Performing Arts

Review: “Diego Rivera’s America” enriched by recent SoNA concert at Crystal Bridges museum

/ Glenda Rice Collins / Leave a comment

By Glenda Rice Collins

Bentonville, Ark., USA — Masterfully curated by award-winning Mexican conductor and educator Felipe Tristán to evoke themes from Diego Rivera’s “quintessential nationalist style,” the Symphony of Northwest Arkansas (SoNA), under the baton of SoNA music director Paul Haas, presented the recent, impressive concert collaborative, I Paint What I See, featuring diverse music by six distinguished Mexican composers who represent a contrasting variety of significant styles and evolving themes found in Mexican classical music. Bravo!

The June 30 evening concert took place in the scenic Great Hall of the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, where the Diego Rivera’s America exhibition continues through July 31, 2023.

Continue reading →

REVIEW: Contemporary Dance Oklahoma brings music to life in ‘electric’ Carmina Burana; Norman Phil & OMTA Up Next

/ Glenda Rice Collins / Leave a comment

By Glenda Rice Collins

Norman, Okla., USA — Powered by  a 160-voice chorus, 40 exuberant members of Contemporary Dance Oklahoma, a chamber orchestra with two concert grand pianos, and University of Oklahoma School of Music distinguished faculty soloists:
Lori Ernest, soprano, Joel Burcham, tenor and Leslie Flanagan, bass-baritone, Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana spectacular soared to new heights with extraordinary synergy at the Paul F. Sharp Concert Hall at OU’s Catlett Music Center April 28. Bravo!!!

UP NEXT, June 1, the Norman Philharmonic presents a concert of “sublime music” by Beethoven and Mozart, in conjunction with the Oklahoma Music Teachers Association (OMTA) State Conference, June 2 – 3, 2023: “Music for Life,” at Catlett Music Center in the OU Arts District. Pre-registration deadline is May 24. Details follow later in this Review.

Continue reading →

Adjmi’s Marie Antoinette Dazzles at OU with Contemporary Flair

/ Glenda Rice Collins / Leave a comment

By Glenda Rice Collins

Norman, Okla., USA — Portraying the iconic royal who was “…not raised, but built to be this thing,” Elyssa Armenta mesmerizes with details of Marie’s teenage marriage into the realms of whimsical 1770’s-1790’s French customs and expectations, in David Adjmi’s contemporary spin on history, as his Marie Antoinette continues this weekend at the University of Oklahoma. Evan Wolfe uniquely captures the essence of the somewhat befuddled, and sexually reluctant Louis XVI, as final OU University Theatre performances evolve April 27 – 29 at 8 p.m. and April 30 at 3 p.m. in the Weitzenhoffer Theatre, 563 Elm Ave. in the OU Arts District.

At-home viewing will be available with video-on-demand. To learn more and to purchase tickets please visit www.ou.edu/finearts/universitytheatre. 

Continue reading →

On Scene at OU: Oklahoma Festival Ballet, from early Balanchine to Yanowsky’s ‘Train of Thought,’ a tribute to Hope — Stellar musicians and vocals featured on program

/ Glenda Rice Collins / Leave a comment

By Glenda Rice Collins

Norman, Okla., USA — A uniquely fulfilling opportunity to compare the early works of both New York City Ballet choreographic icons George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins continues on stage at the Donald W. Reynolds Performing Arts Center this weekend at the University of Oklahoma, with final Oklahoma Festival Ballet performances at 8 P.M. April 7, and 3 p.m., Saturday, April 8. Performances will be held in the Elsie C. Brackett Theatre, 563 Elm Ave., on the OU Norman campus.

This production, like a breath of springtime, is suitable for all audiences.

Continue reading →

Bountiful Ballet Footnotes Unmasked, Part 1: Tulsa Ballet Revives ‘Tchaikovsky: The Man Behind the Music’ this weekend

/ Glenda Rice Collins / Leave a comment

By Glenda Rice Collins

Tulsa, Okla., USA – Just three years ago, in March 2020, as the COVID 19 pandemic lockdown went into full effect, Tulsa Ballet employees geared up to make and widely share much-needed health-protective (and scarce) masks made from humanitarian efforts in their costume department.

Now, following recently dazzling 2022-23 season world premieres of unmasked, seductive Carmen and elaborately-staged Cinderella productions, Tulsa Ballet artistic director Marcello Angelini brings us Ma Cong‘s poignant and beautiful masterpiece, Tchaikovsky, the Man Behind the Music, March 23-26 at the Tulsa Performing Arts Center.

Cong’s brilliant-tribute ballet made its World Premiere just four years ago on March 29, 2019 here. the performance then called “…simply, a triumph,” by the Tulsa World, just a year before the pandemic lockdown. Creative genius now prevails once again!

Continue reading →

VIP’s add Drama to Tulsa Opera Red Carpet Salome Debut

/ Glenda Rice Collins / Leave a comment

By Glenda Rice Collins

Tulsa, Okla., USA – A “sold-out” special gathering of Tulsa Opera VIP’s became part of the dazzling staged drama last night at the Tulsa Performing Arts Center, as Richard Strauss’s Salome was celebrated on the Chapman Music Hall stage, as never before! 

For director, set and costume designer Thaddeus Strassberger, this event marked both a debut, and a grand triumph, as sets, characters, musicians and special effects heralded outstanding visionary creativity with an immersive audience experience extraordinaire. Bravo!

Salome, starring Julia Mintzer in her Tulsa Opera debut,  continues with a Sunday matinee, May 1 at 2:30 p.m., with impressive lobby festivities beginning at 1:50 p.m.

Continue reading →

Ballet: Where Have all the Tutus Gone?

/ Glenda Rice Collins / Leave a comment

By Glenda Rice Collins

Oklahoma City, Okla., USA – Oklahoma City Ballet’s recent Future Voices choreographic showcase world premieres responded to familiar pop music history, as well as the classics, for inspiration.

The short, dramatic works were inspired by such themes as: sudden death, Analog Form, and jukebox memories, all in contemporary mode, up-close and personal in the same studio where they rehearse – the Inasmuch Foundation Theater at their home base. –Has spare costuming created a ‘tutu dilemma?’ 

Continue reading →

Oklahoma City Ballet, at 50, spins ‘Future Voices’ this week at Inasmuch Theatre

/ Glenda Rice Collins / Leave a comment

By Glenda Rice Collins

Oklahoma City, Okla., USA — Oklahoma City Ballet’s upcoming Future Voices public performances, March 17-20, 2022, will showcase inspired new work from talented young choreographers, “up close” in the 190-seat Inasmuch Foundation Theater at the Susan E. Brackett Dance Center, the company’s architecturally-noteworthy Classen Blvd. headquarters.

The showcased new works provide a transitional program in which to reflect on recent contemporary ballet premieres, current company progress, and preparations to contrast and celebrate a few iconic classics soon across Oklahoma this spring. —A Unique Opportunity for Choreographic Study continues! Continue reading →

OU theatre scene illuminates a “Mad Forest”

/ Glenda Rice Collins / Leave a comment

By Glenda Rice Collins

Norman, Okla.–Written by Caryl Churchill, Mad Forest is a gripping account of the Romanian Revolution of 1989 as told by the young and the old, the wealthy and the working class, and by humans, animals and spirits in a mesmerizing play that illuminates the complexities of human nature during troubled times. We do indeed live in a mad, mad world, it seems, as the story unfolds with some intense surreal accounts, both subtle and overt.

Inspired performances continue tonight at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. in the A. Max Weitzenhoffer Theatre of the University of Oklahoma.

Live Stream is available for select performances at a single view price of $10.

Visit theatre.ou.edu for more information.

Continue reading →

Crystal Bridges debuts The Momentary, Part II; with ‘Nick Cave: Until’

/ Glenda Rice Collins / Leave a comment

By Glenda Rice Collins  (Last updated September 20, 2020)

Bentonville, Ark., USA — During a Zoom virtual news media preview discussion Thursday, installation and performance artist Nick Cave, of Soundsuit fame, shared that ”It was not until Michael Brown (2014 fatal shooting victim in Ferguson, Missouri) happened,” that the catalyst for Nick Cave: Until ignited in his mind with the thoughts, “Is there racism in heaven?…and how do we get to heaven? …I threw it to the universe…during a time of transition.” 

Organized by MASS MoCA, the largest and most ambitious project yet from the renowned visionary. opened Saturday at The Momentary, continuing through January 3, 2021, free, with no tickets required. The title Until references the phrase “innocent until proven guilty,” or, a reversal, “guilty until proven innocent,” also addressing gender, race, and gun violence issues in America.

Continue reading →