News-Press – Page 6

Cristina Pato Quartet brings the sound of ‘Latina’ to UCSB Campbell Hall

May 8, 2015July 20, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

Galician bagpiper Cristina Pato and her band will perform music from her new album, "Latina." Xan Padron photo — Galician bagpiper Cristina Pato and her band will perform music from her new album, “Latina.”
Xan Padron photo

Music fans who attended Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble appearance at Campbell Hall in 2013 may remember Cristina Pato, the musician who stole the show with the gaita, a very particular kind of Spanish bagpipe that sounds less like the Scottish variety and more like an oboe. The artist returns two years later with her own band this Wednesday night, and brings a selection of tunes that explores the Galician region of Spain, her home country, and then moves out in ever increasing circles to encompass a world of influences.

Her new album is called “Latina” (released Thursday on Sunnyside Records), a musing on the history and the multiple meanings of the word by way of musical genres. (Don’t worry, the CD will be available at the show.)

Sullivan Goss’ monograph Kickstarter begins a full summer of Ray Strong exhibits

May 8, 2015July 20, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

From left, Frank Goss, Nathan Vonk and Jeremy Tessmer are producing a book about artist Ray Strong. NIK BLASKOVICH/NEWS-PRESS PHOTOS — From left, Frank Goss, Nathan Vonk and Jeremy Tessmer are producing a book about artist Ray Strong.
NIK BLASKOVICH/NEWS-PRESS PHOTOS

When Ray Strong died in 2006 at age 101, he left behind an admirable legacy. The artist was well-known in Santa Barbara and a thorn in the side of those in power. He was well-loved but had no filter in speaking his mind.

To kick off a whole summer of shows celebrating Ray Strong’s work, a series that involves 11 art galleries and museums throughout Santa Barbara County, Frank Goss, Jeremy Tessmer and Nathan Vonk of Sullivan Goss have launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund the first-ever monograph of this important painter.

Documentary on Teen Star winner, Mary Grace Langhorne, heads to prestigious Film Festival

May 5, 2015July 22, 2015 tedmills 1 Comment

The inspiring story of

The filmmakers and the subject of their film gather at Dajen Productions before the crew's trip to Cannes. Clockise from upper left: Claudia Lapin, Dave Jenkins, Pam Brandon, Mary-Grace Langhorne, Joe Lambert. NIK BLASKOVICH/NEWS-PRESS PHOTO — The filmmakers and the subject of their film gather at Dajen Productions before the crew’s trip to Cannes. Clockise from upper left: Claudia Lapin, Dave Jenkins, Pam Brandon, Mary-Grace Langhorne, Joe Lambert.
NIK BLASKOVICH/NEWS-PRESS PHOTO

, the 2014 winner of Santa Barbara’s TeenStar competition, has entered a new chapter. A short film based on her story is headed to the Cannes Film Festival next week, along with the filmmakers. Their goal: to share her story with the world and to seek funding for a full-length documentary.

“This story is too important, too inspiring to not share it with the world,” said the film’s executive producer and head of Teen Star Joe Lambert. “Mary Grace is a very special individual and a very determined little girl.”

Dorrance Dance’s ‘The Blues Project’ combines blues and tap

May 1, 2015July 22, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

The marriage of blues and tap seems natural to tap dancer Michelle Dorrance, who is bringing "The Blues Project" to the Granada Theatre. Christopher Duggan — The marriage of blues and tap seems natural to tap dancer Michelle Dorrance, who is bringing “The Blues Project” to the Granada Theatre.
Christopher Duggan

In “The Blues Project,” tap dancer Michelle Dorrance and her company have teamed up with blues singer Toshi Reagon and a talented four-piece band to bring an evening to the Granada that expands the boundaries of tap dancing. This isn’t exactly a hybrid of two genres, but an extension of Ms. Dorrance’s long history of boundary-pushing within the realm of tap, and the musicians provide the background that places the numbers in a context of African-American history, from work songs to songs of the Civil Rights movement and beyond.

At first it may seem that blues is not as suited to tap as jazz is. But not so, Ms. Dorrance says. Tap and blues evolved around the same time.

New Boy Band Zero Gravity features one member from Santa Barbara

May 1, 2015July 22, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

Zero Gravity is, from left, Peet Montzingo, Fredrick Rose, Adam Wilhelmsson, Michael Kean and Trevor Dow. Courtesy photo — Zero Gravity is, from left, Peet Montzingo, Fredrick Rose, Adam Wilhelmsson, Michael Kean and Trevor Dow.
Courtesy photo

How do you make a boy band? In the case of LA-based Zero Gravity, you hold auditions. You find five young men —two Swedes and three Americans, one from Santa Barbara —and you put them through boot camp. The result is a group that’s hitting the ground running, singing in tight five-part harmony, and playing a mix of social media and old school touring. When they headline the Santa Barbara Fair and Expo, they’ll be performing for a full hour, and plan to leave the stage having made a ton of new fans.

The group consists of Peet Montzingo from Seattle, who has already gained a following having been on “X-Factor”; Santa Barbara’s Trevor Dow; Fredrick Rose from Stockholm, Sweden, the one who takes lots of selfies; Adam Wilhelmsson, also from Stockholm; and Michael Kean from Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

To celebrate State Street Ballet’s 20th, a remix of Vivaldi

May 1, 2015July 22, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

Meredith Harrill of State Street Ballet dances with Colton West. David Bazemore photos — Meredith Harrill of State Street Ballet dances with Colton West.
David Bazemore photos

State Street Ballet celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, not by focusing attention solely on itself, even though it has earned the right to do so. Instead it’s sharing the wealth, and inviting two other companies to share Saturday evening’s program at the Granada, to intermingle and produce one complete work. A symbiosis, if you will. With “Common Ground,” State Street Ballet will be joined by Detroit’s Eisenhower Dance and Santa Barbara Dance Theatre. All three companies will be performing, using Max Richter’s modernist remix of Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons.”

Just as Mr. Richter put Vivaldi’s four very distinct seasons into a bag and shook it up, “Common Ground” takes the members of all three companies and sees what happens when they dance together. The man behind this mission of mixology is Mexico City-born and Montreal-based Edgar Zendejas, artistic director of ezdanza and award-winning choreographer since debuting in 2001 after years as a ballet dancer.

Playing Blanche in Opera Santa Barbara’s ‘A Streetcar Named Desire,’ Beverly O’Regan Thiele is in her element

April 24, 2015July 24, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

Baritone Gregory Gerbrandt sings the role of Stanley Kowalski and soprano Beverly O'Regan Thiele makes her company debut as Blanche in Opera Santa Barbara's new production of André Previn's operatic version of "A Streetcar Named Desire." David Bazemore — Baritone Gregory Gerbrandt sings the role of Stanley Kowalski and soprano Beverly O’Regan Thiele makes her company debut as Blanche in Opera Santa Barbara’s new production of André Previn’s operatic version of “A Streetcar Named Desire.”
David Bazemore

André Previn wrote his operatic adaptation of “A Streetcar Named Desire” in 1995 and premiered it in 1998, with a critical consensus of “What took so long?” Tennessee Williams’ play is already pitched at a melodramatic level, and set in the kind of Bayou heat that frazzles brains, that it seems a natural for a musical adaptation. Fortunately, too, Mr. Previn’s score combines modern music with New Orleans jazz, and produced a good thing: a modern opera with some tunes.

Stage directed by Omer Ben Seadia, and conceived as a collaboration of Opera Santa Barbara, the Merola Program and Kentucky Opera, OSB’s production by Jose Maria Condemi opens tonight for two performances. Gregory Gerbrandt plays Stanley Kowalski, the brutish “common” man played memorably by Marlon Brando in the film version. MicaÎla Oeste plays his wife, Stella. And stepping up to take on an iconic role, Beverly O’Regan Thiele sings the part of Blanche DuBois, the aging Southern Belle with a tenuous grasp on reality.

Stand-up comedian Brian Regan comes to the Arlington

April 24, 2015July 24, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

Brian Regan Jerry Metellus — Brian Regan
Jerry Metellus

Everybody in my family is kind of funny,” says stand-up comedian Brian Regan, who comes to the Arlington on Sunday. Growing up as one of eight siblings, there was a lot of competition to crack each other up.

“I used to love making my dad laugh. He was a very smart guy, so if you put something together that had some ideas to it, he would laugh like it was nobody’s business. There was something very powerful about that experience. My older brother Mike is one of the funniest people I know. Offstage he’s funnier than I am.”

Ensemble Theatre stages Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan’s daring musical ‘Woyzeck’

April 17, 2015July 24, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

The "Woyzeck" cast includes Matt Gottlieb (Doctor), Stephen Van Dorn (Woyzeck) and Matthew Henerson (Captain). David Bazemore — The “Woyzeck” cast includes Matt Gottlieb (Doctor), Stephen Van Dorn (Woyzeck) and Matthew Henerson (Captain).
David Bazemore

When writer Georg Büchner died at 23 in 1837, he left behind the fragments of a play that had no ending and no official structure. Yet out of all his works, the “working-class tragedy” of “Woyzeck,” about a soldier gone murderously mad with jealousy, is the most read, most performed, and most interpreted. There have been operas, movies, a ballet and many stage adaptations. It is extremely open to interpretation.

Ensemble Theatre’s Jonathan Fox has taken on one of the most popular recent adaptations of the play — a musical by Tom Waits and his wife/collaborator Kathleen Brennan — and brought it to the New Vic, opening tonight. And even that is an interpretation: Mr. Fox has ditched the other third of that 2002 production: Robert Wilson’s direction and production design.

The Theatre Group at SBCC picks up ‘Dead Man’s Cell Phone’

April 17, 2015July 24, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

Jenna Scanlon, right, is one of Santa Barbara's top actors, having performed with several local companies. Leona Paraminski is a star in her home country of Croatia. Ben Crop — Jenna Scanlon, right, is one of Santa Barbara’s top actors, having performed with several local companies. Leona Paraminski is a star in her home country of Croatia.
Ben Crop

In Sarah Ruhl’s plays, the subject matters may change, but one thing stays constant: nothing is what it seems, and even our closest friends and family, in the end, are unknowable. That conceit, with a technological edge, is the focus of “Dead Man’s Cell Phone,” opening tonight at SBCC’s Jurkowitz Theatre. Directed by Katherine Laris, this 2007 play cocks an eyebrow at the faith we put in our online selves, and takes its protagonist on a journey of self-discovery.

Jenna Scanlon, who has risen through the ranks of several local companies and productions to land starring roles, plays Jean, a shy and retiring woman who retrieves an incessantly ringing cell phone from a nearby cafe customer only to discover he’s dead. The corpse is played by another one of Santa Barbara’s top actors, Brian Harwell — also Ms. Scanlon’s boyfriend in real life — so we know that while this character may be dead, he hasn’t begun to have his say.