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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Spotlight: Conan-Jay battle lands in our backyard

We’re about to have our very own Conan vs. Jay smackdown, right here in the Inland Northwest.

OK, “smackdown” is an exaggeration. They won’t cross paths.

Yet Conan O’Brien’s tour has been booked into the INB Performing Arts Center on April 16. That’s just a few days after Jay Leno’s gig at the Beasley Performing Arts Coliseum in Pullman, April 10 at 8 p.m.

You gotta love the fact that we’ll have the chance to see both protagonists in the year’s juiciest offstage drama.

Conan’s tour is titled “The Legally Prohibited From Being Funny On Television Tour,” a wry nod to his current state of contractual limbo.

Details about the show’s exact content haven’t been announced. He joked on Twitter that he’ll be “doing all Liza Minnelli” songs.

Tickets for the O’Brien show are already on sale, $39.50, $59.50 and $79.50, through TicketsWest outlets (800-325-SEAT, www.ticketswest.com).

Tickets for Leno are also on sale through TicketsWest, $45 (or $40 for Washington State University students and staff). This is the headlining event for WSU’s Mom’s Weekend.

Nadine on KXLY

It’s official – Nadine Woodward has joined KXLY-TV and radio.

On Monday, the longtime KREM-2 anchor will begin co-hosting the morning radio news show on KXLY-AM (920) with Bud Nameck from 7 to 9 a.m.

In late April, Woodward will also begin co-anchoring “Good Morning Northwest” on KXLY-4 with Mike Gonzalez from 6 to 7 a.m.

A Kabuki ‘Nightingale’

The next Spokane Children’s Theatre production promises to be exceptionally creative: a telling of the Hans Christian Andersen story “The Nightingale,” using elements of the Japanese Kabuki theater style.

Andersen originally set the tale in China, but this script transfers the setting to Japan. It’s about an emperor who traps a bird so he can always enjoy its songs.

Many of the actors will be in stylized costume and makeup. Sara Edlin-Marlowe directs.

This will the first SCT show to be staged at the Spartan Theatre at Spokane Falls Community College, 3410 Fort George Wright Drive, as opposed to its usual venue at Spokane Community College, across town.

“The Nightingale” runs for eight performances, March 20-28 on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Tickets are $8 for children, $10 for adults, through TicketsWest.

Theatre Ballet of Spokane

Theatre Ballet of Spokane will perform the well-loved “Carnival of the Animals” as part of its annual spring recital, Saturday at 3 p.m. at the Bing Crosby Theater, 901 W. Sprague Ave.

This show, aimed at children, will also feature works that illustrate both the differences and similarities between classical and contemporary dance.

Tickets are $5, available at the door or by calling the Ballet Arts Academy, (509) 838-5705.

Classic films, Bing-style

The Bing Crosby Theater has another classic film series spooled up and ready to roll:

• “Casablanca,” the Humphrey Bogart-Ingrid Bergman masterpiece, March 23.

• “The Glenn Miller Story,” with Jimmy Stewart as the bandleader, March 30.

• “The Thin Man,” the William Powell-Myrna Loy classic, April 6.

• “Philadelphia Story,” with Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn, April 20.

• “High Society,” with Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra and Grace Kelly, May 3.

The latter film is on Bing’s birthday, and will include punch and birthday cake.

All showings are at 7 p.m. and a $5 donation is requested. You can thank the Advocates for the Bing Crosby Theater for this series.

Symphony Chorale

The Spokane Symphony Chorale will make a rare appearance on its own – without the Spokane Symphony – today at 3 p.m. in the Showalter Auditorium on the Eastern Washington University campus.

The theme of the concert is “Music of Heaven and Earth,” with music of Mozart, Bruckner and Stravinsky, as well as contemporary popular and Latin American music.

This is a fundraiser for the Spokane Symphony, presented by Cantabile, the newest chapter of the Spokane Symphony Associates.

Tickets are not required, but they suggest a minimum donation of $10 per person.

Spokane Jewish Film Festival

The Spokane Jewish Film Festival will be back again next month, with three Israeli films:

• “Noodle,” a comedy drama about a young widow who finds herself taking care of an abandoned Chinese boy. April 24, 7:30 p.m.

• “A Matter of Size,” a comedy about four large friends who decide to pursue a new sport: sumo wrestling. April 25, 5 p.m.

• “For My Father,” a drama about the unlikely romance between a potential suicide bomber and one of the people he was planning to kill. April 26, 7:30 p.m.

All shows are at Gonzaga University School of Law, 721 N. Cincinnati St., and are presented by Spokane Area Jewish Family Services.

Tickets are $8 for adults, $6 for students, available at the law school prior to each show.

Museum notes

Here’s what’s new in the museums on the edges of our region:

The Historical Museum at Fort Missoula, Missoula – It will open a new exhibit, “When the Mountains Roared: The Fire of 1910,” on March 28 to commemorate the massive fires in Idaho and Montana. The exhibit will stay open until January 2012.

The Maryhill Museum of Art, Goldendale, Wash. – It reopens for the season on Monday, with a new exhibit called “70: Seven Decades of Collecting at Maryhill Museum of Art.”