Spotlight: Much ado about Shakespeare
We have plenty of Shakespeare in the region this month, including:
• “Much Ado About Nothing,” on the lawn at Gonzaga Prep, 1224 E. Euclid Ave., weekends through Aug. 21 – The Spokane Shakespeare Company, under the direction of Kevin Connell, continues its run of this sprightly comedy today at 3 p.m. and over the next two weekends (Fridays and Saturdays at 6 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m.).
Admission is free, and no reservations are required; donations will be accepted. Bring your own food and other refreshments and maybe a blanket. Seating is on the grass.
The Spokane Shakespeare Company includes a number of area college actors and local theater veterans.
• The Shakespeare Walla Walla Summer Festival, through Aug. 14 – This new festival is doing three plays – “Macbeth,” “The Comedy of Errors” and “Swansong” (which is by Patrick Page but is about Shakespeare) – at two venues.
“Swansong” runs through Aug. 14 at the newly renovated Power House Theatre, 111 6th St. (at Rose Street) in downtown Walla Walla, and is performed by Shakespeare Walla Walla.
The two Shakespeare plays will be performed by the Seattle Shakespeare Company at the Fort Walla Walla Amphitheatre, 757 Myra Road.
You’ll have to hurry if you want to see “Macbeth,” since the last performance is tonight at 8, but “The Comedy of Errors” runs Wednesday through Aug. 14 at 8 p.m. For tickets and details go to www.shakespearewalla walla.org.
By the way, playwright Page, who won the American Theater Critics Association award for Best New Play for “Swansong,” is a Whitman College grad.
• Montana Shakespeare in the Parks – This annual free tour, which covers Montana all summer, will sneak into our region for a couple of performances of “Much Ado About Nothing.”
The show will be at the Heron, Mont., ballfield on Aug. 20 at 6 p.m. (Mountain time) and at Liberty Lake’s Pavillion Park on Aug. 24 at 6 p.m.
Yes, Montana Shakespeare does sneak into Washington occasionally.
Jazz nobility
Jazz fans are salivating over the “DMS” concert coming up this week – DMS standing for George Duke, Marcus Miller and David Sanborn.
All three are legendary jazz figures. Duke is a keyboardist and producer, Miller is a top bassist and Sanborn is one of the nation’s best-known sax players.
They’re joining up for a big show at the Bing Crosby Theater, Thursday at 8 p.m. Tickets are $41.50 through TicketsWest outlets (800-325-SEAT or www.ticketswest.com).
A new CdA theater
North Idaho Theatre, a new semiprofessional theater troupe in Coeur d’Alene, will launch its first show, Neil Simon’s “Brighton Beach Memoirs,” on Thursday at the Coeur d’Alene High School Auditorium, 5530 N. Fourth St.
It’s a division of the Coeur d’Alene High School and Coeur d’Alene Charter Academy drama departments, but is not a school production, said Tracey Vaughan of the troupe.
The mission, she said, is to “provide educational opportunities for students by having them work side-by-side with seasoned veterans.”
This is Simon’s bittersweet coming-of-age comedy about growing up in Brooklyn. The cast includes Nick Pratt, Mitch Shellman, Brook Bassett, Lee Ja Junker, Abby Anderson, Allegra VanderWilde and Aimie Kinsey.
The show runs Thursday through next Saturday and Aug. 17-20 at 7 p.m., and Aug. 14 and 21 at 2 p.m. Tickets are $14 for adults, $12 for seniors and $10 for students, available at www.northidahotheatre.org or (208) 769-2999.
Da Vinci’s music
Curious about what kind of music Leonardo da Vinci and his contemporaries listened to?
Head on over to the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture (MAC), 2316 W. First Ave., on Aug. 14 at 3 p.m. for a lecture/concert by area musicologist and composer Donivan Johnson titled, “Vox Humana: Vocal Music in the Age of da Vinci.”
It will feature music from Renaissance masters, performed by Johnson and soprano Christina Ashburn Thomas. They will also present a new piece composed especially for this program, titled “Darkness … Solitude … Light.”
A donation of $8 is suggested. A cash-bar reception with Italian wines will precede the lecture/concert at 2:15 p.m.
This program is in conjunction with the museum’s “Leonardo da Vinci: Man-Inventor-Genius” exhibit, which continues through Sept. 5 at the MAC.
‘Footloose’
The Spokane Civic Summer Theatre’s Summer Academy will stage its big show beginning Friday: “Footloose.”
This is a fully staged production on the Civic’s Main Stage, 1020 N. Howard St., with a four-piece combo providing the music.
The cast is made up of Academy attendees who won roles through auditions. Michael J. Muzatko directs.
The show runs Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m., Aug. 14 at 2 p.m. and Aug. 17-19 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $16 for adults, $14 for seniors and $10 for students, by calling (509) 325-2507 or through TicketsWest outlets.
Another boffo ‘Buddy’
By the way, the Civic’s summer revival of “Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story,” which closed last week, sold out all eight performances.
The Civic cleared $45,000 for its Raise the Roof Fund. Civic head Yvonne A.K. Johnson, who directed the show, said it “exceeded every financial goal.”
Carper on viola
Spokane Symphony principal violist Nicholas Carper will perform a public recital, Saturday, 4 p.m. at the Eastern Washington University’s Recital Hall in the Music Building on the Cheney campus.
Carper and pianist Kendall Feeney will play Debussy, Hindemith, Shostakovich and Brahms.
It’s the culminating event of Viva Viola 2011, a viola workshop. But you don’t have to attend the workshop to enjoy this recital.
It’s free and open to everyone.
A local ‘Wipeout’ woman
Joelle Magner, a media buyer with Medio Advertising in Spokane, will be a contestant Tuesday on ABC’s “Wipeout” a game show featuring an obstacle course.
Magner was talked into auditioning back in February by her husband and children. She flew down for an on-camera audition and was picked over thousands of other contestants. Her episode was taped on May 18.
She’s not allowed to say how she did, but she volunteered that it was “truly a cool experience,” of the kind that made her feel like she had “been run over by a train the next morning.”
“If someone enjoys swimming in the mud and getting knocked out over and over and over, this is the show for them!” she said.
Watch for her on Tuesday, 8 p.m. on ABC.
Sunset at the Rockin’ B
Sounds like the Rockin’ B Ranch Cowboy Supper Show, which has been a Spokane (actually Liberty Lake) tradition for 17 years, will be riding off into the sunset after this season.
Owners Scott and Pamela Brownlee announced this weekend that the shows will not be back in 2012. This year’s season continues as scheduled, through Oct. 1.
The Rockin’ B has been thriving for the last few years, but the Brownlees said that it was finally time “to take a summer vacation like normal people.” Both have demanding jobs: Scott is a film professor at the UCLA Film School and Loyola Marmount University, and Pamela is a music teacher.
So if you want see the show, you’d better get some reservations for this season, by calling (509) 891-9016.
George Winston postponment
Pianist George Winston has been forced to postpone his Sept. 21 concert at the Bing Crosby Theater in Spokane and his Sept. 22 concert at the Panida Theatre in Sandpoint.
Ticketholders can hold on to their tickets and use them for a rescheduled show at a to-be-announced date, or they can get a refund at the point of purchase.