THE MAN BEHIND ‘MEMPHIS’: Dallas Summer Musicals opens the touring version of Memphis tonight at the Music Hall at Fair Park. The show won a best musical Tony in 2010 and tells the story of a 1950s radio DJ striving to change the face of popular music. Memphis features a book by Joe DiPietro, and if that name sounds familiar, then you’ve probably seen his long, long (long) running I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change at Theatre Three. “It has probably had 3,000 to 4,000 productions at this point,” DiPietro tells dallasnews.com in a preview of Memphis. “It didn’t let me buy a yacht, but I tell people I wish every young writer had an I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change to fall back on.”

TALKING ‘TOSCA’: This year’s Fort Worth Opera Festival is in full swing, with two classics and a pair of contemporary works. One of the classics is Puccini’s Tosca, which is receiving mostly positive reviews. “This particular production offers everything a lover of traditional opera could want,” Wayne Lee Gay writes in his Front Row review, giving special props to the sets and costumes. “Soprano Carter Scott is a powerful singer and a compelling actress in the title role, her rich voice reverberating through the hall and her handsome presence commanding the stage the way a diva should,” Martha Heimberg writes on theaterjones.com. The only negative review I could find comes from Olin Chism, who calls the show, “disappointingly inconsistent, with powerful dramatic scenes only partially compensating for vocal shortcomings,” in his dfw.com review. The next performance is Sunday.

QUOTABLE: ”I believe things of great lasting beauty know their owners. I’ve always been grateful that there are two things that can never be destroyed: great beauty and great memories. I may be parting with things, but I still see them forever in my home as they are.”

- Van Cliburn, ahead of an auction of furniture and silver pieces in his collection, in an interview with startelegram.com.

Afternoon Delight is a daily diversion for when you’re just back from lunch, but not quite ready to get back to work. Check back weekdays at 1 p.m. for another one.

You listen to him Sunday nights from 8-10. Now get to know the man behind the mic.

Members of the artist collective called Solvent have been guest blogging during the creation of their 3-week, 30 artist experiment in collaboration called Working Title, on view and under development at ro2 Gallery Downtown.  Saturday was the second of three openings. The final group of 10 artists will work in the gallery this week. The final opening will be next Saturday.

Here, Solvent member Jason Parry shares some thoughts on what the group is up to.  You can follow the artists’ work a s it happens at ro2 here in this live stream. And here are some previous posts on Art&Seek from participating artists.

During the interview scene of Godard’s Breathless, the articulate romancier Parvulesco claims that his greatest ambition in life is “to become immortal…and then die.” Coming from a serious man of letters, none ought doubt the sincerity of this remark. For this truly is the oath of the spiritual tightrope walker: the one who, desirous of both the heights and the trenches, attunes his senses to time’s rippled surface. After all, any artist of some stature has—at some quixotic point—risked eternal fame in the face of certain death.

This point, this elusive tragicomic moment, comes at the culmination of a lifelong sharpening of the intellect. Just as a telescope requires focus to discern celestial spheres, a process of attunement prepares the seeker for a first glimpse of promethean flames.

But could such a process be formalized? Could such a sacred bridge be built?

The credulity of such a question betrays ignorance of the ancient Orphic rites, the workshops of Titian and Tintoretto and the ashrams of India. But such is the damage done by the prevailing attitude towards the creative life. Chance, mystery, and a stubborn flabbiness have flourished in the study of the arts as if pursued there from the clear-sighted realm of science. One does not court inspiration, as the contemporary mood would suggest,by catching the zeitgeist by the hem of its garment. Rather, by study and searching, one discovers how to tame it.

Such an undertaking requires solidarity. Not, however, as the good Marxists might suggest, a one as might be found in the hollow claims of class identity. This task requires solidarity of place.

Take, for example, the recent work of the Dallas-based art group Solvent Collective (the exhibit Working Title, at Ro2 downtown, is entering its third week): on the day of its last opening on May 19th,  30 artists from the Dallas area (arranged in three ‘generations’) will have contributed to the evolutionary installation. It would be more accurate, given this peculiar configuration, to consider the exhibit as a single event unfolding across space and time.

Stretching the visual arts into the traditional domain of music and literature is not without precedent. Set designers have been experimenting for centuries with the narrative capacity of space-making, and it would not be too far amiss to suggest that Working Title has something distinctly theatrical about it.

Artists have always made for great characters, and their lives have inspired innumerable chronicles; but it is the story arc generated by the very conditions of Working Title which transforms it into drama. Site specificity, perhaps more important to the stage than any other aesthetic experience, reaches similar levels in this project. The very moment in which a visitor crosses the threshold initiates one more participant intothe rising action. Likewise, every addition from each artist adds new subplots to the emerging metanarrative.

The benefits of such a practice are the same as those of any live performance. The performer quickly develops tools of improvisation, and also, establishes in his or her work an aura of preciousness. This is because each artwork created in the space is fated to be different, in one way or another, form any before or since. Time itself, and the uniqueness of place conspire to make it so.

The fact that the artists’ every move is broadcast via a live stream makes the performative aspect all the more blatant. By privileging the act over the product, these artists re-situate the creative mindset, bringing the focus back to presence and the singular act of ‘being there’.

Tintoretto would be so proud.

Visual artists have until Friday to register for Fictional 3, a collaboration at The Bath House Cultural Center with the Festival of Independent Theaters (FIT).

Artists choose a theme from one of the FIT plays and submit their work for the show. The idea is to have at least one piece of work representing each of 8 shows.  The list of themes makes me curious to see both the art, and the plays. For example: “A chance encounter with an urban coyote. Dreaming about a green island. Going back home.” or “Mayan prophecies. The end of the world. Bomb shelters.”

Check out the themes and the rules for registering right here.

SHE MADE IT: Oak Cliff conceptual artist Erica Felicella made news by announcing she would spend all of this past weekend inside an acrylic box behind the Kessler Theater. For 48 hours she would write one sentence on pieces of paper in a project called Visible Shell. Sounds tough, right? Well, if you were wondering if she’d make it the whole time, you’ll be happy to know she did. About 75 well wishers exploded into applause Sunday at 5 p.m. when Felicella emerged from her shell. I’ll have a lot more on the entire project in an upcoming radio story for KERA.

BEST OF THE BIOS: The Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Conference – held every year in Denton – sponsors a National Biography Writing Contest. And part of that contest is a competition for budding biographers still in high school and community college. The winners of that contest feature writing on Barack Obama, soccer player Didier Drogba and missionary Mary Slessor. You can read each of the essays on dallasnews.com.

BEYOND THE CLASSICS: In Dallas Opera general director Keith Cerny’s latest Off the Cuff column for theaterjones.com, he writes about how the categorization of musical compositions is evolving. Rather than breaking works up into time periods, Cerny feels that a more sophisticated approach to grouping similar music is upon us. And that it’s high time we embrace some of these more daring compositions. “I’m convinced that it is critical for us, as musical programmers and artistic leaders, to continue to edge away from the concept of a unilateral flow of musical time, and to move towards selecting and presenting works of the greatest artistic merit, period,” he writes.

Well, the weather just keeps getting more beautiful all the time. I have an interesting collection of pieces for us to check out tonite, mostly suggestions from last week’s blog. Help make next week’s show by leaving me your music suggestions. Please nothing over six minutes long, too loud or quiet. And especially make very sure the language is acceptable. I find something almost every week in the suggestions that I can’t play because of language.

New to me this week:
Gold Panda
Sundress
Les McCann
Celso Pina
Cate Le Bon
Teddybears
Dumbo Gets Mad
Paul Thorn
Zubz

This week’s setlist:

George Harrison, “All Things Must Pass,” Early Takes Volume 1
Mark Mothersbaugh, “Ping Island/Lightning Strike Rescue Op,” The Life
Aquatic
The New Pornographers, “Myriad Harbour,” Challengers
Gold Panda, “Same Dream China,” Lucky Shiner
Sundress, “Derelict,” Self-Titled
Feist, “The Park,” The Reminder
Little Feat, “Willin’,” The Best Of Little Feat
Kate Miller-Heidke, “The Devil Wears A Suit,” Nightflight
Devendra Banhart, “Carmensita,” Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon
Blackalicious, “Make You Feel That Way,” Blazing Arrow
Les McCann, “Compared To What?,” Talkin’ Verve
Morcheeba, “Let Me See,” Parts Of The Process
Roxy Music, “Bitters End,” Roxy Music
Carly Simon, Ben Taylor, Sally Taylor, “You Can Close Your Eyes,” Into White
Townes Van Zandt, “I’ll Be Here In the Morning,” Townes Van Zandt
Celso Piña y su Ronda Bogotá, “Cumbia sobre el Río,” 12 Grandes exitos Vol. 1
Danny Rush and the Designated Drivers, “Brakeman,” Brown and Blue
Cate Le Bon, “Fold The Cloth,” Cyrk
Teddybears featuring Iggy Pop, “Punkrocker,” Punkrocker
David Bowie, “Rubber Band,” David Bowie
Norah Jones, “After The Fall,” Little Broken Hearts
Radiohead, “All I Need,” In Rainbows
Dumbo Gets Mad, “Eclectic Prawn,” Dumbo Gets Mad
Paul Thorn, “She’s Got A Crush On Me,” What The Hell Is Goin’ On
Zubz, “Time To Heal, Yes We Can,” Songs About Leaving Africa
Commander Cody And His Lost Planet Airmen, “House Of Blue Lights,” Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen
Gil Scott-Heron, “I’m New Here,” I’m New Here

This weekend’s season shutdown by the Dallas Symphony Orchestra is unusual though not unique in the DSO’s history. The program is a concert performance of Beethoven’s opera Fidelio — unstaged because the Meyerson Symphony Center is not equipped for that, although budgetary considerations undoubtedly played a role.

Friday night’s performance was energetic — sometimes too energetic for my taste. The full Dallas Symphony Chorus jammed the choral terrace and often produced a mighty sound at Jaap van Zweden’s urging. You’re not likely to hear this big an effect in an opera house.

Also, with the orchestra elevated to the stage rather than sunk in an orchestra pit, its sound could be overwhelming; in a few places the poor soloist was covered.

Aside from that, things went well. The orchestra was in fine shape, the choral sound was solid, and if Van Zweden errs it’s on the side of energy rather than languor, and it’s hard to get too upset about that.

The cast was excellent. I was particularly drawn to the Leonore of Lisa Milne, the Rocco of Arthur Woodley, the Marzelline of Simona Saturova and the Florestan of Robert Dean Smith, but Robert Bork, Marcel Reijans and Detlef Roth in other roles kept the level high.

There was a sizable audience — a little larger than for a typical symphonic concert — though there were some empty seats. At halftime (it’s a two-acter) there were some dropouts, as there always is at the Meyerson.

The DSO is omitting the Saturday night performance this weekend, so Sunday afternoon’s concert will be the sole repetition. You don’t ask a single pitcher to pitch both games of a double-header; singers need a break, too.

You‘ll wear a silly hat and you’ll like it: Gregory Lush as Stanley faces Marcus Stimac as McCann and Bruce Dubose as Goldberg (l to r) in the Undermain Theatre’s The Birthday Party by Harold Pinter.

• Dallas Morning News review (pay wall)
• Theater Jones review
• Dallas Observer review
• Profile of Patrick Kelly (pay wall)

From the start, something looks off with the Undermain Theatre’s revival of Harold Pinter’s The Birthday Party from 1958. Pinter’s first, full-length comedy-drama is set in a tatty boardinghouse in a tatty British seaside resort, yet scene designer John Arnone has given the sitting room the biggest, reddest, poppy wallpaper pattern. Hell, it even has sparkles.

The Birthday Party comes from an England that’s pre-swinging London, pre-Beatles. So where are the tea stains, the sad woodwork and the leaky gas heaters? Pinter’s people live in a diminished, style-less period of fried bread for breakfast and elderly gents shuffling to work as deckchair attendants. England was still recovering from the Suez Crisis and a World War II victory that left it exhausted and close to bankrupt. Yet much like Arnone, costume designer Giva Taylor has given most of the characters spiffy, crisply-laundered threads. It’s true of Dallas-area theaters in general: When it comes to period realism, we don’t do “dowdy and dusty” very well, it’s all too … un-Dallas.

But here, it’s more than just everything looking shiny and proper. Actor Marcus Stimac seems to have stepped out of a stylish, French New Wave film from the period. He plays McCann, a sidekick-thug who comes to the boardinghouse, and Stimac — with a profile like a cliff — could easily pass for Jean-Paul Belmondo’s dimmer, funnier brother, straight out of Breathless (1960).

Read More »

Art&Seek presents This Week in Texas Music History. Every week, we’ll spotlight a different moment and the musician who made it. This week, Texas music scholar Gary Hartman meets the “other Carter Family” of American roots music.

You can also hear This Week in Texas Music History on Sunday at precisely 6:04 p.m. on KERA radio. But subscribe to the podcast so you won’t miss an episode. And our thanks to KUT public radio in Austin for helping us bring this segment to you. And if you’re a music lover, be sure to check out Track by Track, the bi-weekly podcast from Paul Slavens, host of KXT’s The Paul Slavens Show, heard Sunday night’s at 8.

• Click the player to listen to the podcast:

• Expanded online version:

Rosa Lola Carter, of the gospel quartet the Chuck Wagon Gang, died on May 13, 1997.  Formed in Lubbock in 1935 by David Carter and three of his children – Ernest, Rosa Lola and Effie – the group first performed on local radio as the Carter Quartet. By 1936, the Carters had moved to Fort Worth, where they landed their very own show on the powerful WBAP radio station. It was during this time that the program’s sponsor changed the group’s name to the Chuck Wagon Gang. The Chuck Wagon Gang soon became one of the most popular gospel groups in the country, selling millions of songbooks and records and making the very first recording of the classic gospel song “I’ll Fly Away.”

Although the Chuck Wagon Gang has changed personnel several times over the years, the group continues to tour and perform throughout North America.

Next time on This Week in Texas Music History, we’ll meet a pioneer of barrelhouse piano who started his career underneath the house.

In the Saturday Spotlight, we’re headed down to Dragon Street in the Design District for a whole bunch of art openings.  We’ll start at Holly Johnson Gallery for the opening of “Freefall” featuring 10 new paintings by Jackie Tileston.  Then it’s off to Photographs Do Not Bend Gallery for “From Moscow with Love”, an exhibit of photographs by six Russian artists.  Then spring into summer with an exhibit of works by Ray Phillips and Christy Lee Rogers at Samuel Lynne Gallery.

There’s plenty of other visual arts happenings this weekend, which Anne has rounded up.