Jay Harvey Upstage

Oedipus tries to retain the control Thebes expects of him. James Still's direction of "Oedipus," Indiana Repertory Theatre' s production of Sophocles' tragedy, so powerfully represents the story that you could almost follow all the action without hearing much of what's said. Yet what's said thoroughly reinforces the action, with a mode of delivery that is bold, rhetorically elevated and definitely outside the conversational manner to which most theater grounded in realism has accustomed us. The cast's gestures and movement (credit also to Mariel Greenlee), headed magnificently in the title role by David Alan Anderson, are continually revealing. The set, showing facades of ancient Thebes fronted by a plaza on which the action flows, has formidable gates to the royal palace at upstage center.  Carey Wong's design conveys a feeling of timelessness. Sara Ryling Clement's costumes remove the action from anything familiar to us: robes and bare feet a...

Isaiah J. Thompson and local band mates at the Jazz Kitchen  Typically, the finalists in the American Pianists Association Premiere Series make a thank-you speech that extends gratitude to a variety of local supporters. But though Isaiah J. Thompson seemed happy to be at the Jazz Kitchen , he made little attempt to flatter anyone besides directing applause to his trio assistants Saturday night: bassist Nick Tucker and drummer Kenny Phelps. He also made explicit his indebtedness to  his hall-of-fame keyboard heroes, including Thelonious Monk and Horace Silver. Thompson has forged connections to the New York City jazz scene already, and at 25 plays with a keen sense of how he wants to sound and how he wants to use his influences to help mold his artistic personality. In his second set, he showed off his fresh imagination, taking Billy Strayhorn's "Chelsea Bridge" to new places, not painted in the usual pastels. The pianist started out in a reflective vein, but after two bri...

 Joshua Weilerstein has become almost a familiar face among the roster of guest conductors filling the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra' s Classical Series schedule. In 2021, he helped the orchestra emerge from the pandemic after 14 idle months , and he has been back on the Hilbert Circle Theatre podium as recently as last April.   This weekend he brings to a close a stunning two months of ISO concerts with the most life-affirming music he knows (as he said in the pre-concert "Words on Music"): Gustav Mahler's Symphony no. 1 in D ("Titan"). But the conductor's special pride this visit is the North American premiere of an unfinished symphony by Pavel Haas, like Mahler a middle-European Jew, but especially unfortunate in that his later birthdate subjected him to Nazi extinction at 45 at Auschwitz. (Mahler died of a heart condition at 50 in 1911.) From a distinguished musical family, Weilerstein has a special interest in this music in response to the disturb...

Jason tries to explain his life plans to to Medea. The establishment of identity politics in the arts is full of perils, but searing prejudice against Mexican immigrants to California links well to the power of fate in ancient Greek drama. The link is strong but not untroubled in Luis Alfaro's updating of the Medea legend, "Mojada." Indianapolis Shakespeare Company , in a further indication of its outreach beyond the sacred monster in its name, is presenting the notable Chicano playwright's tragic drama in the Basile "black-box" Theatre at the Phoenix Theatre Cultural Center through March 5.  Director Maria Souza, in a moving, personal program note, elucidates some of the difficulty Latin American immigrants face. Often forced by economic and political necessity to seek a new life in this country, they continually suffer marginalization and erasure of any identity they can be proud of.  The subtitle of the play, "A Medea in Los Angeles," directs us...

Jennifer Christen has been ISO principal oboe since 2012 If you were to contemplate the history of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra over the past dozen years or so, a comparison to the trials of the young lovers in "The Magic Flute" easily comes to mind. Significant trials of character and persistence were the norm. The only thing missing in the real-life dramas was adhering to vows of silence. Except for the pandemic, these were noisy years. In no particular order, here are the crises that the ISO has come through: a wrenching switch of music director; the new music director's youth emphasis in hiring, which resulted in a few successes and a few errors, including established principals who felt threatened; labor-management strife that climaxed in a lockout, and the generalized  trial of COVID-19. A further challenge that was certainly influenced by those just named has been financial stability and audience loyalty. Just as Tamino and Pamina had to keep faith through ...

Regina Carter is among the foremost violinists in jazz. In the second half of her appearance at Madame Walker Theatre Wednesday night, Regina Carter brought to her concert under the aegis of the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis ' Laureate Series a strong interest in her heritage on both sides of the hyphen in "African-American." A contemporary African piece, introduced with free-floating modernist sonorities from the violinist and her musical partner, Xavier Davis, yielded to an original meditation, including spoken text, titled "Path of Construction." That brought attention to the demolition of African-American communities for freeways linked to interstate highways, thus easing transit from urban centers and often benefiting suburban commuters the most. Inner-city destruction is left in its wake. That process, begun in the 1960s and carried through to the end of the century, affected  many U.S. cities, among them the violinist's hometown of...

As narrator of "Wild Horses," Constance Macy reflects. People who visit both versions of Phoenix Theatre 's new show will have the same delightful task of sorting through their impressions that I did. "Wild Horses," a play by Allison Gregory focusing on a woman's look backward to a life-changing episode of her early adolescence, has two much-admired local actors in alternating performances. The task is to figure out how much your responses to the marvels Jen Johansen and Constance Macy accomplish in the role may depend on whose version you saw first. Who sheds more light on a particular episode in this fast-moving, close-to-heartbreaking comedy? And whose performance may stand out because first impressions are inevitably stronger than subsequent ones? On the other hand, second impressions that follow soon afterward bear the enviable weight of confirmation or revision of the initial exposure. To give just one example, on Saturday night I was struck from the s...

Theater productions with a cast of one face skepticism from their potential audiences. "I like the stage for interaction among characters," the resistant playgoer may think. "Does theater really work if your attention is focused only on one actor through the whole thing?"  Well, I don't know if it's just a trick of my memory or stems from my responsibility as a theater reviewer, but some of my most vivid recollections of local theater over the past dozen years come from one-actor experiences. I particularly recall the "Going Solo" series Indiana Repertory Theatre had going for a couple of seasons in 2010 and '11. That's germane to my eager anticipation of "Wild Horses," the current production at Phoenix Theatre . Unusually and attractively, because I retain an indelible fondness for its IRT predecessors in "Lost: A Memoir" (Constance Macy) and "The Syringa Tree" (Jen Johansen),  both of the women starring in t...

 Matthew Halls ' previous guest appearances with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra (covered on this blog since 2014) have indicated he brings plenty of charisma to the podium and a wealth of deep investment in displaying whatever the music most essentially reveals. Matthew Halls has conducted the ISO several times in recent years. It was no surprise, then, how revelatory his first full concert this time around turned out to be. He has the benefit of guiding an orchestra that's now capable of  extensive displays of youthful technique and coordinated energy.  On Friday night, there was sufficient evidence that the resumption of the Classical Series in the first two months of the new year is presenting an ensemble ready for the inspiration and guidance of its new music director, whoever that turns out to be. The demanding program found the hearteningly large audience at Hilbert Circle Theatre vociferous in approval. The guest soloist, Joyce Yang, held it spellbound in...

  Main axe: Mark Ortwein plays the bassoon. The ultimate balance of Mark Ortwein' s recorded calling-card as a jazz musician is reflected in the title. On the one hand it's a tribute and a gift of closure on his late mother's life, on the other a well-considered pun on the bebop classic "Now's the Time." The music itself on "It Was Time"  covers a wide range: You don't expect to get an updated version of the chestnut "After You've Gone" roasting on the same open fire as "Bigfoot," the spine-tingling final track. Ortwein, assistant principal bassoonist of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra , has been known for exhibiting his jazz chops in small groups ever since his arrival here in 2002. His electrified bassoon has most conspicuously been featured for a mass audience playing the national anthem solo for the Indiana Pacers, and it is a substantial part of his performing profile outside the ISO.  On "It Was Time," ...