In Brief: Theater, music and dance
Theater
LITTLE THEATRE OPENS
THRILLER 'PILLOWMAN'
It sounds positively Kafkaesque: a writer in an unnamed totalitarian state, being interrogated about his gruesome short stories - and their suspicious similarities to a series of child murders.
But it's not Kafka. It's Irish playwright Martin McDonagh's award-winning "The Pillowman," which opens a three-weekend run tonight at Las Vegas Little Theatre.
The thriller by McDonagh (whose "Seven Psychopaths" just hit movie theaters) includes not only the aforementioned interrogation, but narration and re-enactments of the protagonist's stories, including one that explains the origins of his tormented tales.
McDonagh's "Pillowman," which won best play awards for its London and New York premieres, was inspired by the fairy tales the playwright recalled from childhood and tried to rewrite because "there's something dark about them that doesn't quite come through."
Performances are at 8 p.m. today and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday in LVLT's Black Box, 3920 Schiff Drive; additional performances are 8 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays through Nov. 4. Tickets ($15 for adults, $14 for students and seniors) are available by calling 362-7996 or at the theater's website, www.LVLT.org.
Music
TESH'S 'BIG BAND LIVE!' SWINGS INTO SMITH CENTER
The big-band era swings back to center stage Sunday when John Tesh brings his national "Big Band Live!" tour to The Smith Center's Reynolds Hall.
Joining a dozen fellow musicians, Tesh adds lead vocals to his customary keyboard solos on such swing-era favorites as "In the Mood" and "I've Got the World on a String."
After a 10-year run anchoring TV's "Entertainment Tonight," Tesh cut back on broadcasting in favor of music, although he remains an on-air presence with his nationally syndicated "Intelligence for Your Life" radio show.
On the road with the "Big Band Live!" tour, Tesh says "it's been rewarding" to see "people my age, older, and much younger, either rediscovering big band music or hearing it for the first time."
Tesh and his bandmates will perform at 7:30 p.m. Sunday in Reynolds Hall at The Smith Center for the Performing Arts, 361 Symphony Park Ave. Tickets are $26-$79 and are available by phone (749-2000) or online (www.thesmithcenter.com).
Theater
ACTING COMPANY BRINGS
'MICE AND MEN' TO UNLV
John Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men" comes to life Sunday at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, when the award-winning Acting Company presents Steinbeck's tragic tale of two displaced migrant ranch workers wandering through Depression-era California.
The Tony-winning Acting Company was founded in 1972 by the late John Houseman, then head of the Juilliard School's drama division, because he didn't want to disband a troupe that included such promising students as Kevin Kline and Patti LuPone. (Other notable alumni include Rainn Wilson, Jeffrey Wright, Jesse L. Martin and David Ogden Stiers.)
The Acting Company will perform "Of Mice and Men" at 7 p.m. Sunday in Artemus Ham Hall at UNLV, 4505 S. Maryland Parkway. Tickets ($30, $40 and $55) are available by telephone at 895-2787 or online at pac.unlv.edu.
Music
PARKER QUARTET HEADLINES CONCERT
They've performed from New York's Carnegie Hall to London's Wigmore Hall.
And on Tuesday, the Grammy-winning Parker Quartet adds Doc Rando Recital Hall to its itinerary as the latest attraction in UNLV's Chamber Music Series.
Violinists Daniel Chong and Karen Kim, violist Jessica Bodner and cellist Kee-Hyun Kim will perform works by Franz Schubert, Benjamin Britten and Arvo Part Tuesday. They began touring professionally in 2002 and garnered international acclaim by 2005, winning the Concert Artists Guild Competition and the Grand Prix and Mozart Prize at the Bordeaux International String Quartet Competition in France.
The Parker Quartet will play at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in Doc Rando Recital Hall in the Lee and Thomas Beam Music Center at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 4505 S. Maryland Parkway. Tickets are $25 and are available by telephone at 895-2787 or online at pac.unlv.edu.
Dance
PILOBOLUS DANCE THEATRE TWISTS, turns INTO TOWN
Bend me, shape me.
If that's not Pilobolus Dance Theatre's motto, it should be, as local audiences will see Wednesday when the ever-undulating troupe visits The Smith Center for the Performing Arts.
Named for a perpetually changing organism, Pilobolus' shape-shifting performers mix athleticism and humor, transforming themselves into a singular living being through smoothly organic choreography.
Pilobolus Dance Theatre performs at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in Reynolds Hall at The Smith Center, 361 Symphony Park Ave. Tickets ($26-$79) are available by phone at 749-2000 or online at www.thesmithcenter.com.
- By Carol Cling
