You should see this -- YES YOU SHOULD! You’ve got to see this -- IT’S VERY GOOD!
You cannot MISS this -- NO YOU CAN’T! You shouldn’t MISS this -- NO YE SHAN’T!
Okay…. I’m no Dr. Seuss, but after seeing the wonderful production of “SEUSSICAL” this past weekend, at Peninsula Community Theater, I would hope you’d understand my sudden urge to speak in “Seuss” … or something relatively close to it. My hat is off (pun intended) to Ms. Laura Apelt for her incredible vision, direction, and staging of this show. With a cast of 30 and a crew of just about that many more, the entire company should be applauded for a job well done.

I have seen 1776 several times now, and a couple of things remain consistent among all of the performances: the staging remains pretty much the same (there is only so much you can do with a historical piece that has 22 men onstage at the same time), the set looks pretty much the same (it's a historical piece with evidence as to how it did look), and some AMAZING talent always shows up in the cast (and not always in the lead roles). Little Theatre of Virginia Beach's cast is replete with talent, particularly with some professional level acting from a couple of the leads and some great singing from the ensemble.

Yoder’s / CNU’s / Ferguson Center’s new theatre company, Tidewater Regional Repertory offers up their first production in a strong, lovely, and occasionally moving way. The evening was a patchwork of the lovely and not-quite-so-lovely, but the end product did end up revealing a whole that promises to entertain and enchant.

You should see this -- YES YOU SHOULD! You’ve got to see this -- IT’S VERY GOOD!
You cannot MISS this -- NO YOU CAN’T! You shouldn’t MISS this -- NO YE SHAN’T!
Okay…. I’m no Dr. Seuss, but after seeing the wonderful production of “SEUSSICAL” this past weekend, at Peninsula Community Theater, I would hope you’d understand my sudden urge to speak in “Seuss” … or something relatively close to it. My hat is off (pun intended) to Ms. Laura Apelt for her incredible vision, direction, and staging of this show. With a cast of 30 and a crew of just about that many more, the entire company should be applauded for a job well done.

I have seen 1776 several times now, and a couple of things remain consistent among all of the performances: the staging remains pretty much the same (there is only so much you can do with a historical piece that has 22 men onstage at the same time), the set looks pretty much the same (it's a historical piece with evidence as to how it did look), and some AMAZING talent always shows up in the cast (and not always in the lead roles). Little Theatre of Virginia Beach's cast is replete with talent, particularly with some professional level acting from a couple of the leads and some great singing from the ensemble.

Yoder’s / CNU’s / Ferguson Center’s new theatre company, Tidewater Regional Repertory offers up their first production in a strong, lovely, and occasionally moving way. The evening was a patchwork of the lovely and not-quite-so-lovely, but the end product did end up revealing a whole that promises to entertain and enchant.

Listen.  Do you hear that?  What could that lovely, staccato, and profane sound be?  Could it be the gorgeous sound of conversation?  I think it might be.  Of course, in the theater we have another word for it:  “Mametspeak.”  No other contemporary playwright has had more of an effect on the language of American dramatic literature than David Mamet.  His short succinct sentences and overlapping lines effectively capture the rhythm of American conversation.  When done well it can be one of the most glorious things you can hear.  When done badly it can be, well, confusing.  I cannot in good conscience call Generic Theater’s production of Mamet’s 1984 Pulitzer Prize winner Glengarry Glen Ross an example of well-done Mamet.  That would be doing it a grave disservice.  Instead, it is nothing less than extraordinary.

The current exhibit at the Nancy Thomas Gallery in Yorktown is an experience in color, creativity, and texture. The collection, created by Alabama-born Michael Banks, is a combination of dark, distinctive characters and tongue-in-check wit. A self-taught artist, Banks is currently considered one of the foremost up-and-coming members of the new American folk genre. 

“A boat is not a destination, or a conclusion, as a house or a piece of land might be, but a means to reach conclusions, and destinations that otherwise you could only dream of.” That quote, by Adam Nicholson (Seamanship), appears at the beginning of the Stationary Voyages: The Boat in Photograph exhibit at the Mariner’s Museum in Newport News. It’s also a very apt introduction into the exhibit and the out of the ordinary body of work currently on display. The result is a unique and surprisingly intriguing collection that the art lover and maritime enthusiast both can appreciate.

The formal definition of Folk Art: Art originating among the common people of a nation or region and usually reflecting their traditional culture, especially everyday or festive items produced or decorated by unschooled artists. Unschooled? Ha. So much for Mr. Webster.

It’s not always easy to make the time to see all of the art exhibits that are so abundant in Hampton Roads. Since my time was limited (and seems to shrink day by day), I really wanted to see something that would make an impression and remind me of how much I love visiting our local art museums and centers. I chose to make my excursion to the Chrysler Museum to view their newest exhibition, From Goya to Sorolla, and hoped that it would live up to my expectations. After all, when you put together the high standards of the Chrysler Museum and a collection that has the phrase “masters” associated with it, I would expect it to be excellent. Thankfully, I was not disappointed.

Art has been used as a way to record the joys and struggles of life since the beginning of human existence. The current exhibit displayed at the Peninsula Fine ArtsCenter (Pfac), “Las Artes de Mexico,” is the embodiment of this idea. 

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When I heard the Virginia Symphony was doing a concert of Russian music, I was looking forward to something not usually heard. But when I discovered they were playing Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture, my first thought was, ‘Who is going to pay 50 bucks for something they can hear every Fourth of July for free?’ As it turns out, the concert wasn’t all about the Overture. It was just the icing on a great big cake (or maybe a blintz).

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What’s with the Pirate obsession lately? I mean, Johnnie Depp is hot and all, don’t get me wrong. But don’t you agree that lately pirates seem to be the latest “big thing”? There’s nothing wrong with them, I suppose. Certainly they’re better than Torture-Me-El... ahem… I mean, Tickle-Me-Elmo. In any case, it was fortunate that Virginia Opera’s latest production was Pirates of Penzance, not Annoying Little Red Monsters of Penzance. Because gosh, wouldn’t that have been weird?

When one thinks about a night at the opera, we envision a beautiful theater, plush carpets, formal wear and in general a wonderful evening filled with drama and beautiful singing. Housed in the gorgeous Harrison Opera house in Norfolk one could not find a nicer environment in which to see an opera performance. The Virginia Opera does not disappoint.

"We may be small in numbers but we are millions in spirit"--- Jaguar Wright

Friday evening, TodiMusicFest began their last weekend of performances with the Virginia premiere of Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin at Portsmouth’s Willett Hall. The festival is in its sixth season and has grown into a local summer favorite for Hampton Roads residents. The festival’s director, Howard Bender, proudly announced that this year’s attendance had already eclipsed the previous seasons. All signs were pointing toward a night of memorable entertainment; unfortunately this 2007 operatic installment fell disappointingly short of the mark.

It was with a mixture of irony and reluctance that I entered the American Theatre on Saturday night to see Ash Dargan in Territory – A Journey into Dreamtime. Irony, because I was on my way to see a didgeridoo player in Hampton while my sister was currently on vacation in Sydney. Reluctance, because I had just reached a good part in Harry Potter’s latest book. Harry of course, was worth the wait (don’t worry, I won’t give anything away), and fortunately, Territory was worth delaying finding the next Horcrux.

What can anyone say about two of the world’s most famous musicians?  Itzhak Perlman on violin and Rohan DeSilva on piano perform beautifully together.  The audience delighted in their performance – kudos to the Virginia Arts Festival for bringing some extraordinary artists!

The first time I heard the name “The Painted Lady” (about five years ago, I guess) I thought it was a tattoo parlor. I kid you not. Since then I, and the rest of Hampton Roads, have obviously learned that it’s a lovely English tearoom. It has received tons of awards and reviews already, but from what I can tell, everyone’s always talking about their dinners. Well gosh darn it, I’m gonna talk about their lunch. And their tea.

There’s a new burrito place up on Jefferson Avenue. You know that great big fancy shopping center they put in not long ago, across from Olive Garden and Red Lobster? Yeah, that one with Ross, and TJ Maxx and Kohl’s. Well, Jefferson Commons includes quite a few restaurants in amidst the stores. One of them is Moe’s Southwest Grill. 

Someone recently described the artistic scene in Hampton Roads as “depressed”. Well, what does that mean, exactly? Most would interpret the word as meaning listless, gloomy, melancholy or without hope. Personally, I couldn't disagree more. As a matter of fact, as someone who is deeply and broadly involved in many facets of the local arts scene, I quite take exception to this assertion.

I was a complete sucker to marketing on this show. A month before it came, I was ooing and ahhing at the commercial clips and excitedly talking to my 5- and 3-year-old nephews about dinosaurs. (The five year old is going to be a paleontologist, according to him. He knows the names of more dinosaurs than I do.) So, in spite of a brewing headache, I entered Norfolk Scope on Thursday night filled with anticipation about the coming evening. I’m glad to say, I was not disappointed.

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The Virginia Arts Festival Tattoo is always an event to look forward to, according to my sister. For one reason or another, however, I had never managed to go. This year my schedule finally worked out and I attended opening night on Friday, April 20th. And I found that I only partially agreed with her assessment. In short, the show was about half oh-my-god-amazing and half oh-my-god-another-marching-band, and it's up to you to decide if you want to make the time to attend next year.

Lighting, whether it be natural or artificial, can be use to do a variety of things:

to see...
to set the mood...
to perform tasks...
to highlight...
to announce or direct.

Hmm...looking at this list it seems like a big "Duh", but until tonight I'm not sure I'd have been able to articulate them. That's because tonight, with some trepidation, I attended a lecture presented as part of a monthly series entitled City Living Norfolk Style (a name in need of a colon or an elipses).