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Did you see the show? - 5/15/2008 10:41 pm
REVIEW: "GOOD EVENING" - 5/15/2008 5:54 pm
Wynonna Judd to perform in Anchorage - 5/15/2008 2:13 pm
Review: Musselwhite dishes out the moaning, raging - 5/15/2008 8:39 am
ADT's next season reaches out to dance newcomers - 5/14/2008 11:17 am
"Uncle" Walter Austin passes - 5/11/2008 5:37 pm
REVIEW: HANSEL & GRETEL - 5/9/2008 6:17 pm
Adams featured in The New Yorker - 5/8/2008 10:20 am
FIRST FRIDAY RAMBLES - DID YOU SEE THE SHOW? - 5/2/2008 10:49 am
Review: Wooten woos a Bear Tooth crowd - 5/2/2008 2:47 am
Alaska Junior Theater announces next season, includes Black Violin - 5/1/2008 5:06 pm
Head's up: Put on your armor and prepare for satire! - 4/30/2008 12:16 pm
ASO's next season peppered with premieres - 4/27/2008 7:04 pm
Review: "The Nerd" - 4/27/2008 9:29 am
REVIEW: Anchorage Symphony with Naoko Takada - 4/27/2008 12:37 am
Did you see the show? - 4/25/2008 10:57 am
Review: Franti's show volcanic, if you don't mind a few lectures - 4/18/2008 1:59 am
ACA announces next season: Make way for the Knights Who Say "Ni!" - 4/16/2008 11:49 am
Review: "Cirque Dreams" jungle scene dazzles the eye - 4/16/2008 5:03 am
Review: Opera's latest big on laughs, style - 4/13/2008 12:53 am
Review: You should've seen these dancers! Wait, you still can. - 4/12/2008 1:27 am
REVIEW: UAA NEW DANCES - 4/11/2008 11:46 pm
MAY 15, 2008 - 10:41 PM
Caught a play, concert, performance or art show you'd like to tell everyone about? Add your thoughts in the comments here.
MAY 15, 2008 - 5:54 PM
Comedy tonight!: =John Fraser, Rob Lecrone and David Haynes in "Good Evening" at Wild Berry Theater.
By MIKE DUNHAM
Once a Year Theater Company's production of the comedy revue has the bounce, silliness and wacky wit associated with the British vaudevillian tradition of Monty Python, Flanders and Swan, Peter Sellers and Dudley Moore. In fact Moore co-wrote the thing (along with Peter Cook). It also has long-time local funny man John Fraser in the script he was born to perform.
The 2 hour show is a chain of Saturday Night Live-style skits, some of which may have been conceived with television in mind. One bit is specifically done in an interview format, with Fraser as the world's most hapless restauranteur, the blustery owner of "The Frog and Peach" - a name that also encompasses the horrid menu. ("My wife does all the cooking. And all the eating.") It's located in the remote, inaccessible "heart of the Yorkshire bogs" because the man thought people would flock to a restaurant that posed no parking problems. Hey! This could be Anchorage!
MAY 15, 2008 - 2:13 PM
By Sarah Henning
Nashville is sending its most recognizable redhead to Anchorage June 27.
Wynonna - known for her alto growl and sassy lyrics - will perform as part of Arctic Thunder festivities at Elmendorf Air Force Base.
An Elmendorf spokesperson confirmed the base will host a concert June 27, but wouldn't name the artist. However, the Alaska gig is listed on both Wynonna's Web site and with Pollstar, a concert industry magazine.
According to Wynonna's Web site, the show will be free and open to the public.
Wynonna, who rose to fame in the 80s in The Judds, is known for chart-busting, genre-bending singles including "No One Else on Earth," "What the World Needs" and "Only Love."
MAY 15, 2008 - 8:39 AM
Dawnell Smith
Daily News Correspondent
The thing about the blues is they're persistent. They don't woo you with flamboyance so much as charm you by sticking around.
So the blues smoldered rather than flamed when the Charlie Musselwhite Blues Band railed and wailed through nearly two hours of hard luck, hard scrabble, down home, mostly Delta blues at the Snow Goose Theatre Wednesday night.
Songs like "Long Lean Lanky Mama" and "Church Is Out" got people to their feet, for sure, but Musselwhite sounds best when doing the mournful, driving tunes that throb to the bone while he moans on his blues harp. (If you think you know what a harmonica can do, you haven't heard Musselwhite).
MAY 14, 2008 - 11:17 AM
Next season, Alaska Dance Theatre will collaborate with Minneapolis’ premiere contemporary ballet company.
Photo courtesy James Sewell Ballet
In April, ADT will perform with the James Sewell Ballet, known for injecting humor and humanity into its work. The company’s recent history has included everything from a murder-mystery ballet based on Garrison Keillor’s Guy Noir character to a social justice piece that begins at a peace rally.
MAY 11, 2008 - 5:37 PM
Walter Austin: Photo: Evan Steinhauser
By MIKE DUNHAM
A solitary drum covered by a beaded Tlingit blanket and accompanied by an empty chair and single drumstick sat in the middle of the Wasilla High School gymnasium during a powwow on Saturday afternoon -- a silent tribute to Walter Austin, who died in Anchorage on Friday. He was 89.
"Uncle" Walter, as he was known, was born in Juneau on Oct. 5, 1918. He worked as a fisherman and served in the Civil Defense during World War II, patroling the beaches of Southeast with a WWI era Eddystone rifle that he later used for seal hunting. He said he never missed a seal with that rifle.
MAY 9, 2008 - 6:17 PM
Not all there: Michael Fawcett, Zieh Huyk and Christina Ashby have roles as townsfolk in the musical "Hansel and Gretel." Photo: Tony Batres
By MIKE DUNHAM
"Who do you know in the cast?" asked the ticket-seller as I paid to get into the premiere of a new musical version of "Hansel and Gretel." The suggestion that no one would be there unless related to a cast member hit me as a little unsettling. But when someone takes the time to rework the Grimm Brother's archetypal classic and compose fresh music for it, one must take note.
MAY 8, 2008 - 10:20 AM
John Luther Adams: (AP Photo)
Fairbanks composer John Luther Adams has become the first Alaskan in decades - maybe ever - to be the subject of a major profile in The New Yorker magazine. Arts writer Alex Ross visited Adams to write the piece, titled "Song of the Earth," which appears in the May 12 issue of the journal and may be viewed online at www/newyorker.com.
MAY 2, 2008 - 10:49 AM
Root basket: By Atz Kilcher of Homer. Photo: Aurora Fine Arts
Downtown Anchorage was not our first choice for this month's Ramble. Events at the Alaska Center for the Performing Arts, a concert at the Egan Center, the Taste of Anchorage and the chaos brought on by some of the stupidest construction misplanning in the history of the city made parking an even bigger headache than usual. I don't think I'll try going downtown for any further events until the snow flies - probably in June.
But I finally found a vacant meter on the far side of the Federal Building and walked to the Alaska Native Arts Foundation's elegant gallery where new work by Da-ka-xeen Mehner made me set all my peckishness aside. "Weapons of Mass Defence" was not what I'd expected. The artist has created four super-sized replicas of traditional Tlingit knives out of steel. There's a Claes Oldenburg aspect to the things, but the spacing and simple elegance of the pieces also reminded me of the late James Schoppert's work. A series of masks - with Mehner as the model - complemented the set-up. Also at the gallery, some intriguing caribou skin masks by Aakataq. I cannot recommend this gallery too highly.
MAY 2, 2008 - 2:47 AM
Dawnell Smith
Daily News Correspondent
When you put on your listening ears to hear the Victor Wooten Band, you can expect to learn a lesson or two.
But when Wooten took his mostly solo rendering of "The Lesson" into a controlled but thundering bass loop of remarkable mastery last night at the Bear Tooth, more than a few jaws dropped. And when he layered on another loop and played with both, even the buzzed young bucks in back looked spellbound.
Not to mention all the local bass players, jazz guitarists, horn players and composers standing in the audience.
Wooten playing with Bela Fleck: Darla Khazei/Association Press archive 2001
MAY 1, 2008 - 5:06 PM
Alaska Junior Theater’s next season will include a Maori dance troupe from New Zealand and Black Violin, a much buzzed about music group that peppers hip hop and beats with classical violin repertoire.
AJT, which announced its 2008-09 season today, brings professional Outside acts to entertain kids and families, but its upcoming schedule has broader appeal than usual. See for yourself:
AJT’s 2008-2009 Season
Oct. 24: Kahurangi: Maori Dance Theatre of New Zealand. Indigenous troupe sings, chants and dances in the tradition of South Pacific cultures.
APRIL 30, 2008 - 12:16 PM
Ever wonder how Alaskans get reading for the onslaught of fairweather outsiders every year? Well, find out by heading to the performance art piece, "Wait, Let Me Finish Putting On My Armor," this Friday at the MTS Gallery in Mountain View.
"Armor" features Allison Warden and several collaborators, like storyteller Jack Dalton, as they explore "the psychological process that a Native person might go through to get ready for tourist season in Alaska," according to the event's poster.
But a picture always speaks a thousand words:
Wait, Let Me Finish Putting On My Armor
APRIL 27, 2008 - 7:04 PM
The Anchorage Symphony Orchestra on Saturday announced its upcoming season, which will feature two world premieres and a silent-movie night.
Chee Yun
"Echoes" is a new work commissioned by several Native American groups, including the Alaska Native Heritage Center, to tell the story of the 19th-century whaling industry. The piece incorporates dancers, singers and video projections, and was composed by the ASO's music director, Randall Craig Fleischer.
The ASO's commissioning club chose 26-year-old New Yorker Alexandra DuBois to compose the second premiere, "Fanfare."
APRIL 27, 2008 - 9:29 AM
Zany comedy earns its laughs
By Maia Nolan
Alaska Community Theatre’s production of “The Nerd,” which opened this weekend, may not be high art, but it is a lot of fun. Director Dannielle De Shasier’s cast isn’t afraid of looking ridiculous, and as a result this staging of Larry Shue’s comedy is a riot.
“The Nerd” is a good choice for ACT’s intimate performance space; while there are only seven actors in the cast, they fill up the small stage, particularly when things start to get zany.
And the action does get zany indeed, once Rick, the titular “nerd” played by Nate Benson, arrives to visit architect Willum, whose life he saved in Vietnam (and who has never actually met him). Fortunately, “The Nerd” works best when it is at its most ridiculous, particularly one scene in which Rick leads the rest of the characters in a party game that involves wearing paper grocery bags over their heads. The paper bag scene alone is reason enough to go see “The Nerd” — the entire cast steps up to the challenge of keeping their comedic momentum while stumbling around, half-blind, and the result is hilarious. Suffice to say these performers can act their way out of a paper bag — in fact, the paper bag scene features some of the show’s best acting.
APRIL 27, 2008 - 12:37 AM
Next Season Announced
By Mike Dunham
The final Anchorage Symphony Orchestra of this season on Saturday night supplied persuasive incentive to subscribe to the next. The musicians played as well as I’ve ever heard them.
Naoko Takada
The program opened promisingly when Haydn’s Symphony No. 88 found the strings in sync, playing with confidence and accuracy, the winds also on target. Their delicate interweaving of theme and decoration in the second movement and their agile mastery of Haydn’s most famous finale offered some of the best musicianship this season. Only the horns fell short and the minuet could have used some more bounce, but neither quibbles detracted from my enjoyment of an overall happy performance.
APRIL 25, 2008 - 10:57 AM
Anchorage Community Theatre is staging "The Nerd." And at UAA, there's Mozart and McNally this weekend. Art shows, dance performances, bar bands or anything else catch your fancy? If you braved the snowstorm for the sake of a little culture, tell us about it here, where we'll post reviews as we get them in.
APRIL 18, 2008 - 1:59 AM
By Sarah Henning
Anchorage Daily News
Before Michael Franti and Spearhead even took the stage, the evening’s tone was set by a gi-normous backdrop of a Hindu deity wearing a gas mask, its six arms holding things like a gun and a bloody hamburger. Above it, a sign warns “caveat emptor.”
Franti – an anti-death penalty, pacifist vegan – wore out a few soapboxes during his sold-out show Thursday at the Bear Tooth. No surprise there. Throughout his career, music and politics have been inseparable. The folks who don’t share his politics just stay home, or find a Ted Nugent concert to go to.
APRIL 16, 2008 - 11:49 AM
By Sarah Henning
Anchorage Daily News
Get out some coconuts and start banging them together: Tuesday the Anchorage Concert Association announced its 2008-09 season, which includes the Alaska premiere of Monty Python's "Spamalot."
Here's five of their events that are poised to sell out:
Garrison Keillor
Sept. 10
If you want to watch NPR listeners lose their manners, make them fight over Garrison Keillor tickets.
The humorist has wormed his way into America's hearts with his old-timey tales from Lake Wobegon and its fictional inhabitants: Pastor Inqvist, Father Wilmar of Our Lady of Perpetual Responsibility and an assortment of Norwegian bachelor farmers.
APRIL 16, 2008 - 5:03 AM
By Dawnell Smith
Daily News Correspondent
Read on for the full review, but since the "Cirque Dreams Jungle Fantasy" kid's night starts at 6 p.m. tonight, I thought I'd post a few comments from my kids, who saw the show last night.
An aerial from "Cirque Dream Jungle Fantasy."
My older boy described the show as "Awesome," and liked the clown guy best of all. "It was a little too short," he decided. "I could have watched more of everything."
His younger bro gave the show four stars, especially the aerials. "If you're okay with going to bed late, the show was the perfect length. If you want to go to bed early, it's too long."
APRIL 13, 2008 - 12:53 AM
By Sarah Henning
Anchorage Daily News
Every once in awhile, a director gets to be a star in his own show.
Bill Fabris has dug deep into his bag of musical theater tricks to imagine a hysterical, lively and thoroughly accessible “Don Pasquale.”
Maureen McKay in "Don Pasquale"
At the Anchorage Opera's opening performance Saturday in Discovery Theatre, it was clear immediately that many traditionalists will have a hissy fit over this one. Fabris plucked Donizetti’s opera buffa from the mid-19th century and re-set it in 1950s Rome. The broad-as-a-barn acting and nearly constant flurry of stage action – though beloved by the masses – won’t feel refined enough for some die-hard opera fans.
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