Smith Center could hurt local theaters

Don't get me wrong. I've been looking forward to the opening of The Smith Center for the Performing Arts since rumors of its creation hit the air. Like millions of others, I love big, splashy well-produced musicals. Vegas has been starved for these sort of professional productions for years. What's not to be grateful for?

But.

Well, let's start here: In the construction's early stages, I attended a fundraiser. After some lengthy speeches, the audience members were asked to raise their hand if they'd be willing to offer at least a million-dollar donation. As I recall, many hands went up. Call me a yahoo, but it made me queasy to be in a room with so much money. I was happy that people cared enough to be generous, but it also hit me:

If just one of those million-dollar donors would divide their monies into all of the major local playhouses, they might be able to kick-start a long-predicted theater boom that has yet to happen.

I had been dreaming that when the center opened, we'd be seeing, in addition to musicals and concert personalities, memorable productions of great dramatic works. The truth is, we've had good musicals before, as well as Michael Feinstein and Savion Glover and Clint Holmes.

What we've never had is an ongoing program of touring dramas staffed by the theater's best. And I don't see how anyone can make the claim they're opening a cultural center if they don't bring us the likes of Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller, Eugene O'Neill, August Wilson, Sam Shepard, Suzan-Lori Parks, Sarah Ruhl, David Mamet.

I'm concerned too that the Smith Center will make it more difficult for local theaters to attract an audience. I was enthralled by Nevada Conservatory Theatre's recent powerful mounting of Wilson's "Seven Guitars" -- with three union actors and director -- and it made me sad to realize that apparently The Smith Center will offer us none of this (the building isn't made for intimate plays, except for occasional one-time only performances). Worse: Who will go to the Nevada Conservatory at all or Insurgo or Las Vegas Little Theatre or Signature if The Smith Center becomes "the" place to see and be seen?

Maybe I'm wrong to be hoping for so much so soon. It could well be the Smith will evolve into a broader-rounded program. And I'd rather it be here than not here. I just hope locals remember there are often different kinds of exhilarating theater experiences to be had at smaller, local and cheaper playhouses. ...

In a recent review of Las Vegas Academy's "Guys and Dolls" (which plays through Sunday at the Dorothy Lowden Theatre), I was happy to get a chance to call attention to Casey Andrews' mature, multifaceted performance (he's double cast). What I wasn't happy with was that I misidentified the role he plays. He's the fast-talking Nathan Detroit. Amazing how the proofing eye occasionally sees only what it wants to see.

Anthony Del Valle can be reached at vegastheaterchat@aol.com. You can write him c/o Las Vegas Review-Journal, P.O. Box 70, Las Vegas, NV 89125.