Author: rakemag

Ce weekend, la: Nautilus Music-Theater’s production of Carousel opens at the Southern, and I wouldn’t even be mentioning the silly clambake song or the slap that “felt like a kiss” if not for the standup crew involved in putting this thing together–not just Nautilus mastermind Ben Krywosz, but also great local singers like Bradley Greenwald and Jennifer Baldwin Peden. Also, over at Creative Electric Studios there’s an exhibit that at first sounds kind of pointless, but pulls on the heartstrings of this shopper-on-a-budget no less: Wyatt Mcdill’s Past Lives: Thrift Store Ephemera, in which the photographer highlights all the second-hand crap he bought over the years. (The opening reception’s tomorrow between 6:30 and 11 p.m.) And the rest of the weekend, as far as I’m concerned, is silence…

A couple weeks back at a Minnesota Orchestra concert, when the band was playing 1812 Overture, some Brahms, and a Cello Concerto by Antal Dorai, word has it that a completely sloshed woman showed up and eventually had to be hauled out–and right in the middle of that Dorati concerto! According to an anonymous source inside the orchestra: “Most of us assumed she was sick and had collapsed or something, but according to our backstage crew, she had a good-sized bottle of booze in her purse which she was slugging from during the show, and had fallen asleep during the pause between pieces. She woke up with the applause that welcomed the [Dorati] soloist, and began laughing hysterically, even after the rest of the hall went silent. We started the piece, but she kept popping in with more laughter every few seconds, and eventually, ushers had to forcibly escort her out (she didn’t want to leave.) Osmo, with his back to the scene, knew something was up, but couldn’t turn to look. The soloist, Raphael Wallfisch, appeared to be watching the whole scene intently as he played.”

Now that’s an example of poor concert hall etiquette! This is not to be interpreted as my invitation to the booze hounds of the world to go see the orchestra. I mean, I guess that’d be all right if you were the quiet, sleepy sort of drunk and all. But the line’s drawn where others’ concert experiences start to fizzle. Tsk-tsk. This has all been a roundabout way to plug the orchestra’s big concert this weekend, a Mozart and Schubert bill.

A couple good-lookin’ rock concerts to consider: 331‘s (free) Jackson’s Juke Joint show with Tom Hunter, chubby-cheeked Ron Sexsmith at the Varsity, the New Congress at Babalu, and the best new bands of 2006 showcase at First Ave. If you don’t care for a full-fledged concert but still got that hankering to hear great music, you might drop by Jake Rudh’s weekly Transmission dance party, a who’s-who event that, yes, is still going strong after so long. All in all, it’s looking to be a decent evening out.

Skipping all the way to Sunday, not because I want to wish away my weekend but because there’s a concert I’ve long looked forward to: Vocalist Christine Rosholt, a woman of excellent taste who was once a featured reader in our magazine (sorry, no link; it’s not online), is leading a tribute to Harold Arlen, the fellow most famous for writing Dorothy’s showstopper, Somewhere Over The Rainbow. I read this fascinating profile of Arlen in the New Yorker a while back, and I’ve been awfully curious about him ever since. How helpful it will be to have his life’s work sang out before me.

Tonight: The second week of my second-favorite theater festival begins. This Lone Twin show doesn’t scream of being a sure-thing, at least not in the way Cynthia Hopkins’s show did. (And I can’t be alone in saying that Hopkins put on the hippest night of theater I’ve seen in a long while.) But we here at Rake Headquarters had the luxury of interviewing these Lone Twin fellows for a certain section of our magazine, and they turned out to be downright decent guys, blessed with both humility and terrific senses of humor. Plus, the content of their show is travel-related, so that’s promising to those of us suffering cabin fever. I’ve got my tickets. Do you?

At last night’s Raking Through Books event, Michael Korie and Ricky Ian Gordon had me completely convinced that they had done the right thing in adapting Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath to the operatic form. “This is an opera in the way that Porgy and Bess is an opera,” said Korie. And I became giddy just as soon as he said that, for I had feared a sparse, minimalist score would represent the Dust Bowl. But instead we’ll get a little stride piano, a little banjo, and a lot of Americana and persevering spirit. In fact, the opera is set to open on a positive note: The blue-green memory of the last rainfall. From thereon in, it follows the Joad family’s narrative arc with a bit of Steinbeck’s set pieces (i.e., entire chapters dedicated to explaining what was happening throughout the Dust Bowl) tossed in via a large chorus.

Another thing that impressed me: Korie acknowledged the awkwardness of doing an opera on this subject–“$100 a ticket to see an opera about poor people.” But when he explained that Steinbeck’s book had rocked America, and he wanted audiences to be similarly rocked, my internal alarm went off and I wondered whether this is going to a heavy-handed opera.

But Gordon’s playing, and his all-around dynamic spirit and attitude toward music, is another of those blue-green’s on the horizon. My hunch is that this will be a good’un.

Finally, when I read Grapes of Wrath, back in high school, I remember being absolutely revolted by the disgusting way it ended. (SPOILER ALERT: Here, I refer to the breast-feeding scene.) But now that I’m grownup, and have heard Korie and Gordon’s take on this being the ultimate act of generosity, a gift given by someone who literally had nothing left to give (not even hope), I’m eager to read the book again (which I vow to do before seeing the opera) to experience the story anew. In any case, my roundabout point here is that since there’s not much happening today, I suggest focusing some energy on ticket-procurement. It would make very little sense to blurb about the opera on the day of a show–they’ve had record sales and sold-out performances for many years now, and last-minute tickets can be hard to come by–so this is likely to be the last time you’ll hear about it from the likes of me.

For the few (probably very few?) of you sharing my obsession with modern American opera: tonight’s Raking Through Books event features composer Ricky Ian Gordon and librettist Michael Korie, the folks responsible for adapting the Minnesota Opera‘s world premiere of the Grapes of Wrath opera, opening early next month. At first, I thought this seemed like a strange choice for an opera. But then again, when I surveyed the latest in modern American opera–historic ones like Nixon in China and Dr. Atomic as well as literary adaptations like The Handmaid’s Tale, I could sort of imagine the Dust Bowl opera. Now, let’s see if Gordon and Korie can further explain themselves. Did I mention there’s free nosh at this event?

Two things: First, The Rake’s free screening of the film Letters from Iwo Jima is tonight; pick up your comps at Cafe Brenda (they’re probably gone) or here at Rake headquarters (we have a few). Second, Walking Shadow Theatre Company is presenting an evening of music and storytelling by Sxip Shirey, a composer and performer with a circus bent. He’s in town to compose music for the soon-to-come Tale of a West Texas Marsupial Girl at the Children’s Theatre Company, which is another happening we’re fairly excited about.