Vital Signs

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by Gene Armstrong

n Tucson, it’s autumn that marks the time of rebirth. The population increases by tens of thousands as migrating flocks of university students and refugees from colder climes chase the sun south. At the same time, the oppressive heat of Sonoran summer subsides enough for new growth to blossom – most notably in the Old Pueblo’s performing arts community.

The fertile arts ground in our town – especially the Downtown area – yields rich produce after Labor Day has passed and the performance season flowers to full bloom.

The new season finds some theater, dance and music organizations harvesting mature fruit after decades in Tucson. Other companies will share their first crop of works with the local arts audiences.

Although the series Broadway in Tucson is a new venture here, the presenting organization behind it, the Nederlander Producing Company, has been in business doing musicals on Broadway and around the country since 1912. The 2004-2005 season will mark the first of five seasons for which Broadway in Tucson has contracted with the Tucson Convention Center, 260 S. Church Ave., says general manager Mark Rasdorf.

Rasdorf is especially excited to have returned to Downtown after five years handling media and marketing for UApresents. Before that he worked for Arizona Theatre Company.

Rasdorf says the Downtown area is undergoing a significant revival in terms of retail, business and the arts. “I can see the changes coming with the Rio Nuevo efforts. There are really visible signs of progress. I think this area is in store for a serious period of growth that will have a positive effect on all of Tucson.

“With Broadway in Tucson bringing in up to 18,000 people per weeklong engagement, there is potential for significant impact on many other businesses Downtown.”

The Broadway in Tucson fall schedule kicks off with “Movin’ Out,” a musical based on the songs of Billy Joel and directed and choreographed by the legendary Twyla Tharp. The show, which recently wowed audiences in New York City, will play Sept. 7-12 in the Tucson Convention Center Music Hall. That show will be followed by a fan-favorite performer in a classic work. The curtain will go up on former Olympic gymnast Cathy Rigby in “Peter Pan” Nov. 23-28, also in the TCC Music Hall.

Broadway in Tucson will continue with three more shows in the spring. For tickets or more information, call 321-1000. For group discounts, call 903-BWAY (2929).

Speaking of Arizona Theatre Company, the state’s theater will open its 38th season with the Southwest premiere of the musical “The Immigrant,” Sept. 11 through Oct. 2, in its historic Downtown headquarters, the Temple of Music and Art, 330 S. Scott Ave.

The fall ATC slate continues with Nilo Cruz’s “Anna in the Tropics,” the 2003 Pulitzer Prize winner for drama, the first for a Latino playwright. It will be performed Oct. 23 through Nov. 13.

It’s no accident that the first two plays of the ATC season deal with the immigrant experience in America, said artistic director David Ira Goldstein.

“Both are good plays to be coming in an election year. They’re not political so much as they explore in really interesting and open-hearted ways what it means to be an American,” Goldstein said.

Also this fall, ATC will explore what it means to have fun with a holiday production of Gilbert & Sullivan’s immortal “The Pirates of Penzance,” which runs Nov. 27 through Dec. 18. Three more shows will follow in the spring. Call 622-2823 for tickets, subscriptions and more information.

Goldstein noted that much of the remodeling, renovation and revitalization going on in the area bode well for the future. “It’s an exciting, anticipatory time to be in Downtown Tucson.”

A relatively new arrival downtown is the Wilde Playhouse, 135 E. Congress St. Only nine months old, the company already has begun its season with A.R. Gurney’s “Love Letters” in August. David Mamet’s “Cryptogram” is up next Sept 2-Oct. 3.

The mission of Wilde Playhouse is “to bring European-style theater to Tucson and get more people to come to the theater so they are not scared of the theater any more,” says artistic director Joan O’Dwyer.

In a homey touch, patrons of the Wilde Playhouse may enjoy wine, espresso, light dinners and French pastries during shows. Late-night plays, improv competitions and cabaret shows also are in the works.

Wilde’s autumn offerings include Charles Busch’s “Tale of the Allergist’s Wife” Oct. 14- Nov. 14. Promising verve and variety is a newly created holiday musical revue that has been conceived and directed by jazz-blues pianist and composer Lisa Otey. It will be shown Nov. 26 through Dec. 19. For more information about the Wilde Playhouse, call 770-1000.

One of O’Dwyer’s primary goals – not unlike those of leaders of many Downtown performing arts groups – is to banish the misconceptions that Downtown is dangerous and that parking is unavailable.

“Those ideas just aren’t true. Parking at meters is free at night and on the weekends, and there are lots of parking garages. Sure, there are homeless people, and there are young people with tattoos and piercings, but they really don’t bother anybody.”

O’Dwyer says that “a city that doesn’t have a vibrant, viable Downtown is not a livable city in my estimation. We have to revitalize Downtown, bring more patrons to see theater, have a drink, have a meal and patronize all the businesses that are Downtown.”

Any discussion of the performing arts in the city’s center must include UApresents the exhaustive 10-year-old series at the University of Arizona’s Centennial Hall, 1020 E. University Boulevard, just a few minutes from the heart of Downtown.

After last fall’s departure of long-time artistic director Ken Foster, the folks at UApresents regrouped admirably. Interim artistic director Ed Brown is champing at the bit to get into the new season, much of which he programmed after Foster left. It begins Sept. 10 with a performance by jazz vocalist Bobby McFerrin and will likely reach its peak with the Dec. 5 concert by pianist Emanuel Ax and cellist Yo-Yo Ma.

Brown says the 2004-2005 season will focus on “diversity, excellence, community engagement and carrying forward the identity established in the program’s last decade of existence.”

Naturally, because of Tucson’s proximity to the Mexican border, Latino performing arts are well represented by UApresents. These include the Oct. 1 concert by Mexican-American singer-songwriter-activist Lila Downs; a Nov. 13 appearance featuring artists from Putumayo Records, including Totó La Momposina from Colombia, Chile’s Mariana Montalvo and Brazilian Belô Velloso; and the Nov. 28 show by Tania Libertad, a Peruvian-born Mexican citizen and powerful singer in a variety of styles.

A sure-bet highlight of the autumn season is “By the Hand of the Father,” an original musical theater piece composed by Texas rocker Alejandro Escovedo, that will blend music, video and spoken word to dramatize the unique 20th century journey of his Mexican-American father. See it Nov. 16 and 17.

While on the subject of Latino artists we mustn’t ignore Edward Villella, a former premier danseur and now the artistic director of Miami City Ballet, which will return to the Centennial Hall stage Oct. 8 and 9.

UApresents brings more large-scale song and dance to Tucson, too, in the form of its traditional Broadway Series of five national touring productions. Its fall slots will feature “Oliver!” (Oct. 12-17) and the recent Broadway hit “Hairspray” (Oct. 26-Nov. 6).

Family theater audiences also will be well served by “Frog & Toad,” a co-production of UApresents and the acclaimed Phoenix-area children’s theater company, Childsplay. It plays Oct. 23-24 and Oct. 30-31. Information about UApresents is available at 621-3341.

Also on campus, Arizona Repertory Theatre, the professional training company of the UA School of Theatre Arts, continues through Sept. 12 with its uproarious production of Michael Frayn’s backstage farce “Noises Off!” in the Peter Marroney Theatre at the UA Fine Arts complex.

The UA theater department observes its 100th anniversary by reviving the first play it produced in 1904 – “The Rivals,” a classical Restoration-period comedy by Richard Brinsley Sheridan – in the Laboratory Theatre Oct. 10-31. The semester will close out with a production of the great Richard Rodgers musical “Carousel” Nov. 5-Dec.5, also in the Marroney. Ticket information is available at 621-1162.

Right next door, the UA School of Music will supplement its rich assortment of faculty and grad-student performances with guest artists such as alumnus pianist Christopher Cano (Sept. 10) and percussionist Evaristo Aguilar and dancer Dalila Paulín performing traditional Mexican Huapango music with Rhythms of the Huasteca (Nov. 5). The UA Opera Theatre’s semester offering is Mozart’s “La Nozze di Figaro,” which runs Nov. 18-21.

Although School of Music events are presented in variety of campus venues, each of these concerts will be held in Crowder Hall. For more information, use the school’s 24-hour hotline at 621-2998.

MORE MUSIC

Arizona Opera, the state’s professional company under the direction of Joel Revzen, will open its 34th season with a double bill of Leoncavallo’s “Pagliacci” and Puccini’s “Il Tabarro” Oct. 22-24 in the TCC Music Hall. Then, Rossini’s “Cinderella,” featuring lush sets on loan from the Seattle Opera, moves into the Music Hall Nov. 12-14.

Using another company’s sets, though, is becoming the exception rather than the rule. “This season marks a return to building our own productions. In 04-05, we will design and construct three of the four productions,” says public relations director Liz Warren. So other than the Rossini, it’s all new designs at the opera company this year.

As usual, the presenting organization Arizona Friends of Chamber Music will play host to some top-notch talent performing a variety of established and modern composers.

The Friends’ fall Evening Concert Series features the Prazak String Quartet, tentatively performing Dvorak, Zemlinsky and Smetana, Oct. 20; the Miro Quartet doing Haydn, Philip Glass and Tchaikovsky Nov. 3; and the Miami String Quartet in a Dec. 1 program featuring works by Saint-Saens, Ginastera and Ravel.

The Piano and Friends series offers intimate performances Sunday afternoons, such as one by pianist Lara Downes (Nov. 7) and another boasting violinist Brunilda Myftaraj and pianist Gary Chapman (Dec. 5). Like the Evening Concert Series, these performances are held in the TCC Leo Rich Theater. More information: 577-3769.

Of course, fall wouldn’t be the same without a fresh batch of concerts by the Tucson Symphony Orchestra, our city’s premier classical music presenter. Under the baton of conductor George Hanson, the TSO will begin its 76th season Sept. 23 and 24 with an appearance by guest violinist Rachel Barton on a program that features Glazunov’s Violin Concerto, Op. 82 and Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Scheherazade.”

Among the orchestra’s other highlights this fall will be a swinging show of Gershwin, Ellington and Debussy by pianist Alain LeFevre Nov. 18, 19 and 21. The Pops series will bring the Empire Brass to town for concerts Nov. 5-7, with guest conductor Robert Bernhardt, the TSO Chorus will join the orchestra for the traditional “Home for the Holidays” concert Dec. 17-19.

These TSO performances are in the TCC Music Hall. The symphony’s schedule for 2004-2005 is far more extensive than can be listed here. Call 792-9155 for more information.

Also scheduled for the TCC Music Hall is a gala performance by jazz goddess Nancy Wilson. The singer and NPR host will perform Sept. 17 in a concert presented by the Tucson Jazz Society in conjunction with the NAACP. Further from Downtown, the society’s Jazz Under the Stars series also will be in full swing at St. Philip’s Plaza Sundays during September and October. Call 903-1265 for more details.

MORE THEATER

One of Tucson’s most respected and creative theater organizations, Borderlands Theater – under the artistic direction of Barclay Goldsmith – long has been known produce works that explore the nature of living on literal and figurative borders.

Borderlands’ fall roster includes Joan Holden’s “Nickel and Dimed,” an unflinching look at the service industry based on the acclaimed non-fiction book by Barbara Ehrenreich, Sept. 16-25 in the Proscenium Theater at the Pima Community College’s west campus. It also will play one night, Sept. 26, in the TCC Music Hall, right here Downtown.

Lisa Loomer’s “Bocón” will be performed Oct. 21-23 in the TCC Leo Rich Theater, followed by the return of the traditional Borderlands holiday production “A Tucson Pastorela” Dec. 9-19 in the Leo Rich. Call 882-8607 for more info.

Hard to believe, but Invisible Theatre is embarking on its 34th season of intimate, character-driven plays in Tucson. Just in time for the heated election campaign, the small house at 1400 N. First Ave. kicks off the season with James Still’s “Looking Over the President’s Shoulder,” starring Walter Belcher as the butler who served during the terms of four American presidents. With artistic director Susan Claassen at the helm, it will play Sept. 13 through Oct. 3.

Then, guest artist Richard Glazier will man the keyboard for the potentially delightful musical fantasia “The Gershwins and Their World.” Glazier will hold forth Dec. 3 and 4 in the lovely Berger Performing Arts Center (at the Arizona Schools for the Deaf and the Blind), 1200 W. Speedway. Call 882-9721 for more Invisible details.

The Berger Performing Arts Center also will house the original musical of Arizona Rose Theatre Company this fall, including “Robin Hood” Oct. 16-24 and “Another Magical Christmas” Dec. 10-12. Stop and smell the Arizona Rose at 888-0509.

The big annual event for Old Pueblo Playwrights is the group’s New Play Festival right around the time of the New Year. But you don’t have to wait that long to experience one of OPP’s productions. The group will present its third annual “Play-in-a-Day” event Oct. 1 and 2 at the Hotel Congress, 311 E. Congress St.

You’ll see the results of locking up 12 playwrights overnight, to see staged readings of their instant plays produced the next night. Call 622-8848 for the lowdown.

More good news: both of the adventurous small companies Beowulf Alley Theatre Company and Quintessential Stage are finalizing plans to open their own small theaters in the downtown area. Either may be staging plays in these parts by 2005, representatives said. Stay tuned.

DANCE

The professional preparatory program UA Division of Dance opened its gorgeous Stevie Eller Dance Theatre last year, and its season there this school year includes two fall productions – “Three’s a Crowd,” Nov. 6, 7 and 12-14 and “In the Season” Dec. 2-5. Two of the “In the Season” programs will showcase student works, said department head Jory Hancock.

More goodies await in the spring, when productions by the UA dance department will feature students in such classic works as Paul Taylor’s “Esplanade” and George Balanchine’s “Concert Barocco.” Want tickets? Call 621-1162.

O-T-O Dance (formerly Orts Theatre of Dance) will open its 20th season of modern dance in Tucson with the concert “Far Flung Dances,” a collection of fresh pieces and favorites from the repertoire. It will occur Nov. 19-21 in the Stevie Eller Dance Theatre. For the latest on O-T-O, call 624-3799.

Ballet Tucson, our town’s professional troupe, also performs in the Stevie Eller. Its fall program there will include Act II of “Giselle” and “Dracula” Oct. 29 and 31. Also, the company will present a full-length version of “The Nutcracker” Dec. 10-12 in Centennial Hall. Call 903-1445 for more information.

Tucson Regional Ballet has become well known for its “A Southwest Nutcracker,” even drawing the attention of Dance Magazine. You can see it, accompanied live by the Tucson Symphony Orchestra, Dec. 3-5 in the TCC Music Hall. Learn more at 886-1222.

Also scheduled is “In the Works: A No Frills Concert” that will feature collaborations between two companies: Zuzi! Dance Company and New ARTiculations. It is scheduled for Oct. 29 and 30 in Zuzi’s Little Theatre at the Historic YWCA, 738 N. Fifth Ave. From December 17-21, Zuzi will also host the 7th Annual Solstice Celebration, with poetry, live music, and dance. Contact Zuzi! at 629-0237 for more information.

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