Jay Harvey Upstage

  Adam Birnbaum wisely varied a program suitably titled "Holiday Jazz" to avoid giving any impression he Adam Birnbaum helped Juilliard launch jazz studies and Hoosier musicians Jeremy Allen and Kenny Phelps would offer seasonal Muzak. Heard in a second set Friday night at the Jazz Kitchen , the distinguished 2004 winner of the American Piano Awards, offering fresh jazz interpretations of some well-known favorites while also giving an example of his fascination with J.S. Bach preludes. There was also "Kat's Dance," an original ballad written in  honor of his wife. Throughout, he exemplified the full spectrum of skills that earned him the Cole Porter Fellowship 21 years ago. His improvisational ideas favor the graceful side of jazz pianism, and a full house saturated in anticipation of the holiday season was ready to receive them enthusiastically.  He is also imaginatively focused on melody, which served him well in a program including "What Child Is Th...

Having rung the changes on the time-honored seasonal bells of Charles Dickens' "Christmas Carol" two years ago, Ben Asaykwee returns to the District Theatre  with loftier bells on, starring in a more ambitious original production called "Wonders." With songs and dialogue taking shape often in rhymed couplets, Asaykwee further exercises his creative chops in the allegorical mode. He leaves a parodistic approach to Dickens behind.  I saw the show in a preview Thursday night, finding it full of signs not only wondrous but also grounded in the reality of needing more work. "A Christmas Carol" is brought in obliquely, shedding light on the underlying conflicts that make the transformation of Ebenezer Scrooge so compelling and believable in Dickens' novella and the many stage shows and movies adapted from it.   Hope (Sarah Zimmerman) is indomitable. In "Wonders," the emotional conflicts,  entailing the moral conflicts to which our emotions con...

"A Christmas Carol" deserves a satirical poke.   For nearly two decades, we've gotten used to the nutty fruitcake style of "A Very Phoenix Xmas," a workable blend of ingredients from various sources under curation by one or two certified artistic minds.  These staples of the Phoenix Theatre schedule are never  in the style of something that is surreptitiously regifted, like the stale fruitcakes of legend. Each production stands on its own, and the variety of casting since the aughties has made return visits mandatory amid the welter of "Nutcracker"s and "Christmas Carol"s and "Yuletide Celebration"s.  Vondrell Sisters audition inappropriately. The new version, titled "Sleigh, Queen, Sleigh," takes a turn toward the auteur theory of film-making, with director/playwright Zack Neiditch at the center.  The creative team spotlights the Zach&Zack pairing (with Zach Rosing as sight-and-sound guru)  known from Fringe product...

It's pure coincidence that this post involves significant landmarks involving the number 2 followed by one zero or more. Johann Sebastian Bach's achievements include the frequently mentioned one that he fathered 20 children.  But wait, there's more! This review of Sunday afternoon's "Bach Heritage" concert by the Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra i s the 2,000th post on my blog, jayharveyupstage. Nearly all of them are reviews of the performing arts in central Indiana, so I need to express gratitude to many arts presenters who have given me access to events from the start (May 2013). Barthold Kuijken playing the traverso flute Moving quickly to the legacy of J.S. Bach, I can't put it in context better than the Oxford Companion to Music: "Providing the most remarkable array of musical talent ever chronicled within a single family group, [over 70 Bachs] served at some time as professional musicians...from the early 16th century to the 18th."  Of Joha...

Celebrity status to performers on the classical guitar is rare.  Sharon Isbin is one of the few since Segovia Sharon Isbin showed her luster as classical guitarist. to claim that status. On Saturday night at Butler University she shared her aura with the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra. under the direction of Matthew Kraemer. The main vehicle for Isbin's artistry was Karen LeFrak's "Miami Concerto," whose three movements carry Spanish names reflecting the character of each. The atmosphere is sunny and relaxed, reflecting the  colorful Miami of Miami Beach more than the overbuilt metropolis choked with high rises.  The work is less a showcase for the soloist's virtuosity than a rich canvas on which guitar and orchestral colors are shared. The rhythmic heft of the guitar, with its percussive articulation, was joined neatly with the percussion section in its outer movements. The contrasting slow movement allowed the guitar's lyrical quality to shine, and when it...

  The master returns for six shows. John Scofield 's visits to Indianapolis have been just infrequent enough to whet the appetite for his next return to town, and this time the guitarist and his quartet, dubbed Combo 73, are in the middle of three nights at the Jazz Kitchen . But in between there is always enough new Scofield music on record to keep fans engaged and not reliant on good memories alone. Seeing the first show Saturday night in the jam-packed dining room, I was impressed by the easy internal rapport of the quartet, whose other members are Gerald Clayton, piano; Vicente Archer, bass, and Bill Stewart, drums.  Note for note, Scofield has one of the strongest personalities among current guitarists. Though he is generous in acknowledging his sidemen and visibly appreciative of their contributions, it's worth remembering that one of his inspired CD titles is "Works for Me." The colloquial heft of that expression includes an offhand acceptance of one's envi...