Since Irwin Shaw's expressionistic, ritualistic play opened on Broadway in 1936, five more major wars have come along to prove its horrific accusation: Old generals march young men off to their slaughter while spouting jingoistic exhortations that civilians accept and industrialists turn into profit. Shaw's work is back, with accusations intact and ritual inflated, in a co-production between The Carnegie Center in Covington and UC's College-Conservatory of Music.  

Some contemporary theatergoers bemoan today's lack of tuneful musicals. That's because of shows like Cole Porter's 1934 hit, 'Anything Goes,' currently at UC's College-Conservatory of Music. Roughly 30 performers belt out tunes that have been standards for decades: "You're the Top," "It's De-Lovely," "I Get a Kick Out of You," "Let's Misbehave" and "Blow, Gabriel, Blow" will be stuck in your head for days if you go.  

During last weekend's event celebrating the 40th anniversary of the music theater program at UC's College-Conservatory of Music, 1993 grad Scott Coulter paid tribute to CCM's musical theater chair Aubrey Berg and remarked how important it is to go "back and back and back" to see how each of us came to be at this particular concert and this particular place and moment in time. His advice took me back to when I was 8 years old and my grandfather, Arthur Pender, took me to see the musical 'Brigadoon.'  

For 40 years UC's College-Conservatory of Music has trained musical theater performers. The legendary musical 'Hair' burst forth around the same time that CCM's program began, so the "American Tribal Love-Rock Musical" is a perfect centerpiece for an anniversary celebration.   

The University of Cincinnati's College-Conservatory of Music is one of the best musical theater training programs at any American university. The program was established slightly more than four decades ago, and its graduates have been lighting up Broadway ever since. Most recently, grad Karen Olivo picked up a 2009 Tony as Anita in the Broadway revival of 'West Side Story.'   

The relatively mild summer is giving way to what could well be a mild fall, so maybe the only excitement we'll see this season will be the Classical music offerings. As always, Maestro Paavo Jarvi and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra offer a wide array of talent for the CSO's 115th season, including the Sept. 17 one-night-only appearance of piano superstar Lang Lang.   

The landscape of Cincinnati theater has changed since a year ago. As the season starts this week, New Stage Collective is gone and the leaders of Know Theatre of Cincinnati have left, it's Playhouse in the Park's 50th anniversary, ETC has a fresh line-up and Cincinnati Shakespeare Company continues to stage excellent classic material.