Watchdog Is Like A Shark Guarding Bernstein Work
There he was, ensconced in the fifth row center, madly taking notes during “West Side Story.”
A critic? Nope. Even scarier than that, at least for the performers.
This was Donald Chan, musical supervisor of Jeriko Entertainment and representative of the estate of the late Leonard Bernstein. Chan is in charge of making sure that the production lives up to the composers’ standards.
Every month or so, he drops in on the tour, takes notes, and, in his own words, “brings things up to snuff.” A longtime Broadway music director and conductor, Chan’s trained ear detects any liberties that the performer may be taking with the melodies and rhythms.
“Sometimes, after being out on the road for a while, the singers incorporate their own ideas,” said Chan.
Sorry, but you can’t mess with Bernstein’s ideas.
Chan found plenty to occupy him during his stay in Spokane. The cast is young, non-Equity and there have been numerous cast changes. He held rehearsals most afternoons since he arrived here on Tuesday.
“They’re mostly youngsters, so it’s a growing situation with them,” he said. “They all have a really good attitude.”
Victor Borge postponed
The Victor Borge show, scheduled for Nov. 9 at the Spokane Opera House, has been postponed because Borge’s wife was hospitalized for an unspecified illness.
The show will be rescheduled, but the date has not yet been set. Tickets for this show will be good for the new date, so hold on to them.
Several other shows on Borge’s current tour have also been postponed.
Jim McLaren joins KXLY radio
Remember Jim McLaren, the former sports anchor on KREM-2?
He has now been named the executive producer of KXLY-AM’s morning news show. He will be heading the station’s team of writers, reporters and anchors.
Bud Nameck and Kate McAllister remain the show’s hosts, along with Bob Day on weather and Paul Seebeck on sports.
McLaren has spent much of his career on TV, but he has also been a radio reporter and host in California.
A second Doug Hurd tome
Doug Hurd, familiar to KPBX-FM listeners for his humorous commentaries every Friday, will soon release his second collection of commentaries, titled “Overpacking Disease, Telling Your Child About Nordstrom and Other Traumas of Adulthood.”
This is a companion piece to last year’s collection, in which he established his now-familiar title formula: Ailment, followed by store name, followed by age. That one was called “Brain Rot, Shopping at Costco and Other Joys of Middle Age,” and it sold well locally.
Hurd, who daylights as an executive at White Runkel Associates, said the new book should be in area bookstores beginning Friday.
Danny Glover’s on the way
Did you know that Danny Glover (“Lethal Weapon,” “Lonesome Dove”) is coming to Cheney?
Glover and fellow actor Felix Justice are booked into Eastern Washington University’s Showalter Auditorium on Feb. 11 in a two-man show called “An Evening With Langston and Martin.”
Glover and Justice will present the words of poet Langston Hughes and Martin Luther King Jr. as part of the EWU speakers series.
Tickets will be $6, available at the door.
Cans Film Festival
It’s time again for one of our favorite fund-raisers, the Cans Film Festival on Thursday at all Act III cinemas. We like it because we get into the movies free and the Spokane Food Bank ends up with tons of food.
Just bring three cans of food per person to the box office that night, and you can see any movie you want (with the exception of “Boogie Nights”).
A hot week for KSPS-7
Amid the sweeps-month hype on the commercial networks, don’t forget that some of the best TV of all will be on KSPS-7 this week.
Ken Burns’ two-part “Lewis and Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery” runs on Tuesday and Wednesday at 7 p.m. (it will also be repeated numerous times).
“Great Performances: ‘Henry V’ at Shakespeare’s Globe” will chronicle the rebirth of the Globe Theatre in London, Wednesday at 9 p.m.
Also, KSPS will present two local election-themed shows today: “Spokane This Week: Election Forum,” a 2-1/2-hour review of the races and initiatives, will start at 10:30 a.m.; and “At Issue,” analyzing the ballot initiatives, will begin at 1 p.m.
, DataTimes MEMO: Spotlight is a weekly column of news and commentary on the arts and media. To leave a message on Jim Kershner’s voice-mail, call 459-5493. Or send e-mail to jimk@spokesman.com, or regular mail to Spokesman-Review, P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210.