Four impressive shows round out Cincinnati Opera's upcoming season
0 Comments · Wednesday, June 12, 2013
One intriguing opera in a new venue plus
three warhorses equals Cincinnati Opera’s summer season. Factor in casts
featuring many of opera’s most exciting and acclaimed young singers,
along with young directors and acclaimed conductors, and the formula may
come up a winner.
by Jac Kern
06.07.2013
11 days ago
Posted In:
Events,
Movies,
Arts at 12:29 PM |
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The 2013 Cincinnati Fringe Festival wraps up
this weekend with final performances Friday and Saturday. If you still haven’t checked out any of the
freaky, funny, unique performances in this 10th annual fest, go here
to check out show reviews and find a full schedule and festival guide.
Cincinnati Rollergirls host their last home
game of the season at the Cincinnati Gardens Saturday. The 'girls face Kitchener,
Ontario’s Tri-City Roller Girls in a double-header that kicks off at 7 p.m. And
it’s Fan Appreciation Night, so expect plenty of free CRG goodies throughout
the night! Tickets are $10 in advance, $12 at the door ($15/$17 for courtside
seats). Happy Hour (dolla dolla beers, y’all) starts at 6 p.m. Find tickets and
more info here.
Last weekend, teams of filmmakers throughout
Cincinnati (and across 125 other participating cities throughout the world)
participated in the 48 Hour Film Project, requiring them to write, shoot and edit a movie in just two days. On Friday,
they received a movie genre, character, prop and a line of dialogue to include
in the short film and the rest was up to them — the finished product had to be
completed by Sunday. This Sunday, the
public can check out the eclectic mix of results at the Thompson House.
Screenings take place at 1:30 p.m., 4:15 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. and admission is
$10 for a single screening group, $30 for the whole day.
Short Vine in Corryville is on its way to
becoming the next happenin’ spot in the local arts scene. Don’t believe me?
Check out the opening of 71 Gallery (2609 Vine St.) 5-10 p.m. Friday. Local
artist Tony Dotson has created the space for outsider artists like himself as
well as graphic designers. The gallery’s debut artist is Eye Candy Design
agency’s Janet
Berberich, who also works on Short Vine. Berberich also helped develop Artbeat
on Short Vine, a monthly event that also kicks off Friday. Check out our
feature on Dotson and Berberich here.
Date Night
Movies return to Washington park Saturdays this Summer but don’t let the event
name fool you — anyone can enjoy these free, open-air films. The movies run
9-11 p.m. every Saturday through Aug. 17 (no movies Aug. 3-10). This week’s
selection is the 1954 mystery classic, Rear
Window. Go here
for a full lineup of summer events at Washington Park.For more stuff to do this weekend, check out our To Do picks
full calendar and Rick
Pender’s Stage
Door
for weekend theater offerings.
by Jac Kern
05.31.2013
18 days ago
Photography’s bad boy, Tyler Shields, returns
to Cincinnati for another exhibit at Miller Gallery, kicked off with an opening
reception in Over-the-Rhine Friday. Known for his controversial celebrity
photos, Shields last exhibited at Miller Gallery in October as part of
FotoFocus. Now he’s back showing off his latest collection of photos, Suspense, featuring images of people
falling, floating and flipping across striking backgrounds. Friday’s opening is
a pop-up gallery party at the Hanke Building (1130 Main St., OTR). VIP $50
tickets grant 8 p.m. admission, free valet parking, an open bar and photo op
with Shields. General admission from 9 p.m.-midnight is $10 and includes three
drink tickets. It’s
sure to be a super party and a great chance to brush shoulders with the “who’s
who” of the art community. Proceeds benefit Flashes of Hope, a national nonprofit with the
mission to photograph every child with cancer until every child is cured. Buy tickets here or bring cash at the door.
Across the river in Newport, Powerhouse
Factories celebrates music festival season with a Summer
Shindig Friday. Enjoy live music from The Pinstripes, a great view from
Powerhouse’s patio, great deals on the factory’s excellent assortment music
posters (BOGO half-off) and frosty beers from MadTree Brewery. The free party
runs 6 p.m.-midnight.
The Fringe Festival continues this weekend
(through June 8), with plenty of original, unusual and just plan weird theater performances throughout the city. Go here
for performance reviews, a complete
festival schedule and the official festival guide. And getcho Fringe on!
The 46th annual Summerfair takes
over Coney Island Friday-Sunday. This festival, one of the oldest continuous
art fairs in the country, features more than 300 fine artists, crafters, youth
arts organizations and performers exhibiting and selling photographs, pottery,
textiles, jewelry and much more.
Are you
a Shark or a Jet? A Greaser or a Soc? A Mod or a Rocker? Do you rock a scooter
or a motorcycle? Either way, folks from “both sides of the tracks” will come
together this weekend for the Queen City Mods & Rockers Rally, a
weekend-long event to promote unity between both types of motor enthusiasts.
Events include family-friendly rides, a pin-up girl contest, a bike rally,
happy hour, a group breakfast and more. A $30 pass gets you admission to all
the three-day events. Go here
for more info.
For more art, shows, festivals, concerts and
events to check out this weekend, peep our To Do picks
full calendar.
An adventurous story of storytelling
0 Comments · Friday, May 24, 2013
The Playhouse is wrapping up its 53rd season with Donald Margulies’s 2007 script, Shipwrecked!.
Concluding Blake Robison’s first season as artistic director, the show
continues his promise to offer family-friendly plays designed to appeal
to a broad cross-section of Playhouse theatergoers
by Steven Rosen
05.22.2013
27 days ago
Posted In:
Visual Art at 12:52 PM |
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CAC lays off four employees representing 16 percent of staff
In order to avoid deficits for fiscal year 2014 and beyond,
the Contemporary Arts Center on Monday laid off four employees and
Director/Chief Curator Raphaela Platow announced other cost-saving measures.
The four positions were associate curator of education,
exhibitions director, development director and director of communications and
community engagement. Additionally, Platow herself took a 20 percent salary
reduction for the upcoming fiscal year.
Platow said cost-saving decisions were approved by the Board
of Trustees in April. The board has mandated that the CAC reduce its dependency
on its endowment for operational expenses by roughly $60,000 a year for the
next five years. The CAC estimates that cutback, as well as an expected drop in
support from major funders, would create an operating-budget deficit for the
next fiscal year without these moves. The operating budget for the current
fiscal year, which ends in August, is $3.1 million.
She also said there are no plans to raise admission fees or
reduce hours of operation.
While the four eliminated positions represent 16% of the
institution’s staff, there will be several new hirings of “redefined and
reorganized” job descriptions, she said. “By redefining, I mean changing to a
different skill set and position, sometimes on a very different salary level.
This is what we have to do to move forward,” Platow said.
A previously announced new curatorial hire, Steven Matijcio,
arrives from North Carolina in June and will be involved in announcing the
2013-2014 exhibition season on June 26.
(More information will be included in The Big Picture column
in the May 29 issue.)
1 Comment · Tuesday, May 21, 2013
The League of Cincinnati Theatres (LCT)
presented awards for the 2012-2013 theater season on May 20 at Know
Theatre, too late to report the results in this issue of CityBeat.
So I want to offer some thoughts and my own choices.
0 Comments · Wednesday, May 8, 2013
Anyone who knows the Allen brothers knows
it’s a blessing and an honor to do so, but some of us have no idea
these men are walking-around Black History Month icons.
by Rick Pender
05.02.2013
47 days ago
Posted In:
Theater at 10:55 AM |
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You probably remember Whoopi Goldberg's popular film Sister Act from 1992, an unlikely story about an aspiring singer who witnesses a murder and needs to be hidden until the trial — in a convent. Of course, the contrast between Goldberg and the staid nuns, especially the Mother Superior (played by Maggie Smith). It became a musical in 2009 in London, in 2011 on Broadway and now a touring production. Sister Act: The Musical opened Tuesday at the Aronoff Center.Of course, Goldberg isn't in it, 20 years later. But she is the producer, and her attitude prevails. Her statement about the show pretty well sums it up: "Sister Act is not rocket science — it's hell-bent on being fun and silly, with a little heart thrown in." That's pretty much what I expected.What surprised me was the talent of the touring cast, performers who are fully committed to deliver an evening of entertainment. Ta'rea Campbell has star power in the Delores/Sister Mary Clarence role, and she's surely a better singer than Whoopi Goldberg ever was. She conveys the shift from attitude to gratidude with sincerity. Hollis Resnik, a veteran musical theater performer from Chicago, captures the starchy disdain needed for the Mother Superior.The entire ensemble is solid, especially Lael Van Keuren as the innocent postulant who breaks out of her shell, Florrie Bagel as an enthusiastic, starstruck nun and Diane J. Findlay as an elderly nun who finds her mojo. E. Clayton Cornelious is the socially inept cop looking out for Delores, in part because he had a crush on her in high school; he has dreams of being a smooth operator ("I Could Be That Guy," which features some astonishing costume changes as he fantasizes). And there are cartoonish villains: Delores's violent one-time boyfriend Curtis played by Kingsley Leggs. His three thugs, played hilariously by Ernie Pruneda, Charles Barksdale and Jason Simon bring the house down when they explain how they can have their way with the ladies, even if they're nuns ("Lady in the Long Black Dress").Of course, Sister Act is full of stereotypes and predictable humor, but its all done with energy and polish, which makes it worth seeing. Production values are excellent, from a lot of quick costume changes (you can't imagine how many acres of glittering material went into this show) to a psychedelic Philadelphia cathedral interior that gets wilder and brighter as the story builds, culminating in a performance for the Pope.There's nothing profound about Sister Act, which is part of the fun.
0 Comments · Tuesday, April 23, 2013
New Edgecliff Theatre completes its 15th season with David Auburn’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play, Proof
(onstage through Sunday at the Aronoff Center’s Fifth Third Bank
Theater), a production providing ample evidence of NET’s strength...
Fighting for Love: 'Cock' at Know Theatre
0 Comments · Wednesday, April 17, 2013
Know Theatre has opted for quality rather than quantity in its productions this season. It’s following the highly regarded When the Rain Stops Falling with its second show, Cock by Mike Bartlett, maintaining a similar high level of material and performance