Camille Gavin: High steppin' with 'Seven Brides'
| Wednesday, Sep 30 2009 04:50 PM
Last Updated Wednesday, Sep 30 2009 04:50 PM
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GO & DO
What: "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers"
When: 8 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday
Where: Harvey Auditorium, 14th and G streets
Admission: $25 to $33
Information: 325-6100
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What: "The Gin Game"
When: 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday
Where: Bakersfield Community Theatre, 2400 S. Chester Ave.
Admission: $15; students and seniors, $12
Information: 831-8114
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What: "Evil Dead: The Musical"
When: 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday
Where: Spotlight Theatre, 1622 19th St.
Admission: $20, $17 in advance; students and seniors, $18, $15 in advance
Information: 634-0692
When I watch well-trained dancers sweep gracefully across a stage, I often think of the discipline required to do those movements. I speak from experience, although I never danced professionally.
I started with tap and ballet classes in my single-digit years; I've still got corns on my little toes from cramming my feet into rigid pink toe-shoes to prove it. In high school I went on to take modern dance and later, as a wife and mother, I learned the rumba, the samba and other forms of ballroom dancing.
Two things stand out in my memories: the hard physical work of learning a routine and the joy of perfecting it.
I'm sure that Shay Brandon Burke, director of "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers," has had those key elements in mind during the past several weeks of rehearsals for the show that opens this weekend at Harvey Auditorium.
"I've got a lot of guys in the show and they've got to dance," he said. "I've got my whole cast sweatin' and groovin' and working out those sore muscles the day after."
Burke, a seasoned dancer himself, doesn't appear in the show but he did do the choreography and has added several new dance numbers.
This is a happy musical, with bright touches of folksy comedy and the rich flavor of the mid-19th century western frontier. Costumes are from Fantasy Frocks and Ed Hughes will lead the orchestra.
Gretchen Anderson plays the part of Millie, a waitress who marries a lumberjack named Adam, portrayed by Steven Kinnison. The courtship is brief and not until after the wedding does Millie learn she's also "married" Adam's many brothers. Thus is born the search for wives for the bachelors.
Other members of the very large cast include Jeffrey Gale, Josh Zuniga, Blaine Robey, Christopher Slaughter, Justin Thompson and Austin Beaty. The final performance of "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" is scheduled for 8 p.m. Oct. 10.
'Gin Game' at BCT
D.L. Coburn's Pulitzer prize-winning play, "The Gin Game" calls for only two actors, a demanding job for even the most seasoned professionals.
Yet I have a strong feeling that director Sheila McClure has made an excellent choice in tapping Norman Colwell and Joyce Weingarden for the task in the Bakersfield Community Theatre production that opens Friday evening. I base that prediction on having seen how skillfully Colwell and Weingarden developed their characters as Grandpa and Grandma Joad a few weeks ago in "The Grapes of Wrath" at the Spotlight Theatre.
The two plays have little in common, of course, but that's where the skill comes in. "The Gin Game" is a bittersweet story about two lonely people who meet as residents of a retirement home. Using a card game as a metaphor for life -- everyone has to play with the cards they are dealt -- secrets long hidden are revealed. The dialogue is crisp, witty and ultimately explosive.
Performances continue through Oct. 17.
Spotlight's 'Evil Dead'
A wacky musical that's a take-off on "Evil Dead," a low-budget fantasy-horror film made in 1981, is Spotlight Theatre's offering for the Halloween season.
The story concerns a group of college students who discover an ancient text while spending a weekend in an isolated cabin, a discovery that arouses a clutch of horrifying demons who perform gory acts of violence.
Lead actors are Rick Cheshire, Brian Maddern, Jennifer Sorkin, Veronica Surber, Kathryn Clowes, Angela Poncetta, Alex Neal and Jack Slider. Jarred Clowes is the director. Performances continue through Oct. 17.
Fine arts at the fair
You have only a few more days to view the hundreds of arts and crafts exhibits at the Kern County Fair. Building 3, also known as the Fine Arts Building, is one venue I never fail to visit each year; I'm always impressed with the expertise shown by the many entrants.
Colorful hand-sewn quilts of every size and style fill most of the largest room in the building, along with smaller displays of needlework and unique fashions. Other rooms hold other kinds of art objects and paintings done in a variety of mediums.
Another plus about visiting this particular building: it's cool inside and there are even a few benches to sit on as you rest your weary feet.
