Vital Signs

by Gene Armstrong

n Downtown Tucson can be found remnants of the original pueblo’s foundation, circa its founding in 1775, but in terms of the performing arts, the city’s center also is a place of constant renewal and the birth of fresh, new works.

“Downtown is so central to the city. It’s the most accessible area to the entire rest of the city, whether it is to the northwest or way out east. And there’s no doubt it has some the best stages in town,” says Linda Walker, artistic director for Tucson Regional Ballet, which will present two original full-length ballets at the Tucson Convention Center, 260 S. Church Ave., during the 2005-2006 season.

Although Tucson has its share of companies – Arizona Theatre Company, UApresents, Tucson Symphony Orchestra, Broadway in Tucson – presenting big-budget productions by nationally and internationally known performers, also vital to Tucson are performances by our emerging artists and smaller troupes of more modest budget. Here is much important new growth.

Now in its 24th year, Walker’s company began as the Tucson Community Ballet on Tucson’s east side, where it still maintains its offices. But the company long has presented its formal concerts Downtown “because that’s where the arts are, and that’s where people go for the arts,” its director says.

Walker says that the Downtown performing arts scene is “most definitely” thriving.

“Part of it is that there is such a great appreciation about everything to do with the arts, and the buildings are art, too. They lend themselves to the appreciation of the city’s history, and the city becomes the art,” she says.

Tucson Regional Ballet will perform its “A Southwest Nutcracker” for the 12th consecutive year Dec. 2-4 in the TCC Leo Rich Theater, with the accompaniment of the Tucson Symphony Orchestra and special guests from the San Francisco Ballet. The extremely popular ballet – dare we call it a perennial after a dozen years? – re-envisions the traditional holiday ballet in the colonial American Southwest milieu complete with coyotes, cactus and other denizens of the Sonoran Desert.

The ballet’s staying power has surprised even its creator. “I never thought it would last this long and grow to this size and also to the technical level of dancing. Every year we’ve redone the costumes and the scenery, too,” says Walker.

“Some of the ballets, they are liked well enough by the audience, but not enough so that there’s a demand for them again. Others, they come out really popular like “Nutcracker” and become part of our lives,” Walker says.

(The original “Nutcracker” was produced 113 years ago at the Marysinsky Theater in St. Petersburg, Russia, with choreography by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov and that now-familiar Tchaikovsky score.)

Tucson Regional Ballet will follow that with a new ballet – still under construction – based on the classic fable of “The Princess and the Pea” April 1 and 2 in the same location. For more information, call 886-1222.

For more traditional tastes, Ballet Tucson will offer its own version of “The Nutcracker” Dec. 9, 10 and 11 in Centennial Hall on the University of Arizona campus. Choreographed by artistic director Mary Beth Cabana, it becomes more sophisticated each year. Joining the dancers for the performances will be the Ballet Tucson Orchestra as well as the Tucson Arizona Boys Chorus.

Now its 20th season, Ballet Tucson offers a healthy variety of ballet this season, which will open Oct. 14 and 15 with two works: “Graduation Ball,” a light, humorous work set in an old Vienna finishing school; and the return of the company’s popular version of Bram Stoker’s gothic vampire classic “Dracula.”

The performances will be in the UA’s wonderful Stevie Eller Dance Theatre, which was designed expressly for the presentation of dance. An opening-night gala performance will feature ballet superstars John Gardner and Amanda McKerrow of American Ballet Theatre in the pas de deux from Sir Kenneth MacMillan’s Concerto. This special event will include a pre-performance reception, silent auction, live entertainment, and post-performance dessert reception with the guest artists.

As the season progresses, Ballet Tucson will offer: “Dance and Dessert” featuring choreography by Lawrence Pech, Jeffrey Graham Hughes, and Ian Horvath, as well as edibles by some of Tucson’s finest chefs, March 10-12 in the Stevie Eller Dance Theatre; and a ballet interpretation of Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” May 20 and 21 in Centennial Hall. Call 903-1445 for information.

Speaking of galas, many arts groups choose to kick off their seasons with elegant affairs designed to honor performers, audience and donors. Most of these events incorporate food, special guests, sometimes some visual art auctions and usually no small amount of fundraising.

The modern dance company NEW ARTiculations, for instance, will present its seventh annual wine-tasting, silent auction and performance event Nov. 13. at the Downtown nightclub Heart Five, 61 E. Congress St. It’s a convenient spot because the company’s co-director Tammy Rosen owns the club with her husband, Kevin Wilbur.

Says Rose of the traditional NEW ART fête, “It’s super fun, although the sight lines are not great for dance, because it is after all a bar. But there is obviously a strong social element. It’s definitely a happening.

“And last year we figured out a way, with a video camera, to show projections of the dancing on a screen for the people who could not see.”

Being part of the Downtown performing arts community is important to Rosen and NEW ART. The company’s classes and rehearsals are held in the same building as Heart Five, she notes. “I love being Downtown, I think it’s where everything happens. I love being part of something, this community of artists.”

NEW ART’s other performances this season take place near the Downtown area, in the Proscenium Theatre at Pima Community College’s Center for Fine Arts, 2202 W. Anklam Road.

“I think people’s perceptions of (the Proscenium Theatre) is that it’s far out there on the west side, but it’s really just five or seven minutes from Downtown,” Rosen says.

“And it’s a beautiful place for dance. I love performing there, the stage setup and the way the seats are raked, and that grand drape is just beautiful.” The stage curtain of which she speaks is a rich, velvety cloth spangled with a field of stars.

Rosen says NEW ART is preparing a new modern-dance version of “Hansel and Gretel,” to be accompanied by contemporary pop songs. It will be shown Jan. 27-29, 2006, in the PCC Proscenium Theatre. Another show, “Works of Art,” is scheduled for June 1-3 in the same location. More information: 882-0318.

The always-stimulating Borderlands Theatre is another smaller company with a rich relationship with the Downtown area. But it would be tough to call it an emerging arts group with 20 years of history.

In the beginning, the company performed at the historic Teatro Carmen, later at the Tucson Center for the Performing Arts (a.k.a. the Cursillo Center). Even when Borderlands was staging plays at the PCC Center for the Arts, its offices always have remained Downtown, notes artistic director Barclay Goldsmith.

These days, the Borderlands office is located at El Centro Cultural de las Americas, 40 W. Broadway, in a building that many longtime Tucsonans will remember as the Patio restaurant.

The company, which explores cutting-edge theater that straddles borders both physical and conceptual, is performing most of its plays Downtown this year, as well. But Goldsmith, ever the diplomat, doesn’t necessarily think that all the performing arts need to be in central Tucson.

“We like the downtown because of the demographic we serve. I’m not sure that all theater companies need to be Downtown. A lot of it depends on the specialized audience that a theater might serve.”

The Borderlands season kicks off with the return – by popular demand, naturally – of “The Woman Who Fell From the Sky/La Mujer Que Cayó del Cielo,” by Victor Hugo Rascón Banda, from Sept. 14 to 25 in the TCC Leo Rich Theater.

Featuring award-winning Mexican actor Luisa Huertas, the trilingual play follows the true story of Rita Quintero, a Raramuri (Tarahumara) Indian who is found wandering the streets of Kansas City. When the authorities don’t understand her language and can’t determine her identity, she is committed to a mental institution for 12 years before a social worker strives to free her.

The Leo Rich will also be the location for Borderlands’ family-favorite holiday production “A Tucson Pastorela” Dec. 8 through 18. This will be the 10th year running that the company has presented Max Branscomb’s topical and hilarious interpretation of the traditional Mexican-American Christmas pageant, which will also feature live music by the A’Cim Waila Band and, at some performances, dance by Ballet Folklorico Tapatio.

Also scheduled for the Leo Rich will be Borderlands’ production of Oliver Mayer’s “Conjunto,” concerning the internment of Japanese Americans and mass deportations of Mexicans during the Great Depression and World War II in California. See it April 20 through 30, 2006.

Borderlands will return to the PCC Proscenium Theatre March 17 and 18 to present “Coyolxauhqui ReMembers,” a new dance theater work based on Aztec muth and created and performed by the Latina Dance Project.

Borderlands Theatre also has found a kindred spirit in the relatively new Beowulf Alley Theatre Company, which has finally opened in the former Johnny Gibson exercise equipment storefront at 11 S. Sixth Ave.

Borderlands will stage three productions at Beowulf Alley this season: “Mixed Messages” by Cherylene Lee, Feb. 16 through March 5, 2006. The play wrestles with subjects such as archaeology, anthropology, Native American politics, the nature of art and the 2000 census.

Then, in the late spring, Borderlands will present a cabaret series at Beowulf Alley, showing Victor Hugo Rascón Banda’s “Desire/El Deseo” (May 31-June 11) and Anne Garcia Romero’s “Earthquake Chica” (June 18-25).
Borderlands’ Goldsmith has sometimes in the past wished his company had its own space, but he has found it helpful to use various spaces for performances of various sizes over the years. For instance, the Leo Rich is great, he says, but too big for some productions. He looks forward to using Beowulf Alley for more intimate theater works.

Beowulf Alley Theatre Company attained its non-profit status in 2001 and performed two productions in at in the Temple of Music and Art’s Cabaret Theatre a few years back. The troupe finally opened its own space this summer, inaugurating it with a successful run of Richard Strand’s corporate America farce “The Death of Zukasky” in July and August.

“There was some concern about opening a play during the deadest time of the year, the pre-monsoon time,” says Beowulf Alley artistic director Stephen Elton during a break from rehearsals for the company’s next show.

Elton’s done time working with Live Theatre Workshop, the Invisible Theatre and the now-defunct Downtown theater company, the Wilde Playhouse.

But “Zukasky” did well at the box office, and “people really seemed pleased with the result,” Elton says.

According to its mission statement Beowulf Alley aims to produce shows “melding the best of traditional theatre with the newest works with a contemporary, urban and gritty attitude.” Elton says he and his board chose Downtown because the area is more open to creative, challenging art, while it doesn’t ignore tradition.

“When you think of it, most of the top performing arts groups are Downtown: – ATC, the opera company, the Broadway shows,” Elton says.

“Studies have shown that the performing arts draw a very specific audience, one that tends to have higher education and tends to have higher income. It all comes together when you have opportunities to see performing arts, dine and shop, and Downtown becomes a destination.”

Beowulf Alley kicks off its 2005-2006 season with Jane Martin’s “Criminal Hearts,” caper/farce about burglary, divorce and getting even. It will be shown Sept. 23 through Oct. 16. Also on the schedule will be Glen Berger’s one-man show “Underneath the Lintel” Nov. 11-Dec. 4 and the comedy favorite “Eight Reindeer Monologues” Dec. 16-30.

In addition to renting its space to Borderlands, Beowulf Alley wants to be available to other companies. Thus, it will present the Laughing Stock Comedy Company Dec. 27 through Jan. 1.

Elton says playing host to other companies in its space serves two potential purposes: weaving Beowulf Alley into the fabric of Downtown arts and earning some rent during down times. For more info: 622-4460.

A Downtown mainstay is the Arizona Theatre Company, a professional, regional company of renown, known for bringing classics, new plays and fun-filled musicals to Tucson. Under the artistic direction of David Ira Goldstein, ATC traditionally stages its Tucson productions in its headquarters at the beautifully refurbished 1927 Temple of Music and Art, 330 S. Scott Ave.

The ATC season will start off with a bang the company presents its own gala Sept. 24. The inimitable Carol Channing will bring star appeal to the gathering.

The first play of the season is the world premiere of Jon Jory’s adaptation of Jane Austen’s immortal novel “Pride and Prejudice” Sept. 10 through Oct. 1.

Teresa Rebeck’s hilarious look at the 40-something singles scene, “Bad Dates,” continues the season Oct. 22 through Nov. 12, while the Southwest premiere of the musical journey “Hank Williams: Lost Highway” moves in Nov. 26 though Dec. 17. Another Southwest premier is in store with Regina Taylor’s “Crowns” Jan. 14 through Feb. 4, 2006.

The ATC season’s second world premiere is “Sherlock Holmes: The Final Adventure,” a new original play by Steven Dietz. A favorite of Tucson audiences, Dietz has seen several of his plays produced by ATC, including “Dracula,” “Private Eyes,” “Rocket Man,” “Lonely Planet” and “Still Life with Iris.” It plays March 4-25.

The Southwest premiere of Jeffery Hatcher’s and Mitch Albom’s adaptation of Albom’s bestselling book “Tuesdays With Morrie” is certain to be a crowd pleaser when it closes the ATC season April 15- May 6. Call the ATC box office at 622-2823.

Speaking of crowd-pleasers, Broadway in Tucson embarks on its second season of world-class musicals in the Old Pueblo with “Little Women” Sept. 20-25 in the TCC Music Hall.

The song-and-dance continues in the Music Hall with “Annie,” Oct. 25-30; Linde Eder’s “Holiday Concert” on Dec. 13; “Evita,” Jan. 24-29, 2006; “Riverdance,” Feb. 28-March 5; “Doctor Doolittle,” March 14-19; “Les Miserables,” May 9-14; and the biggie, the Tucson premiere of “The Lion King” next summer, Aug. 17 through Sept. 24, 2006. Further Broadway in Tucson information can be had at 903-2929.

Big shows are the name of the game, too, for Arizona Opera. The company boasts a promising full slate – which is not solely dedicated to moldy traditional repertoire – this season in its regular Tucson home in the TCC Music Hall.

The offerings are: Bizet’s “Carmen,” Oct. 14-16; Brecht & Weill’s “The Threepenny Opera,” Nov. 11-13; Handel’s “Semele,” Jan. 20-22, 2006; Rossini’s “Italian Girl in Tangiers,” Feb 17-19, 2006; and Wagner’s “The Flying Dutchman,” March 31-April 2, 2006. Call 293-4336 to learn more.

Of all Tucson’s performing arts groups, the Tucson Symphony Orchestra is the godfather. Having formed in 1928, it’s the oldest continuing professional performing arts organization in the state of Arizona. As such, the TSO has built a tradition for seasons full of treats for classical music fans.

Players from the orchestra are known for playing in different combinations throughout Southern Arizona – from Green Valley to Catalina Foothills High School – but TSO’s major concerts usually occur in the TCC Music Hall. Under the artistic direction of George Hanson, TSO offers several series.

The cream of the crop in the Classic Series includes: “Symphonie Fantastique,” Sept. 29-30, with guest artist Christopher O’Riley on piano; “American Favorites,” Oct. 20-21, with double bassist Edgar Meyer; guest violinist Kyoko Takezawa playing Brahms, Jan. 5, 6 and 8, 2006; and guest violinist Steven Moeckel playing Mozart, Feb. 2, 3 and 5, 2006.

Smaller TSO concerts also will occur at other Downtown venues. Among the most promising are performances of “Moveable Musical Feast” at the Tucson Museum of Art (Oct. 16) and the Stillwell-Twiggs House (March 31, 2006). Call 882-8585 for TSO ticket information.

Also among Tucson’s most august classical-music presenters is Arizona Friends of Chamber Music, who presents some of the finest chamber musicians and ensembles during evening and afternoon concerts throughout the season at the Leo Rich.

Chamber music highlights include: the Emerson String Quartet, Sept. 21; Camerata Nordica, Oct. 19; the Cypress String Quartet, Nov. 2; the Pacifica String Quartet, Jan. 18, 2006; and the Artemis Quartet, Feb. 7, 2006.

Of course, the Friends’ big event each year is its Tucson Winter Chamber Music Festival, which this year will run March 5-12, 2006, and feature the Tokyo String Quartet as the resident ensemble. Call 577-3769 for ticket information.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a new Tucson performing arts season without the esteemed schedule prepared each year by UA presents, the professional presenting organization at the University of Arizona. Most performances are held in the well-appointed Centennial Hall on the UA campus.

This year gets under way with two concerts by contemporary pop-music artists: singer-songwriter Jason Mraz Sept. 21; and Tempe-based rock band Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers Sept. 24.

The rest of the UApresents schedule is jam-packed with too many goodies to mention in this space (please see the handy “quick guide” schedules included with this article), but many highlights are worthy of note.

UApresents also knows its way around musicals. Tucson patrons can catch the much-loved shows “Oklahoma!” Nov. 15-20, “Little Shop of Horrors” Feb. 7-12, 2006, the ABBA tribute “Mamma Mia!” March 7-12, and the return of the cacophonous “Stomp” April 28-30.

Dance and classical music are always on the bill at Centennial, but Tucsonans have reason to be proud of UApresents’ offerings of folk and ethnic music. Arturo Sandoval brings the Latin jazz Nov. 11, and Youssou N’Dour returns to Tucson with the Egyptian Symphony Orchestra Nov. 13. More cool sounds: Sweet Honey in the Rock, Dec. 2; the Klezmer Conservatory Band, Jan. 21; Dave Brubeck & Sons, March 25; Irwin Mayfield and the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra, April 11; and Ravi Shankar’s Festival of India II, April 24. For further UApresents information, call 622-3341.

Of special note are two concerts that UApresents will bring to Tucson and stage at the Fox Theatre, a 1929 theater right here in the Downtown area, the renovation of which has been ongoing the past few years.

“The Tonight Show” bandleader Kevin Eubanks checks in at the Fox Feb. 18, 2006. Mavis Staples and Taj Mahal will perform blues and gospel in the same historic locale April 30, 2006. For more on the Fox’s reopening next year, call 624-1515.

While on the subject of historic theaters in Downtown Tucson, the Rialto Theatre, 318 E. Congress St., came back to life this summer, producing a wonderful variety of pop-music concerts. The folks at the Rialto this fall will stretch out by programming some ethnic music and comedy.

The Tuvan throat-singing group Karashay will collaborate with American didgeridoo player Stephen Kent on Sept. 15, and fans of stand-up comedy will likely flock to the Rialto for shows by Dat Phan (Sept. 30), Kathy Griffin (Oct. 14) and Carlos Mencia (Oct. 21). For information, call 740-1000.

For more complete schedules of more of Downtown’s performing-arts groups, see the accompanying “quick guide” schedules below.