Kidjo!

I had never heard of Angelique Kidjo.

But beginning in about February (or earlier) the video preview monitor outside of the box office window began playing this, for lack of a better word, addicting cover of the Rolling Stones' Gimme Shelter by Kidjo, and I was singing along.

I realized that I needed to get a ticket to this show to check it out because I really enjoy music from other cultures around the world, and figured it was a safe bet with a Grammy Award winner. I went with my friend Kerry and we didn't really know what to expect, we had both heard the Rolling Stones cover so much that we could sing it ourselves. The lights dimmed, Steve Horvath came on the speakers, and there she was.

To steal a quote from all of our audience reviewers this was the best concert I have ever seen in Richmond. Kidjo is so much more than just amazing music, she is truly an inspirational person, and a charismatic entertainer. The turning point in the concert was surely when Kidjo walked right off the stage into the aisle and continued to sing up and down the aisles of Camp Concert Hall, right with the audience, she was not a disconnected performer but instead became a part of the audience (considering how much singing and dancing we did!).

I was absolutely speechless after the concert. I quickly returned home to my laptop to download every song from the performance and I am still enjoying them as I write this post. What a great way to (almost) end the season, and now I will join everyone else as we wait to find out what other great concerts like this one await us in next year's season.

Thanks for reading,

Paul

Spring brings thoughts of a new season

Well, we've had a very busy season with 40+ artists and ensembles visiting our stages over the past seven months. And just as it starts to wind down with the Modlin Center Great Performances series (three events and counting!), I get to immerse myself in a whole new roster of artists and ensembles in preparation for the 2008-2009 season.

Believe it or not, patrons are already begging to know who and what we have scheduled for next season. And, I'm happy to report, there will be a shorter waiting period than normal. Big news (imagine drum roll here): we will announce our season one month early! So, instead of waiting until July, when the summer feels like it's half-way done, we'll be announcing our new season, too much fanfare, on June 1.

The majority of my March, April and May will be spent gathering information from our resident departments and programs, researching the visiting artists on our Great Performances series and working with our fabulous designer Susan to create a season brochure unlike any before. And there is a lot of information to collect and sort through. I'll look at hundreds of artist photographs, searching for just the right ones to make the attraction "pop" off the page and grab your attention. I'll wade through bios, performance reviews, promotional material...all to put together the best descriptions possible to tempt you into buying tickets to our events!

In addition to what I gather for our print brochure, I also need another whole set of material for our Web site, which also launches June 1. This includes audio and video clips and links to our artists own sites. And I work with another designer to make our Web site mesh with our print brochure. So, as you can see, there is much happening around my office. And there are so many wonderful people involved in this process, and I couldn't get all this done without their help, especially Jen who has been unbelievable at gathering information for me.

So, give us a few more months to put everything together. Look for a few teasers in the coming months, and then our full announcement on June 1. I can guarantee there will be something in it for everyone!

sensory overload - in a good way

So this week has brought us St. Patrick's Day, the first day of spring, and a Modlin Center performance I've been looking forward to since I first heard about it - DJ Spooky's "Rebirth of a Nation".

I admit that I knew very little about DW Griffith's 1915 film "Birth of a Nation" before attending the performance. All I really knew was that a) it's studied quite a bit in film classes, and b) it's extremely racist. What I did know about "Rebirth" was that DJ Spooky would be in some way remixing the movie and using his own music.

As soon as the show was due to start, I took a seat in the rear of the balcony. For anyone who doubts that balcony seating could possibly be as good as orchestra, I would invite you to give it a try in Jepson Theatre - in my mind, it's the best place to sit, as you really get a fantastic view of what's going on. Anyway, I wanted to see this performance as a patron (job perk!), so I settled in to my seat and absorbed the scene.

The stage looked amazing - there was one large hanging screen surrounded by two smaller hanging screens, and there was a DJ console on the stage.

From the beginning, I was pulled into the show as a full experience. DJ Spooky's mixing of the movie is the main focus, but for me, the music (composed by DJ Spooky and recorded by the Kronos Quartet) was just as integral.

At first, I wasn't sure where to look - the side screens or the center screen? - and I thought I'd miss something. But as I settled back and let myself take in everything that was happening on stage, my eyes shifted back and forth easily. "Rebirth" begins with a montage of contemporary footage that challenges the audience to wonder how far we've truly come. It was interesting to see it in this order (rather than having the new footage at the end), because it gave me a backwards historical context, if that makes any sense. This helped to set the stage - no pun intended. (You can see this opening montage in the "Rebirth" trailer here)

Some aspects of the original film were still confusing to me, plot-wise, but I think that's what happens when a 3-hour film is mercifully edited down to a little over an hour). The extra commentary that DJ Spooky provides - through silent film word screens paired with Griffith's originals - made it clearer to me.

My greater struggle was to understand the sheer amount of propaganda in the original movie. Griffith's film explained that the Ku Klux Klan was formed out of necessity to keep the newly freed black people from taking over the genteel white South, still hurting from the Civil War. I know that I stared and shook my head in disbelief more than once during the movie.

The "Rebirth" score added even more tension to this as it was often chaotic, dissonant, and even disjointed at times. The "Rebirth" editing made subtle statements - the one that stuck in my mind was when Northerner Elsie Stoneman was "saved" from marrying a mulatto man (with whom she was allied) by a Klansman. As Elsie turns her head to see her protector, he removes his hood, and the frame highlights (with circles, I think) a freeze frame of their faces - she with silent film star adoring eyes, he with undisguised pride. I remember shaking my head, and I think I may have said aloud, "Oh my God." I don't think I was the only one.

While DJ Spooky's message was subtler than I initially expected, the performance was still moving, challenging, and disturbing. I think it's ultimately hopeful, though, because to me it shows just one more way that art is a powerful medium to share ideas, begin discussions, and find solutions to problems of all scopes.

(The photo above is from the Q&A session conducted by DJ Spooky after the performance. I didn't stay for that part - it was back to work for me - but I heard from many people that they learned a lot!)

Kids loved Pig, Moose, Mouse et al.

The Modlin Center was overrun with school kids last weekend. Nope, not our regular crowd of students. Spring break had just started so the college students had mainly deserted campus by Saturday morning. This day was all about the pre-school crowd. And they came out in droves!

Moms, dads and grandparents brought their little ones to the Modlin Center to see the Dallas Children's Theater production of "If you Give a Pig a Party." This show, based on the popular books by Laura Numeroff about the Pig with the pancake, the mouse with the cookie and the moose and his muffin, brought all the characters together with their friends Cat, Dog and Girl, for a big party. And that was definitely the feel of things around our building.

Little girls in fancy dresses with big bows in their hair, or wearing matching outfits with their siblings. Little boys with trucks and cars on their shirts. The youngest ones carrying their favorite doll or stuffed animal, or a beloved blankie. The laughter in the theatre was priceless, and so different from the reactions of our normal, above age 10 crowd.

And I've never seen lines as long as those to meet the characters after the show (see photos). It was pure pandemonium to some, but adults and kids alike wouldn't have missed a minute of it. The smiles on the little faces as they had Pig sign their program, or took a picture with Mouse, was a sight to see.

If you want to read more about it, and hear first hand from the adults that attended, then just look at the 20+ comments on our Audience Reviews board. Not a complaint among them!

My only regret after the three performances were over was that my own young nieces (all living out of town) weren't able to enjoy the show with me!

Samantha

Tradition!

Before I even get started, I want to let everyone know that this post is most certainly not about Fiddler On The Roof. Maybe I’ve been in this business too long when I can write one word like “tradition” and instantly have a show tune stuck in my head.

Seriously, though, that’s not what I’m writing about. I just wanted everyone else to remember that song, too.

What I’m writing about are those traditions that patrons almost never get to see. Of all the things that happen backstage, nothing is held as sacred as a tradition.

Some performers have to do certain things before they can go on stage. I’ve seen crazy dances [like the ‘peanut butter jelly’ dance], I’ve seen circles that start jumping around, I’ve seen people talk to themselves. There have been group prayers, group chants, group drinks, group tunings, and group hugs. I have even gone so far as to attempt to try to participate in a Maori haka dance [i failed miserably].

There are also traditions that end up in a contract rider [that’s the information we get that tells us what kind of food to serve, what people need/like in their dressing rooms, what kinds of lights to hang, instruments to have, etc.]. There’s the legendary ‘no brown M&Ms’ tradition that might even be urban legend at this point. A few weeks ago we were asked for thirteen matching black hand towels. We’ve been asked for more different kinds of juice than I thought existed; water that is bottled, still, fizzy, imported, cold, and room temperature; and been told time and again that a tray of deli meats does not a true meal make.

But all this is fine and good, but it’s nothing like the tradition that I stumbled across a few days ago when Natalie MacMaster was here with her band. That’s when I met Hootie.

Hootie, for those of you that didn’t get to see him, is a two foot tall plastic owl. You read that correctly: a two foot tall plastic owl. He's not the singer for a 1990's pop band from South Carolina that had such hits as "Hold My Hand" and "Let Her Cry." Just wanted to clear that up [and maybe get another song stuck in your head].

No, Hootie hails originally from just down Interstate 64 in Newport News, Virginia. He had taken up residence at the Yoder Barn Theatre at Christopher Newport University. Apparently he used to just like to hang out up on one of the rafters with all the lights. He mostly kept to himself, not making much noise, yet excelled at keeping away crows. That's what two foot tall plastic owls do, they keep constant vigil against crows, and do not go on tour.

Until now.

Hootie has been picked up for the duration of the Natalie MacMaster tour. He goes to every house, takes lots of pictures, and always does the meet and greet. He has his own place on stage, and even gets his own spotlight! Hootie even has a birthday, 4 March 2008, which is the day he left Yoder for life on the road. If one could be jealous of a two foot tall plastic owl, this would be one to be jealous of. I heard some talk of him one day picking up another tour, but there's a big world out there for a two foot plastic owl from Newport News. Right now he's on tour - seeing the world and rocking it one show at a time. He's also in the spotlight - getting the best solos and standing ovations, and getting phone numbers from the ladies in the front row.

Mostly, though, he's a new tradition.

Reinventing the Wheel

The other day, I got an e-mail from a student who wanted to bring a group of sorority sisters to the University Dancers’ annual spring concert, LEAP. This is the kind of inquiry we love. The student and I met to discuss the details of her event, a pre-show dessert in the lobby followed by the performance. Perfect. We have the inventory and the space. To start, we put 60 seats on hold. I anticipated that that number would eventually be reduced by about 20-30%. A few days later, the student e-mailed me and requested 20 additional tickets. Soon after that, she requested more. Her final count was over 100 tickets…far exceeding the number we originally anticipated.

If I have learned anything in my four years here, it is that students market to each other. They talk, send IMs, text message and write on each other’s Facebook walls. When determined, they can spread the word about an event better than any paid advertising or marketing that we can do…and MUCH faster than print or other traditional media. While we often give credit to the Internet for this revolutionary explosion of marketing, it is just another tool in a world that is changing every day; driven by consumer demands and attitudes. More and more, we want information that is targeted to our needs, our lifestyles, our interests. We no longer want to read about all the tasty items on the menu. Instead, we want to hear about the daily specials. We want customized information and we want it NOW.

To the marketer, this is a challenge. In the early part of the twentieth-century, Danny Newman wrote the book, literally, on the subscription series. Titled “Subscribe Now!” Newman cooked-up a recipe for success that every arts organization in the country followed. Now, those rules are bending. Flexibility and choice drive today’s arts consumer. A plethora of pick-you-own offerings suitable to a variety of tastes replaces the all-or-nothing subscription series.

For our students, the only subscription they know belongs to a magazine or RSS feed. If we want to reach them, our best bet is to do it person-to-person (be it wired or wireless).

Mission Accomplished!

Several months ago I posted a piece entitled The Best Part of My Job about introducing our dear friend bassist Christian McBride to one of our most prominent UR alums, astronaut Leland Melvin. As you recall, Leland was getting ready for his first mission to space and he promised he was going to bring a Christian McBride CD with him.

Well, we proudly watched Leland's launch on February 6, 2008 and cheered his safe return to earth on February 20, 2008 after a successful mission to deliver the European space lab. In fact, Beverly Bradshaw, our indispensable administrative assistant actually attended the launch at Cape Canaveral as Leland's guest and had great stories to tell when she returned to Richmond.

Leland called us earlier this week to thank us for our support and to tell us he had sent Christian McBride the photos you see here (courtesy of NASA) proving that he did, in fact, "Take Christian McBride's music into space!"

Enjoy! Leland we are so proud of you! And McBride, remember who loves ya' baby!

kp

Be Careful What You Wish For!

When I came to Richmond from Cincinnati, I was chagrined, but not surprised to find that the capital city was a one newspaper town. Not unlike Cincinnati, one of Richmond's two daily newspapers, the Richmond News Leader, disappeared in the mid 80's, and with it, any real opportunity for coverage of multiple points of view in the arts. Outside of the major markets like New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, Richmond, like most other US newspaper markets, became a "one thumb" town.

What makes arts and culture so exciting, at least to me, is the notion that one single experience in the theatre, concert hall or museum, can elicit completely opposite reactions from those in attendance. And it's that conversation -- whether you loved something or hated it -- that gives the arts and culture true meaning and relevance in our society.

The internet age has brought new hope for meaningful arts and cultural discourse and the Modlin Center jumped at the opportunity to use technology to get that conversation going. We launched the audience reviews section of our website last year and we have had a remarkable response from many patrons who are eager to share their views -- good and bad.

Now, I thought I was prepared to take the good comments with the bad, especially since Modlin patrons never hesitate to come up to me, personally, to tell me exactly what they think of any given performance. Well folks, I was not prepared, especially when I read some of the negative comments that were now posted out there on the internet for the entire world to see! Had I now become lily-livered about very kind of cultural discussion I had hoped to inspire? I had to wonder. Honestly, it hurts when I read some of that stuff, and this week's comment that the Bobby McFerrin concert was "like water boarding," sent me completely over the edge!

I screamed to my staff, "Blow that bloody page up!"

"Whoa there, KP," they reminded me. "This is what you wanted." And to be honest, it really is. At the end of they day I would rather that folks come to the theatre and hate what they saw, than not to have come at all. And I am truly interested in what patrons have to say. After all, one person's "fabulous" is another person's "torture". Vive La Différence!

Honestly, I try not to take it personally. My team and I work really hard to put together a season of diverse performances of the very highest caliber and at the end of the day, not everyone is going to like everything we present. That's life. That's art. And that's what makes this such a remarkable conversation.

So, thank you for posting your audience reviews. Keep 'em coming!

kp

Ave formosissima

Last week I experienced one of our performances from a patron's point of view. I hadn't done this in a little while, but I'd been looking forward to the Washington Symphonic Brass concert since our season was announced back in July.

I should preface this by saying that I am a trumpet player. I began playing in 4th grade. The Darien, Connecticut school system truly understands how to get kids involved in the arts from an early age, and for that I'm eternally grateful. Up until about 4 years ago (when my clumsiness resulted in an emergency trip to the dentist for a front tooth crown), I played consistently - orchestra, jazz ensemble, wind ensemble, pep band, lessons, recitals, weddings, etc.

Monday night's WSB concert reminded me how much I truly miss playing, and this may have been the final piece of motivation I've needed to get started again.

From the first note of the performance's opening piece (a fantastic Dukas fanfare), I was totally hooked. As I sat in the middle of the concert hall, I stared wide-eyed at the stage. It's very cliché, but the best way to describe it is that I felt - and I'm sure looked - like a kid on Christmas morning. I couldn't stop smiling in amazement, and I'm fairly sure that I had a ridiculously goofy grin on my face for the whole first half of the performance.

But the best was yet to come. The second half of the performance featured selections from Carl Orff's Carmina Burana that Phil Snedecor - co-founder, arranger, and trumpet player for WSB - arranged for brass and percussion. As soon as the group played their first notes of O Fortuna, I had goosebumps. The brass sounds in particular filled the concert hall, and the feeling of being surrounded by such beautiful music was just incredible. While it is tough to beat the brilliance and sheer drama of both O Fortuna sections, the section that really stood out to me was Ave formosissima. It sounded to me like a soundtrack to some sort of triumphant march or ceremony, and I was sitting on the edge of my seat wondering where the music would go next. And that final chord - wow! It was so powerful! The WSB held that out that chord for a few seconds before leading into the final section - the second O Fortuna. What an ending!

After standing and applauding with my fellow audience members, I moved quickly out to the lobby to purchase one of the WSB CDs. As I sit here writing, I'm listening to Washington Symphonic Brass: Burana in Brass, and I highly recommend that you listen to this too.

I found out that Ave formosissima translates to "Hail, most beautiful one". Now that is an incredible line in a love poem, along with the later line "Hail, light of the world". But to me it's a perfect title for this already amazing piece of music, made even better by the Washington Symphonic Brass.