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Bravo!

by Gene Armstrong

sk your average movie-going American to name a costume designer for film, and the first name (usually the only name) that comes to mind is Edith Head. During six decades of outfitting Hollywood’s legendary stars, Head worked on 1,131 pictures and was nominated for 35 Academy Awards. She took home an unprecedented eight Oscars – for such much-loved films as “All About Eve,” “Roman Holiday,” “Sabrina” and “The Sting.”

Now Edith Head is coming to Tucson.

Well, sort of. The designing diva entered that Tinseltown in the sky almost 25 years ago. But Susan Claassen brings her back to life for an evening of “wit, wisdom and the whisper of gossip” in the production “A Conversation with Edith Head” Nov 4-6 at the Invisible Theatre, 1400 N. First Ave.

It’s not the first time that Claassen, who also is the managing artistic director of Invisible Theatre, has portrayed Head. She did so in the premiere in 2002 of “Sketches – Edith Head’s Hollywood,” a theater piece on which she collaborated with Head’s biographer, Paddy Calisto. “A Conversation with Edith Head” is a more portable adaptation of that play.

Since then, the show has taken on a life of its own, as Claassen and Calisto have taken it on the road to Chicago, Connecticut, Maryland and the American Film Institute in Los Angeles. Soon, the production will travel to San Francisco.

Claassen seized on the idea of a play about the dishy, flamboyant designer while watching TV. Who says that medium discourages creativity?

“I was aware of Edith Head because I loved those films, and I love style and fashion,” Claassen says. “Literally I was watching a biography of her on TV, and I did a double take because I look so much like her, dark-haired and petite, and we share many qualities – my sense of fashion, my sense of humor, my long attention span.”

Immediately, Claassen was thick into research to determine whether anything theatrical had been done on Head. It hadn’t. She poured over biographies of Head and Hollywood histories. She found Calisto’s book, “Edith Head’s Hollywood” and, on a whim, looked for the author in the Santa Monica phone book. “I flew over to L.A., and it was like we were instant best friends. That’s where the play started.”

Adding the significance of the show will be the presence of Melissa Galt, daughter of actress Anne Baxter, and goddaughter of Edith Head. She’s flying in from Atlanta for the show, Claassen says.

Invisible Theatre will present “A Conversation With Edith Head” at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Nov. 4 and 5, and at 2 and 7:30 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 6. Tickets are $22 each, with group discounts available. Call 882-9721 for information.

November’s shaping up to be a promising month for the performing arts in the Downtown area. For its second production of the season, Arizona Opera and artistic director Joel Rezven will stretch out a bit from the usual “stand and deliver” repertoire by presenting the modernist “The Threepenny Opera” by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill.

“The Threepenny Opera” is a masterpiece of 20th-century musical theater that evolved from its writers’ experience of Weimar-era Germany. The show is peopled with beggars, thieves, prostitutes and ruthless killers. It is also blessed with a jazzy, syncopated and dissonant score full of innovative melodies. Even better, the opera is performed in English.

Performances are 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Nov. 11 and 12, and at 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 13, in the Tucson Music Hall at the Tucson Convention Center, 260 S. Church Ave. Tickets range from $25 to $75. Information: 293-4336.

Over at Beowulf Alley Theatre Company, artistic director Stephen Elton and crew continue their first full season with Glen Berger’s “Underneath the Lintel” which opens Friday, Nov. 11, in the company’s headquarters at 11 S. Sixth Ave.

According to the company’s website this whimsical play concerns “an introverted Dutch librarian determined to track down the miscreant who turned in a much-mistreated Baedeker’s guidebook 123 years overdue, even if it takes him around the world.” We’re all for Quixotic quests like this, so bring it on!

“Underneath the Lintel” will continue Fridays and Saturdays at 7: 30 p.m. and Sundays at 1:30 p.m. through Dec. 4, with added performances possible. For tickets and more details, call 882-0555.

NEW ARTiculations Dance Theatre will kick off its season with “Dance Gallery: An Evening of Wine, Hors d’oeuvres & Dance” at 6 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 13, at Heart-Five restaurant and nightclub, 61 E. Congress St. This eighth-annual fund-raiser will include inventive modern choreography by NEW ART members and guest choreographer Jack Wiley.

In addition to quaffing, noshing and terpsichorean delights, the evening’s festivities will include a silent auction of items donated by local artisans, as well as massage treatments, dance and Pilates lessons and packages from local restaurants, theaters and hotels.

Admission to the Dance Gallery is $25 for general admission, or $15 for students and senior citizens. Contact 250-4664 for more information ot tickets.

Arizona Theatre Company traditionally offers a musical, or a play with musical elements, as its holiday show, right around the time Thanksgiving rolls around. This year, ATC’s offering “Hank Williams: Lost Highway,” which opens Nov. 26 and runs through Dec. 21 at the Temple of Music and Art, 330 S. Scott Ave.

Created by Randal Myler and Mark Harelik, “Lost Highway” explores the legacy of the king of the honky-tonk songwriters more than 50 years after his death. Songs such “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” and “Hey, Good Looking” are intertwined with elements of Williams’ hard-living life story to “create an engaging reflection of fame, artistry, and the power of great music,” says the ATC website.

Ticket prices range from $31 to $48 for this show, which will be performed several times a week. Call 622-2823 for tickets and all of the lowdown on the show.

Speaking of especially moving roots music, Grammy Award-winning folk singer Iris Dement will play a concert – in person and one night only – at 8 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 19 in the Berger Performing Arts Center, 1200 W. Speedway.

A 44-year-old singer-songwriter with a golden, old-timey voice, Dement is among the most acclaimed country-folk performers of today, as powerful and talented as like-minded artists Gillian Welch, Nanci Griffith and Greg Brown, whom she married about three years ago.

Her fourth and latest CD, “Lifeline,” is a celebration of traditional gospel hymns. When it was released last year, it was her first album in eight years. Dement played Tucson in 1994 and ’98, to uniform critical and audience acclaim.

Seats are reserved and cost $24 in advance or $27 at the door. Part of the Rhythm & Roots concert series, the show is likely to sell out, so we suggest getting your tickets early. Call 800-594-8499 to do so.