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Showing posts from 2025

From the gritty depths of show-biz dreams comes B&B's 'Jersey Boys'

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Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons: "Walk Like a Man" Though a deeply shadowed triumph takes hold in "Jersey Boys," the staged musical story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons also delves into the complications of career-building in popular culture amid interpersonal tensions and personality flaws. The Tony Award-winning show opened on Valentine's Day at Beef & Boards Dinner Theatre , where it will run through April 13. As seen Sunday night, "Jersey Boys" retains its dazzle in a production directed and choreographed by Candi Boyd, who played the role of femme fatale Mary Delgado in the Broadway show. Thus, there is an apparent "laying on of hands" to inspire B&B's show, and it's brightly Frankie: Gian Raffaele DiCostanzo displayed in the pace and detailed presentation of this pioneering "jukebox" musical. In the cast, the key to success in "Jersey Boys" is to have a smoothly produced, sometimes pleading...

ISO puts piece by living American in privileged position among two Russians

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 It must be a first for a substantial 21st-century work to lead off an Indianapolis Symphony Daniel Raiskin guest-conducts again today. Orchestra Classical Series program. That's the case this weekend with guest conductor Daniel Raiskin 's illuminating commnad of Julia Wolfe 's "Pretty." Heard Friday night at Hilbert Circle Theatre, the challenging 20-minute work made for more than a curtain-raiser ahead of Shostakovich's Piano Concerto No. 2, op. 102, and Tchaikovsky's Suite No. 3 in G major. I'm not sure I was supposed to recall immediately the line from "T'he Wizard of Oz" that the Wicked Witch of the West directs at the frightened Dorothy: "I'll get you, my pretty, and your little dog, too." The composer's program note triggered it with a sentence beginning: "My Pretty is a raucous  celebration — embracing the grit of fiddling, the relentlessness of work rhythms, and inspired by the distortion and reverberati...

'Music of'...' series at Jazz Kitchen burgeons with Kent Hickey Quintet

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Kent Hickey Quintet sails through Dorbam-Henderson. One of the classic front lines in small group post-bop was surely Kenny Dorham and Joe Henderson. Trumpet-sax plus rhythm section was a durable combination from the 1940s bop revolution on.  In the following decade, groups fronted by that trumpeter and tenor saxophonist achieved the smoothest blend of horns possible in unison and harmony alike. Yet each man established by his soloing that he could always put his signature on the music, thanks to the Blue Note label's receptivity and promotion. On Tuesday night, a series of tribute shows to great jazz musicians of the past century continued with distinction. The Kent Hickey Quintet had that trumpeter in partnership with tenor saxophonist Sean Imboden to re-create the Dorham-Henderson magic. The rhythm section consisted of Shawn McGowan, piano; Jesse Wittman, bass, and Chelsea Hughey, drums.  The first excitement came after the first chorus of "Una Mas" went down smoothl...

Power of four: Nina Simone's artistic struggle mirrors barriers to Black survival

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Many years ago, an Indianapolis Star colleague gave me a mixtape he had put together focusing on Nina Simone.  To be sure, Mpozi Mshale Tolbert and I didn't know each other well, but his iconic status as a leading light of urban culture has long been clear to me. I was surprised and grateful for the gift, yet this open-hearted photojournalist and DJ had a reputation for such gestures. Like points of the compass, four women define a world in new IRT production. The label of '"iconic" has been overused recently, but Mpozi justifiably retains that status to this day, partly as a result of the shocking erasure of a memorial mural  in Broad Rippl e honoring him, then  its restoration years later.  He struck a chord that still resonates. Certainly "Mpozi Lives" made no idle, defiant graffiti appearance along the way. He died young, at 34, having moved to this city in 1990s and quickly grown in stature (he was already quite tall physically). I put that mixtape in...

In ICO concert, two works by living composers of color sit cheek by jowl with Beethoven's violin concerto

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A new work commissioned for the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra carries a heavy load of extramusical meaning that it managed to approach on its own terms through a range of color and expressivity in its premiere performance Saturday night at the Schrott Center. Jorge Muñiz' s "Solidarity Symphony" declares its bias in its very title, and through slide projections supplements its musical message visually. With accompanying photos, the words of black poets Maya Angelou, Gwendolyn Brooks, and Langston Hughes were read in recording as the texts were exhibited. Jorge Muñiz's hope for a better world shines through.  This meant that the import of Muñiz's score was unmistakable, especially as a universal message against racial division and other kinds of oppression and in favor of removing all barriers to human solidarity. The support of such a work by Classical Music Indy must clearly be a boon to its community profile here. The score is for string orchestra, including w...

Substantial repertoire brings three-week ISO Classical Series concentration to a pause

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  The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra this weekend welcomes the return of the multifaceted Joseph Young connected well in a Romantic program. Awadagin Pratt as piano soloist for a program conducted by Joseph Young , music director of the Berkeley (Calif.) Symphony, who is making his local debut. Friday's concert was a display of solid rapport between the guests, as well as a display of the ISO's fitness to respond as it enters a period of solid partnership with its eighth music director, Jun Märkl. A large, youthful crowd got initial exposure to a Romantic work by the biracial British composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor. The 1898 piece, Ballade in A minor, op. 33,  encompasses the emotional drift and implied narrative of the fantasy-rooted form that provided the work's name.  It makes a full circle from an assertive opening, engaging the full orchestra, before passing through a gorgeous violin tune and some frisky episodes. The orchestra responded well to Young's large-g...

Weighed in the water: ALT's 'Red Speedo' focuses on fraternal ambition, pressures of competition

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Money is the fantasy chlorine in the swimming pool of American aspirations. All four characters in "Red Speedo," an absorbing one-act play by Lucas Hnath, seek subsidized fulfillment while dragging behind them anchors of dependency amid visions of personal wealth. Chief among them is Ray, a competitive swimmer with Olympic possibilities dangling in front Cody Miley as Ray contemplates what's next. of him. But Ray (Cody Miley) has a disturbing history with illicit drugs, and his brother Peter (Alex Oberheide), a lawyer entangled in his own desires, wants to be his professional representative on the big world stage of swimming success.  That's focused on the swimwear sponsorship summed up in the play's title. And that depends on his making the U.S. team, of course, which unfortunately is a goal that for him seems to rely on doping. It's upended his relationship with a drug-compromised ex-girlfriend, Lydia (Paige Elisse), and involved him in an ethical conflict ...

Carmel Palladium return: J@LC Orchestra sharpens its image amid outpourings of skill and energy

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View of most of the Jazz at Lincoln Center ensemble, with nearly all players shown having played the Palladium concert. Artistic director Wynton Marsalis is at the upper left. Ten years ago last month, Wynton Marsalis led the Jazz at Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra i n concert at the Carmel Palladium. Of course, the theme was Christmas music , but somewhat removed from conventional treatment and a predictable play list. As the band returned to the Allied Solutions Center for the Performing Arts Saturday night, I was not  surprised to encounter a totally different program, since holiday music gets a welcome rest for several months. And it's evident that J@LCO has built a sizable book over 30 years in the business under the trumpeter-composer's direction. Thus it has much to offer, as well as a mix of relative newcomers and old-timers in the personnel to play it all. Two of them — trumpeter Ryan Kisor and baritone saxophonist Paul Nedzela — were featured in an unusual dip into the...

A full-spectrum pianist with pertinent ideas: Eliot Wuu in APA Premiere Series

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With scintillating performances from Elliot Wuu Sunday afternoon, American Piano Awards neared the Elliot Wuu brings charm and expertise to APA. end of its Premiere Series of solo recitals linked to concerto performances at the Indiana History Center. The fourth of five finalists in the 2025 competition built upon his past success (most notably, 2018 Gilmore Young Artist) when judged against his peers, thanks to his individualistic command of works by Debussy, Schubert, and Chopin. He had something distinctive to say about each. His program-note teasing about the identity of the best-known piece in Debussy's Suite Bergamasque didn't make much sense, since Clair de Lune was explicitly mentioned in the program. Putting that aside, this concise "greatest hit" received a fresh interpretation Sunday. Taking it quite slowly and maximizing its dreamy resonance, the recitalist made the most of the piano's inevitable tone decay. Only the pedal lengthens that process, wh...

Keeping the flame of their homeland's music alive: Fanoos Ensemble plays at the Tarkington

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Devoted to the music that speaks to and from their souls is the mission of the family ensemble that played Fanoos Ensemble performed at the Tarkington, with attractive photos on a screen. Saturday night at the Center for the Performing Arts' Tarkington Theater. Those attending concerts of the Fanoos Ensemble on tour in the U.S. can only marvel at and deplore how a consequential shift in the government of Afghanistan erased the study, appreciation and performance of music in 2021.  With the Taliban in control imposing a conservative interpretation of Islam, now that heritage must be maintained by Afghan musicians abroad, including those concentrated at the Afghanistan National Institute of Music' s adopted home in Portugal.  The four members of the band —father Ahmad Fanoos, sons Elham and Mehran, and "brother by another mother" Sohail Karimi — entertained with two generous sets a large, responsive audience. Behind them, a wealth of slide projections conveyed titles ...

Concerto as an ISO concert theme ascends naturally to a Bartok summit

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Bela Bartok (1881-1945) I'm uncomfortable with sports-arts analogies, especially with the domination of musical competitions as career builders. And predictions are rife in athletic endeavors, fueled by the global betting mania. But in the sphere of my interest and feeling locked in to the accomplishments of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchesetra under Jun Märkl , I readily gazed into the crystal ball. I confidently expected Friday's performance of Bela Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra to be spectacular. I would not be going out on a limb of local patriotism to put my money (figuratively) on a reassertion of the excellence I had heard on January 17. The performance of the Hungarian composer's crowning masterpiece was bound to confirm my astonishment at the promise of a virtuoso orchestra, which the ISO offered last weekend in Manuel de Falla's "The Three-Cornered Hat." The animated rhythmic precision, the wealth of color, the warmth of tone, and the smoothl...

Dance Kaleidoscope "Nothing Is Forever, Darling" displays range from intimacy to abstraction

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The world premiere on Dance Kaleidoscope 's 2025 debut checked the high spirits and romantic cachet of Joshua Blake Carter, DK artistic director the company premieres in the show's first act, which played upon themes of intimacy and estrangement, and moved to the stark formal design of a world premiere in the second act. The program, whose run ended  today at the Schrott Center, is named after the initial work, "Nothing is forever, darling." Joshua Blake Carter calls the piece contrary to usual title style, with no capital letters after the first word. It's designed for the sentiment expressed to seem offhand. The clue is that it's a remark that Rufus Wainwright, three of whose songs are set by DK's artistic director, made in a magazine interview when he was asked about what future he intended with his current lover. The wave-of-tbe-hand statement is an affectionate rejoinder to anyone interested, a reminder that close relationships can't be expected ...

Invitation to the dance: Officially, ISO's eighth music director is off to a brilliant start

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Jun Märkl attends to detail and to the big picture.  It's understandable that Jun Märkl's official debut as Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra music director has been marketed as "Jun Märkl Conducts Beethoven's 7th," but the firm indication that he is putting his stamp on the orchestra came first in Friday's night's concert with Manuel de Falla's "The Three-Cornered Hat." Not to take anything away from how Symphony No. 7 in A major, op. 92, crowned the program, as expected. But to delay my commentary on that for a bit, it was stunning how Falla's ballet score presented the ISO as a virtuoso ensemble of unlimited potential under his guidance of the 65-year-old Japanese-German maestro. His popularity as a guest conductor over many years here had been well-established before he became music director designate a year ago . Falla's complex setting of choreography, derived from a pantomime based on a Spanish novel, plays with cuckoldry, tempt...