We all go through stages in life. Shakespeare knew it. So does our author Greg Burdick. We are born, go through youth, our teen years, young adulthood, and finally maturity. Hopefully, at that time, we have learned to exercise good judgment. That good judgment comes from wisdom, but wisdom comes from bad judgment. We make mistakes on the road to maturity and wisdom. Society forgives us our feckless years because we all go through them. It is natural just as it is to forgive the errors of youth.
Do you want a frolic through New York’s demi-monde of the 1930s? Do you want an evening that is just plain fun, one that is breezy and carefree? If so, Guys and Dolls is for you. The Sierra School of Performing Arts is currently performing this gem of a musical at the Robert Z. Hawkins Amphitheater at Bartley Ranch. Do not let the school name fool you. This big, splashy production is as professionally done as you will get this side of Broadway.
Nevada is most famous for being a last stop, before one ventures across a state filled with small towns with gas stations, casinos, and desert (lots of desert). When one hears the name the first thing that comes to mind is casinos, not the illustrious casinos of Las Vegas, but the rundown forgotten casinos whose best days are far, far, behind them. It’s a city which hides amongst the shadows of the Sierras, a victim of many predisposed stereotypes. As a tourist, you might find yourself staying in one of the hotel rooms on the strip. The strip lies on North Virginia Street. On weekend nights, North Virginia is bustling with tourists, they make their way up and down the street, booze-filled, hunting for their riches on the casino floor. For the lucky ones who stumble to the end of the strip, they’ll reach a small theater on the corner of 1st and North Virginia. Its name is Bruka, and the art it has produced has been a cornerstone of entertainment in the Reno area for 27 years.
Don’t miss your last chance this season to see some of the greatest opera productions ever staged – right here in Reno at your local cinema. The final Metropolitan Opera HD broadcast of the summer will be on Wednesday, July 17 at 1:00 pm. It is Verdi’s tragic story of love and loss set in ancient Egypt at the height of the Pharaohs’ wealth and power.
If you have yet to see this beautifully sung and wonderfully entertaining version of The Barber of Seville, Wednesday, July 10 at 1:00 pm is your chance. This one has something in it for everyone – young or old – seasoned opera buff or complete novice. Staring coloratura mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato as the feisty Rosina whose vocal fireworks never disappoint, Bel Canto heartthrob Juan Diego Florez as her determined suitor Count Almaviva, and Peter Mattei as the wily barber, Figaro – the cast could hardly be better.
A tip of the hat to Jane Austen. She had one foot in one century and another in the subsequent century. She started writing Sense and Sensibility in 1795. The 18th Century was a time of classicism. It was a time of logic and propriety, of formality, structure, and restraint. It was a time when everything made sense. It was a requirement of the time. She finished her novel in 1811. That was in the 19th Century, and it was different. It was a time of romanticism that emphasized individuality and emotions, following your heart more than your head, giving free rein to your sensibilities. It was a time of curiosity, exploration, and innovation. It was a time of empire and individual derring-do. It was the time of the Scottish Enlightenment and the scientific revolution. The Industrial Revolution had just started in Britain changing the world forever and Britain along with it.
Make no mistake about it. This is a female revenge play. This genre is as old as Seneca and Euripides in ancient Rome and Greece. Think of the movies The Other Woman, 9 to 5, Fatal Attraction, The First Wives’ Club, Thelma and Louise, and the list goes on. Lauren Gunderson is probably the most widely performed living playwright in America today. She has authored roughly 20 plays in what is still a very young life. She wanted to write a play addressing domestic violence. But–and this is a big but–in writing this play should she do drama or comedy? Should she decry domestic violence or mock it? Here’s her answer:
Dolora Zajick and her Institute for Young Dramatic Voices (IYDV) will be gracing Artown with voices that make you hear the angels sing from July 13th through July 31st. Born of a desire to train young dramatic singers and help them reach the world stage, the Institute is the brainchild of Dolora Zajick, Rosemary Mathews, and Sarah Agler. It is an innovative 3-week intensive summer program of study for singers with large or unusual voices ages 15–36 at varying levels of vocal development.
“Victor Victoria” is a Romeo-and-Juliet story. What’s different about this particular Romeo-and-Juliet story is it comes from the zany, inventive, brilliant imagination of Blake Edwards. Edwards is a master of appearances only semi-attached to reality. He does this superbly, and he does it to music. This musical is about two star crossed lovers in Paris in 1934. It was a time of opulence cheek by jowl with grinding poverty. It was a time of booze and rapidly changing morality. It was the Jazz Age.
