Feb 07, 2012 at 1:30 pm
The new NBC musical drama "Smash" premiered Monday, Feb. 6.
Jan 30, 2012 at 11:30 am
Madison made a scene at Bookless, a massively successful fundraiser at the Madison Public Library's central branch.
Jan 26, 2012 at 2:30 pm
On Tuesday night, three high schoolers left Overture Hall thrilled, overstimulated and utterly confused.
Blue Man Group, the performance art ensemble known for their blue faces, wide stares and full-on spectacle, were more difficult to write about for these Tommy Awards student critics than the symphony, the opera or jazz piano.
Monona Grove senior Abby Taylor compared the performance to "a rock concert on Red Bull" and praised its "pure comedic genius." Abby writes:
"Suddenly, simple things like eating Cap’n Crunch (are) hilarious, and an entire sketch about unwrapping and eating Twinkies is side-splittingly funny.
"The audience has to be extremely good hearted through the show though, because the Blue Men are not afraid to get right in your face. A camera followed latecomers to their seats while the show screeched to a halt with a 'You’re Late' alarm. They also climbed into the audience using people’s heads as support and even brought some bewildered members on stage.
Jan 20, 2012 at 1:30 pm
The Madison Cultural Plan, a road map for the future of Madison arts and culture, is making its way through committees on its way to city council.
The plan, drafted in fall 2011, points out problems with getting connected, both among artists and consumers of art. There is a lack of affordable space for art studios and performance rehearsals.
South Madison needs a cultural center; the city in general needs a dedicated festival site, a major outdoor concert venue and a "more equitable distribution of flexible creative learning and production spaces across its neighborhoods." (In other words, not everyone can live on the near east.)
Weigh in on the completed (yet unapproved) cultural plan before it goes to city council at one of the following meetings. From the Madison Arts Commission:
For the past two years, residents around the city have participated in focus groups, community meetings, online surveys and one-on-one interviews to share their ideas about how Madison supports and utilizes arts, culture, and creative work.
Jan 11, 2012 at 12:00 pm
A week after announcing that the 2011 season was the highest-selling season on record, American Players Theatre has named a successor for artistic director David Frank.
Frank has helmed the professional Spring Green company since December 1991. He intends to retire in two years, at the end of 2014.
Brenda DeVita, the AD-elect, joined the staff at APT in 1995 and has served as associate artistic director since 2004. In a news release, DeVita said she considers it a personal goal to "stay true to our mission," which is built on a repertory of Shakespeare and classic Western plays (Shaw, O'Neill, Moliere, Wilder).
"I am excited to lead APT by continuing to focus on developing talented regional artists," DeVita said in the release, "artists who will not only be a part of APT's community but will enrich the greater regional theater community as well.
"I believe this nurturing of individual artists is essential to APT's culture and what is truly special about our organization. I love my job. I love artists. What could be better?"
Jan 05, 2012 at 3:25 pm
Two singers have gone from performing in drafty Mills Hall on the UW-Madison campus to singing for a world class opera company in the windy city.
At noon this Saturday, Jan. 7, soprano Emily Birsan and tenor James Kryshak will perform a recital under the auspices of the Lyric Opera of Chicago. (The full name is the Ryan Opera Center Recital Series at Merit School of Music, part of The Lyric Opera of Chicago's Renée Fleming Initiative.)
Birsan and Kryshak both earned masters degrees in music (opera performance) at the UW-Madison School of Music.
Birsan and Kryshak will perform at Anne and Howard Gottlieb Hall with pianist Yasuko Oura. Both are ensemble members of The Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center at Lyric Opera of Chicago.
According to a press release from the Lyric, the hour-long recital is part of Merit's ongoing Live from Gottlieb Performance Series and is presented exclusively to the Merit community.
Dec 13, 2011 at 12:45 pm
Arts Wisconsin's Anne Katz makes an annual year-end push for local artists and creative companies to make themselves known to the powers that be.
Nov 30, 2011 at 6:00 am
Dane County's sister county in Germany has offered to pay for one local artist to attend a major contemporary art exhibition in July 2012.
Nov 16, 2011 at 6:00 pm
Rocco Landesman, the University of Wisconsin-Madison alum and former Broadway producer who now heads the National Endowment for the Arts, stopped in Madison on Tuesday afternoon, Nov. 15.
At the Goodman Center, he'd hoped for a "lively exchange" with around 200 artists, arts administrators and government types. The panel, arranged by Arts Wisconsin, included Bob Sorge (Madison Community Foundation), Joe Parisi (Dane County executive), Chris Walker (UW-Madison asst. professor of dance) and Lorena Barbosa-Mireles (UW senior).
The meeting was well-attended, but I left disappointed. I wanted to hear ideas that were specific and relevant to our city. I wanted us, collectively, to move past the "what" (arts are part of the solution!) and into the "how."
Instead, Landesman talked about Dubuque, Iowa, where he had just visited. The Dubuque Historic Millwork District is undergoing a major revitalization with the help of an "Iowa Great Place" grant in 2009.
But no one on the panel made connections to, for example, revitalizing the East Washington corridor, or the proposed South Madison Cultural Center mentioned in a draft of the Madison Cultural Plan, which is still unapproved following a community meeting in March of this year.
Nov 08, 2011 at 2:03 pm
High school student critics in the Tommy Awards program found Madison Opera's "Onegin" "real," "relatable" and "enjoyable."
