Roundup

November

• Nov. 21-22: The Boise State Theatre Arts Department opens A Dream Play by August Stringberg, about the daughter of the god Indra who comes to Earth and experiences human suffering. The show runs at 7:30 at the Danny Peterson Theater in the Morrison Center.
• Nov. 21-22: CAN-ACT presents We Found Love and an Exquisite Set of Porcelain Figures Aboard the SS Farndale Avenue, a comedy about an inept theater troupe trying to perform a romantic epic. The show runs at 8:00 and at 214 7th Ave., Caldwell.
• Nov. 21: Alley Repertory Theater opens Reckless, a dark comedy about a woman who finds out on Christmas Eve that her husband has taken out a contract on her life. She escapes and goes on a journey of self-discovery. The show runs Nov. 21-23, 26, and 28-29 at 8:00 at the Visual Arts Collective behind the Woman of Steel Gallery on Chinden.
• Nov. 23: The Treasure Valley Youth Symphony performs their fall concert at 7:00 at Timberline High School.
• Nov. 28: Boise Little Theater presents The Trial of Ebenezer Scrooge, in which, one year after finding the true meaning of Christmas, Scrooge is back to his old ways and has decided to sue Jacob Marley and the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future. The show runs Nov. 28-29 and Dec. 4-7 and 10-13 at 2:00 Sunday, 7:30 Wednesday and 8:00 Thursday through Saturday at the theater on Fort Street.
• Nov. 28: Stage Coach Theatre presents Moving, a comic slice-of-life tale of a family dealing with one of the most stressful days any family undergoes: moving day. The show runs Nov. 28-29 and Dec. 4-7 and 11-13 at 7:30 Thursday, 8:15 Friday through Saturday, and 2:00 Sunday.
• Nov. 28: Starlight Mountain Theatre opens The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, a comedy about a married couple who are trying to put on the annual church Christmas pageant even though the cast includes a family of mean and nasty kids. The show runs Nov. 28-29 and Dec. 5-6, 12-13 and 19-20 at 7:30 at The Star theater at 1851 Century Way in Boise.
• Nov. 28: Encore Theatre Company opens A Laura Ingalls Wilder Christmas, a drama inspired by the Little House on the Prairie books. The show runs Nov. 28-29 and Dec. 5-6 at 7:00 at NNU's Science Lecture Hall in Nampa and Dec. 12 at 7:00 at the Caldwell Center for the Arts at 603 Everett St., Caldwell.
• Nov. 28: Prairie Dog Productions opens It's A Wonderful Christmas Carol, a mashup of the tales of George Bailey and Ebenezer Scrooge. The show runs Nov. 28-29 and Dec. 5-6, 12-13, 19-20 and 26-27 at 7:15 and Nov. 30, Dec. 14 and Dec. 21 at 2:00 at 3820 Cassia in Boise.
• Nov. 29: The Boise Art Musuem opens an exhibit of ceramic sculptures, drawings and paintings by Japanese artist Jun Kaneko. Some of Kaneko's ceramic pieces are up to 13 feet high and 5,000 pounds.
• Nov. 29: The Boise Art Museum opens Small Wars and 29 Palms, two documentary photo series by Vietnamese photographer An-My Lê that explore the Vietnam War and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
• Now through Dec. 12: Works by artists Anna Marie Boles, Jan Boles, Garth Claassen, Stephen Fisher, Steve Grant, Dori Johnson and Lynn Webster are on display at Rosenthal Gallery at the College of Idaho in Caldwell.
• Now through Dec. 13: Boise Contemporary Theater presents No ... You Shutup, a one-woman show by comedian Lauren Weedman about a woman who is searching for a way to feel at home with a family of her own and exploring marriage, adoption, reproduction and careers. The show runs at 8:00 Nov. 19-22, 26 and 28-29 and Dec. 3-6 and 10-13 and 2:00 Nov. 29, Dec. 6 and Dec. 13 at 854 Fulton St. in Boise.
• Now through May 2009: The Boise Art Museum hosts a site-specific architectural structure called After, by Lead Pencil Studio architects and artists Annie Han and Daniel Mihalyo.

December

• Dec. 4: Idaho Actors Collective opens The Last Supper, a play about a group of idealistic but frustrated liberals who decide to murder right-wing pundits. The show runs Dec. 4-6 and 11-13 at 8:00 at 2722 W. Sunset Ave., Boise.
• Dec. 5: Knock 'Em Dead Dinner Theatre presents An Old-Fashioned Christmas, a combination of skits, readings and holiday songs. Show dates are Dec. 5-6, 11-13 and 18-20. Show times are 7:00 Thursdays and 8:00 Fridays and Saturdays; dinner is served at 7:00 Fridays and Saturdays. The theater is on Ninth Street between Front and Myrtle in Boise.
• Dec. 5: CAN-ACT presents The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, a comedy about a married couple who are trying to put on the annual church Christmas pageant even though the cast includes a family of mean and nasty kids. The show runs Dec. 5 and 12 at 7:00 and Dec. 13 at 3:00 at 214 7th Ave., Caldwell.
• Dec. 6: Opera Idaho and the Opera Idaho Children's Chorus present Opera Idaho Sings Christmas, which includes selections of The Messiah, other holiday tunes, and a sing-along, at 7:00 at the Egyptian Theater at Capitol and Main in Boise.
• Dec. 6-7: The Eugene Ballet presents The Nutcracker, the classic holiday story of a girl who is rescued from the evil Mouse King by her brave toy nutcracker, at 3:00 at Jewett Auditorium at the College of Idaho in Caldwell.
• Dec. 6: Music Theater of Idaho opens a musical adaptation of the classic Dickens story of Scrooge, A Christmas Carol. The show runs Dec. 6 and 10-13 at 7:30 and Dec. 6 and 13 at 1:30 at the Nampa Civic Center.
• Dec. 6: Boise Art Museum opens an exhibit of photos of Idaho Special Olympics athletes called Let Me Be Brave: Portraits in Courage by Idaho photographer Susan Valiquette.
• Dec. 7: The Boise Philharmonic presents Encore!, a brass chamber concert, at 2:00 at Trinity Presbyterian Church at 4601 Surprise Way in Boise.
• Dec. 12-14: Ballet Idaho presents The Nutcracker, the classic holiday story of a girl who is rescued from the evil Mouse King by her brave toy nutcracker. The show runs at 8:00 Dec. 12-13 and 2:00 Dec. 13-14 at the Morrison Center.
• Dec. 17: Company of Fools presents It's A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play, in which several radio actors recreate all the characters, as well as sound effects and songs, in the Frank Capra movie about George Bailey and the new lease on life he gets when he sees how life would be like in his hometown without him. The show runs at 7:00 on Dec. 17-18, 23 and 30-31, 8:00 on Dec. 19-20, 26-27 and Jan. 2-3, and 3:00 Dec. 21, 24, 28 and Jan. 4 at the Liberty Theatre on Main Street in Hailey.
  

Lucia di Lammermoor

I'm about half a month late in posting anything on Opera Idaho's production of Lucia di Lammermoor -- I guess since it was a one-night performance and I knew no one would have the opportunity to read a review and then go see the show, I wasn't motivated to write a review right away. But I wanted to review Lucia so hopefully any of my readers who ordinarily might shy away from opera might actually consider going to one of Opera Idaho's next productions.

I won tickets to Lucia from Boise State Radio during their fund drive -- yay, Boise State Radio! -- and took my mom to see it with me. This was my mom's first opera, and she is now officially a fan. I've seen several operas before -- a couple traveling opera companies at Caldwell Fine Arts, one in London, and several student productions at College of Idaho -- and this easily ranked among the best of them.

Okay, starting to sound a teeny bit like an opera snob. Time to deploy the YouTube clip of the Muppets singing the Habanera from Carmen.

Seriously, though, opera is not something you have to be afraid of. Bugs Bunny taught me that. But taking the plunge and seeing a non-Muppet, non-Looney Tunes opera production is easier than you might think. Opera production companies generally try to make opera as accessible as possible. My mom didn't know until we saw Lucia that Opera Idaho uses supertitles so you can read translations of what the actors are singing as they sing it. This is actually a pretty common practice, and a valuable one. Without the supertitles, you might be able to get the sense of what's happening by reading the synopsis in the program and by watching the actors' expressive faces and gestures, but you'd be missing out on a lot of meaning. Some of the lyrics are downright beautiful.

Rochelle Bard played Lucia, who is in love with her brother's rival, Edgardo, played by Christopher Bengochea. Lucia's brother, Enrico (Dennis Jesse), wants Lucia to marry Arturo (Joe Dewey), a potential political ally who could keep the family in power over Edgardo. Enrico tricks Lucia into believing that Edgardo has become engaged to someone else and gets her to marry Arturo. Edgardo returns too late to stop the wedding and is enraged at her supposed faithlessness. When Edgardo tears off his ring and rushes out, Lucia goes mad.

Bard has a stunning voice -- I had to catch my breath a few times during some of her solos. Bengochea's final solo had me in tears. Everyone in the production sang well, but these two had a wonderful expressiveness. Bard does an excellent job of conveying Lucia's madness not just in song, but in mannerisms -- she sits on the altar and dangles her feet girlishly, then viciously throws flowers from the altar at the man she imagines to be Arturo; she absentmindedly drops her veil on the floor, then snatches it out of the hands of her companion, who has picked it up.

I was impressed by the care that had been put into almost every aspect of the production. The sets were spectacular; the towers looked like real stone. During the "mad scene," the lights were ingeniously rigged below and in front of the bench Lucia sits on so as to cast giant shadows of her outstretched hands and crooked fingers across the back wall. It was nice to see the director and cast pay attention to the little things, like making sure the actors continued to gesture and pretend to talk between numbers as the audience applauded.

There were a few things that bothered me about the production -- there were several occasions when some of the actors were blocked with their backs to the audience, and I thought Enrico could have been more forceful and filled with rage at a few moments when he smashes things onto the table during the scene when he shows Lucia a forged letter. Minor items in a production this wonderful.

If Lucia is representative of the type of work Opera Idaho does, I'd definitely recommend checking out Cosi Fan Tutte in March.

Roundup

November

• November: The Boise Art Museum opens a new exhibit, a site-specific architectural structure called After, by Lead Pencil Studio architects and artists Annie Han and Daniel Mihalyo.
• Nov. 9: Final day of Boise Art Museum's exhibits by photographer and sculptor Catherine Chalmers, American Cockroach, and by photographer Charles Lindsay, Upstream Fly Fishing in the American West.
• Nov. 12: Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore's Dilemma, The Botany of Desire and In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto, reads selected works at 7:30 at the Egyptian Theatre at Main and Capitol in Boise.
• Nov. 12-16: The College of Idaho Theater Department opens Lapis Blue, Blood Red, the story of Italian Baroque painter Artemisia Gentileschi and her struggles after she is raped and one of her paintings is stolen. The show runs Nov. 12-15 at 7:30 and Nov. 16 at 2:00 at the Langroise Studio Theater at C of I in Caldwell.
• Nov. 13: The Boise State Theatre Arts Department opens A Dream Play by August Stringberg, about the daughter of the god Indra who comes to Earth and experiences human suffering. The show runs Nov. 13-15 and 19-22 at 7:30 and Nov. 16 and 23 at 2:00 at the Danny Peterson Theater in the Morrison Center.
• Nov. 14-15: Starlight Mountain Theatre presents Wonderful Town, a comedy about two sisters -- an actor and a playwright -- who move to New York City to make it big. The show runs at 7:30 at The Star theater at 1851 Century Way in Boise.
• Nov. 14-15: The Boise Philharmonic performs Vessels of Courage and Hope by contemporary Israeli composer Shulamit Ran and Symphony No. 5 in C-Sharp Major by Gustav Mahler at 8:00 Nov. 14 at NNU's Swayne Auditorium in Nampa and 8:15 Nov. 15 at BSU's Morrison Center in Boise.
• Nov. 14: CAN-ACT opens We Found Love and an Exquisite Set of Porcelain Figures Aboard the SS Farndale Avenue, a comedy about an inept theater troupe trying to perform a romantic epic. The show runs at Nov. 14-15 and 20-22 and 8:00 and Nov. 15 at 2:00 at 214 7th Ave., Caldwell.
• Nov. 17: Caldwell Fine Arts presents Idaho Showcase, a concert with Sandpoint flautist Rhonda Bradetich, Coeur d'Alene harpist Leslie Stratton Norris and the College of Idaho Sinfonia, at 7:30 at Jewett Auditorium on the C of I campus.
• Nov. 19: Boise Contemporary Theater presents No ... You Shutup, a one-woman show by comedian Lauren Weedman about a woman who is searching for a way to feel at home with a family of her own and exploring marriage, adoption, reproduction and careers. The show runs at 8:00 Nov. 19-22, 26 and 28-29 and Dec. 3-6 and 10-13 and 2:00 Nov. 29, Dec. 6 and Dec. 13 at 854 Fulton St. in Boise..
• Nov. 21: Alley Repertory Theater opens Reckless, a dark comedy about a woman who finds out on Christmas Eve that her husband has taken out a contract on her life. She escapes and goes on a journey of self-discovery. The show runs Nov. 21-23, 26, and 28-29 at 8:00 at the Visual Arts Collective behind the Woman of Steel Gallery on Chinden.
• Nov. 23: The Treasure Valley Youth Symphony performs their fall concert at 7:00 at Timberline High School.
• Nov. 28: Boise Little Theater presents The Trial of Ebenezer Scrooge, in which, one year after finding the true meaning of Christmas, Scrooge is back to his old ways and has decided to sue Jacob Marley and the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future. The show runs Nov. 28-29 and Dec. 4-7 and 10-13 at 2:00 Sunday, 7:30 Wednesday and 8:00 Thursday through Saturday at the theater on Fort Street.
• Nov. 28: Stage Coach Theatre presents Moving, a comic slice-of-life tale of a family dealing with one of the most stressful days any family undergoes: moving day. The show runs Nov. 28-29 and Dec. 4-7 and 11-13 at 7:30 Thursday, 8:15 Friday through Saturday, and 2:00 Sunday.
• Nov. 28: Starlight Mountain Theatre opens The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, a comedy about a married couple who are trying to put on the annual church Christmas pageant even though the cast includes a family of mean and nasty kids. The show runs Nov. 28-29 and Dec. 5-6, 12-13 and 19-20 at 7:30 at The Star theater at 1851 Century Way in Boise.
• Nov. 28: Encore Theatre Company opens A Laura Ingalls Wilder Christmas, a drama inspired by the Little House on the Prairie books. The show runs Nov. 28-29 and Dec. 5-6 at 7:00 at NNU's Science Lecture Hall in Nampa and Dec. 12 at 7:00 at the Caldwell Center for the Arts at 603 Everett St., Caldwell.
• Nov. 28: Prairie Dog Productions opens It's A Wonderful Christmas Carol, a mashup of the tales of George Bailey and Ebenezer Scrooge. The show runs Nov. 28-29 and Dec. 5-6, 12-13, 19-20 and 26-27 at 7:15 and Nov. 30, Dec. 14 and Dec. 21 at 2:00 at 3820 Cassia in Boise.
• Nov. 29: The Boise Art Musuem opens an exhibit of ceramic sculptures, drawings and paintings by Japanese artist Jun Kaneko. Some of Kaneko's ceramic pieces are up to 13 feet high and 5,000 pounds.
• Nov. 29: The Boise Art Museum opens Small Wars and 29 Palms, two documentary photo series by Vietnamese photographer An-My Lê that explore the Vietnam War and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

December

• Dec. 4: Idaho Actors Collective opens The Last Supper, a play about a group of idealistic but frustrated liberals who decide to murder right-wing pundits. The show runs Dec. 4-6 and 11-13 at 8:00 at 2722 W. Sunset Ave., Boise.
• Dec. 5: Knock 'Em Dead Dinner Theatre presents An Old-Fashioned Christmas, a combination of skits, readings and holiday songs. Show dates are Dec. 5-6, 11-13 and 18-20. Show times are 7:00 Thursdays and 8:00 Fridays and Saturdays; dinner is served at 7:00 Fridays and Saturdays. The theater is on Ninth Street between Front and Myrtle in Boise.
• Dec. 5: CAN-ACT presents The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, a comedy about a married couple who are trying to put on the annual church Christmas pageant even though the cast includes a family of mean and nasty kids. The show runs Dec. 5 and 12 at 7:00 and Dec. 13 at 3:00 at 214 7th Ave., Caldwell.
• Dec. 6: Opera Idaho and the Opera Idaho Children's Chorus present Opera Idaho Sings Christmas, which includes selections of The Messiah, other holiday tunes, and a sing-along, at 7:00 at the Egyptian Theater at Capitol and Main in Boise.
• Dec. 6-7: The Eugene Ballet presents The Nutcracker, the classic holiday story of a girl who is rescued from the evil Mouse King by her brave toy nutcracker, at 3:00 at Jewett Auditorium at the College of Idaho in Caldwell.
• Dec. 6: Music Theater of Idaho opens a musical adaptation of the classic Dickens story of Scrooge, A Christmas Carol. The show runs Dec. 6 and 10-13 at 7:30 and Dec. 6 and 13 at 1:30 at the Nampa Civic Center.
• Dec. 6: Boise Art Museum opens an exhibit of photos of Idaho Special Olympics athletes called Let Me Be Brave: Portraits in Courage by Idaho photographer Susan Valiquette.
• Dec. 7: The Boise Philharmonic presents Encore!, a brass chamber concert, at 2:00 at Trinity Presbyterian Church at 4601 Surprise Way in Boise.
• Dec. 12-14: Ballet Idaho presents The Nutcracker, the classic holiday story of a girl who is rescued from the evil Mouse King by her brave toy nutcracker. The show runs at 8:00 Dec. 12-13 and 2:00 Dec. 13-14 at the Morrison Center.
• Dec. 17: Company of Fools presents It's A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play, in which several radio actors recreate all the characters, as well as sound effects and songs, in the Frank Capra movie about George Bailey and the new lease on life he gets when he sees how life would be like in his hometown without him. The show runs at 7:00 on Dec. 17-18, 23 and 30-31, 8:00 on Dec. 19-20, 26-27 and Jan. 2-3, and 3:00 Dec. 21, 24, 28 and Jan. 4 at the Liberty Theatre on Main Street in Hailey.

The Mystery of Edwin Drood

One of the most well-known and intriguing factors of The Mystery of Edwin Drood is the fact that the audience gets to choose the identity of the killer. But it's not the only thing you should know if you're contemplating going. It's also a melodrama, something I hadn't known to expect, and a musical, which I did know about beforehand. So expect musical numbers, corny jokes, meta humor and a lot more audience-actor interaction than is required simply to get your votes for the ending.

The Boise Little Theater production's greatest flaw is that many times the actors and singers simply couldn't be heard over the recorded accompaniment. One of the most glaring examples is the duet at the beginning of Act II by Kristina Woodard, who played Edwin Drood and Dick Datchery, and Lauren Haber-Mannella, who played Princess Puffer. I could make out maybe three phrases in the entire song. These two can obviously project just fine -- I could hear them both quite distinctly in earlier and later numbers with softer accompanying music. But the music levels needed to be fixed. The song at the beginning of Act II was hardly the only instance of this, and it sometimes made me wonder if I was losing some meaning or missing some plot points.

The rest of the musical was a little hit and miss, which I find is often the case with melodrama -- but everything's supposed to be played over the top, so how do you judge it? And with musicals, it's hard enough to find a triple threat (acting, singing and dancing) without throwing British accents into the mix. Kudos to the actors for giving it their best efforts to do all four, but you could see where each person excelled and was maybe a little bit weak. Ana Boyd, who played Rosa Bud, had a gorgeous singing voice and excellent facial expressions, but didn't seem to have as much fun with her character as some of the other actors. John Myers had a very entertaining persona for his characters and great delivery on the super-fast song "Both Sides of the Coin," but he did let his accent slip. Mike Givens had a pretty good accent and a delightfully over-the-top character, and sang well enough -- but not to the point I think women would suddenly start flocking to him, as happens in his solo, "Never the Luck." I could go down the line like this, but I'd rather not. The actors all did a fine job -- they just all had their particular strengths and weaknesses, as you might expect in a musical. But Drood is one of those plays where the cast is so large it seems better to take it as a whole. Overall, it was a nice ensemble. The actors support each other well, and the sum is greater than the parts. (You think that's faint praise, because it's always the case? Think again. Compare Drood to God's Ear, one of the shows I reviewed last week. I actually think the sum was less than the parts in that show; they had so much to work with, and it was squandered.)

The set and the special effects were fantastic. John Jasper's (Cary White's) dream sequence was marvelously surreal, and the train at the beginning of Act II is just awesome.

I hope BLT can set the music levels a little better for its final weekend of Drood. As for my recommendation, I would say if you like melodrama, definitely see this one (and maybe try to pick a different murderer than Rosa Bud and write a comment about the ending you saw -- we'll compare notes!). If you're not really into melodrama, you might consider skipping it, but you may still want to go just for the sheer novelty of choosing your own ending.

Roundup

October

• Oct. 25: Boise Contemporary Theater presents God's Ear at the theater at 854 Fulton St. in Boise. A couple struggles to find themselves and each other in the wake of a family tragedy in this show that includes appearances from the Tooth Fairy, G.I. Joe and a transvestite flight attendant. Show times are 2:00 and 8:00.
• Oct. 25: Stage Coach Theatre presents Dark Rituals, a thriller about an anthropologist learning about the Native American legend of the windigo, a cannibalistic creature. She and her son and daughter-in-law find themselves forced to face supernatural elements, murder and ritual death. The show is 8:15 at the Hillcrest Shopping Center at Orchard and Overland in Boise.
• Oct. 25-26: Company of Fools presents Jack and the Beanstalk, the musical, at the Liberty Theatre on Main Street in Hailey. Performances are Oct. 25 at 11 a.m. and 7 p.m., and Oct. 26 at 3:00 p.m.
• Oct. 29: Repertory Dance Theatre of Utah performs Time Capsule: A Century of Dance at 7:30 at Jewett Auditorium at the College of Idaho in Caldwell.
• Oct. 31: Music Theatre of Idaho opens Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, a musical thriller by Stephen Sondheim about a murderous, vengeful barber and some suspicious meat pies. Shows are Oct. 31 and Nov. 1 and 6-8 at 7:30 and Nov. 1 at 1:30 at the Nampa Civic Center.
• Now through Nov. 1: Boise Little Theater presents The Mystery of Edwin Drood, a Choose Your Own Adventure-style musical mystery by Rupert Holmes based on an unfinished novel by Charles Dickens. During intermission, the audience gets to vote on who the murderer is. Show dates are Oct. 25-26 and 29-31 and Nov. 1; show times are 8:00 Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, 2:00 on Sunday and 7:30 on Wednesday. The theater is on Fort Street just off Broadway in Boise.
• Now through Nov. 1: Prairie Dog Productions presents Indiana Stones and the Quest for the Holy Oil at the theater at 3820 Cassia St. in Boise. The show runs at 7:15 on Oct. 25 and 31 and Nov. 1.
• Now through Nov. 8: Knock 'Em Dead Dinner Theatre presents Ragtime, a musical combining Jewish folk music sounds, vaudeville and jazz to tell the story of a Latvian Jewish immigrant, an upscale white family, a Harlem musician, and historical figures such as Houdini, Booker T. Washington and Henry Ford. Show dates are Oct. 25 and 30-31 and Nov. 1 and 6-8. Show times are 7:00 Thursdays and 8:00 Fridays and Saturdays; dinner is served at 7:00 Fridays and Saturdays. The theater is on Ninth Street between Front and Myrtle in Boise.
• Now through Nov. 9: Boise Art Museum hosts an exhibit by photographer and sculptor Catherine Chalmers called American Cockroach.
• Now through Nov. 9: The Boise Art Museum presents Upstream Fly Fishing in the American West, an exhibit of photographs by Charles Lindsay.
• Now through Nov. 15: Starlight Mountain Theatre presents Wonderful Town, a comedy about two sisters -- an actor and a playwright -- who move to New York City to make it big. The show runs Oct. 25 and 31 and Nov. 1, 7-8 and 14-15 at 7:30 at The Star theater at 1851 Century Way in Boise.

November

• November: The Boise Art Museum opens a new exhibit, a site-specific architectural structure called After, by Lead Pencil Studio architects and artists Annie Han and Daniel Mihalyo.
• Nov. 1: Opera Idaho presents Lucia di Lammermoor, an opera about a woman who goes mad when her brother forces her to marry a man she does not love, at 8:00 in the Morrison Center at BSU.
• Nov. 6: The College of Idaho Theater Department opens Lapis Blue, Blood Red, the story of Italian Baroque painter Artemisia Gentileschi and her struggles after she is raped and one of her paintings is stolen. The show runs Nov. 6-8 and 12-15 at 7:30 and Nov. 16 at 2:00 at the Langroise Studio Theater at C of I in Caldwell.
• Nov. 6-9: Idaho Dance Theater presents Risky Business, its fall dance recital, at 8:00 Nov. 6-8 and 2:00 Nov. 9 at the BSU Special Events Center.
• Nov. 7-8: The Langroise Trio performs at Esther Simplot Performing Arts Academy in Boise at 7:30 on Nov. 7 and at Langroise Recital Hall at the College of Idaho at 7:30 on Nov. 8.
• Nov. 12: Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore's Dilemma, The Botany of Desire and In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto, reads selected works at 7:30 at the Egyptian Theatre at Main and Capitol in Boise.
• Nov. 13: The Boise State Theatre Arts Department opens A Dream Play by August Stringberg, about the daughter of the god Indra who comes to Earth and experiences human suffering. The show runs Nov. 13-15 and 19-22 at 7:30 and Nov. 16 and 23 at 2:00 at the Danny Peterson Theater in the Morrison Center.
• Nov. 14-15: The Boise Philharmonic performs Vessels of Courage and Hope by contemporary Israeli composer Shulamit Ran and Symphony No. 5 in C-Sharp Major by Gustav Mahler at 8:00 Nov. 14 at NNU's Swayne Auditorium in Nampa and 8:15 Nov. 15 at BSU's Morrison Center in Boise.
• Nov. 14: CAN-ACT opens We Found Love and an Exquisite Set of Porcelain Figures Aboard the SS Farndale Avenue, a comedy about an inept theater troupe trying to perform a romantic epic. The show runs at Nov. 14-15 and 20-22 and 8:00 and Nov. 15 at 2:00 at 214 7th Ave., Caldwell.
• Nov. 17: Caldwell Fine Arts presents Idaho Showcase, a concert with Sandpoint flautist Rhonda Bradetich, Coeur d'Alene harpist Leslie Stratton Norris and the College of Idaho Sinfonia, at 7:30 at Jewett Auditorium on the C of I campus.
• Nov. 19: Boise Contemporary Theater presents No ... You Shutup, a one-woman show by comedian Lauren Weedman premiering at BCT.
• Nov. 21: Alley Repertory Theater opens Reckless, a Christmas comedy. The show runs Nov. 21-23, 26, and 28-29 at 8:00 at the Visual Arts Collective behind the Woman of Steel Gallery on Chinden.
• Nov. 23: The Treasure Valley Youth Symphony performs their fall concert at 7:00 at Timberline High School.
• Nov. 28: Boise Little Theater presents The Trial of Ebenezer Scrooge, in which, one year after finding the true meaning of Christmas, Scrooge is back to his old ways and has decided to sue Jacob Marley and the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future. The show runs Nov. 28-29 and Dec. 4-7 and 10-13 at 2:00 Sunday, 7:30 Wednesday and 8:00 Thursday through Saturday at the theater on Fort Street.
• Nov. 28: Stage Coach Theatre presents Moving, a comic slice-of-life tale of a family dealing with one of the most stressful days any family undergoes: moving day. The show runs Nov. 28-29 and Dec. 4-7 and 11-13 at 7:30 Thursday, 8:15 Friday through Saturday, and 2:00 Sunday.
• Nov. 28: Starlight Mountain Theatre opens The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, a comedy about a married couple who are trying to put on the annual church Christmas pageant even though the cast includes a family of mean and nasty kids. The show runs Nov. 28-29 and Dec. 5-6, 12-13 and 19-20 at 7:30 at The Star theater at 1851 Century Way in Boise.
• Nov. 28: Encore Theatre Company opens A Laura Ingalls Wilder Christmas, a drama inspired by the Little House on the Prairie books. The show runs Nov. 28-29 and Dec. 5-6 at 7:00 at NNU's Science Lecture Hall in Nampa and Dec. 12 at 7:00 at the Caldwell Center for the Arts at 603 Everett St., Caldwell.
• Nov. 29: The Boise Art Musuem opens an exhibit of ceramic sculptures, drawings and paintings by Japanese artist Jun Kaneko. Some of Kaneko's ceramic pieces are up to 13 feet high and 5,000 pounds.

Dark Rituals

I got two broad impressions from seeing Dark Rituals at Stagecoach Theatre. One was that the show's many plot twists keep it pretty entertaining and are pulled off fairly well; the other is that there isn't a single sympathetic character in the play. I'm going to focus on the characters, since to talk about the plot twists would be to ruin them, but that's not to say that the show isn't worth going to just to see what happens.

There's really no one to root for in this play. In fact, the one neutral character is Vernon (Anthony Polidori), the Native American helping the main character with her book; everyone else is profoundly negative. The ostensible protagonist is Anne McCauley (played by Regina Yegge). She expects her son (Ian Taylor) to do her plumbing, all the while lecturing him and whining that he doesn't love her. She badmouths his job and his wife (played by Karen Holcomb with just enough bitchiness to make you dislike her a bit, but not enough to justify Anne's rude remarks) to his face. And as an anthropologist, she's intellectually dishonest, writing sensationalized pop anthropology books that bastardize Native American and African rituals and take liberties with the truth. She doesn't really care about the cultures she's exploring, just about churning out another bestseller for her Dark Rituals series: Dark Rituals of the Headhunters of the Amazon, Dark Rituals of Voodoo, Dark Rituals of the North American Gangster, and now Dark Rituals of the North American Indians. Were Yegge a little more comfortable with her role, she could easily have become the person I most loved to hate in this play.

As it is, that dubious honor might go either to Ian Taylor, who played Anne's son Harrison McCauley, who we soon learn is plotting his mother's death, or to Perry Decker as Dr. David Murray, who has his own insidious side. (Although, since I'm not rooting for Anne, I'm actually not sure I can really hate Harrison for plotting her demise. Maybe I am sort of rooting for him in the way you might root for Wile E. Coyote to catch the Roadrunner. What? Don't tell me I'm the only one who did that.) Most likely it would go to Taylor, who comes across as tensely threatening at times, mocking his mother in a twisted, almost Joker-esque way. It was a nice turnaround from a family dynamic that reminded me of nothing so much as the horrible comic strip "Momma."

God's Ear

By now, regular readers will probably note by my overuse of words like "whimsical" and my tendency to be drawn to plays with names like "Psycho Beach Party" that I like offbeat productions. So I thought I was all set with God's Ear at Boise Contemporary Theater.

"Jenny Schwartz has launched her career with a breathtaking new play about loss, love and language," BCT's description reads. "At the center of the story is a couple, struggling to find themselves and each other after a sudden family tragedy.... In contrast to its heavy subject matter, God's Ear features a playful cast of characters, including the Tooth Fairy, G.I. Joe and a transvestite flight attendant."

"The Tooth Fairy, G.I. Joe and a transvestite flight attendant?" I thought. "How can you go wrong?"

Let me assure you, it's very, very possible.

The play was simply weird. I gave up trying to get it and decided there really wasn't that much to get. I was absolutely baffled by the people around me in the audience after the show who were gushing about how great it was. To me, the whole thing smacked of pretension.

Some leeway may be called for because this is a play about grief, and of course different people experience pain and grief differently. And grief isn't always about crying or tragedy. But the play seemed insular somehow -- like it wasn't letting us in, like it wasn't trying to let us understand.

It certainly wasn't the fault of the actors. Tracy Sunderland and Matthew Cameron Clark, who play Mel and Ted, a married couple who have lost a son, are clearly superb, despite the fact that I didn't like the material they had to work with or how they were delivering it (clearly choices of the author and the director). And Andrea Caban brought some much-needed humor to the play with her portrayal of Lenora, the woman Mel refers to as a call girl.

The dialogue relied on the repetition and variation of key phrases. The same question might get asked four or five times, one right after another. The character who answers might give a different answer each time, or might give a synonym of their previous answer. Occasionally this leads to some genuine laugh lines, and there are some witty one-liners. But overall it's a structure that may have been interesting to play with as a writer, but did little for me as an audience member. The dialogue was also delivered in a very stilted, unnatural, often rushed manner. It seems at times like the emphasis is on all the wrong words. Real people don't talk like that.

One of the things I did like were the songs in the play -- a capella little tunes out of the middle of nowhere. One of my favorites was sung by Beau Baxter (who played Guy), a list of things you cannot sell on eBay (a list including "human organs" and "stolen stuff.") They added a little levity to a play that felt, so much of the time, completely numb.