princess Bride,” the hilarious medieval adventure spoof with Cary Elwes as a dashing Errol Flynn lookalike. Doors open 9:30 a.m., screening 10 a.m. Free to first 100 people. The Grand Cinema, 606 S. Fawcett Ave., Tacoma. 253-593-4474, www.grandcinema.com

In for a Gaelic Storm

Swashbuckling Celtic rock band Gaelic Storm sweeps back into the Pantages this weekend for an evening of the rollicking fun that made them famous in the movie “Titanic” and just earned them a #1 on the Billboard …

Two free jazz evenings at local churches: Jazz Live at Marine View with Danny Quintero and Blues Vespers at Immanuel Presbyterian with Bill Sims Jr.

Rosemary Ponnekanti — Thu, 17 May 2012 12:10:30 +0000

There’s plenty of free jazz this weekend at two Tacoma churches. Jazz Live at Marine View features 23-year-old crooner Danny Quintero, while the Immanuel Presbyterian Blues Vespers this months features blues artist Bill Sims Jr.

Danny Quintero is becoming known for a vocal talent that gets him compared to Frank Sinatra. Says John Hanford of the Fabulous Wailers: “That Danny possesses a great set of pipes is obvious; what strikes one on first hearing is the sheer quality of the voice mature and burnished sonority that belies his age. There is also the confident sense of swing, and …

Early English masses sung by Canonici with the Fritts organ at Grace Lutheran

Rosemary Ponnekanti — Wed, 16 May 2012 12:56:29 +0000

Early music doesn’t get much better than this: an a cappella quartet of gorgeous voices singing music they know inside and out, along with period music played on a historically-inspired organ. That’s what you’ll get this Sunday afternoon at Grace Lutheran church, Tacoma, as the Canonici Consort of Voices presents early English masses along with Jonathan Wohlers playing Renaissance English music on the church’s beautiful Fritts organ.

When John Dunstable, John Plummer, John Bedyngham and Walter Frye were writing music, Henry VIII was yet unthought of and England was still part of the Catholic church. Yet all around …

“Hide/Seek” faith dialogue at Tacoma Art Museum

Rosemary Ponnekanti — Tue, 15 May 2012 16:31:55 +0000

Tacoma Art Museum is making the utmost of its nationally controversial gay art exhibit “Hide/Seek” to hold as many community educational and conversational opportunities as possible. This Saturday sees another: “SEEKing Common Ground: A Dialogue about Art, Faith, and Sexuality Saturday.”

The program, held in partnership with Tacoma-area worship congregations, will be moderated by the Revd. Chris Morton of Associated Ministries. Local religious leaders from various faiths will respectfully share their viewpoints on issues raised by the exhibit. It’s an important lens through which to view “Hide/Seek,” as the show made headlines when the original venue, the Smithsonian’s National …

Critic’s Picks: The Barefoot Dance Collective, Tacoma Youth Symphony at Rialto, bike art at Tacoma Art Museum and ArtWalk

Rosemary Ponnekanti — Fri, 11 May 2012 12:08:31 +0000

Barefoot Dance Collective in “Ides of May”

Join the Barefoot Dance Collective and three local choreographers in an evening of modern dance in a brand new venue: the newly-renovated Studio 3 at the Broadway Center for Performing Arts downtown. Seats, curtains and a black-box atmosphere transform a rehearsal space into a dance theater for tBFC’s annual “Ides of May” show. 3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. May 12, 3 p.m. May 13. $15/$18. Studio 3, 915 Broadway, Tacoma (third floor, enter via silver elevator on street level) 253-591-5894, brownpapertickets.com, barefootcollective.org, broadwaycenter.org

Tacoma Youth Symphony plays gypsy music …

Salish Sea Early Music Festival plays music for an 18th-century princess at Christ Episcopal, Tacoma

Rosemary Ponnekanti — Wed, 09 May 2012 12:58:16 +0000

One of the most enjoyable things about early music is that it gives you a window into another time. Next Tuesday at Christ Episcopal Tacoma, that window will open onto the world of Princess Wilhelmine of Prussia, who lived through the early 1700s and transformed the city of Bayreuth into artistic capital through her love of music. The Salish Sea Early Music Festival concert features music the lute-playing Wilhelmine would have loved, played on baroque flute, baroque cello and lute.

As the sister to one wealthy flutist (Frederick the Great) and wife to another (the Margrave of Bayreuth) …

Rock star panel with Jini Dellaccio 1960s photographs at Harbor History Museum next weekend

Rosemary Ponnekanti — Tue, 08 May 2012 21:59:37 +0000

If you’re into 1960s rock, save the date: Bob Holden from Don and the Goodtimes, Jim Valley from Don and the Goodtimes and Paul Revere and the Raiders, and Steve Lalor of the Daily Flash are coming on May 19 to Harbor History Museum in Gig Harbor to take part in a panel discussion on 1960s rock photographer Jini Dellaccio, whose large-format photography is now on exhibit in the museum in “With a Loving Eye: The Photographs of Jini Dellaccio.”

The rockers were each part of a group that was photographed by Dellaccio, who took iconic album covers …

Northwest artists respond to Tacoma Art Museum’s gay art show “Hide/Seek” with an illuminating group show at The Space

Rosemary Ponnekanti — Tue, 08 May 2012 18:18:49 +0000

If you haven’t seen “Hide/Seek” at Tacoma Art Museum, you’ve probably heard of it: a groundbreaking, controversial show initially mounted at the Smithsonian of major American art with a lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender theme. Now Northwest artists have responded to the show and its issues with a show of their own. “Queering the Museum” features 19 artists in a thought-provoking group show at downtown Tacoma venue The Space, opening this weekend, with associated events at Seattle’s Henry Art Gallery and Tacoma Art Museum.

Curator Erin Bailey has made the most of the unusual geography of The Space, an alternative non-profit …

Tacoma Symphony Orchestra puts on a joyful finale at the Pantages, despite amplification issues, in Beethoven’s 9th last Saturday

Rosemary Ponnekanti — Mon, 07 May 2012 18:49:20 +0000

Tacoma’s Pantages Theater was filled last Saturday night with joyous sounds from both stage and audience – appropriate enough, since the program for the Tacoma Symphony Orchestra’s season finale included Beethoven’s 9^th symphony with its beloved “Ode to Joy” final movement. But while the evening featured some very fine playing from the orchestra, masterful control from director Harvey Felder and delightful singing from all four soloists, the Tacoma Symphony Chorus was unfortunately hampered by something you don’t really want to hear in this colossal masterpiece – bad audio amplification.

The basic problem all classical music groups encounter in the …

“Anchor Baby” offers a fun but simplistic theater take on culture clash at First Congregational Church, Tacoma

Rosemary Ponnekanti — Sat, 05 May 2012 17:19:02 +0000

Tacoma has quite a history of small, independent theater in odd venues, and “Anchor Baby” is one of them. Mounted by Dukesbay Productions, who’ve been responsible for the “Java Tacoma” live local sit-com and other creative shows, Richard Tucker’s “Anchor Baby” opened Friday night at First Congregational Church and tells a culture-clash tale of what happens when brash, clueless Americans plonk themselves into the peaceful society of the fictional island of Mehlot. It’s a mostly fun piece of theater but the acting has some holes and the script is about as about as subtle as a lead hammer. …