The first national tour of the new musical comedy The Addams Family, based on the bizarre and beloved family of characters created by legendary cartoonist Charles Addams, comes to Oklahoma City’s Civic Center Music Hall for eight performances  January 17-22. 

The Addams Family, now in its second year on Broadway, has been described by Chris Jones of the Chicago Tribune as a “classic, full-tilt, fast paced, old-fashioned musical comedy!” and John Simon of Bloomberg News called it “uproarious! A glitzy-gloomy musical entirely worthy of the macabre drawings by Charles Addams.” 
                      

Tony^â Award nominee Douglas Sills and Sara Gettelfinger will star as Gomez and Morticia. The principal cast also includes Tony^â Award nominee Martin Vidnovic as Mal Beineke, two-time Tony^â Award nominee Crista Moore as Alice Beineke, Blake Hammond as Uncle Fester, Pippa Pearthree as Grandma, Tom Corbeil as Lurch, Patrick D. Kennedy as Pugsley, Brian Justin Crum as Lucas Beineke and Cortney Wolfson as Wednesday.

The Addams Family features a book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice, and music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa. The production is directed and designed (sets and costumes) by Phelim McDermott and Julian Crouch, with creative consultation by Jerry Zaks and choreography by Sergio Trujillo. The production features lighting design by Natasha Katz, sound design by Acme Sound Partners and puppetry by Basil Twist. 

The Addams Family features an original story that is every father’s nightmare. Wednesday Addams, the ultimate princess of darkness, has grown up and fallen in love with a sweet, smart young man from a respectable family. A man her parents have never met. And if that weren't upsetting enough, she confides in her father and begs him not to tell her mother. Now, Gomez Addams must do something he's never done before - keep a secret from his beloved wife, Morticia. Everything will change for the whole family on the fateful night they host a dinner for Wednesday's "normal" boyfriend and his parents.

In a prolific career spanning six decades, Charles Addams created several thousand cartoons, sketches and drawings, many of which were published in The New Yorker. But it was his creation of characters that came to be known as The Addams Family that brought Addams his greatest acclaim. With a unique style that combined the twisted, macabre and just plain weird with charm, wit and enchantment, Addams’ drawings have entertained millions worldwide and served as the inspiration for multiple television series and motion pictures.

Performances are January 17-19 at 7:30 p.m., January 20 at 8 p.m., January 21 at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m., and January 22 at 2 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.  Tickets are $65 to $20, and may be purchased via phone,

(800) 869-1451, (405) 297-2264, in person at the Civic Center Music Hall Box Office or online at www.CelebrityAttractions.com.  Groups of 15 or more may call Celebrity Attractions at (800) 869-1451 ext. 220 for a discount.

Get social with Celebrity Attractions by becoming a fan on Facebook.com/BwayOKC.  Follow the Oklahoma City engagement of THE ADDAMS FAMILY on Twitter.com/BwayOKC or with hashtag #AddamsOKC.

THE ADDAMS FAMILY is presented by Celebrity Attractions and is part of Celebrity Attractions 2011-2012 Broadway Season which includes STOMP, FIDDLER ON THE ROOF, the add-on productions of MAMMA MIA! and the Tulsa engagement of JERSEY BOYS.

http://www.celebrityattractions.com/

www.theaddamsfamilymusicaltour.com.

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BRIGHTMUSIC SOCIETY PRESENTS

"CAFE MUSIC" JANUARY 16 AND 17

 

On January 16 and 17,  Brightmusic Chamber Ensemble will present two performances of “Café Music."      

Each performance will feature works from German to the United States, from Beethoven to living American

 composer Paul Schoenfield.   

The works on the program are: Ludwig van Beethoven’s Piano Trio No. 5 in D Major, op. 70, no. 1(the“Ghost Trio”); 20^th Century French composer Jean Françaix’s Trio for oboe, bassoon and piano; 19^th Century German composer August Klughardt’s “Schilflieder” (Reed Songs”), Five Fantasy Pieces, op. 28 for oboe, viola and piano; and the concert’s title work – American composer Paul Schoenfield’s “Café Music for Piano Trio,” for violin, cello and piano.   

The musicians who will appear are Gregory Lee, violin, Royce McLarry, viola, Jonathan Ruck, cello, Lisa Harvey-Reed, oboe, Carl Rath, bassoon, and Amy I-Lin Cheng. piano.

For more information on the music and musicians, see the program notes at www.Brightmusic.org.

 Performances will take place: on Monday, January 16^th at 7:30 pm in the St. Edward’s Chapel on the campus of Casady School, 9500 N. Pennsylvania Avenue at Britton Road , and on Tuesday, January 17^th at 7:30 pm at St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral, 127 NW 7^th Street, at Robinson.  Admission is $10 per adult.  Students are free of charge.  A reception with the musicians will follow each performance. 

This concert is made possible by season grants from Chesapeake Energy Corporation, the Oklahoma Arts Council and the Ad Astra Foundation.

From the press release   

 

                                                                                   

GEORGE B. LEWIS, LEADING ADVOCATE FOR

ELIMINATION OF ARCHITECTURAL

BARRIERS, DIES

Oklahoma City Architect George B. Lewis, FAIA, saw that the Cox Convention Center, formerly the Myriad Gardens "was and is one of the most easily accessed buildings in the country," writes Henry.

Photo taken from the web by the blogger

By Pam Henry, Chair

     Mayor's Committee on Disability Concerns

A Memorial Service is scheduled at 1 p.m., Friday, January 6, for Oklahoma City Architect George B. Lewis, FAIA. The service will be in the sanctuary of St. Luke's United Methodist Church at 222 NW 15th Street in Oklahoma City. Lewis died in the OKC Veterans Administration Hospital Saturday, December 31, 2011 of heart problems after being hospitalized last Thursday.

George was recognized by the American Institute of Architects as the leading advocate in the United States for the elimination of architectural barriers for people with disabilities. He served as Chair of the OKC Mayor's Committee on Disability Concerns for thirty years, from 1975 to 2005. The architect helped write the landmark national Americans with Disabilities Act. Lewis was a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects. He helped see that the Cox Convention Center, formerly the Myriad Convention Center, was and is one of the most easily accessed buildings in the country. George lead efforts to build accessible ramps to enter the OKC City Hall and the Oklahoma State Capitol. He received numerous city, state and national awards for his work on behalf of people with disabilities. He also worked on the annual ADA workshops for architects, engineers and building managers sponsored by the OKC Mayor's Committee on Disability Concerns. In 2005, the committee gave George a rare Lifetime Achievement Award for his decades of hard word.

"We on the OKC Mayor's Committee on Disability Concerns already miss George's guidance on architectural barrier elimination for people with disabilities. Our thoughts and prayers are with George's widow, Nan Lewis and his son, Paul Lewis, an architect in Washington, D.C. and daughter-in-law Laura," said OKC Mayor's Committee on Disability Concerns Chair Pam Henry.

For more information about the OKC Mayor’s Committee on Disability Concerns, visit the website at: http://www.okc/gov/council/disability_concerns.

City of Oklahoma City, Mayor’s Committee on Disability Concerns

http://www.okc.gov/

The committee meets the second Wednesday of each month at 7:30 a.m. at St. Luke’s United Methodist Church, 222 Northwest 15^th, room 203. 

Taken from her posting on my Facebook page 

HER MAJESTY QUEEN ELIZABETH I 's

HOLIDAY MESSAGE,

AND END OF THE YEAR GIVING

Her Majesty Elizabeth I is pictured at a recent Shakespeare in the Park

fundraising, which showed the costumes of Robert Pittengen.

Her Majesty paused upon leaving, saying, "Your Queen loves you,"

as indeed she does, and does Lynn Adams, executive director

of the Oklahoma Children's Theatre, http://www.oklahomachildrenstheatre.org/#

who portrayed Her Majesty.

  Photo by Nancy Condit

By Nancy Condit

With the year's end comes the opportunity to donate to Oklahoma City's smaller

arts and community organizations, including the ones discussed in this blog.    All of the groups listed are 501 (c) 3 s.

While dance normally comes first to mind for this blogger, BLAC, Inc. (Black Liberated Arts Center) was hit particulaarly hard this year when the touring gospel group Mary Mary was forced to cancel the their tour just as they were coming to Douglass High School.  This was BLAC, INC.'s major fund-raiser for the season.  For more information, go to http://www.blacinc.org/home.  Donation information is not available until after the first of the year.  This writer encourages you to be creative.

Dance comes first to mind for this blog writer.  All of these groups are 501 (c) 3 s.

Perpetual Motion Modern Dance is currently raising money to support their 2012 season at http://www.perpetualmotiondance.org/.  RACE Dance Company is currently raising money for a space of their own where they can offer classes.  Their next performance is in February.  For donations, go to http://danceclassesoklahomacity.com/donate/, and to follow their performance schedule, go to https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=76027743612&v=wall.  Hartel Dance Group's website notes that "Donor contributions make performances possible."  They are also raising money to turn the fifth floor of the Magnolia Building an alternative performance space that will benefit the Oklahoma City performance community as well as young artists looking for an affordable space to present their work to the public. Go to http://www.harteldancegroup.org/Support.html for more information.

Theatre UponaStarDanceSwan involves children in the spontaneous dance of the annual midsummer Fairy Ball, The Magic Lantern, held around Halloween, and other events that are open to all young people. Donations to present events that put flowers in children's hair and give them the paper to make costumes can be made at http://www.thepaseo.com/ and clicking on the "Become a Fairy Godmother" link on the righthand, lime,  side of the website.

In the visual arts, both IAO, Individual Artists of Oklahoma,  http://www.iaogallery.org/become_member.htm, and [Artspace] at Untitled, http://www.artspaceatuntitled.org/about_us/ could use support. 

In theater, Oklahoma Shakespeare in the Park is in the middle of their fund drive.

Contact the 27 year old theater at http://www.oklahomashakespeare.com/.

In music, Brightmusic has presented chamber music since 2003.  Their artists include members of the OKC Philharmonic and teachers of music at Oklahoma City's surrounding universities.  For more information, go to http://brightmusic.org/support.

Two community services are in continual need of support.  The Guild of St. George assists the poor, working poor and homeless with utility bills, prescriptions, picture IDs and birth certificates.  It is located in St. Paul's Cathedral in downtown Oklahoma City.   can be reached at http://stpaulsokc.org/donations.  Mark your check for the Guild.

Infant Crisis Services provides emergency supplies and referral services to children from birth to six years old.  Contact them at http://www.infantcrisis.org/.

   



OCU'S "HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS"
BROADWAY DANCE ON KSBI, 6:30 P.M. SUNDAY DEC. 18th

Photo provided

By Nancy Condit

The buzz is that local channel KSBI, Cox channel 7, is
broadcasting Oklahoma City University's annual Broadway
revue style dance program "Home for the Holidays" Sunday,
December 18 at 6:30 p.m. 

The information on their website is a little conflicting, but,
you push a button, and you takes your chances, as they say.

If you've never seen the Radio City Music Hall
Christmas program in New York City with the Rockettes,
or have wondered what the dance program at OCU is
like, turn on the television tomorrow evening.

PHOTOGRAPHER BRETT WESTON FREE
CURATOR TALK SATURDAY, 3 P.M.
AT JRB ART GALLERY

Photo by Brett Weston provided by JRB Art Gallery at the Elms

2011 marks the 100th anniversary of famed photographer Brett Weston’s birth. To celebrate this event, Julie Maguire, the New York-based Curator of the Brett Weston Archives, in conjunction with JRB Art at The Elms, has selected some of Weston's most iconic images for a special exhibition at JRB Art Gallery.

Maguire, whose career includes art advisory and acquisition positions for both the United Bank of Switzerland and Citibank, will be presenting a free gallery talk on Saturday, December 17, 2011 at JRB Art at the Elms. This is a unique opportunity to learn more about Weston’s techniques and subject matter. The gallery talk is free of charge and open to the public. The exhibit will run through December 31st, 2011.

 

The JRB Art Gallery is located at 2810 N. Walker.  For more information, call 528.6336.

OKC BALLET'S THE NUTCRACKER
REFRESHINGLY FAMILIAR

Photo provided

By Nancy Condit

Every once in a while, this viewer will get new insight from an annual tradition. This was true last night at the Civic Center during the Oklahoma City Ballet's "The Nutcracker," with the Oklahoma City Philharmonic, directed by Joel Levine.
The understanding was this, Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, through his music of a procession, and artistic director Robert Mills, following the choreography of Les Ivanov and Marius Petipas, through his dance, transformed an ordinary Christmas party in an upper middle class Victorian home into an occurrence of majesty. With the orchestral announcement of the procession of the benevolent rulers, the adults took the floor for their dance and moved in grand rows toward the audience. The families gathered had the importance of any other court.
The newest part of the ballet, that also keeps it refreshed for the adult audience, was the addition of a young crush for the 12 or 13 year old Clara, Hans, in the character of Hans, Drosselmyer's apprentice.  In Clara's dream he appears as the Nutcracker and accompanies her to the Land of Sweets.  Mills added two pas de deux for the adult dancers, both of which were pleasing, but still, especially in the first one, tread a thin choreographic line between accomplished adult members of the company, on that night Callye McCollum and Tye Love, dancing as half grown people
It was pleasant to see that much of the Waltz of the Flowers was kept while McCollum and Love danced the pas de deux.  Seeing them dance more full out as adults was also a relief, perhaps a foreshadowing of their relationship as adults. Seeing how the dance is polished in subsequent productions is anticipated.

The Christmas treat more than lived up to expectations, with children as young as six dancing as little angels and pages, and a little white mouse.  Older children tumbled, literally, from under the skirts of Mother Ginger,
and were the heart of the Christmas party.
The best of the performances were the two pas de deux between the Sugar Plum Fairy and her Cavalier, danced by new company members Sarah Chun and Yui Sato.  In their opening pas de deux, Sato had a variation in which he leapt, landed on one foot, and elegantly touched the stage with just the toe of his straight back leg.  In the final grand pas de deux, they were perfect partners, as Chun executed an almost endless series of pirouettes, circling Sato, while he kept her steady, and caught her as she leapt to sit on his shoulder.  In the final catch, he caught her as she plunged toward the floor.  Both of them kept wonderful lines.

The exquisite and delicate dancing of the second act, in the Land of Sweets, came to a high point of spun sugar fantasy in the Marzipan dance with Ellany Abbott, accompanied by Alyssa Daly and Amber Feeney.  Abbott was exquisite.  Also enjoyable were the Snowflakes, scattering hands full of snow over the stage, the humorous Spanish Chocolate divertissement with David Barocio, Carissa Churchil and Anna Doss, the sinuous Arabian Coffee divertissement with Darli Iakovleva and Anton Iakolev, the Russian Cossack dance with Joshua Crespo and Ryan Piper, and the excellent corps.
Dale Hall's set and lighting design, especially in the Snowflakes with the translucent blue backdrop, was very good, as were the costumes, especially on the Sugar Plum Fairy and her Cavalier, by Michael Jones, Suzanne Hobbs, and Marcus Ford.
The one disappointing note is that the garlands of lights on the boxes that rise to the ceiling in the auditorium
are shut off as soon as the production is over.  It dampens the festivity.
The performances run today, December 22 at 2 p.m., and December 16 - 18, including a 7 p.m. Friday performance, a 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. performance on Saturday and a 2 p.m. performance on Sunday.

Individual ticket prices range from $10 to $52. Online ticketing is available at http://www.okcballet.com/tickets.html, by phone at 405.848.TOES, or at the Civic Center Box Office.

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