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"Uncle" Walter Austin passes - 5/11/2008 5:37 pm
REVIEW: HANSEL & GRETEL - 5/9/2008 6:17 pm
Adams featured in The New Yorker - 5/8/2008 10:20 am
FIRST FRIDAY RAMBLES - DID YOU SEE THE SHOW? - 5/2/2008 10:49 am
Review: Wooten woos a Bear Tooth crowd - 5/2/2008 2:47 am
Alaska Junior Theater announces next season, includes Black Violin - 5/1/2008 5:06 pm
Head's up: Put on your armor and prepare for satire! - 4/30/2008 12:16 pm
ASO's next season peppered with premieres - 4/27/2008 7:04 pm
Review: "The Nerd" - 4/27/2008 9:29 am
REVIEW: Anchorage Symphony with Naoko Takada - 4/27/2008 12:37 am
Did you see the show? - 4/25/2008 10:57 am
Review: Franti's show volcanic, if you don't mind a few lectures - 4/18/2008 1:59 am
ACA announces next season: Make way for the Knights Who Say "Ni!" - 4/16/2008 11:49 am
Review: "Cirque Dreams" jungle scene dazzles the eye - 4/16/2008 5:03 am
Review: Opera's latest big on laughs, style - 4/13/2008 12:53 am
Review: You should've seen these dancers! Wait, you still can. - 4/12/2008 1:27 am
REVIEW: UAA NEW DANCES - 4/11/2008 11:46 pm
REVIEW: FLAMEL'S DREAM - 4/11/2008 11:44 pm
NATS Voice Competition - 4/11/2008 1:54 pm
WARHOL COMING? Mayor's Arts Awards - 4/8/2008 11:02 am
Anime-ted argument - 4/7/2008 6:19 pm
REVIEW: Anonymous 4 - 4/5/2008 10:43 pm
MAY 11, 2008 - 5:37 PM
Walter Austin: Photo: Evan Steinhauser
By MIKE DUNHAM
A solitary drum covered by a beaded Tlingit blanket and accompanied by an empty chair and single drumstick sat in the middle of the Wasilla High School gymnasium during a powwow on Saturday afternoon -- a silent tribute to Walter Austin, who died in Anchorage on Friday. He was 89.
"Uncle" Walter, as he was known, was born in Juneau on Oct. 5, 1918. He worked as a fisherman and served in the Civil Defense during World War II, patroling the beaches of Southeast with a WWI era Eddystone rifle that he later used for seal hunting. He said he never missed a seal with that rifle.
MAY 9, 2008 - 6:17 PM
Not all there: Michael Fawcett, Zieh Huyk and Christina Ashby have roles as townsfolk in the musical "Hansel and Gretel." Photo: Tony Batres
By MIKE DUNHAM
"Who do you know in the cast?" asked the ticket-seller as I paid to get into the premiere of a new musical version of "Hansel and Gretel." The suggestion that no one would be there unless related to a cast member hit me as a little unsettling. But when someone takes the time to rework the Grimm Brother's archetypal classic and compose fresh music for it, one must take note.
MAY 8, 2008 - 10:20 AM
John Luther Adams: (AP Photo)
Fairbanks composer John Luther Adams has become the first Alaskan in decades - maybe ever - to be the subject of a major profile in The New Yorker magazine. Arts writer Alex Ross visited Adams to write the piece, titled "Song of the Earth," which appears in the May 12 issue of the journal and may be viewed online at www/newyorker.com.
MAY 2, 2008 - 10:49 AM
Root basket: By Atz Kilcher of Homer. Photo: Aurora Fine Arts
Downtown Anchorage was not our first choice for this month's Ramble. Events at the Alaska Center for the Performing Arts, a concert at the Egan Center, the Taste of Anchorage and the chaos brought on by some of the stupidest construction misplanning in the history of the city made parking an even bigger headache than usual. I don't think I'll try going downtown for any further events until the snow flies - probably in June.
But I finally found a vacant meter on the far side of the Federal Building and walked to the Alaska Native Arts Foundation's elegant gallery where new work by Da-ka-xeen Mehner made me set all my peckishness aside. "Weapons of Mass Defence" was not what I'd expected. The artist has created four super-sized replicas of traditional Tlingit knives out of steel. There's a Claes Oldenburg aspect to the things, but the spacing and simple elegance of the pieces also reminded me of the late James Schoppert's work. A series of masks - with Mehner as the model - complemented the set-up. Also at the gallery, some intriguing caribou skin masks by Aakataq. I cannot recommend this gallery too highly.
MAY 2, 2008 - 2:47 AM
Dawnell Smith
Daily News Correspondent
When you put on your listening ears to hear the Victor Wooten Band, you can expect to learn a lesson or two.
But when Wooten took his mostly solo rendering of "The Lesson" into a controlled but thundering bass loop of remarkable mastery last night at the Bear Tooth, more than a few jaws dropped. And when he layered on another loop and played with both, even the buzzed young bucks in back looked spellbound.
Not to mention all the local bass players, jazz guitarists, horn players and composers standing in the audience.
Wooten playing with Bela Fleck: Darla Khazei/Association Press archive 2001
MAY 1, 2008 - 5:06 PM
Alaska Junior Theater’s next season will include a Maori dance troupe from New Zealand and Black Violin, a much buzzed about music group that peppers hip hop and beats with classical violin repertoire.
AJT, which announced its 2008-09 season today, brings professional Outside acts to entertain kids and families, but its upcoming schedule has broader appeal than usual. See for yourself:
AJT’s 2008-2009 Season
Oct. 24: Kahurangi: Maori Dance Theatre of New Zealand. Indigenous troupe sings, chants and dances in the tradition of South Pacific cultures.
APRIL 30, 2008 - 12:16 PM
Ever wonder how Alaskans get reading for the onslaught of fairweather outsiders every year? Well, find out by heading to the performance art piece, "Wait, Let Me Finish Putting On My Armor," this Friday at the MTS Gallery in Mountain View.
"Armor" features Allison Warden and several collaborators, like storyteller Jack Dalton, as they explore "the psychological process that a Native person might go through to get ready for tourist season in Alaska," according to the event's poster.
But a picture always speaks a thousand words:
Wait, Let Me Finish Putting On My Armor
APRIL 27, 2008 - 7:04 PM
The Anchorage Symphony Orchestra on Saturday announced its upcoming season, which will feature two world premieres and a silent-movie night.
Chee Yun
"Echoes" is a new work commissioned by several Native American groups, including the Alaska Native Heritage Center, to tell the story of the 19th-century whaling industry. The piece incorporates dancers, singers and video projections, and was composed by the ASO's music director, Randall Craig Fleischer.
The ASO's commissioning club chose 26-year-old New Yorker Alexandra DuBois to compose the second premiere, "Fanfare."
APRIL 27, 2008 - 9:29 AM
Zany comedy earns its laughs
By Maia Nolan
Alaska Community Theatre’s production of “The Nerd,” which opened this weekend, may not be high art, but it is a lot of fun. Director Dannielle De Shasier’s cast isn’t afraid of looking ridiculous, and as a result this staging of Larry Shue’s comedy is a riot.
“The Nerd” is a good choice for ACT’s intimate performance space; while there are only seven actors in the cast, they fill up the small stage, particularly when things start to get zany.
And the action does get zany indeed, once Rick, the titular “nerd” played by Nate Benson, arrives to visit architect Willum, whose life he saved in Vietnam (and who has never actually met him). Fortunately, “The Nerd” works best when it is at its most ridiculous, particularly one scene in which Rick leads the rest of the characters in a party game that involves wearing paper grocery bags over their heads. The paper bag scene alone is reason enough to go see “The Nerd” — the entire cast steps up to the challenge of keeping their comedic momentum while stumbling around, half-blind, and the result is hilarious. Suffice to say these performers can act their way out of a paper bag — in fact, the paper bag scene features some of the show’s best acting.
APRIL 27, 2008 - 12:37 AM
Next Season Announced
By Mike Dunham
The final Anchorage Symphony Orchestra of this season on Saturday night supplied persuasive incentive to subscribe to the next. The musicians played as well as I’ve ever heard them.
Naoko Takada
The program opened promisingly when Haydn’s Symphony No. 88 found the strings in sync, playing with confidence and accuracy, the winds also on target. Their delicate interweaving of theme and decoration in the second movement and their agile mastery of Haydn’s most famous finale offered some of the best musicianship this season. Only the horns fell short and the minuet could have used some more bounce, but neither quibbles detracted from my enjoyment of an overall happy performance.
APRIL 25, 2008 - 10:57 AM
Anchorage Community Theatre is staging "The Nerd." And at UAA, there's Mozart and McNally this weekend. Art shows, dance performances, bar bands or anything else catch your fancy? If you braved the snowstorm for the sake of a little culture, tell us about it here, where we'll post reviews as we get them in.
APRIL 18, 2008 - 1:59 AM
By Sarah Henning
Anchorage Daily News
Before Michael Franti and Spearhead even took the stage, the evening’s tone was set by a gi-normous backdrop of a Hindu deity wearing a gas mask, its six arms holding things like a gun and a bloody hamburger. Above it, a sign warns “caveat emptor.”
Franti – an anti-death penalty, pacifist vegan – wore out a few soapboxes during his sold-out show Thursday at the Bear Tooth. No surprise there. Throughout his career, music and politics have been inseparable. The folks who don’t share his politics just stay home, or find a Ted Nugent concert to go to.
APRIL 16, 2008 - 11:49 AM
By Sarah Henning
Anchorage Daily News
Get out some coconuts and start banging them together: Tuesday the Anchorage Concert Association announced its 2008-09 season, which includes the Alaska premiere of Monty Python's "Spamalot."
Here's five of their events that are poised to sell out:
Garrison Keillor
Sept. 10
If you want to watch NPR listeners lose their manners, make them fight over Garrison Keillor tickets.
The humorist has wormed his way into America's hearts with his old-timey tales from Lake Wobegon and its fictional inhabitants: Pastor Inqvist, Father Wilmar of Our Lady of Perpetual Responsibility and an assortment of Norwegian bachelor farmers.
APRIL 16, 2008 - 5:03 AM
By Dawnell Smith
Daily News Correspondent
Read on for the full review, but since the "Cirque Dreams Jungle Fantasy" kid's night starts at 6 p.m. tonight, I thought I'd post a few comments from my kids, who saw the show last night.
An aerial from "Cirque Dream Jungle Fantasy."
My older boy described the show as "Awesome," and liked the clown guy best of all. "It was a little too short," he decided. "I could have watched more of everything."
His younger bro gave the show four stars, especially the aerials. "If you're okay with going to bed late, the show was the perfect length. If you want to go to bed early, it's too long."
APRIL 13, 2008 - 12:53 AM
By Sarah Henning
Anchorage Daily News
Every once in awhile, a director gets to be a star in his own show.
Bill Fabris has dug deep into his bag of musical theater tricks to imagine a hysterical, lively and thoroughly accessible “Don Pasquale.”
Maureen McKay in "Don Pasquale"
At the Anchorage Opera's opening performance Saturday in Discovery Theatre, it was clear immediately that many traditionalists will have a hissy fit over this one. Fabris plucked Donizetti’s opera buffa from the mid-19th century and re-set it in 1950s Rome. The broad-as-a-barn acting and nearly constant flurry of stage action – though beloved by the masses – won’t feel refined enough for some die-hard opera fans.
APRIL 12, 2008 - 1:27 AM
Warning: If you are a dance professional, or someone who visits ballet chat rooms, you will probably not find what you're looking for here. I apologize. I'm just trying to get some more people interested in joining the club.
ABT IIABT II
By Sarah Henning
APRIL 11, 2008 - 11:46 PM
By ANNE HERMAN
Choreographer and UAA faculty member Brian Jeffery’s artistic sensibilities abounded in the UAA Dance Ensemble’s presentation of “New Dances 2008.” This spring concert, which started its two-weekend run on Friday, gives student choreographers and dancers the opportunity to test their artistic wings. They didn’t stray too far from the loose, fluid movements that have marked this prolific artist’s works over the years.
There were a few notable exceptions to this one-note affair Friday night in the Mainstage Theater, and they made the difference between a gentle dance night and one that was provocative, sizzling and sophisticated.
APRIL 11, 2008 - 11:44 PM
By MIKE DUNHAM
RICHARD REICHMAN: Playwright, actor.
Playwright Dick Reichman is at his best, I think, when his subject is love, specifically the inexplicable deep down connection that defies easily discerned parameters but sometimes gets communicated through theater.
FLAMEL'S DREAM: Director Bob Pond holds a model of the set for the play "Flamel's Dream" on April 2, 2008. In the background are stage manager Melody Paynter, actor/writer Dick Reichman, actor Patrick Killoran and actor Charlotte Campbell.
APRIL 11, 2008 - 1:54 PM
Here are the winners of the 2008 National Association of Teachers of Singing - Alaska Voice Competitions. The winners performed on Sunday, April 13, at UAA.
High School Classical – 1st Place: Robin Yokel, soprano
High School Classical – 2nd Place: Maris O’Tierney, soprano
High School Classical 3rd Place: James Vierra, tenor
High School Classical – 4th Place: Nicole Chamberlin
High School Classical - Honorable Mention: Maura Wharton, mezzo-soprano
College Classical 1st Place: Karla Urias, soprano
College Classical – 2nd Place: Amy Horstman, soprano
College Classical 3rd Place: Billy Gilbert, tenor
APRIL 8, 2008 - 11:02 AM
By MIKE DUNHAM
A celebration honoring the recipients of the 2008 Mayor's Awards for the Arts took place on Wednesday at the Anchorage Museum. All the best folk were on hand for what Mayor Mark Begich himself called the biggest turnout for one of these things that he had yet seen. Members of arts organizations' boards, prominent Alaska artists, foundation personnel, long-time arts boosters.
Among the speakers, Museum director Jim Pepper-Henry let slip that he and his staff are working to bring an exhibition of works by Andy Warhol up shortly after the completion of the expansion, currently underway but expected to be ready for the public by 2010.
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