Archive: Arts & Entertainment

Hangar Theatre kicks off its 2013 season on June 13th with Neil Simon's irresistible comedy Last of the Red Hot Lovers, which runs through June 29. Featuring a stellar cast including three Broadway favorites, this seminal work will be directed by Hangar Associate Artistic Director Jesse Bush. Last of the Red Hot Lovers had its original Broadway run from 1969-1971 and received four Tony nominations, including for Best Play.

The Hangar production features the talents of Jordan Gelber (Broadway's Avenue Q, All My Sons, Elf) as Barney Cashman, Jennifer Cody (Shrek, Urinetown) as Elaine Navazio, Leenya Rideout (Company, War Horse, Cabaret) as Jeannette Fisher, and Natalie Walker as Bobbi Michele.

The 39th season of the Hangar Theatre includes a thrilling line-up of plays and musicals including a favorite farce, a Tony-winning musical, and two regional premieres and features an array of exciting Broadway talent. The season takes off with Neil Simon's Last of the Red Hot Lovers (June 13-29) followed by the premiere of a strikingly innovative concept of the Tony-winning best musical Gypsy (July 4-20). The regional premiere of Amy Herzog's critically acclaimed play 4000 Miles (July 25-August 3) is next, followed by the regional premiere of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play Clybourne Park by Bruce Norris (August 8-17).

Stephanie Yankwitt, Acting Artistic Director of the Hangar, states "The 2013 season is a riveting exploration of the progression of time and the advancement of our culture from a very personal point of view. It examines the role our history plays in shaping our future, individually and collectively, in a way that is both humorous and moving-a rare and intriguing combination."

The beloved story of the ugly duckling who is really a swan comes alive with great music, clever costumes, and plenty of laughs in Running to Places’ production of the musical Honk!, May 24-25 at the State Theatre of Ithaca. In the midst of its hilarity Honk! is also deeply moving, treating audiences of all ages to an intimate journey of transformation.

Honk! follows Ugly (Felix Fernandez-Penny), who is rejected for his odd, gawky looks by his father Drake (Michael Sloan) and everyone else—except his mother Ida (Maddie Vandenberg), who sees Ugly only with love. Rejected, Ugly is lured away by a hungry, “friendly” Cat (Matthew Skrovan), and becomes lost when he narrowly escapes being Cat’s next meal.

SMART TALK

by Dr. "Gabby" Macron



WISHT: At the Center for English as a First Language, we've been hunting the origin of this error for years. As with acrost and nucular, it's probably yet another instance of the speaker having the mouth in motion before the brain is in gear.

But at least we can have fun with our patients when they present this symptom of non-fluency. When one says something like, "I wisht I could win the lotto," we always reply, "When was that? I still do."

The patient looks baffled, whereupon we gently tell them we clearly heard "wished," which is past tense, whence our question.

That evening, over tankards of sarsaparilla, we staff have a chuckle, shake our heads, and order something stronger.

Sometimes it's even worse, as in "I wusht I could win the lotto," so that what they meant to be wish rhymes with "pushed." We're thankful this is less usual, wush and wusht usually being markers of very poorly educated Southern speakers, who, it might be surmised, hardly have a first language at all.

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Have you ever looked out across beautiful Cayuga Lake and wished that you had a way to enjoy the water? What if you could have access to a boat, network with a team of community members from all walks of life, and have the opportunity to paddle all over the East Coast? Over a thousand racers and spectators attend the Finger Lakes International Dragon Boat Festival each summer, and learn how to take advantage of an amazing opportunity to enjoy Cayuga Lake and watch paddlers of all skill levels compete.

SMART TALK

by Dr. Will S. Sert


IS-IS: This seems to be the official intellectual stuttering disorder. Listen carefully - all around you, the linguistically impaired are loftily saying, "The thing is-is that..." or, "The problem is-is that..."

And I swear I've heard triples! Why? Just one will do nicely, thank you. Just say, "The problem is that..." and you'll sound much more intelligent.

At the Institute for the Linguistically Impaired, we find this disorder in patients from all levels of society. They don't seem to listen to themselves or hear the absurdity of the repetition when others say it.

The same patients often also say things like, "Attending the meeting were Mrs. Smith, Mr. Jones, and myself," instead of the correct I, as well as very unique instead of unique, feel badly instead of feel bad, and firstly instead of first. That's why we consider is-is to be a symptom of fatuousness.

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Fayetteville, New York – Outdoor retailer L.L.Bean announced the conversion of its outlet store in Fayetteville, NY into a full L.L.Bean Retail Store.  The conversion will be complete on Friday, June 7th.  The 100-plus year-old Maine outdoor gear and apparel outfitter made the decision to convert the outlet store into a full retail store due to the large number of catalog and web customers in the area and the demonstrated high-degree of affinity the local community has for L.L.Bean.

When the conversion is complete on June 7th, the 15,000 square-foot store will double its current staff and will feature a great assortment of its most current outdoor gear and apparel, including a new footwear department and a new monogramming department.

A spring evening in the private Hayloft space at the Carriage House Café is the perfect venue for early keyboard music. On Thursday, May 16, prizewinners of the Westfield International Keyboard Competitions Mike Lee and Ignacio Prego will offer a keyboard salon concert to raise funds to help support the 2013 Westfield Organ Competition and Academy, to be held at Cornell and the Eastman School of Music in September.

This limited seating special concert, reminiscent of a 19th century salon concert, will be an intimate affair filled with music, conversation and creativity, featuring two past winners of the Westfield International Keyboard Competition, Mike Lee, who took second and audience prize in the 2011 Westfield Fortepiano competition and Ignacio Prego, who received first prize in the 2012 Westfield Harpsichord Competition. Cornell professors Malcolm Bilson, Roger Moseley and Annette Richard will each make special appearances.

An Ithaca Public Education Initiative (IPEI) Red and Gold Grant is helping the Boynton Middle School Orchestra learn first-hand what it’s like to work as professional musicians. The grant enabled Diana Geiger, Boynton instrumental music teacher, to bring community partner Dr. James Mick, Ithaca College (IC) Assistant Professor of Music Education, to Boynton to lead several professional-style rehearsals.

“He’s an absolute master teacher,” Geiger said. “Without the grant, I don’t think we would have been able to afford this. I like to give the students one professional experience each year.”

SMART TALK

By Dr. Will S. Sert



THAT or WHICH? At the Institute for the Linguistically Impaired, we teach the difference between that and which in a word pairs course for advanced patients. It attracts large crowds. We usually use Strunk Hall, which houses our auditorium, because this is a point of grammar that schools cover poorly.

To the assembled multitude, we first offer a mnemonic device: "No naked whiches." They must have clothes, meaning commas. Any series of words starting with "which" must have a comma before "which" and a comma or end punctuation after the series. See the example in the first paragraph.

If you don't pause as if you're thinking of parentheses around the words, then use "that" and don't insert commas. Again, see the example in the first paragraph.

Think this is nit picking? Your choice of "that" or "which" can change your meaning. "I saw five birds that were robins" means you saw who knows how many birds, and five of them were robins.

"I saw five birds, which were robins" means that you saw exactly five birds, all of them robins. See? It makes a difference.

Ironically, the Brits are particularly weak at keeping this straight and tend to use "which" nakedly to an embarrassing degree. I feel bad for them.

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The State Theatre of Ithaca will shake, rattle, and roll on May 11 with some of the area's favorite musicians:  Black Castle, Sim Redmond Band, Boy with a Fish, The Double E, Uniit, and Jamie Notarthomas. The “R2Palooza” performance benefits Running to Places (R2P); all proceeds will go towards keeping participation in the non-profit theater company affordable for community youth. Doors open at 4:30 pm and the music begins at 5 pm. Food and local wine and beer will be available.

Jeff Claus of Boy with a Fish (also a member of Horseflies) says he’s donating his time because theatre and arts programs help youth feel connected to peers and thoughtful adults in their community.

The Community Arts Partnership of Tompkins County (CAP) and The Park School of Communications at Ithaca College announced the completion of the pilot year of the Park Award for Photo Activism. The project, which is a joint program of Ithaca College’s Park School, CAP, and the Park Foundation, was designed to serve as a link between students and the greater Ithaca community.

Degree majors with proven photographic skills and a commitment to community activism have been paired with participating non-profits in Tompkins County to provide in-depth visual explorations of the contributions these organizations make to their constituencies and our community. During the current semester, a special credit-bearing documentary photography course led by Professor Janice Levy was convened to provide students with ongoing guidance and support for these projects.