|
In this issue:
Nikolais Dance Theatre
Performed by Ririe Woodbury Dance
Company
Friday, February 23,
2007, 8:00pm
Tickets: $36/28/18,
UW-Madison students $10
Go to Box Office
Multimedia Trance
Brilliant Costumes. Wild light shows. Original
music. Contemporary Dance. Nikolais Dance Theatre is a multimedia experience unlike any other dance performance out there! On February
23rd at 8 p.m. Nikolais’ masterpieces will return to the Wisconsin Union Theater stage, nearly 30 years after Alvin Nikolais
created the dance "Aviary" during his legendary residency with the UW-Madison Dance Program.
Performed by the Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company,
the program combines various art forms to present an exhilarating show that will entrance audiences of all ages. The performance is in collaboration
with the UW-Madison Dance Program, which is celebrating its 80th anniversary.
Whether you’re a professionally
trained dancer or have yet to master the chicken dance, you don’t want to miss Nikolais Dance Theatre. Get your tickets at the box office or
buy your tickets online
here.
Sarah Smogoleski
back to top
Marc Bamuthi Joseph (Hip Hop Theater Performance)
Saturday, February 24, 2007
Youth Speaks Finals, 7:00pm
Marc Bamuthi Joseph, 8:30pm
Tickets: $22, UW-Madison students
$10
Presenting Partner: Youth Speaks Wisconsin & UW
Arts Institute
Go to Box Office
Experience Hip-Hop the
Theatrical Way with Marc Bamuthi Joseph
Marc Bamuthi Joseph’s first job, or
“means of getting out of school,” was a commercial broadcast during the 1982 Superbowl. Since that debut, he has perfected the art of
theater and blazed a new path through an exciting new genre, “hip-hop theater.”
His transition from traditional to hip-hop
theater seemed to come about by chance. As a 10th grade English teacher at the Branson School in the San Francisco area, Joseph was
looking for new ways to engage his students. Since most of his students were growing up in hip-hop culture, he decided to give that a try. “It
clicked with the students,” Joseph said, adding that it also opened doors for him to another outlet for his art and creativity. Thus began his
work with hip-hop theater.
Joseph has been performing his show worldwide,
and though it is in English, it seems to have a profound impact on everyone who sees it, regardless of the language they speak. Asked what he wants
the audience to walk away with from this show, Joseph responded “Hope,” and also, “A shifted perspective…if there is no
emotional shift, then I’m not doing my job.”
Marc Bamuthi Joseph is bringing his hopeful and
inspirational show to the Wisconsin Union Theater along with the Youth Speaks Finals in which Madison’s best young poets will compete, with
the winners going on to the national competition. The finals start at 7:00pm.
Sarah Crist
back to top
Pictured above: Robert & Clara Schumann
and Johannes Brahms
Keyboard Conversations® with Jeffrey
Siegel
Schumann: Musical Love
Letters
Tuesday, March 6, 2007, 7:30pm
Tickets: $32, UW-Madison students,
free!
Go to box office
A Love Triangle and More in Jeffrey
Siegel’s “Schumann: Musical Love Letters”
Finckel and Han got you craving for
some more romance? Good for you ‘cause Jeffrey Siegel is back on March 6 with Schumann: Musical Love Letters, the latest installment
in his musically brilliant yet educational series, Keyboard Conversations.
Siegel’s program is a journey through the
composer’s love life. A rumored love triangle between the composer, his wife Clara, and his promising young student, Johannes Brahms, opened
the emotional floodgates that gave way to one of the most accomplished periods in the composer’s life. Sticking with the scandalous love
triangle theme, Siegel starts the show with Variations on a theme, Op. 14, by Clara Wieck, also known as Clara Schumann. Other pieces to be performed
include Romance in F-Sharp Major, Op. 28, Three Novelettes, and Sonata No. 2 in G Minor, Op. 22. (One of them—Siegel will tell you
which—was written when Clara’s father, Schumann’s teacher, refused to give his daughter’s hand to him in
marriage).
Join us for a spectacular night of romance,
love’s pains, and classical music.
Sarah Crist
back to top
Pictured above: Ralph & his Theater
committee angels (from left to right: Laura, Courtney, Megan, and
Katie)
Happy Birthday, APAP!
Fifty years ago the Association of College and University Concert
Managers was founded. Fan Taylor, then Wisconsin Union Theater director (and now legend), was among the founders and served as its first
director. The organization later became the Association for Performing Arts Presenters, APAP to the cognizanti. Bill Dawson, the
theater’s director following Taylor, became APAP’s second director. This distinguished group is celebrating its 50th
anniversary this year.
The current issue of APAP’s magazine, Inside Arts,
includes “History Lessons,” an article by long time employee Gayle Stammler. She says, “Madison is a remarkable place, and the
spirit of the progressive Madison community…infused the association in its formative years. Fan Taylor and Bill Dawson both came to Arts
Presenters from the university, and during the Madison years we sustained strong relationships with the Wisconsin Union Theater (the venerable
presenting organization where both Bill and Fan honed their professional chops) and the university’s arts administration program (now the Bolz
Center for Arts Administration).”
The theater’s relationship with the organization continued
through the years and every January, our director and student members of the Wisconsin Union Directorate Theater Committee make their way to New York
to what may be the world’s largest annual conference of arts presenters. Says Laura Katzman, this year’s committee director, “As
a person interested in the performing arts and wine, attending the Arts Presenters Conference in New York City was like going to a wine tasting,
except instead of trying different wines, I was viewing diverse and talented performers from around the globe. What amazing showcases to
see in four days! This conference reminds me of the incredible creativity that exists among performers today and it continues to
inspire me to program significant, quality events for the Union Theater and Madison community at large.”
Adds Megan Fork, the committee’s
coordinator for world music and jazz: “I have been able to attend three years in a row, and each year have gotten more out of the experience
in terms of solidifying relationships with agents, learning about new programming options to bring to campus, and getting a taste of the professional
world of arts presenting. It is an amazing thing that we are able to send students to this important professional conference each
year”
For a chronology of the two organizations, go to: http://www.artspresenters.org/50thanniversary/chronology.cfm
For an archive Capital Times article, click
here.
APAP’s Fan Taylor page: http://www.artspresenters.org/50thanniversary/founder.cfm
Esty Dinur
back to top
Meet our Staff
Richard Christensen: Usher
Extraordinaire
Richard Christensen’s days in the theater
started as a student employee. He visited our fine establishment and realized that his tech know-how was needed. Christensen began by designing
lighting, with his first major show being the fall 1959 production of “Oklahoma.” He didn’t stop there. “I just about
lived there,” he said, talking about the many productions he worked on.
Following graduation, Christensen, who majored in
math and speech, began work at Middleton High School. He was the theater director there for 25 years. “One of the things I wanted to do was get
back to the theater. I love the theater,” he said.
Now retired, Christensen ushers at the Wisconsin
Union Theater and other venues and serves as a house manager at Overture Center. “Now that I’m retired I spend 100% of my time with the
theater.”
With all the performances he’s seen, does
he have a favorite? “I really like theater-- musicals and plays.” He listed last year’s “Romeo and Juliet”
production by APT as one of his favorites. “The Dream Ballet was kind of exciting,” he adds.
“Can I tell you a story?” he asks.
Turns out that he and Michael Goldberg, former Wisconsin Union Theater director, met when both were in college and Goldberg was a freshman. One day
Christensen brought him to help “strike” (dismantle the stage after a performance) and, yes, the rest is history.
Sarah Smogoleski
back to top
Newsletter staff
Editor: Esty Dinur
Technical Advisor: Heather Good
Layout Designers: Sarah Crist and Claire
Weissenfluh
back to top
|
|
Dianne Reeves
Thursday, February 15, 2007, 8:00pm
Tickets: $32/26/18, UW-Madison students $10
Presenting Partner: Madison Jazz Society
Go to Box Office
Isthmus Jazz Series Ends with a Good
Night, Full of Luck
In the fall of 2003, Blue Note
recording artist Dianne Reeves was the first singer to perform at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. On February 15th, she will
be the last performer of this season’s Isthmus Jazz Series.
Reeves’ voice has been described as
“one of the best that jazz has boasted” by the Boston Globe and “big enough to rival Sarah Vaughan’s” by
The New York Times. She is the only artist to have won four Grammy awards for consecutive recordings in a vocal category, and her work on
“The Calling: A Tribute to Sarah Vaughan” and the soundtrack to George Clooney’s film, “Good Night, And Good
Luck,” won huge critical acclaim.
Recently, Reeves played a role in “Billy
Strayhorn: Lush Life,” a documentary that focuses on the life of the jazz composer, arranger, and pianist. She also sings six songs on the
film’s soundtrack, most notably “Lush Life,” a duet with guitarist Russell Malone.
Don’t miss the opportunity to
hear the woman All About Jazz calls “one of the world's premier jazz singers.” Tickets are still available at the
new Park St. box office or by clicking here. Read Susan Kepecs'
Isthmus article here.
Sarah Smogoleski
back to top
The Mysterious Mayas with Sandy
Mortimer
February 26-27, 2007, 7:30pm
Tickets: $10, UW-Madison students
$5
Go to box office
Unsolved Mysteries: The
Mayas
Are the doldrums of winter making you bored,
restless, and pining for some excitement? Why not swing yourself into the seats of the Theater and journey into the land of the mysterious Mayas? On
February 26th and 27th at 7:30 pm, filmmaker Sandy Mortimer explores Belize and Guatemala in a way you’ve never seen
before.
Explore the sites of the brilliant Mayan past and
less-brilliant present while hearing stories about their unsolved mysteries. Along the way, meet exotic animals, see the world’s second largest
barrier reef, and take a jungle cruise. Explore tropical rainforests, ancient temples, caves, as well as isolated villages, rituals and
ceremonies.
Why did the brilliant Maya civilization
disappear? Maybe Mortimer has the answer you are looking for. Leave your cabin fever blues behind and click here to buy your tickets before they
vanish!
Claire Weissenfluh
back to top
David Finckel & Wu Han
Friday, March 2, 2007, 8:00pm
Tickets: $32/28/18, UW-Madison students $10
Pre-Concert Dinner: $27
Presenting Partner: MAPTA and Suzuki Stings of
Madison
Go to Box Office
Finckel and Han; The Passionate Side of
Romanticism
Valentine’s Day will be over by the time
cellist David Finckel and pianist Wu Han take the stage on March 2, but romance and romanticism will fill the hall when this gifted married couple
play Schubert’s Sonata in a minor, “Arpeggione” as well as works by Strauss, Rachmaninov, and Grieg. The concert is titled
“A Portrait of Romanticism: Lyric Works for Cello and Piano.” (see program and program notes here).
Finckel, who studied under Mstislav
Rostropovic, has earned a name as “a world class soloist” (The Denver Post). Critics praise the deep, rich tones he
produces on the cello, while listeners are captivated by the emotion he exudes on stage.
Han, who began playing piano at the age of nine,
“can do Brahms as well as she does Schubert, displaying her great gift for what Keats called ‘negative capability,’ the
ability to achieve the point of view of an other, leaving your own personality behind,” proclaims Positive Feedback.
In addition to their status as world-class
performers who taught with legendary violinist Isaac Stern, the two have been named Artistic Directors of The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center
in 2004.
“They are musicians at the highest level,
whether performing together or separately,” writes the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. This concert is a must for lovers—and lovers
of musical romanticism. Buy tickets
here.
Sarah Smogoleski
back to top
Soledad Barrio
and Noche Flamenca
Thursday, March 8, 2007, 8:00pm
Tickets: $32/26/18, UW-Madison students $10
Go to Box Office
You Haven’t Seen Dance Until
You’ve Seen….Flamenco!
Ladies and gentlemen, please prepare yourselves
for a heart pounding, passion-filled night of dance, song, and music. Soledad Barrio and Noche Flamenca are bringing to our stage a sensual display
of the exhilarating art of flamenco.
Founded in 1993 in Madrid by artistic director
Martín Santangelo and his wife Soledad Barrio, Noche Flamenca has
come to define flamenco today. For the past 14 years, this company has been dazzling audiences worldwide, and now you too have a chance to see it.
This company of dancers and musicians has stated
their goal is to “maintain the essence, purity and integrity of one of the world's most complex and mysterious art forms without the use of
tricks or gimmicks.” “The company relies on the high standards of its artists as well as their profound understanding of
flamenco,” they add.
Reservations at a nice Spanish restaurant and
tickets to this show will make for an exotic evening of beauty, dance and music. Buy tickets here.
Sarah Crist
back to top
From the Archives
Above: Isthmus cover from 1979 featuring
The Nikolais Dance Theatre in "Masks, Props & Mobiles."
Below: ‘Aviary’ reverberations from
The Capital Times from January 16, 1980:
“The Wisconsin Union Theater’s
sponsorship of the residency of the Alwin Nikolais Dance Theatre last winter has earned several awards for the theater. In December, the theater was
honored at the national conference of the Association of College, University and Community Arts Administrators Inc. in New York City. The theatre
received the association’s new Management Achievement Award for the 'innovative residency' of the Nikolais troupe.”
The innovative spark will continue on February
23rd at the performance. See you then!
back to top
|
