Saturday, September 05, 2015
A Bon Voyage Concert
Since I've been back in the Wichita area for a bit, I've met a great many talented, driven people who are daily, actively working to make Wichita a better place for artists and creative types in general. Visual artists have it easier, here, but Roxy's Downtown is working to be a place for not only the performing arts but artists of all disciplines to have a place to develop and grow. John Hammer, the CEO, and the good people at Roxy's are giving me this sendoff on Tuesday which will essentially be the standard one-man concert show I used to do all over the place, but with a few adaptations for the smaller house and no orchestra - just my good friend Rich Bruhn on keys. I'm very grateful for the gesture and will continue to work to help Roxy's succeed from wherever I am.
I haven't posted on this blog in some time, but I noticed they'd linked my website from their page instead of the event page, so I thought I'd link it here.
Click here for details about Tuesday.
Wednesday, May 13, 2015
Back from the Dead.
I have basically forgotten about this blog in deference to my Facebook artist's page and other such nonsense. I'll try to do better.
I've said that before.
In the meantime, this is my latest creation:
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
Thursday, August 29, 2013
Don't call it a reboot
I have taken a long unintentional hiatus from this blog. Though let's face it, the whole site has been a bit less than current for some time. I'm heading out on the road now with Mamma Mia and am determined to return to regular updates. Will I succeed? Tune in next week, true believers. Or tomorrow. Or whenever. I don't know. Sometime. It will happen.
Monday, December 17, 2012
Your Christmas Card(s)
Here are your Christmas cards for this year. I made a few, so you can share if you like. Enjoy via IT'S CHRISTMAS, DON WINSOR!
Sunday, December 16, 2012
Wrong Color Pants
Okay, I'm gonna be one of those people, writing about this on the internet. Please excuse this digression from my normal "come see my show" and "look! funny/disturbing!"
I know that today a lot of you will be remembering those affected by the tragic events in Connecticut.
Whether you're praying or simply thinking or whatever it is you do, maybe you could find it in yourself to include a few thoughts about the person responsible and especially his family. If only he'd been able to get help, or help could've found him. I'm not saying sympathize with the guy, at all, just think "what can we learn from this?" This feeling comes to me courtesy of a conversation with my mom. She talked to me about how things used to be, regarding care for the mentally ill. I realized later that she's been involved directly or indirectly with caring for the mentally ill throughout a great deal of her life. She was a bookkeeper for a facility that dealt with mentally ill people for many years before I was born, and since 1995 or so has taken in a great many children with developmental and/or behavior disabilities as a therapeutic foster parent. She doesn't do that quite so much anymore, since she and Dad adopted a family of four kids several years ago, great kids who would otherwise have been split up by the system. Some of the children she cared for, though, are kids that scare other people. Me included. Seeing how she handled and treated them, I wondered how on earth she did it. There are children who've come into her care basically abandoned by a system that tries to "mainstream"everyone. Children who, in another time, would've been institutionalized. This word - "institutionalized" - sounds cruel, but even with the boundless and mystifying love my mom has for all children (especially those with problems) she believes that it isn't and wasn't necessarily a bad thing. I've seen her deal with children who cannot communicate through anything but phrases they've learned from TV commercials. Children who never develop emotionally beyond about age three. Even children whose unpredictable violence lies underneath an innocent, placid surface and strikes out suddenly and without warning. I've been afraid for my parents to have some of these kids in their house, but they have love for all of them. I don't know how the hell they do it. Often I don't know why they do it, but thank goodness someone shows these kids some love and compassion. When Mom and I were talking about everything that happened this week, she said she thinks that it is cruel to put a child - or anyone - who lacks the tools to function in the world out into society under some illusion that it's better for everyone to be in the mainstream. She's seen children so damaged mentally that they lack the capacity to even feed themselves or use a bathroom pushed through the system in an attempt to "mainstream" them so that the state can wash their hands of them. They'll wind up on the street. Pretending everyone can be independent just because you believe everyone deserves independence is childish. "Things used to be better," she said. "There were places people could take someone who needed help, public places. Now, everyone's 'mainstreamed.'"
I'm thinking of all this today because I read an affecting article from a blogger HERE that I'd like you to read. It's from a mother increasingly afraid of her own child, and it's about her trying to get him help. It's worth a read, and maybe it'll get people talking about this in a constructive way The media would use this sort of tragedy to whip us all into a frenzy of finger-pointing and knee-jerk reaction, but if we can start a productive conversation about why these things keep happening, we can honor those affected with a promise of real progress.
I know that today a lot of you will be remembering those affected by the tragic events in Connecticut.
Whether you're praying or simply thinking or whatever it is you do, maybe you could find it in yourself to include a few thoughts about the person responsible and especially his family. If only he'd been able to get help, or help could've found him. I'm not saying sympathize with the guy, at all, just think "what can we learn from this?" This feeling comes to me courtesy of a conversation with my mom. She talked to me about how things used to be, regarding care for the mentally ill. I realized later that she's been involved directly or indirectly with caring for the mentally ill throughout a great deal of her life. She was a bookkeeper for a facility that dealt with mentally ill people for many years before I was born, and since 1995 or so has taken in a great many children with developmental and/or behavior disabilities as a therapeutic foster parent. She doesn't do that quite so much anymore, since she and Dad adopted a family of four kids several years ago, great kids who would otherwise have been split up by the system. Some of the children she cared for, though, are kids that scare other people. Me included. Seeing how she handled and treated them, I wondered how on earth she did it. There are children who've come into her care basically abandoned by a system that tries to "mainstream"everyone. Children who, in another time, would've been institutionalized. This word - "institutionalized" - sounds cruel, but even with the boundless and mystifying love my mom has for all children (especially those with problems) she believes that it isn't and wasn't necessarily a bad thing. I've seen her deal with children who cannot communicate through anything but phrases they've learned from TV commercials. Children who never develop emotionally beyond about age three. Even children whose unpredictable violence lies underneath an innocent, placid surface and strikes out suddenly and without warning. I've been afraid for my parents to have some of these kids in their house, but they have love for all of them. I don't know how the hell they do it. Often I don't know why they do it, but thank goodness someone shows these kids some love and compassion. When Mom and I were talking about everything that happened this week, she said she thinks that it is cruel to put a child - or anyone - who lacks the tools to function in the world out into society under some illusion that it's better for everyone to be in the mainstream. She's seen children so damaged mentally that they lack the capacity to even feed themselves or use a bathroom pushed through the system in an attempt to "mainstream" them so that the state can wash their hands of them. They'll wind up on the street. Pretending everyone can be independent just because you believe everyone deserves independence is childish. "Things used to be better," she said. "There were places people could take someone who needed help, public places. Now, everyone's 'mainstreamed.'"
I'm thinking of all this today because I read an affecting article from a blogger HERE that I'd like you to read. It's from a mother increasingly afraid of her own child, and it's about her trying to get him help. It's worth a read, and maybe it'll get people talking about this in a constructive way The media would use this sort of tragedy to whip us all into a frenzy of finger-pointing and knee-jerk reaction, but if we can start a productive conversation about why these things keep happening, we can honor those affected with a promise of real progress.
Sunday, December 02, 2012
A Valid Point
This guy raises some thought-provoking questions. I agree with most of what he says.The Wal-Marting of American Theatre What are your thoughts?
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Friday, November 30, 2012
That Dickens may have been on to something.
A CHRISTMAS CAROL opened last night at The Forum, and I'm really proud to be a part of this show and this new tradition in Wichita theatre. Someone just posted the first review I've seen, and I think she liked us. Tickets are selling fast - some shows already sold out - so make your reservations ASAP! Here's our first review:
Wichita (Lucinda Dahliarimple WTBN Entertainment Correspondent), November 28, 2012
Tonight’s opening of A Christmas Carol, A Spirited New Musical, presented by The Theatre Company at The Forum Theatre was a splendid holiday treat full of
Wichita (Lucinda Dahliarimple WTBN Entertainment Correspondent), November 28, 2012
Tonight’s opening of A Christmas Carol, A Spirited New Musical, presented by The Theatre Company at The Forum Theatre was a splendid holiday treat full of
music, dance, exceptional performances; and, incredible technical elements.
From the moment you enter the theatrical space, a feeling of Christmas and Dickens surrounds you. From the excellently decorated lobby to the carolers singing in traditional Dickens garb to the figgy pudding and hot apple cider offered for concessions before the production, I felt that I had stepped back into Victorian England with the sights and sounds of Christmas around me.
The show, deftly directed by Kathryn Page Hauptman moves along at a brisk pace and takes just a little over 90 minutes from beginning to end, without intermission. We see the rise, fall and ultimate redemption of this character that so many of us are familiar with, Ebenezer Scrooge.
Paul Jackson’s Scrooge is human....hard, defiant, resigned, compelled; however, you always have the feeling that there is some compassion underneath which makes his redemption believable, compelling, and heartwarming. The difference in his portrayal from other Scrooge’s this reviewer has seen, is that it is much more palpable, an exciting change and remarkably fresh performance for a character so well known by the majority of the adult population. His voice, strong and clear, brings chills to audience’s arms as he sings to his beloved Belle (played by Catherine Bartomeo, a beautiful young girl with lovely innocence and hope), his nephew Fred (outfitted in plaid and looking so completely positive and opposite of his cantankerous uncle), and the ghosts who help him find redemption.
As the ghosts, Ray Wills portrays Marley with complete power and portrays a man whose weary journey goes on and on. Full of desire for Scrooge to repent, his entrance is strong, a bit scary, and he never lets up as he commands Scrooge to beware and be ready for the ghosts of past, present and yet to come.
Cary Hesse is lovely and beguiling as the Ghost of Christmas Past. Costumed in white with beads and feathers, she is a beautiful and beguiling ghost taking a willing Scrooge backward in time to reminisce about his childhood, sister, love, and first employment experience. Her song, “Remember”, is haunting and beautifully sung.
Karla Burns, (a Tony nominated actress) as the Ghost of Christmas Present, is indeed a present...to the audience. Her song, “Celebrate” and her costuming in red and white, outfitted with decorative elements that look like little gifts all around and a staff that looks like it must be 10’ tall and weight 150 pounds, which she yields with incredible ease and uses as a comic element throughout. Her powerful voice, laughter, and comic moments bring a light- heartedness to this ghost that makes us believe Scrooge has little to fear, until she surprises him with the ignorance and want all around him that he chooses to ignore.
As the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, Marina Fox is a lithe and scary spirit - enticing Scrooge to watch the dance of life as it happens all around him and her dance is a nice
change to the arias of the prior ghosts. It keeps the element of surprise alive for us and for Scrooge.
Some other outstanding performances include Don Winsor’s Bob Cratchit....handsome, lilting, and soft, his Cratchit delights and allows the audience to feel the ultimate compassion for this man who finds joy in every sorrow. Megan Parsley’s Mrs. Cratchit is winsome and teasing, with inner strength and reprimand for her husband’s tolerance of Scrooge’s treatment. Ted Woodward is delightful as Joe, the Ragpicker and the three ladies (Katherine Randolph, Stephanie Dennis, and Megan Parsley) have a show-stopping scene and an engaging song. Dan Campbell’s Fezziwig is charming and quirky.
There’s fine work among the ensemble and the remaining cast with double and triple performances by several showing the talent amongst this finely assembled cast.
The set, by Ben Juhnke, is very fitting and encompasses the entire stage area feeling as though we are in a much larger venue than the intimate Forum Theatre. Lighting by Tyler Lessin is full of mood enhancing and illuminating moments which keep the pace of the show moving forward with ghost entrances and exits. Sound by Nick Smith had incredible effects that further kept the audience involved and jumping with anticipation for the next moment to happen.
The orchestra, conducted by Tim Raymond and in full view of the audience house left, had eery musical elements that encompassed the mood and enhanced this production greatly.
This reviewer is so pleased at all the theatrical Wichita Christmas offerings and can’t wait to see the other productions around town this month and review them. White Christmas, around the corner at The Crown Uptown, plays until December 23. Cabaret Oldtown is showing Crazy Christmas until December 22 and Shakespeare's MacBethlehem Christmas or Wherefore Art Thou Saint Nick? is playing at Mosley Street Melodrama until December 30. Watch for my reviews of those shows in the upcoming weeks; however, make sure you don’t miss this delightful offering at The Forum. It’s sure to become an annual tradition for Wichita’s audiences.
From the moment you enter the theatrical space, a feeling of Christmas and Dickens surrounds you. From the excellently decorated lobby to the carolers singing in traditional Dickens garb to the figgy pudding and hot apple cider offered for concessions before the production, I felt that I had stepped back into Victorian England with the sights and sounds of Christmas around me.
The show, deftly directed by Kathryn Page Hauptman moves along at a brisk pace and takes just a little over 90 minutes from beginning to end, without intermission. We see the rise, fall and ultimate redemption of this character that so many of us are familiar with, Ebenezer Scrooge.
Paul Jackson’s Scrooge is human....hard, defiant, resigned, compelled; however, you always have the feeling that there is some compassion underneath which makes his redemption believable, compelling, and heartwarming. The difference in his portrayal from other Scrooge’s this reviewer has seen, is that it is much more palpable, an exciting change and remarkably fresh performance for a character so well known by the majority of the adult population. His voice, strong and clear, brings chills to audience’s arms as he sings to his beloved Belle (played by Catherine Bartomeo, a beautiful young girl with lovely innocence and hope), his nephew Fred (outfitted in plaid and looking so completely positive and opposite of his cantankerous uncle), and the ghosts who help him find redemption.
As the ghosts, Ray Wills portrays Marley with complete power and portrays a man whose weary journey goes on and on. Full of desire for Scrooge to repent, his entrance is strong, a bit scary, and he never lets up as he commands Scrooge to beware and be ready for the ghosts of past, present and yet to come.
Cary Hesse is lovely and beguiling as the Ghost of Christmas Past. Costumed in white with beads and feathers, she is a beautiful and beguiling ghost taking a willing Scrooge backward in time to reminisce about his childhood, sister, love, and first employment experience. Her song, “Remember”, is haunting and beautifully sung.
Karla Burns, (a Tony nominated actress) as the Ghost of Christmas Present, is indeed a present...to the audience. Her song, “Celebrate” and her costuming in red and white, outfitted with decorative elements that look like little gifts all around and a staff that looks like it must be 10’ tall and weight 150 pounds, which she yields with incredible ease and uses as a comic element throughout. Her powerful voice, laughter, and comic moments bring a light- heartedness to this ghost that makes us believe Scrooge has little to fear, until she surprises him with the ignorance and want all around him that he chooses to ignore.
As the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, Marina Fox is a lithe and scary spirit - enticing Scrooge to watch the dance of life as it happens all around him and her dance is a nice
change to the arias of the prior ghosts. It keeps the element of surprise alive for us and for Scrooge.
Some other outstanding performances include Don Winsor’s Bob Cratchit....handsome, lilting, and soft, his Cratchit delights and allows the audience to feel the ultimate compassion for this man who finds joy in every sorrow. Megan Parsley’s Mrs. Cratchit is winsome and teasing, with inner strength and reprimand for her husband’s tolerance of Scrooge’s treatment. Ted Woodward is delightful as Joe, the Ragpicker and the three ladies (Katherine Randolph, Stephanie Dennis, and Megan Parsley) have a show-stopping scene and an engaging song. Dan Campbell’s Fezziwig is charming and quirky.
There’s fine work among the ensemble and the remaining cast with double and triple performances by several showing the talent amongst this finely assembled cast.
The set, by Ben Juhnke, is very fitting and encompasses the entire stage area feeling as though we are in a much larger venue than the intimate Forum Theatre. Lighting by Tyler Lessin is full of mood enhancing and illuminating moments which keep the pace of the show moving forward with ghost entrances and exits. Sound by Nick Smith had incredible effects that further kept the audience involved and jumping with anticipation for the next moment to happen.
The orchestra, conducted by Tim Raymond and in full view of the audience house left, had eery musical elements that encompassed the mood and enhanced this production greatly.
This reviewer is so pleased at all the theatrical Wichita Christmas offerings and can’t wait to see the other productions around town this month and review them. White Christmas, around the corner at The Crown Uptown, plays until December 23. Cabaret Oldtown is showing Crazy Christmas until December 22 and Shakespeare's MacBethlehem Christmas or Wherefore Art Thou Saint Nick? is playing at Mosley Street Melodrama until December 30. Watch for my reviews of those shows in the upcoming weeks; however, make sure you don’t miss this delightful offering at The Forum. It’s sure to become an annual tradition for Wichita’s audiences.
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