This column appeared in the Tribune & Georgian newspaper on Wednesday, 1.11.05.
Last week I wrote that the early rehearsals of Camden County’s spring musical, “Footloose,” were underway, starting last Monday. Those 40-plus students worked almost every day last week, on choreography for the six biggest numbers in the show. I got a chance watch the early results on Friday and Saturday. Their hard work is paying off and they are a pretty impressive group of young people. While they are clearly not where they want to be for a polished show, it is a pretty good big accomplishment to have that much preparation done almost three months before the production dates, which are March 31, April 1 & 2 at the Camden High School Auditorium. The most impressive thing is that these young people are incredibly enthusiastic about their work and consistently positive about working so hard and being a part of this group. Imagine that. Sort of blows up some stereotypes about today’s teenagers doesn’t it? If you wish, you take a sneak peek at some of their work at www.kraack.us/footloose where a few QuickTime movies of their rehearsals can be found.
Also, a reminder about another performance I mentioned in a previous column. The long awaited performance of our local production of “The Nutcracker” will be Saturday (Jan. 14) at 1:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. at the CCHS Auditorium. Call 882-7500 to purchase tickets or you can get them at the door on the day of the show. This is another example of how persistent young people can be when they are involved in the arts. These performers, faced with having to cancel a show because nature intervened in the form of migrating bats in the ceiling of the auditorium, never wavered in their willingness to keep rehearsing and preparing for some future performance date. Now that time is here and they deserve an appreciative audience. The advice I gave earlier still applies: take a young person and enjoy watching them watch this performance. Their smiles and imaginations will run amok, as they become mice and soldiers and dancing princesses in a new kind of pretend world.
In a note about theatre history, on Monday of this week, “Phantom of the Opera” officially became the longest running show on Broadway, having raised the curtain on 7,486 performances. That supercedes the record previously held by “Cats” and it also means that producer Cameron Mackintosh is the producer of the top three longest running shows in Broadway history, with “Les Misérables” holding third place. What made this important to me, besides the artistic significance, was a note I saw about the total worldwide gross from “Phantom” alone: $3.2 billion to date. Who says that there isn’t any money to be made in the arts?
Opportunities for this week and upcoming weeks: Mandolin fans will enjoy Mike Compton and David Long in concert at The House of Jam, 6-9 p.m., $15, Jan. 12; see the art of Cezanne, Degas, Monet, Renoir and other impressionists and post-impressionists at the Main Gallery, Florida School of the Arts, Palatka, through Fri., Jan. 17, free, 8:30-5; imagine the sound of eight (8) cellos in concert when Cello Octet Conjunto Iberico plays, Church of the Good Shepherd, Jan. 13, $18-25,
8 p.m.; opera fans can get into the bohemian life in early 19th century during Puccini’s “La Boheme” at TUC, Jan. 13, 8 p.m.; enjoy a salute to MLK, Jr. with the Ritz Chamber Players at TUC, Jan. 14, 8 p.m.; the whole family will enjoy Family Day at the Cummer Museum of Art; noon to 5 p.m., Jan. 15.
If you have ideas or events you want me to share with readers, send me a note at pkraack1@tds.net.
1.11.05
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