Keillor, ‘Companion’ return to Spokane for live broadcast
Garrison Keillor’s “A Prairie Home Companion” is returning to Spokane for a live broadcast, June 12 at the Star Theatre in the Spokane Arena, sponsored by Spokane Public Radio.
This will hold around twice as many people as the INB Performing Arts Center, where Keillor and Co. last appeared here in 1998. The show played Pullman’s Beasley Coliseum in 2006.
Tickets won’t go on sale until March. Keep an eye out for an announcement.
The fifth coming
Here’s a new booking for the INB Performing Arts Center: the touring production of “Jesus Christ Superstar,” starring Ted Neeley, Jan. 26.
If this show comes off as scheduled, it will be Neeley’s Fifth Coming. In other words, his fifth appearance in Spokane, the most recent being in 2007.
Neeley starred in the 1973 film version, and has been touring with the show on and off for years.
Tickets are not yet on sale; watch for an announcement soon.
A Cheyenne collaboration
Cheyenne Jackson, the Broadway star who hails from Newport, Wash., and Spokane, is releasing a duet CD, “The Power of Two” with singer-pianist Michael Feinstein.
The album is an outgrowth of their sold-out engagement at Feinstein’s New York nightclub, Feinstein’s at Loew’s Regency.
It features the two singers collaborating on pop songs, standards and Broadway tunes. The CD will hit stores and online outlets Tuesday.
Jackson managed to squeeze in this project around his regular job: He’s starring as Woody in the Broadway revival of “Finian’s Rainbow,” which opened Thursday.
‘Sin (A Cardinal Deposed)’
Interplayers Professional Theatre has found an apt and timely event to hold in counterpoint with its current production of “Doubt: A Parable.”
Today at 2 p.m., Interplayers will present a one-time-only staged reading of a “Sin (A Cardinal Deposed),” a 2005 Drama Desk nominee by Michael Murphy. It’s based on depositions given by Cardinal Bernard Law in the Boston priest child abuse cases of 2002.
Murphy is a graduate of Gonzaga University. Both “Sin” and “Doubt” vied for the Drama Desk award in the same year.
“Sin” will be performed at Interplayers, 174 S. Howard St., with a cast of attorneys and actors from Spokane. Donations will be accepted at the door.
Meanwhile, “Doubt” continues its regular run through Nov. 7. It’s a thought-provoking play and highly recommended. Call (509) 455-7529 for ticket information.
Local Artist Trust recipients
Fiction writer Shawn Vestal of Spokane and musician-composer Gregory Yasinitsky of Washington State University have each been granted $7,500 Artist Trust fellowships.
Yasinitsky is the coordinator of jazz studies at WSU, and an in-demand performer and composer.
Vestal has had a number of short stories published in literary journals and is working on a novel. If his name sounds familiar, it may be because he is a reporter for The Spokesman-Review.
Artist Trust awarded 16 fellowships statewide; these were the only two recipients from our region.
Holy Names Performathon
If you’re at River Park Square on Saturday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., prepare to hear a whole lot of music emanating from the mall’s atrium.
Holy Names Music Center will be staging its Fall Performathon. Music students ages 4 to 84 will be performing nonstop to raise money for the center’s scholarship and financial aid programs.
Jazz Dialogue reminder
Eastern Washington University’s Jazz Dialogue Festival is scheduled Nov. 13 and 14 on the Cheney campus. Hundreds of high school and middle school musicians will be attending this massive festival of all things jazz.
This year’s showcase concerts will feature New York trombonist/vocalist Pete McGuinness on Nov. 13, 7:30 p.m., and acclaimed pianist Benny Green on Nov. 14, 7:30 p.m. at Showalter Hall. Tickets will be $15 at the door, free for participating students and EWU students.