Spoleto Review: Spoleto 2009, Charleston City Paper

René Marie is an American beauty

T. Ballard Lesemann — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 15:30:00 -0400

Marie and her band explore the heart and soul of our nation with a lengthy set at the Gaillard

Cupid Has a Heart On is tighter than a nip 'n' tucked buttock

Nick Smith — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 13:14:00 -0400

The show opened with two male and two female performers dressed in black, each with individual quirks. Instead of telling us about their problems, they sang about them instead.

Charleston Ballet dances back to the Age of Jazz with The Great Gatsby

Jason A. Zwiker — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 12:40:00 -0400

The fact that CBT resident choreographer Jill Eathorne Bahr was able to set the literary classic to dance is tribute to her talent

Flummerfelt and Friends deliver deep and powerful sacred classics to perfection

Lindsay Koob — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 11:50:00 -0400

Thursday evening's event brought us two of Western music's greatest choral-orchestral monuments, beginning with 20th-Century French master Francis Poulenc's incongruously deep Gloria, as scored for solo soprano, chorus, and large orchestra.

The two comedies of Meet Bridezilla sparkle with quick wit and energy

Nick Smith — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 07:57:00 -0400

There are two shows in Meet Bridezilla performed by two different writer-actresses playing multiple characters. While their subject matter is the same and they both perform on a practically bare black stage, they have very different ways of tackling their topics.

Like a vintage silent film, Good Cop, Bad Cop quietly charms

Jon Santiago — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 12:11:00 -0400

While Good Cop, Bad Cop manages to veer well away from actual hysteria, it is hysterical — but very quietly hysterical.

J.C. Conway's powerful performance in Season to Season carries the day

Dan Conover — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 11:14:00 -0400

To call Season to Season a play about art would probably miss the point: It's a love story about two artists, framed within a triangle of three women: Pollock's wife, Lee Krasner (Kristen Kos), his mother, Stella (Jacqualine M. Helmer), and his collector/patron, Peggy Guggenheim (Linda Eisen). The snappiest, most interesting dialog occurs between the women.

Spoleto Festival Orchestra and violin superstar Sarah Chang bring the house down

Lindsay Koob — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 11:09:00 -0400

Tuesday evening's second festival orchestral extravaganza at the Gaillard featured a pair of Western music's most exalted monuments: the quality of music that we've come to expect from Maestro Emmanuel Villaume's vaunted festival concerts.

In A Time to Dance, Libby Skala glows in her poignant portrayal of a zany great aunt

Rachel Ward — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 19:14:00 -0400

Dancer holds nothing back with her wildly energetic performance in a stripped setting

The Emperor is biting, smart, dark ... and naked?

Greg Hambrick — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 04:00:00 -0400

Leaving the theater last night, an audience member who looked to be about 70 years old was helping his wife with her coat in front of the theater when he looked at me with a sly smile and went "baah," like a sheep.

Sophie Tucker is so much fun for your grandparents, there should be a warning label

Greg Hambrick — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 09:52:00 -0400

Sophie Tucker has figured out the formula in a way that some others missed. There's the obligatory life story moments, but they're brief and usually head right into another classic tune — after all, that is what the people are there for.

Wadsworth's successor crowned amid glorious music

Lindsay Koob — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 13:35:00 -0400

Well, it was the night we've all been waiting for. Given all the hints Wadsworth has dropped since Spoleto 09 began, it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that Geoff Nuttall — the St. Lawrence String Quartet's brilliant first violin — was crown prince.

Shimabukuro's ukulele concert captivated and dazzled a big, diverse crowd

T. Ballard Lesemann — Sun, 31 May 2009 12:34:00 -0400

Hawaiian-born ukulele master Jake Shimabukuro greeted his audience with "Aloha!" at the Cistern on Saturday night (May 30). He stood alone on the large stage, under the old moss-draped oaks, sans rhythm section or backing band, with only a microphone and a traditional ukulele in hand.

Dogugaeshi is a stunning little gem with zen-like charms and ethereal atmosphere

Jon Santiago — Sun, 31 May 2009 12:25:00 -0400

A virtuoso theatrical meditation, Dogugaeshi invites its audience to slow down, lean forward, focus, participate. Underscore participate. This is more than a beautiful display, it is an invitation to actively lose yourself in simply paying attention. Few other works reward patience and a willingness to open oneself to dream-like wonder as handsomely as this one.

Good Time Variety Hour gives a bittersweet final show

Cara Kelly — Sun, 31 May 2009 12:21:00 -0400

All good times must end. This the Schlitt-Libkin family knows, and like "Seinfeld," they realize it's best to go out on top. After nine years of performances during Piccolo Spoleto, Good Time Variety Hour will be putting its original format on hold indefinitely. At the Footlight Players Theatre on Saturday, the typically upbeat 60-minute act had a slightly solemn air, although the performance was on par with what we've come to expect from the entertainers.

Rosenberg and Friends impressive in Early Music Series

Lindsay Koob — Sun, 31 May 2009 09:17:00 -0400

Steve Rosenberg presents Charleston Pro Musica: the College of Charleston's terrific mixed (and variable) ensemble of ancient instrumentalists.

Beethoven and his Women illuminates the composer's chronic pain and loneliness

Lindsay Koob — Sun, 31 May 2009 09:00:00 -0400

Beethoven and his Women adds a fresh dramatic dimension to the fateful factors that lay beneath the revered composer's often wretched and lonely existence.

Young dancers deliver a fun, family-friendly, show in Off to Oz

Jason A. Zwiker — Sun, 31 May 2009 08:41:00 -0400

Off to Oz, this year's Charleston Ballet Theatre Broadway Dance Project production for the festival, does an outstanding job of combining kid-friendly fun with just enough fine art to keep it balanced.

Cedar Lake Ballet turns prayer into strip poker

Gervase Caycedo — Sat, 30 May 2009 12:53:00 -0400

Cedar Lake doesn't value uniformity. Everything is titillating. Nothing is boring. Nobody is without restless and willful talent.

Village Playhouse's Rounding Third is simply hilarious

Erica Jackson — Sat, 30 May 2009 12:22:00 -0400

Billed as the perfect theater outing for ballet/opera/classical music-sick guys this Spoleto season, Village Playhouse's Rounding Third explores the intricacies of life in the Little Leagues. Directed by Keely Enright and starring local actors Josh Wilhoit and Thomas Burke Heath, the show returns after a successful run just over a year ago.

Three talented actors deliver a satisfying story about art and friendship in Art

Jason A. Zwiker — Sat, 30 May 2009 12:13:00 -0400

If Art was a play about art alone — in particular about deciding what does or does not qualify as art — then a review would run the danger of falling into a sort of infinite regress; i.e. does a play about whether a painting qualifies as art qualify as art?

BriTANick doggedly stick with their premise, even when the audience finds it hard to follow

Nick Smith — Sat, 30 May 2009 12:12:00 -0400

BriTANick (Nick Kocher and Brian McElhaney) are on a mission to corner the market in multimedia tomfoolery. Their website is stuffed with sketches, and they projected some of their funniest videos onto a saggy white sheet at Theatre 99.

Even with her guitar behind her head, Beverly Watkins outstorms the storm

Jon Santiago — Sat, 30 May 2009 12:10:00 -0400

The rain and Fourth-of-July-worthy display of lightning that had earlier threatened to displace Beverly Watkins' performance on Friday night gave way just in time. It seemed like all those nasty clouds drew back just so that we could enjoy hearing the scented air around the College of Charleston's Cistern fill up with bluesy goodness.

CBT pays slick, fast homage to big Broadway numbers

Nick Smith — Sat, 30 May 2009 11:30:00 -0400

With The Lullaby of Broadway, Charleston Ballet Theatre has set itself a challenge. How can it possibly encapsulate the Technicolor splendor of Broadway and Hollywood musicals in a small black box space?

Westminster Choir shows why they're at the top of the heap

Lindsay Koob — Sat, 30 May 2009 10:19:00 -0400

It seems that, after 10 years of reviewing the Westminster Choir, writing about each year's Cathedral concert becomes ever more an exercise in searching out fresh superlatives.