See Best of Broadway, one at a time
Soon you’ll be able to buy tickets for individual 2010-’11 Best of Broadway shows without buying a full season subscription.
Here’s the list of on-sale dates for single tickets:
• “South Pacific,” on sale July 16, show runs Oct. 6-9.
• “An Evening With Liza Minnelli,” on sale July 30, show on Oct. 15.
• “Capitol Steps,” on sale July 30, show on Oct. 27.
• “Stomp,” on sale July 30, show runs Nov. 5-6.
• “Spring Awakening,” on sale July 30, show on Jan. 29.
• “Cats,” on sale July 30, show runs April 23-34.
• “Legally Blonde,” on sale Aug. 13, show runs Feb. 10-13.
• “9 to 5: The Musical,” on sale Aug. 13, show runs March 24-27.
• “Wicked,” on sale date pending (probably not until after the first of the year), show runs May 18-29.
All shows are at the INB Performing Arts Center. Tickets will be available through TicketsWest outlets (800-325-SEAT, www.ticketswest.com).
CDA student rush
In other musical comedy news, the summer-stock Coeur d’Alene Summer Theatre is inaugurating a good deal for students. They’re making student rush tickets available for $15.
Here’s the drill:
• Show up in person at least one hour before show time at the box office at the Schuler Auditorium at North Idaho College.
• Get your name on the sign-up list. You must show valid student ID (college, high school, middle school); one ticket per ID.
• 30 minutes before show time, rush tickets will be sold to those on the sign-up list.
No, you can’t do any of this by phone.
Another Travolta?
Meanwhile, the three Travolta sisters – Ellen, Annie and Margaret – began rehearsing last week for “Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella,” which will run at the Coeur d’Alene Summer Theatre July 3-17.
I’m hearing a rumor that another Travolta sibling – you know the one I’m talking about – will be flying in to catch the show.
I can’t confirm that, but John Travolta does have a track record of flying in to see his sisters on stage.
Remembering Gene Bronson
The Inland Northwest lost one of its most loyal and generous theater supporters when Eugene Bronson died on May 31.
His love of theater dated from World War II, when he was a Navy midshipman training in New York City. He raced down to Broadway whenever he got the chance. Theater became a lifelong habit.
In Spokane, he and his wife, Mary, were the first lifetime members of the Spokane Civic Theatre. He could be found at nearly every local production.
With his death, the applause will be just a little bit quieter.
Open for Hanson?
All right, local bands, here’s your chance to open for Hanson when they play the Knitting Factory in Spokane on Sept. 27.
Hanson is holding contests in each of 35 different cities on their tour to choose their opening act. The competition is called “Shout It Out with Hanson,” and to enter, go to www.ourstage.com/go/hanson. They’ll choose 20 semifinalists in each market based on fan votes. The winner will be chosen by Hanson and their record company.
Concert alert
Here are a few recently announced shows in the region:
• Cirque du Soleil’s “Alegria,” Sept. 22-26 at the Spokane Arena; tickets go on sale Monday through TicketsWest outlets.
• The Silversun Pickups, July 30, Knitting Factory Concert House, tickets on sale through Ticketfly (877-435-9849, www.ticketfly.com).
• Daniel Tosh of Comedy Central, Nov. 18, INB Performing Arts Center, tickets now on sale through TicketsWest.
Hampton renovation
The music auditorium at the University of Idaho’s Lionel Hampton School of Music is undergoing a major renovation.
All 330 seats are being reupholstered and refurbished. The acoustics will be improved, and the technical capabilities will be updated.
The remodeled hall will be called the Haddock Performance Hall in honor of Moscow businessman Sam Haddock. A donation from his daughter, Carol Anne Lange, made the renovation possible. The grand re-opening is set for Oct. 9.
Ray Wiley Hubbard
Maybe you caught the legendary Texas singer-songwriter Ray Wiley Hubbard on “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon” last month.
Now, you’ll be able to catch this roots-music cult figure live on July 10, 8 p.m. at the Bing Crosby Theater, 901 W. Sprague Ave. He’s the guy who wrote “Up Against the Wall, Red Neck Mother,” for Jerry Jeff Walker.
Multiply Jerry Jeff by Willie by Waylon, and you’ll get Ray Wylie. His new album is called “A. Enlightenment, B. Endarkenment (Hint: There is no C),” which ought to give you some idea of his way with a lyric.
Tickets are now on sale, $17 in advance through TicketsWest outlets. Tickets will be $22 on the day of the show.
MAC goes Blue Star
The Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture (MAC) is now a Blue Star Museum – and that means that all active duty military personnel and their families can get free admission now through Labor Day.
Blue Star Museums is a national program with more than 700 participating museums.
A Wurlitzer draw
Busloads of organ enthusiasts from the American Theatre Organ Society will converge on Spokane June 28.
The draw: The 1914 Wurlitzer Theatre Organ at the First Church of the Nazarene in Spokane. This organ was originally in Seattle’s Liberty Theater, and it is credited with beginning the organ-accompaniment craze for silent movies.
The theater was demolished, but the organ was dismantled and saved. It went first to Pacific Lutheran University and then, in 1973 to the First Church of the Nazarene in Spokane. The historic organ has been meticulously renovated over the last four years, mostly with volunteer labor.
The American Theatre Organ Society is holding its convention in Seattle, and part of the convention program is the bus trip to Spokane to hear Dave Wickerham play this historic organ in an afternoon concert.