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by Michael Janairo

The Price is Right Live coming May 31 to Palace Theatre

Come on down!

The Price is Right Live is coming on May 31 to the Palace Theatre in Albany.

Tickets start at $32.75 and go on sale at noon Friday, March 29, at the Box Office at 19 Clinton Ave., at http://ticketmaster.com or (800)745-3000.

The Price Is Right Live is an interactive stage show that gives contestants pulled from the audience the chance to win appliances, vacations and cars by playing the classic games from the TV game show, including Plinko, Cliffhangers, the Big Wheel and even the fabulous Showcase, all the favorite games are played just like the TV show.

by Michael Janairo

The Acting Company brings As You Like It to Troy Music Hall

The Acting Company has seen its share of stars trod the floorboards since the classic theater troupe was formed in 1972 by actor/director John Houseman. Kevin Kline, Rainn Wilson, Patty Lupone and David Ogden-Stiers are a few of the thespians who have acted in a company production.

Over the years, The Acting Company — called the “major touring classical theater in the United States” by The New York Times — has played to more than 3 million people in the U.S. and around the world. After a string of performances in New York City, the Manhattan-based company hits the road with its production of Shakespeare’s “As You Like It.” They’ll stage the second show of their tour this week in Troy.

7:30 p.m. Wednesday. $15-$36. Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, 30 Second St., Troy. 273-0038; http://www.troymusichall.org

— Mike Lisi
by Michael Janairo

SPAC adds Momix to the mix this summer

MOMIX, the celebrated troupe of dance illusionists led by choreographer Moses Pendleton, will perform its fantastical multimedia artistry at 8 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 1, at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center in Saratoga Springs.

The company will present its highly acclaimed production of “Botanica,” a performance that fuses elements of dance, theater and cinema to create larger-than-life images from the natural world.

“MOMIX’s ‘Botanica’ is a glorious melding of music, dance, theater and technology that is breathtaking in scope and innovative to its core,” said Marcia J. White, SPAC’s president and executive director, in a written statement. “It is an opportunity to see the beauty and imagery of nature, magnified and dramatized through the brilliant lens of choreographer Moses Pendleton.”

Created in 2009, the production follows the rhythms of the seasons, the changing shape of life on Earth and the passing of a day. Set to an eclectic score that ranges from bird song to Vivaldi, the performance is enhanced by costumes, projections and giant puppetry designed by Michael Curry — acclaimed production designer for Cirque du Soleil, Disney’s “The Lion King” and the Metropolitan Opera.

Known internationally, MOMIX is a company of dancer-illusionists led by Pendleton, a choreographer and director for more than 40 years. In addition to worldwide stage performances, the company has also worked in film and television.
The evening will also feature a special “Enchanted Family Night” pre-show from 6 to 8 p.m., with magical scavenger hunts on the lawn, illuminated balloons, whimsical glow-in-the-dark face painting, and Sparkles on Stilts.

Tickets are $30 and go on sale March 18 at http://spac.org.

— Jennifer Paterson

by Michael Janairo

ASO announces 2013-14 season

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Albany Symphony Orchestra music director David Alan Miller, coming off the blockbuster success of Yo-Yo Ma’s sell-out performance last month, on Thursday announced the ASO’s 2013-14 season.

The featured concert will be a special gala performance next January with acclaimed pianist Andre Watts, who is slated to fill the Palace Theatre with the sweeping Romantic grandeur of Brahms Piano Concerto No. 2.

Watts previously performed with the ASO in 1995, and has been a frequent guest with the Philadelphia Orchestra at Saratoga Performing Arts Center, having performed the Brahms piece in 1997 at SPAC.

Another superstar performer slated to play with the ASO is Dame Evelyn Glennie, the Scottish percussionist who was featured during the Olympics opening ceremonies in London last year. She will be the featured soloist of the May 17, 2014, American Music Festival at EMPAC in Troy, performing “Strike Zones” by Joan Tower.

Known for featuring the work of new composers, the ASO season includes three world premieres of pieces by Clarice Assad, Aaron Jay Kernis and Conor Brown.

The ASO is also known mixing new with old, and the season will include cherished works such as Ravel’s “Bolero,” Tschaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony, Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Scheherazade,” Beethoven’s Third Symphony and Barber’s Violin Concerto.

For ticket information, contact the Albany Symphony Orchestra at 465-4755 or visit http://www.albanysymphony.com.

The complete season Continue reading →

by Michael Janairo

Tina Packer how we know her: High brow and brilliant

Shakespeare & Company’s Tina Packer is now performing Women of Will in New York City, and the big city is loving it (Read the AP review).

The latest evidence comes from NY Mag’s Approval Matrix.

Congrats, Tina!

Read previous reviews of Women of Will by the Times Union:
http://blog.timesunion.com/localarts/women-of-will-shakespeare-and-company-62010/2139/

http://blog.timesunion.com/localarts/women-of-will-the-complete-journey-part-v-shakespeare-company-6511/16332/

by Michael Janairo

LeeSaar The Company to present ‘grass and jackals’ at Mass MoCA

How can the extreme conditions of military life be translated into contemporary dance?

Choreographers Lee Sher and Saar Harari of LeeSaar The Company (founded in Israel, now based in New York City) spent four years researching that question. The result is “grass and jackals,” a new work onstage Friday at Mass MoCA that was presented as a work-in-progress at Jacob’s Pillow in the summer of 2012.

Using dramatic lighting by Avi Yona Bueno and movement structured as a continual series of climaxes, the piece shifts among moods of isolation, vulnerability, intimacy and imminent violence as the dancers—who hail from Taiwan, Korea, the United States, Malaysia, Canada and Israel—are pushed to the edge of their physical abilities.

LEESAAR THE COMPANY: GRASS AND JACKALS
When: 8 p.m. Friday
Where: MASS MoCA, 87 Marshall St., North Adams, Mass.
Tickets: $15; students, $10
Info: (413) 662-2111

— Tresca Weinstein

by Michael Janairo

Library music series features Broad Street Chamber Players

Bethlehem Public Library — 451 Delaware Avenue in Delmar — presents a free concert by the Broad Street Chamber Players at 2 p.m. Sunday Feb. 3 with works by Bach, Telemann and others.  Broad Street Chamber Players are: flutists Elizabeth Chinery and Sharon Levin, cellist Jay Shulman, and pianist David Smith.

by Michael Janairo

Sandy Hook Students Record “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” Benefit Song

The Associated Press reports:
Children who survived last month’s shooting rampage at Connecticut’s Sandy Hook Elementary School have recorded a version of “Over the Rainbow” to raise money for charity.

Twenty-one children from Newtown, Conn., performed the song Tuesday with singer-songwriter Ingrid Michaelson on ABC’s “Good Morning America.” Most of them are current and former students of the school, where 20 first-graders and six staff members were killed.

They recorded “Over the Rainbow” on Monday at the Fairfield, Conn., home of Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth, two former members of the Talking Heads and Tom Tom Club rock bands. Copies went on sale Tuesday on Amazon and iTunes, with proceeds benefiting the United Way of Western Connecticut and the Newtown Youth Academy.

Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/news/crime/article/Newtown-shooting-survivors-record-song-for-charity-4195164.php

by Michael Janairo

Good job, Albany: One weekend, three shows, all sold out

Albanians — pat yourselves on the back.

This weekend, three shows in Albany from wide ranging genres — bluegrass, comedy and classical — have all sold out.

That’s right, John Oliver of Daily Show and Community fame has sold out his comedy show at The Egg tonight; likewise the Gibson Brothers, who were the subject of a great interview by Michael Eck in Thursday’s Preview section. And on Saturday, the Albany Symphony Orchestra with soloist Yo-Yo Ma has sold out its show at the Palace Theater.

So expect restaurants and bars to be busy tonight and Saturday night in and around Albany. Give yourself time to park.