Bye, Bye

I started Columbus GA Reviews as a lark. I figured some people would read it and think I had a point and some people would read it and decide it wasn't worth reading again. And that would be that. It was naive but it never occurred to me that readers would pay any attention to me or intensely want to know my identity. I didn't want to share that because I didn't want anyone to treat me differently.

Of course, one of the ways a reader decides whether the writer has a point is whether the writer's credentials are persuasive and I wasn't sharing mine so my excuse may not be all that good. For all anybody knew, I didn't know the difference between a half note and a half wit. Still I wasn't trying for a Pulitzer and I just thought nobody else is doing it so why not? It was a lark.

But readership grew about 50% a week and I realized that I might be in over my head. I deliberately held reviews until the end of a run so that I wouldn't be responsible for people skipping a performance based on what I had to say. And I began to hear the whispers about who I might be. I grant you I should have guessed that but there you are.

So I'm getting out before I become the subject of an Agatha Christie short story. Columbus has superb facilities (even though the River Center is impossible to work with) (there I go again) and talented people. One day, when we have longer runs, maybe we'll get a good critic. Till then, bye bye.

Charm School

For those of us familiar with a play it can be hard to see a director's different take when he/she interprets King Lear as a polemic about cell phone texting. That is what directors do though and finding something new in a play is a magical thing.

So I'm trying to accept Paul Pierce's take on Charm School as a new way to see the play. The way the play was promoted and, to a lesser extent, the way it was presented made it out to be about being more sensitive to others. The problem is, anyone who knows the playwrights, Lee and Larson, knows that was the last thing on their minds. Their whole body of work is about skewering other people's sensibilities and that's just their plays. Oh the stories I could tell!

Charm School is a play about an older worker, Ray, who tells an off color story and is accused of making the workplace unfriendly. He is completely confused by the reaction of the company which is sympathetic but sends him to diversity training. The premier production at Horizon with Lee and Larson in the main roles was more about how the world changed around Ray and the company and how they were having trouble coping with it. This, I imagine, came out of their own experience since the politically correct world we live in now is anathema to them. It's hard to imagine their Southern Theater Conspiracy company putting on the "Blood Orgy Trilogy" now.

I have to admit that I was dubious about Raymond Campbell as Ray since I've thought of his acting as one dimensional. I'm pleased to say that he was right on in his interpretation. As one patron who has seen most of Campbell's work said, "Who knew he could act!" I did expect a strong performance from Jens Rasmussen as Joe, Ray's boss and he delivered as good or better a performance than Larry Larson. Of the rest of the cast, Michael Stiggers as Rob, one of the diversity trainers, delivered both a powerful and sensitive performance that really added to the play and to the role. He clearly has set the standard for this role in the future.

The play was produced in Foley Hall and the stage ran the length of the hall with seating on both sides. This is a new arrangement for Foley and generally worked well although folks at the ends had trouble hearing when the actors were at the other end. The workmanship on the set was as shoddy and cheap as I've seen since high school. Cheap plywood wasn't nailed down. Astro turf presumably served as grass. Boards were cut unevenly. I was tempted to think there was something the director was trying to tell us with the run down condition but this was supposed to be a luxury hotel on a lake in Washington.

The Springer is to be congratulated for taking on a fairly edgy and new play and I hope it gained an audience here. Presenting it as a call to sensitivity probably helped.

Friends and Colleagues

I never cease to be amazed at how the Columbus Symphony manages to produce crisp programs with players from around the state and very little practice together. This is a tribute to Del Gobbo of course, but playing together well isn't just a result of good direction. It's discipline, talent, and dedication.

Admittedly, the Symphony was a little rocky in their last performance but they put all that behind them last night in a superbly sharp program with pianist Paavali Jumppanen. Mr. Jumppanen's resume reads like an elder statesman but his debut was in 2001 and he's already played all around the world to rave reviews. His program was Brahms' Piano Concerto No 2 in B-flat Major Op 83. This is no lullaby. The program notes called it "gentle in mood" and suggests that all except the second movement provoke "calm dignity". That may well be in the hands of another pianist but Mr. Jumppanen attacked the Steinway with a passion that invoked anything but gentleness or calmness. In fact, his right foot hit the sustaining pedal with such force as to shake the piano and add a Irish dance sound to the score. At times his foot was raised as much as 6 inches over the pedal before hitting it full force and one patron described all the movement as like an organist.

This is not intended to be a criticism, but rather illustrates how he interpreted the piece. Mr. Jumppanen's touch was gentle where it needed to be and the piano responded to him with a clear and passionate reading.

Once again, the horns were the backbone of the Orchestra, both in the opening piece and in the Schumann piece that closed the night. However, in the third movement of the Brahms, the Cellos came forward and delivered a counterpoint to both the horns and the piano that showed how strong they've become under Andre Gaskins. There's also two solo cello parts in this movement that gave Andre Gaskins an opportunity to show his extraordinary talent.

Unfortunately, the hall was not much more than half full. This Symphony is delivering a first class product but it continues to need an audience.

A couple of comments

I don't have a horse in the District Attorney discussion but I do congratulate the Ledger-Enquirer for the editorial that started it. I'm sorry that they had to put it on the front page in order to get it noticed since their editorials normally read like the output of an opinion poll. The fact is, local reporting on the vagaries of our officials is worth reading about and sells newspapers. And loses readers too I know. But if you're on the way out, you might as well go out fighting and people are talking which makes the paper relevant.
Of course papers like the Boston Globe, etc who report nationally still have a problem. If you wonder if we're seeing the end of genuine news coverage-and you would wonder if the newspapers are disappearing and you're stuck with Fox or CNN-go to http://trueslant.com/. They're starting with 65 journalists.
I've mentioned Columbus' participation in reading "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" as part of the "Big Read". If you go to the library, they'll give you a reader's guide which is a really terrific reading companion.
Speaking of the library, Tim Chitwood recently wrote about a movement to raise the price of a parking pass at our state parks. What he didn't write was that you can get a free one at your local library.

Machinal

There's good news and bad news about CSU's production of "Machinal". It's good news that CSU is bringing thought provoking theater like The Cripple of Inishmaan and Machinal to Columbus. And it's good news that Mandi Kerr's performance as a borderline schizophrenic is my nominee for the performance of the year on a Columbus stage.

The bad news is that there's no borderline schizophrenic in Machinal.

Sophie Treadwell's play is about a young woman who is trapped in a 1920s New York world in which most women have accepted their roles as wife and mother with no other ambitions. The young woman, who's name is Helen Jones (the play's notes don't give anyone a name to reinforce the idea that we're all just machines), marries her boss because he's the only one who asked her and then consents to sex and a baby because it's just one more step down the slope. She then takes a lover who, in Neil Young's words, is "bound for moving on"; in other words is free of society's rules. Eventually, her need to be free leads her to kill her husband and be executed for murder.

The problem here is that in the beginning of the show, Ms Kerr's Helen appears to be so fragile that she might come apart at any moment and even threatens her mother. One wonders what her boss sees in this nervous, tight hair bun of a girl. She only becomes more unwound as she has the baby and begins talking to herself or to someone unseen and seems suicidal. Then, toward the end of the first act, she shows up in a bar with her hair down picking up a strange man and turning obsessive.

Treadwell's intention was to show how a young woman who had few choices might rebel against the society which persecuted her. She might get along by going along but she might also eventually refuse to submit with disastrous consequences. Ms Kerr's performance was riveting but instead of coming away with a larger understanding of how society molds women (and indeed everyone) into its own image, one comes away dazed. This is also in part because Ms Treadwell ladles on issue after issue from abortion to the death penalty so that one only wants to come up for air.

There's more good news in the staging, directing and casting. Machinal isn't an easy piece to stage and director Dr. Becker found a strong cast and kept the staging tight.

Sergiu with the Symphony

It was hopping around the River Center on Saturday night. The Springer had the Columbus Ballet on the main stage and a children's production in Foley Hall. The River Center had the Symphony and there was something in the Rankin that I wasn't invited to. There were the usual crowds on Broad Street and First Presbyterian had a huge formal wedding.

All of the activity may have contributed to the sparse crowd at the Symphony or it may have been the threat of rain. Still, having seen crowds thin out at events around town and seeing what was the smallest turn out for the Symphony cannot help but be worrisome.

Musicians are like athletes in that they do their best when the crowd is behind them and that may have been why the symphony seemed a little off. Unlike other reviewers, I'll admit that I heard nothing but compliments from other audience members but that wasn't what I heard. The first piece was Haydn's Symphony No. 22 in E-Flat Major and Del Gobbo had mustered 20 violins across the front of the stage. In the first movement, the violins are supposed to be subservient to the horns but it seemed the reverse to me and the whole piece seemed flat, mechanical, and passionless.

One of the violinists wasn't even wearing a tie and another one dropped his shoulder rest on the floor in front of God and everyone just as the soloist was wrapping up a section. After the intermission, the orchestra took up Mendelssohn's Symphony No. 3 Op, 56 and, like a horse headed for home, seemed to find its energy and fullness in the last two movements.

Columbus State University's Violin Chair, Sergiu Schwartz was the featured performer. Given his impressive resume which truly recognizes him as one of the "best violists of this generation", one was doubly perplexed at the number of people who turned out. Perhaps he's a "prophet in his own town". His performance was the talk of the audience during intermission and showed great technical skill and superb technique.

Art Lectures

I've attended two really terrific lectures on art in the last few days.

The CSU Friends of Art held a reception and lecture by Bo Bartlett on Friday. He was quite engaging and showed slides of a number of his pieces and the paintings that influenced them. Sometimes the influence was obvious and sometimes it seemed a stretch but it was helpful to understand where he's coming from with some of the more obscure references. One painting was of a group of folks cutting a man out of a whale. In fact it was a reference to Jonah and Bartlett told the whole story of Jonah in excruciating detail to get to a point explaining his version.

I've opined here before that he was influenced by Rockwell and Wyeth and he verified that. He, in fact, spent five years with Andrew Wyeth doing a film about him and so became very close to him and his mistress. When he talked about Wyeth's passing, he broke up.

CSU's new art display space will have a number of his pieces on loan and that alone should vault them into the top of museums in the state.

On Tuesday night, I heard a lecture by Olga Stone on Orthodox icon art delivered in Columbus' Greek Orthodox Church. The church interior is covered, walls and ceilings, with icons. Ms Stone, a native of Russia who now lives in the UK, covered Christian and Orthodox history as well as some art that has sprung from icons. The church icons were done by a Romanian artist who lived there for a year. I was very much impressed by his artistry, but Ms Stone pointed out that all Orthodox icons are pretty much the same depiction. St. Nicholas, for instance, is always shown with two crosses and a bible on his breast. Christ and Mary always have the same colors. So the Romanian artist pretty much copied the work in the church but you shouldn't let that put you off. It's really something to see and you can see it on Sundays when they worship at 10 am.

Murder, Take Two

Agatha's Mystery Theater in Atlanta has been around for maybe 30 years and I've never darkened their door. I wasn't against it, I just didn't see it as theater or entertainment that I was interested in.

I wouldn't have gone to Sherlock's Mystery Dinner Theater if I hadn't felt compelled to cover all the professional theaters in town. And I would have missed an entertaining night. The current show, "Murder, Take Two" is an original production written by the theater's artistic directors, Kate and JJ Musgrove. As you might expect, it relies heavily on old jokes and riffs on old movies and even older Hollywood actors.

The concept is that some members of the audience are given parts with short scripts to read when their time comes and, to my surprise, it actually works. "Murder, Take Two" uses two professional actors in half a dozen parts and maybe ten members of the audience. Although the Musgroves' intentions are to hire actors for the professional parts, JJ is playing the male parts in this production because the actor they had hired didn't work out. Haley Rice, who has a strong acting resume, is playing the female parts.

The good news about this is that both Haley and JJ are excellent actors and, even though this is not about drama, they do draw you in. Haley defines the dumb blond and JJ knows how to perfectly play off her.

The play itself is a piece of fluff about Hollywood folks visiting a director who's casting a new movie when there's a murder. A detective is called in to question both audience members playing parts and characters created by Haley and JJ. At the end of the production, audience members are invited to guess who the culprit is.

The play is produced in acts between courses of dinner served by the Marriott. The meal varies by week so you can pick a night when you like the courses. Our meal was about what you'd expect at a Shriner's banquet.

The next show is "Spy Games" beginning May 8 and I'm thinking I need to be sure they're still on their game.

Goobers

The Chattahoochee Shakespeare Company's production of "Goobers" is an unacquired taste. Either you like corn pone or you don't. There's a line in the Springer's production of "Big River" delivered by the Duke, "They want comedy. Low comedy. Maybe something worse than low comedy." That's a review of "Goobers".

"Goobers" is a retelling of the Brer Rabbit story using five more current legends. In order to escape the stew pot, Br'er Rabbit tells the story of Georgia's Big Foot, St. EOM, and Hogzilla as well as lesser known stories. It's part musical, part farce, and part low comedy using four actors. Stephen Sisson as Br'er Bear carries a large part of the action and does it well.

Written by Artistic Director Troy Heard, it's unclear if "Goobers" was conceived as an adult or children's production. The puppetry used to illustrate the stories as well as the four actor's costuming seem to indicate that the play is aimed at children, and, as such, it would be on target. But other than the fact that the Company has added a Sunday matinee to accommodate families, there's nothing on the web site, in the program or in the mission statement that would lead you to believe that's the target audience.

One has to be careful not to take Goobers too seriously and worry about how tight the production is or how well the actors project. It's intended to be light entertainment taking us away from Washington and Wall Street for 40 minutes. How wrong can that be?

It's very good news that the Company has found a more permanent space at 1242 Broadway for next year's season which sounds very aggressive. The final production of this season will be a 1950s update of The taming of the Shrew" to be presented at the Riverfront Amphitheater in May. Bring a picnic and watch out for flying pizzas!

Charbroil Steak House

I've avoided reviewing restaurants during this recession because I hate hitting them when they're down. But if the restaurant is covered up with customers, they're fair game. Such was my experience with the Charbroil Steak House in Phenix City.

When we arrived after 8 pm, there was a wait. When we asked the hostess how long the wait was, she replied that they were just waiting for people to get up. We decided to stay and I went to the rest room to wash my hands. On the way, I counted 7 empty tables.

After about ten minutes several people had been seated but there were still 5 empty tables and so we pointed it out to the hostess. This time she said that the kitchen was "behind", which is like saying, "You're not going to get served either way but you're better off standing up".

Before we gave up, a member of management noticed us and got us seated. They had plenty of wait staff and they were prompt and courteous. They have no beer list but they do have a tall draft for a very reasonable $3.25.

For an appetizer, we tried the grilled sausage and pimento cheese which struck us as innovative. It was served with crackers and a mustard based bbq sauce which we thought went well together although the sausage was a little bland.

For the meal we ordered the specialty, a rib eye medium rare and the ribs. The rib eye was a thin piece of meat but cooked perfectly which is a good trick with meat that thin. However, it had no crust which is ironic since the menu particularly points out that it's cooked with a Charbroil Grill that can put a restaurant crust on at home. The ribs were a little tough and over cooked but the sauce had a nice burn to it.

The meals come with two sides and the best one was a fully loaded baked potato. The corn was also good and not just a half ear that you see in so many places.

The restaurant seems to be struggling to find where it wants to fit in to the genre. The pictures on the wall were mostly nice prints of the Columbus area as opposed to the nick knacks that one finds in most restaurants of this type, but the clientele on the night we visited wore tee shirts and UA hats. There were a lot of families. They advertised that they have "6 TVs viewed from all angles" but they were 2X4 flat screens tuned to wrestling for some reason during March Madness and that doesn't make a sports bar. All the tables had candle holders but there were no candles and two of the four flames outside were out.

The restaurant is owned in part by Abott Turner of the Bradley Company family and there's an obvious attempt to connect Charbroil Grills with the restaurant. The restaurant has been open long enough to shake down now and I'm guessing the owners haven't dropped by there recently. They're in a game with the likes of Longhorn Steak House and that's an organization that does look after details. Still, judging from the crowd we saw, they are doing something right.

New theater work

I regret to tell you that I was right about the Springer audience looking light. They've now announced 2 for 1 tickets on Thursday and $5 off the other days. This is disheartening and a little odd. Museums are up-even museums that, unlike ours, charge. Westville has had a sharp increase in March. Old Sturbridge Village in MA had a 32% increase to start the year. The American Association for State and local history organizations reports general increases and suggests that it's because "...people are valuing meaningful experiences". That tells me that theater isn't getting its story out.
Incidentally, you may think this is stretching for something to write, but I think it's worth noting. This week-end, Columbus may well be the only city in the country where 2/3 of it's professional theaters are doing new works by their artistic directors. The Chattahoochee Shakespeare Company is doing Troy Heard's "Goobers" and Sherlock's Mystery Dinner Theater is doing "Murder, Take 2" co written by the Musgroves. OK, neither of them will knock Arthur Miller off the pedestal but I think it's great.
No city can be taken seriously for theater until new work is produced there and just the fact that these artistic directors believe there's a market for new work is encouraging. The other theater of course is the Springer which last did a premier maybe five years ago. It was a concoction that Tuna author Ed Howard dreamed up based on a Shakespeare play and there's enough blame for everyone in that production. It takes courage in this environment where a single show can ruin your season and I don't blame Pierce for going back to his roots.
I'll review both shows soon.

Upcoming

Here's some interesting upcoming free events.
Tomorrow night, Tuesday, at the Carson McCullars houe, The Arden Series, featuring readings by CSU faculty and students. This week's session will feature faculty member Scott Wilkerson and student Kristina Sorg. 7:00 PM at the Smith-McCullers House, 1519 Stark Avenue.
And Thursday at 7 pm, also at the Smith-McCullers house, Poetry Readings by two poets from the University of Georgia at Athens: Andrew Zawacki and Donna Stonecipher.
Friday is the open house at the new CSU visual arts center downtown featuring a Bo Barlett exibition.
On Tuesday the 24th, Olga Stone, who is a native of the Ukraine, a concert pianist and knowledgeable scholar of Russian history, art, music and religion, will lecture at the Holy Transfiguration Orthodox Church located north of Manchester Expressway on Gilbert Ave. The church has painted walls of icons which are a treat in and of themselves. After the lecture, the church will serve authentic Ukrainian deserts by Galina Shehane who's native cooking is becoming a fixture on the catering circuit. The event is free but the church is asking for reservations so that they can have the right amount of desert. Call Stephen Muse at 706-561-9926. http://ht-church.com/about is the church web site for info and directions.

Springer notes

Two more notes out of the "Big River" program.

In his "Director's notes", Paul Pierce asserts that "The adventures of Huckleberry Finn" "....has done more to rile up the nation over racial injustice than any other book". Now Pierce is a well read guy and I'm going to assume that this is just promotion since there is at least one other book that might have done more.

On page 28 of the program there's an ad for a special performance of "Charm School" for managers. The ad suggests that the performance and discussion afterward would be for "...anyone interested in discovering more about the importance of diversity and sensitivity...." Now anybody reading that will rather watch a Gilligan's Island marathon than go to see that play and it must have been dreamed up by someone who hasn't actually seen the play. I do hope the Springer doesn't intend to play Ray as either evil or as a fool.

Big River

The Springer's production of "Big River" was the first time I've seen the musical. Opening in 1985, it won 11 Tonys including Best Musical and Roger Miller became the only country music artist to win a Tony. I've probably never seen it because it is a difficult production not only for its sweep but for the demands it makes on its cast. There are nine or ten parts that require a voice to stand out and another fifteen or so voices in the cast. The Springer's production opened with 27 people on stage and this in a period when most theaters are looking for small cast plays.

Miller's book very closely follows Twain's and Paul Pierce's direction as closely follows Miller's book which means there's not very much innovation in the production and it lacks the tension that would come from taking a few chances. It's very much a yeoman effort.

Of the two main characters, Huck Finn and Jim, only Keith Patrick McCoy as Jim rises above the production. His rich baritone voice was best put to use in the second act in "Free at Last" which is as close to a show stopper as this show has. Mike Morin, as Huck, has a modest tenor voice without nearly the volume of McCoy and their duets such as "Muddy Water" in the first act were almost dissonant. Fortunately they were much better together in the second act when they sang "Worlds Apart" and Morin was at his own best with "Waiting for the light to shine".

Miller's music is not challenging but only one of the songs is patently country, Mary Jane Wilkes' "You oughta be here with me" which Tammy Winnette would be comfortable with. Janie Lee Bullock, who seems to be everywhere these days, conducts a ten piece orchestra which never overwhelmed the singers. On some songs where only part of the cast was on stage, Pierce brought the rest of the cast into the orchestra area to bulk up the voices and it was helpful without being noticed by the majority of the crowd.

The acting was mostly adequate although I was distracted by McCoy's Rochester imitation-beginning sentences with a very high pitch-particularly in the first act. And although it's a small part, Dylan Stephan as Tom Sawyer astonished with his theatrical performance. He's a product of the Springer Academy and his remarkable polish for a high school junior stood out among even the professionals. He could very easily find himself on Broadway.

The crowd, once again was slight. Pierce says that the Springer is up 9% year over year but one wonders if they haven't lost ground with the last two productions on the main stage. I thought the low turnout for Hamlet might be because of the subject but this town likes musicals and Big River has seats available. It's a tough time but there's not a better way to escape than to catch a live show and all the local theaters will have shows next week-end so catch one!

Mea Culpa

Troy is absolutely right. The "Tent Meeting" that Theatrical Outfit is putting on bears no relation to the Lee/Larson one except for the subject.
This is just sloppy reporting on my part and I apologize for it. It just never occurred to me that someone would appropriate the name and idea for their own but there were clues. To begin with, nothing is sacred with Lee and Larson but Tom Key who's directing at the Outfit is a pretty straight arrow Christian and wouldn't go out of his way to offend anyone. I should have known better.

Upcoming theater

The Springer's next play, Big River, is the musical Huckleberry Finn. I doubt they knew it at the time but "Columbus Reads" will also be doing Tom Sawyer so it's particularly appropriate. The library will bring in some lectures on Tom Sawyer and the Center for Christian Studies at First Presbyterian is bringing in Irmgard Schopen-Davis from Americus to give three lectures on the book.

In April, the Springer's Studio theater has Eddie Lee and Larry Larson's Charm School and this is one you'll really want to see. I saw the premiere at the Horizon Theater in Atlanta with Eddie Lee in the Raymond roll and Larry in another role. Of all the plays they've written, this one is probably the most serious but it's still a riot.

Once you see this you'll want more of this duo and there's actually a chance right now if you're willing to drive to Atlanta. The Theatrical Outfit is doing "Tent Meeting" which more like the other plays these guys have done-completely disrespectful of everything. "Tent Meeting" is about an itinerant traveling tent preacher whose unmarried daughter gets pregnant. He can in no way accept this and comes to the conclusion that the baby is the second coming. I saw that one at Spoleto with Eddie Lee in the preacher part with his ex wife as his wife and Larry Larson in a supporting role.

The Outfit is in the old Herren's restaurant building downtown-pretty inconvenient to get to but they've done a nice renovation and this play is worth seeing. It's directed by Tom Key who wrote and acted in the Cotton Patch Gospel. They also do a combination dinner theater for this show on March 26.

Columnists

These are terrible times for newspapers. Readership is dropping and advertising has disappeared. The fact is that you can get better pictures and more current news on the net and on TV, so how does a newspaper compete?
Newspapers are trying different things but mostly they're just cutting back. My view is that a newspaper has to give you something you can't get elsewhere and that's not just obituaries. It must offer more detail on local stories and entertaining and engaging commentary. So how does the Ledger-Enquirer do?
First, the national news they print is right off the AP wire and you can see it 12 hours before it's in print on Yahoo. They've cut back the local reporting too and so that doesn't get a good grade either. But they have some first class writers and that puts them in a class above papers like the Atlanta Constitution.
Sonya Sorich, who writes about the singles and bar scene, couples a wicked sense of humor with entertaining commentary but one wonders about her reporting skills. She got the front page on Sunday with a story about the local Rosie the Riveters but somehow missed that there's an oral history project going on with the dozen or so local members which may lead to a drama.
One decision which is a mystery to me is why the paper moved Tim Chitwood to city hall and replaced him with the Lewis Grizzard wantabe Chris Johnson. Tim, at his best, was the equal of Grizzard and Johnson has the humor of tire changer at Walmart.
The editorial page hasn't been the same since they moved Billy Winn out, but that's a place that one can attract readers. And repel them. The Ledger's editorials are generally against wife beating and in favor of having good hot dogs at the game. The complainers who rail against the Ledger's "liberalism" haven't got a clue what liberalism is like. They should get a copy of The New Republic. There was a time when people gathered around the water fountain to talk about the paper's opinion. No more. Still, Richard Hyatt is an experienced reporter and writer.
People do talk about Kaffie Sledge but that's just because she likes to shove a stick into their eye and the Ledger encourages it. Kaffie is a sweet woman but the picture they use on her column makes her look like something satanic.
Duty Nix is probably the best pure writer/reporter on the paper. There's nothing like experience and he has it in spades. Whatever happens in Georgia he can write about from a historical perspective and make it useful.
So the Ledger has some great assets. They just have to find a way to use them. And there's always the obits.

Nadir Khashimov

There's been some buzz around town about an 18 year old CSU violinist named Nadir Khashimov from Uzbekistan. One person with some knowledge of music told me that he was "better than Kreisler". The only thing one can make of such a comment is that it's hyperbole. No 18 year old could be as good as a seasoned master. Still, the comment piqued my interest and I made it a point to see him play last night.

It was a jaw dropping performance.

The last piece he played, solo, was Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35. I'm not familiar with this piece and it may well be that it's because most violinists don't want to tackle it. It's a beautiful piece but it obviously requires a great deal of technical skill.

I've seen a lot of violin solos. I was one of the few who saw Midori's performance with the Atlanta Symphony on the first night of Freaknick. But I've never seen anything like this. His hands were everywhere and the most common reaction in the audience was to put their hand over their mouth to keep from drooling like an idiot.

Columbus is lucky to have a University with such fine facilities which attracts so much talent. If you see this young man on the bill, don't miss it!

The Cripple of Inishmaan

Those of you educated in theater may write me off after this confession, but truth be told, I don't care for trying to wade through actor's accents in theater-especially Irish accents. I once saw Conor McPherson's "The Weir" in London with presumably real Irishmen, and didn't understand a word of it. I can even do without Shakespeare's old English.

Columbus State University's production of "The Cripple of Inishman" is largely understandable but it's a beautifully constructed and written play and it seems a shame to waste any of it. And I couldn't deconstruct some of it including at least one very important piece. Of course, the purpose of the University is to prepare the students and so I understand the need for them to develop an Irish brogue. Ironically, Kori Jackson's accent was probably both the best and the least understandable although when she slowed down toward the end it was easier to keep up.

Putting aside the accents, director Lawrence McDonald has given us a very well cast and tightly directed production of a very Irish play. The joy of the play is its multitude of well drawn characters, each of whom has a sympathetic identity that we can identify with.

Cripple Billy, played by Eddie Zaboroskie, sees an opportunity to escape a world where he is considered bad luck and the most interesting activity of the day is watching cows. It doesn't quite work out but when he returns the secrets of the community come out. Cripple Billy is a challenging part because he must stoically endure slights and insults that shock those of us that haven't lived a life with them and Eddie Zaboroskie never over reacts. His final scene with Kori Jackson's Helen is excruciating in its pathos.

Caroline Thrasher and Kimberly Belflower as Billy's two protective aunts are just right in their anguish over Billy's departure. Both students have turned in very different and excellent performances in other CSU productions and I'm always glad to see them cast. Director McDonald casting is one of the strong points of this production.

Cripple has been one of CSU's most popular productions selling out nearly every show. It's combination of humor, mystery, characters, and pathos make it a riveting evening and CSU has done the community a favor by bringing it to the stage.

Restaurants

For most of its adult life, Columbus has been a restaurant backwater. Some people may remember Spano's and the Black Angus but successful white table cloth restaurants have been few and far between. There's a line in David Rose's "The Big Eddy Club" that will give you an idea of what eating out was like in Columbus. Describing the jury's outings, Rose wrote "Each night they had been taken to eat at the best restaurants the city had to offer, among them, the Ledger reported, the Rankin Deli, Ryan's Steak House, and Prichett's Fish Camp". Prichett's, for late arrivals, was a catfish restaurant with individual rooms for each table. This is a photo of one of the locations. The best Columbus had to offer.

People around Columbus said that it was a "Club town", referring to the two golf clubs and one dinner club. The River Club came later. Since they were all private, it didn't very well explain where the majority of people were eating.

Then the north Columbus Park Crossing shopping arrived with some dozen national chain restaurants and everything changed. From their opening, places like Cheddars, TGIF Fridays, and Bones had a wait at all hours of the day and we were left with the question, where were these people eating before?

This recession has put a dent in both the clubs and the chains and it remains to be seen whether it will come back in the same way. There's rumors that the Green Island Country Club has lost so many members and dinner business that they will have to do something drastic. Valentine's Day, which is normally a sell out, was marked by half the tables filled at both Green Island and the River Club. The Country Club really doesn't try very much to capture this business-it's more of a golf and tennis club.

Columbus is changing fast-who knows what the restaurant business will look like in ten years.

The three Phantoms

The Columbus Symphony performed with three tenors, all of whom had performed in the title role of Phantom of the Opera on Broadway, last night. Surprisingly, there's been hundreds of men who have done that and my expectations were a little low. But as soon as Cris Groenendall softly sang the opening notes of "Begin the Beguine" I knew we weren't in Columbus any more.

All three tenors were made for Broadway although in different ways. Cris Groenendall has a high, sweet tenor which is clear and must have been perfect for Phantom. Although I didn't know it before the show, I'd actually seen him as Anthony Hope in Sweeney Todd maybe 30 years ago so he's a pretty seasoned star to have lasted this long.

Ted Keegan reminded me the most of a classic Broadway tenor and Kevin Gray's voice was much darker than the other two. In the first half of the show, Chris and Ted sang two solos and Keven sang one. In the second half, there was a duet with Chris and Ted and Kevin got another solo. The choices they made of these pieces was often questionable. One would have thought that they would choose pieces that particularly showed off their voices but some of the pieces such as Kevin's "Impossible Dream" from Man of LaMancha really didn't work well.

Still, all three were so theatrical that I found myself wishing for nothing so much as context-to see the pieces performed in the context of the musical. Toward the end, each tenor chose a piece that had a major part in launching their careers and this was where the performances soared. Ted Keegan's piece was "On the street where you live" from My Fair Lady and he was obviously perfect for the part. Keven Gray then offered "The American Dream" from the last part of Miss Saigon and it was a knock out performance.

The contrasts between the classic Broadway tenors and the more theatrical Kevin Gray was one of the unexpected treats from this show. Gray, who is the newest member, can be imagined as the stage manager in Chess far more than in a part like Phantom or My Fair Lady.

The Columbus Symphony was far short of full staff and one noticed it particularly in the strings. The horns were quite strong though and one really didn't miss the fullness too much. Some of the music required more flexibility of the players than one usually sees. One bass player had to switch back and forth between a bass and an electric bass guitar, but Janie Bullock was even more challenged. Within a single piece she would switch between the piano and an organ or synthesizer. What's more, some of the pieces had the orchestra going silent just as she came in. Her timing was perfect and the Steinway really sounded good.

Although it was a pop night which wouldn't satisfy many Symphony interests, it was a satisfying night for what it was and I'm glad George Del Gobbo was willing to present it.

This week-end

Columbus State University's theater department opens a new production this week-end and it actually will play on Friday and Saturday of next week-end. I've heard that the cast has been very sick and will be touch and go for Friday but they do have understudies. If you have a choice, you might want to go next week-end since they won't be on top of their game even if they get well.
The Symphony is also presenting a Valentine Day program on Saturday so get off the duff and see something!

Restaurants close to the show

Since we have to eat so early in order to make 7:30 performances, many of us want to eat as near the venue as we can. The choices downtown are limited and I can only recommend four and one of those is private. The Chattahoochee River Club is outside of walking distance but close enough so that you can time your arrival. The club opens on performance days at 5:30 so that you can have a leisurely meal and it often does take a couple of hours to get through a full meal there.
The newly opened Market is primarily a seafood place and within a half block of both the Springer and the River Center. The meals that I've had there have been unambitious and one hopes that they will find a more aggressive offering in the future. Order fish and okra.
Both of the other two restaurants are operated by the same group that operates the Marriott. The Canon Brew Pub has struggled to find an identity since it first opened but under the Pezold management it has begun to offer some more interesting dishes. It's also a micro brewery and the beers are quite good. Try the wheat. Business has always seemed quite good there even when the food was pedestrian but one can now encounter a wait even during the week.
Hollihans in the hotel is hugely successful. The River Center crowd fills it up every time there's a show and there's always a wait. You'll have more luck at the Canon.
I'll do a more extensive review of Columbus restaurants and clubs at a later date.

Aida

In one week-end, Columbus was host to arguably the greatest play in the English language and the greatest opera ever written, Aida. One of the reasons Verdi took the commission to write was that he could see how it could be a great spectacle-Aida combines a wonderful story with beautiful music, wondrous sets, and great spectacle.

Imagine my surprise then, when I read in Ledger that the artistic director of the Teatro Lirico d'Europa, Giorgio Lalov, turned up his nose at the idea of spectacle on the stage since "..people will not talk about the animals on stage. They will be talking about the singers."

Lalov was talking about one of the most famous scenes in all of opera, the Victory March in second act which has traditionally been one of the greatest spectacles in opera. The libretto instructions say, "The Egyptian troops, preceded by trumpets, file before sacred vases and statues of the gods-troops of dancing girls who carry the treasures of the defeated-and lastly Radames, under a canopy borne by twelve officers". And then the Ethiopian prisoners. Some companies have added all manner of exotic African animals including elephants.

I certainly didn't expect elephants but I didn't expect the spectacle to be eliminated either. Then I read the program notes which said that such effects were "...cheap tricks and claptrap.."

In fact, there was no victory march at all, just a few ballet dancers and only one Ethiopian prisoner. I can certainly understand holding the costs down but to claim that cheap is the way it's supposed to be is asking too much.

The good news about the "march" was that the trumpeter, (who was supposed to be in the march) was clear and up to the difficult piece. But that's all the good news about this scene. Lalov also promised that when the curtain was opened the audience would applaud the sets but that didn't happen for good reason. They were prosaic and just amateurishly moved around for each scene so there was no spectacle there either.

Aida is not a very demanding role and Olga Chernisheva as Aida was quite good, but was unable to stop the show on her solos. The other strong voice in the cast belonged to Petar Danailov as Amonasro. The remaining cast members were less ready for grand opera but with a strong Aida it wasn't terribly noticeable.

One of the noticeable shortcomings was the blocking. The Egyptian soldier running off to try to catch Aida in Act 3 actually provoked laughter in the crowd. At another point, a knife was left on stage for two scenes-one of which was of prisoner Radames saying he wanted to die while a knife was at his feet.

I suppose I should have taken lower expectations into the theater given the cost of spectacle, but I really didn't think that a $36 ticket wouldn't be enough to at least support a march and a few prisoners. Had the company not gone out of their way to claim that this was as good as it gets, the evening would have been easier to take.

Hamlet

Many consider Hamlet the greatest play in the English language and its complexity is a major reason for that. So, I was skeptical that the Springer would be up to the difficulties of the roles and subtleties of the language. I was pleasantly surprised.

Chris Graham, as Hamlet, turned in a studied and delightful performance with just the right touch on the famous lines-"To be or not to be", "Poor Yorick, I knew him well", etc. His transitions from brooding, to angry, to remorseful were a little too abrupt but his delivery of the language was crisp and understandable.

Being understandable is what often kills productions of Hamlet. The language in this production was quite accessible and, excepting the first two minutes of both acts where the adrenaline was too high, enunciated well.

Rebecca McGraw as Gertrude also turned in a surprising strong performance. I'd seen Ms McGraw previously but had not grasped her stage presence and emotional palette.

The other performances were adequate but when Hamlet and Gertrude were off stage the pace seemed to slow. Ron Anderson, who is a magnificent actor as a rule, as the ghost of the king actually evoked laughs at one point. There are laughs in Hamlet-Polonius, the grave digger, even Hamlet-but the Ghost's warning is not one of them. Bruce Evers as Claudius was a little stiff and unlike my image of Claudius who must have been clever and charming to have conceived of his plot and seduced his brother's wife. In particular, the final scenes when he schemes with Laertes seemed contrived.

Most of this is trivial to a well delivered presentation, but director John Ammerman's costume choices defy explanation. One would think that since Hamlet has not been seen on the Springer stage in 130 years or so, a traditional performance wouldn't have been out of line. It's perfectly reasonable to reinterpret a play that has been seen over and over again. I even once saw Chris Coleman at the Actor's Express do Hamlet in the nude. Butt naked. So there's room for costuming decisions but it was the inconsistencies in this Hamlet that baffled me.

The Ghost showed up with a 19th Century German pointed helmet and a leisure suit. Hamlet and Horatio standing together looked exactly like Sherlock Holmes and Watson. Hamlet's last scene was played in a red vest that made him look like a Biloxi black jack dealer. For the most part, it appeared that they were using Victorian clothing in some sort of update, but they also wore swords and daggers-a little unusual in the 19th Century. Horatio rattled on about the Ghost in his armor while the Ghost stood there in his safari suit. And then, just when you thought it was updated clothes on 1600 characters, Laertes whips out a pistol.

Practically no one does Hamlet in its entirety and the cuts made in this version were well done. Characters such as Fortinbras, who is minor but closes the written play to keep the Tudors happy, were cut out entirely. There being more senior citizens in the audience than Tudors, completing Hamlet by 10 pm was welcome. Unfortunately, there were seats available though and I hope that's more a reflection of the economy than Columbus taste.

One place we're bush

I believe the arts in Columbus compete well with that of any other city in Georgia other than Atlanta and even there we sometimes compete. If a performance can get close, then we have it all over Atlanta since we don't have the traffic and parking problems. I think we get close with the symphony and the museum. We don't have a chance with theater because there's 70 companies in Atlanta and not one totally professional one here. The big show story is mixed-we don't get nearly as many but what we do get is every bit as professional as that at the Fox and we don't have to pay $15 for parking and hope the radio is there when we get back.
One place Columbus is bush league though is in the starting time for every live performance in town. They all start at 7:30 pm which is twixt and between. If you eat ahead of time, you have to start at 5:30 pm, preferably downtown. The River Club opens early on River Center performance nights for that reason. If 5:30 is too early for you and you decide to wait you'll have trouble finding a place open after 10 pm. If you go to Aida next Saturday, you'll be seeing a very long opera which probably won't get out until nearly 11 pm so you won't have much choice except to eat at 5:30.
This probably suits the Spring Harbor crowd who eat at 5 anyway and then board their bus to the venue, but everyone else is inconvenienced. It's simply bush.

To the Planets and Beyond

The Columbus Symphony on Saturday presented two very different programs although they titled the night "To the Planets and Beyond". The title referred to the second program, "The Planets, Op. 32" by British Composer Gustav Holst. Written in 1917, "The Planets" has seven movements describing seven planets.
One of the emerging trends in orchestra presentations is to couple the music with a video that visually describes the music. In this case, a large screen was dropped behind the orchestra and a video of either actual photos or animation of the planet was shown. Listening to the music gives you and idea of where whoever George Lukas got to do his music got their ideas. The first three planets, Mars, Venus, and Mercury depended mostly on actual photos and unfortunately, there's not that much variety in the landscape of any planet. Beginning with Jupiter, the film relied more on animation and was more interesting.
I should say that I think this idea of multi sensory programs is a good one, but the music was a little hard to follow and needed full attention which was hard with planets zooming by.
The first program of the night was the professional premiere of Joseph Packales' "Concerto for Cello and Orchestra, Op 101" with Columbus State University's Andre Gaskins. Packales was a close friend of orchestra Director George Del Gobbo and it was clear that he wanted to do this performance in honor of his friend-not always a good sign. The concerto was clearly written to give the Cello performer a chance to show his/her stuff and Gaskins was equal to the challenge. During the fast parts, Gaskins was aggressive and ripped the notes out, but he was particularly tentative at the beginning of some of the slower parts.
Columbus audiences are notorious for an unwillingness to explore most modern composing-particularly atonal material-but I heard relatively little griping. This Concerto had moments of real excitement but used a number of odd transitions which were disconcerting. Still, it should be given a wider audience particularly since Atlanta has one of the finest Cellists in the country.
Attendance in the orchestra section was spotty, reflecting the cold rainy weather, but the two balcony levels appeared to be full. There were a lot of parents with young children who attended because of the idea of "The Planets and beyond". Many of the children were asleep by the first intermission and missed the planets altogether. Still, the program was satisfying overall for those who were willing to engage themselves in the presentation.

Theater audiences

When the River Center opened it brought it great shows and great crowds for them. It wasn't long, however, before people began to feel like they were going to something every night and they began to drift away. Between the recession and the demands on people's time, audiences have been soft recently.
The exception to that is the Springer which continues to post increases. The Springer has a two pronged strategy that seems to have made them one of the very few theaters in the country to grow their audiences. The first strategy is the Springer Academy which teaches young people theater skills. Those young people then bring their parents to shows and, when they grow older, come themselves.
The second strategy is to give them what they want. This year they're doing two Tunas-shows that are designed for the 12 year old mind-and musicals get a lot of attention. That does pay for an occasional serious piece-the next play is Hamlet.
One should give Troy Heard and the Chattahoochee Shakespeare Company credit for doing some material no one else in town would. Beginning this week-end they're doing "Reefer Madness the Musical" with a pretty large cast at the Liberty. I'm looking forward to seeing it. I'm not clear, however, about Troy's business model. He did a hilarious Shakespeare last year that ran several week-ends but the show I saw had very few in the audience. "Reefer Madness" gets 11 performances.
If "Reefer" draws good crowds, I might revisit this evaluation of Columbus' audiences, but I'm going to give them a C. Even the Springer doesn't sell out as a rule. There's plenty of tickets available for the Symphony this week-end, and you can get in to see "Aida" on the 31st for $10. How's that for a bargain?

An evaluation of Columbus Theater part 3

The third leg to make a good theater town is acting talent. The Springer will usually bring in one or two of the leads in any given play from out of town. And this has been very successful for them. The rest of the cast is mostly made up of folks who just enjoy doing it although they occasionally cast a Columbus State University Theater major who has hopes of finding a career eventually.

Theater has come to a place where Artistic Directors in professional theaters look for plays with small casts just because of the costs of mounting a larger cast, so a town needs a lot of theaters to have a lot of good actors. It's almost unfair to grade Columbus on actors because there's just not enough productions to keep them here. Lighting or sound folks can work at Cascade Baptist or the Cancer Benefit, but actors are not so versatile. What's worse is that there's not even a lot of good restaurants here to give them work between gigs.

The Associate Artistic Director at the Springer, Ron Anderson, is actually an excellent actor-the best in town actually making his living in theater and probably the best by any measure. Ron's work in "Of Mice and Men" was as good is you could hope for on any stage. JJ Musgrove, who's now at the Symphony, is also an accomplished actor but he only takes an occasional gig. There are some local fill ins at the Springer who have had excellent performances but their body of work is uneven.

For actors, the city gets a D.

An evaluation of Columbus Theater part 2

Theater production talent goes where the theater is. That is to say, there's a lot of talent in New York and Atlanta, but not that much in Columbus since there's only a couple of places that might hire a director or a lighting director. The Springer regularly brings in from the outside acting talent but less so production talent. There are a few folks around town who work on a contract basis and some who actually work on Cascade Baptist Church's productions.


So the talent is thin, but I'll mention three directors with superior talent. Probably the best director in town actually in the business is Dr. Becky Becker at Columbus State University. Directing is about details and Dr. Becker has to do that with college students so she gets extra points for putting on tight shows. She has a special talent for creating drama out of people's personal stories.


The executive director of the Columbus Symphony, JJ Musgrove, has most of his history in theater and is an excellent director. He has recently also acted in a Springer production. Once again, he has a firm grip on the details of a production. JJ and his wife, Kate, now also write for, direct, and operate the Columbus Mystery theater at the Marriott.


Finally, he's rarely gotten the opportunity to direct, but Ron Anderson, the Associate Artistic Director at the Springer, is an excellent director. One can always expect a tight gripping production when he's listed in the credits.
For directors, Columbus gets a B.