BY STAFF

Lianne Marie Dobbs and Timothy Gulan in Emma

WEDNESDAY 9/3

ONSTAGE: JANE AUSTEN'S EMMA For a woman who died in 1817, Jane Austen still attracts a lot of attention. Last winter and spring, PBS's Masterpiece Theatre devoted months to dramatizations of the 19th-century novelist's stories of manners, romance and personal intrigue. Now her work is onstage, too, as the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park opens its 49th season with a musical version of her most popular novel, Emma, written in 1815. This is an almost-new production: The first staging happened at TheatreWorks in Palo Alto, Calif., where it broke every box-office record in that theater's 38-year history. Now director Robert Kelley is staging it for a second time with several cast members from the show's hit run a year ago. Paul Gordon, who wrote the music and the words, has been in Cincinnati to work with the Playhouse production. His credentials are excellent -- Gordon's "musicalization" of Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre landed Tony Award nominations. Of course, Emma is a more frivolous and charming work, quite different from Jane's love affair with the brooding Rochester. The central character is a matchmaker who's clueless about her own best choices -- and who makes a mess of some others' romances. In fact, it's the inspiration for Clueless, the 1995 film starring Alicia Silverstone. But it's a lot more literate and full of subtle humor -- plus some great music. This one could be bound for Broadway. $31-$59. 513-421-3888. -- Rick Pender

LITERARY: ANDREW O'TOOLE The Cincinnati Bengals were once a proud franchise, largely due to the iconic presence of one person: Paul Brown. Seventeen years after his death -- a period in which the Bengals have had just one winning season -- Andrew O'Toole's Paul Brown aims to shed light on a man known for his innovation and iron-fist authority on the field and his very private nature off of it. Born in 1908 in tiny Norwalk, Ohio, Brown dedicated the next eight decades to his twin loves: football and Ohio. He was a quarterback at Miami University in Oxford before returning to coach at his alma mater, Massillon High School. From there Brown moved to Ohio State, where he a won a national championship. In 1946 he became the head coach of the Cleveland Browns, where he won seven AFL titles in 17 years. Kicked to the curb by Browns' owner Art Model (no doubt aided by disgruntled running back Jim Brown), Paul Brown returned to professional football five years later as the owner/general manager/head coach of the newly formed Bengals. But these are just the known facts. O'Toole's biography attempts to reveal the man behind the inscrutable facade -- a man shaped by an era in American life and sports that seems all but extinct. O'Toole discusses Paul Brown 7 p.m. at Joseph-Beth Booksellers. 513-396-8960. -- Jason Gargano

ART: NKU GALLERY celebrates 40 years with an alumni show. See Tamera Lenz Muente's review on page 39.

THURSDAY 9/4
MUSIC: DON CABALLERO brings a Math Rock mix of free form Jazz, Prog precision and Punk abandon to the Northside Tavern. See Sound Advice preview on page 35.

Daniel Levy

MUSIC: NINE POUND HAMMER is cocked, loaded and ready to drop again at The Southgate House. See Sound Advice preview on page 35.

EVENTS: CIRCUITASTROPHE is a four-day-long hybrid of performance art, Electronic music and Post Punk aesthetic at venues like the Art Damage Lodge and the Contemporary Arts Center. See feature story on page 37.

ONSTAGE: SHINING CITY When the Cincinnati Entertainment Awards for 2007-08 were handed out a few weeks ago, one theater picked up recognition for four of its productions: New Stage Collective. That suggests that it's staging must-see shows, even if they are titles that you don't immediately recognize. Such is the case with its opening production, Conor McPherson's Shining City. It's the story of a shrink who has a patient troubled by ghostly visions of his late wife. And the shrink has some troubles of his own that make the story all the more complicated and intriguing. McPherson is an Irish playwright whose works create a regular stir: Shining City earned three Tony nominations in 2006 and was selected for the annual volume, Best Plays. (Another McPherson play, The Seafarer, was nominated for a Tony this year -- and we'll see it at Ensemble Theatre later this fall.) To make this NSC production all the more interesting, it's being put together by Ed Cohen, a local director who's made a name for himself staging community theater shows but who branched out last season with two engaging works at local universities, both nominated for CEAs. He says this is one of the most interesting scripts he's ever worked with. Sounds like a show that's not to be missed. $12-$20. 513-621-3700. -- Rick Pender

COMEDY: DAN LEVY Dan Levy's comedic outlook is fairly straightforward. "I talk about my life," he says. "I'm a 27-year-old comic. I look at the world from that point of view. I'm the kind of guy that's always in a relationship. I commit to a lot of things. I'm scared of a lot of things and I'm neurotic, so that's me in a nutshell." Back in middle school, Levy says he wasn't good at sports. "I was scared of everything," he recalls. "Baseballs, stronger kids." His mother enrolled him in improv classes, but he turned to stand-up shortly after arriving at Emerson College in Boston. "There was an open mic next to my dorm," he says, "and I started hitting it every Sunday." That was 1999. Levy went on to win an award from HBO as funniest college comedian, but he says he didn't really find his voice until just a few years ago. "When you're an 18-year-old kid there's only so much you can talk about," he says. "I was good at making college kids laugh, but to really relate to people you need to grow up. As I've evolved as a person, so has my comedy." Levy performs Thursday-Sunday at Go Bananas. $8-$12. 513-984-9288. -- P.F. Wilson

FRIDAY 9/5
LIT: MURMUR POETRY If you think the art reviews and features by CityBeat contributor Matt Morris read like poetry, you won't be surprised to learn that he is indeed a poet -- as well as a practicing artist. On Friday he will read selections from a recent work, "Bermuda Triangle," at Murmur gallery/alternative-arts space at 2450 Beekman St. in Fairmount. Admission is free and the show will start promptly at 8 p.m. For more information, visit www.myspace.com/murmurspace. -- Steven Rosen

The great Paul Brown

ART: COUNTRY CLUB Country Club introduces Ohad Meromi's multimedia installation Who Owns the World?, presented in new circumstances and joined by brand new boxes of digital prints entitled Stage Props. The prints are stunning: smartly awkward in their use of seemingly arbitrary space around off-centered photo documentation of Meromi's other works. Stage-like sculptural constructions (some of which are included in the Country Club version of this exhibition), drawings and paintings are all leveled into digital photographic prints that are presented salon-style across one portion of the space. In addition, his two-part video project The Exception and the Rule I & II as well as four skeletal structures of rooms with sculptural props stem from a homogenate of communism, Modernist utopian ideals for spaces (public and private) and the plays of Bertold Brecht (among other things). Meromi's work is rich both visually and conceptually. Country Club's opening is one of several throughout the complex on Findlay Street. Upstairs Aisle Gallery will present photographs and porcelain sculptures by Joel Otterson. The opening reception is 5-9 p.m. Friday. Ohad Meromi's work will be on view at Country Club through Nov. 22. Joel Otterson's exhibition will be on view at Aisle through October. 513-792-9744. -- Matt Morris

SATURDAY 9/6
MUSIC: BRANDON DAWSON hosts a CD release party for his debut, Becoming Human, with guests David Wolfenberger and Kim Taylor. See Locals Only interview on page 36.

MUSIC: MAGIC SHOP AND THE READIES It seems whenever a city's music scene is thrust into the national spotlight, particularly on the heels and coattails of some breakthrough band or two, the scene suffers. Hopes get raised, jealousies abound, new, green upstarts rocket to the pages of glossy magazines and veterans who helped start it all get overlooked. Detroit appears to be on the rebound, particularly if bands like Magic Shop and The Readies are any indication. Magic Shop makes magical, rootsy Garage Pop with chiming guitars, snappy, ragged hooks and a vintage sway. Formed by Stephen Nawara, a singer/songwriter who is all the wiser after stints in the Detroit Cobras and Electric Six, the band immediately became a huge draw in their hometown. Another contemporary Detroit vet, Danny Kroha (a co-founder of pioneering greats, The Gories), has also been re-making inroads with his latest band, The Readies, which boasts an endearing streetwise, Glam Lou Reed strut and Stones-ian sleaziness. The tour buds team up for a free show this Saturday at Courtyard Cafe in Over-the-Rhine. 513-723-1119. -- Mike Breen

EVENTS: CINCINNATI SALSA FESTIVAL From Monday nights at Mad Frog in Clifton to Thursday nights on Fountain Square and more, Salsa clearly has a strong foothold in Cincinnati and beyond. This weekend's first annual Cincinnati Salsa Festival (with a helping hand from Chicago) promises all the right ingredients to satisfy any Latin dance lover's fix: quality lessons, splashy performances and, of course, plenty of open dancing opportunities. Then there's the music: The Chicago Mambo All-Stars, Grammy Award-winning Lalo Rodriguez and local faves Tropicoso and Son del Caribe. Their Web site also boasts "a certified attempt to have the largest Salsa class in the Guinness Book of World Records." Whether you want to strut your stuff or just witness some dynamic dancing and hot music, this sounds like a lively way to say adios to summer. Events take place at Step-N-Out Studio in Covington and Sawyer Point. Visit cincinnatisalsafestival.com or call 513-939-0936. -- Julie Mullins

Full Battle Rattle

EVENTS: MUSIC IN THE WOODS Imago, Cincinnati's free, open and urban nature preserve, is hosting its seventh annual Music in the Woods event with bands Jake Speed and the Freddies and the Newbees. Spend an evening listening to music, drinking and eating as well as deepening your connection to nature and those around you. There will be a silent auction featuring prizes like tickets to the ballet, psychic readings and yoga classes, with proceeds benefiting the center. Imago hosts a variety of free programs year-round including educational programs about sustainable living, Earth and Spirit groups for environmentally minded people and daily hikes in their 23 acres of forest. Imago's goal is to provide a place for all people to escape the city, at least for a little while. 700 Enright Ave., Price Hill. 7-11 p.m. $12. 513-921-5124. -- Maija Zummo

SUNDAY 9/7
EVENTS: AMPHORA POTTERY FAIR Jumping on the arts and cultural bandwagon rolling through Over-the-Rhine, Findlay Market is hosting all things pottery, in conjunction with Amphora Studios, for an all-day event featuring the work of 12 local potters and some of their favorite works. Stroll the market for some food and unique art. Amphora Studios is an artist's pottery co-op shared by 22 clay artists in Walnut Hills, which uses non-toxic glazes and an electric kiln. 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Free. www.amphorastudios.com. -- Margo Pierce

TUESDAY 9/9
FILM: FULL BATTLE RATTLE This useful, well-filmed but narrowly focused documentary reveals how the U.S. Army trains soldiers to fight the insurgency in Iraq by simulating its conditions, with exacting verisimilitude, at a remote base in California's Mojave Desert. Given sweeping access, filmmakers Tony Gerber and Jesse Moss follow as soldiers become emotionally committed to their carefully scripted playacting -- learning how to make friends among wary Iraqis, how to fight when necessary and how to handle their own inevitable casualties. The Army uses gruesomely wounded mannequins to prepare soldiers for treating injuries and grieving comrades' death and hires Iraqi refugees to play the part of Iraqi civilians. One soldier even plays (badly) a television reporter covering the war. At times, the film focuses on those Iraqi role players -- one young man is hoping his involvement with the Army will prevent him from being deported back to "certain death" in Iraq. It also lightly touches on the surrealism of them acting out scenes of their own nation's war. While the film is informative, there's an inevitable disconnect between our involvement as an audience in it and the soldier's involvement in these grueling war games. Since we know that what we're watching is being played out for real in Iraq right now, it's hard to get too interested in what we're seeing on the screen. As a result, Full Battle Rattle doesn't develop much complexity as it continues. The film also could use a harder, broader edge in its analysis of whether this approach helps the Army in its difficult task of pacifying villages in Iraq. Presented by Cincinnati World Cinema, Full Battle Rattle screens 7 p.m. Sept. 9-10 at Cincinnati Art Museum. For more information, see cincyworldcinema.org. -- Steven Rosen

WEDNESDAY 9/10
MUSIC: INDIGENOUS guitarist/creative center Mato Nanji gets back to his Blues roots at the 20th Century Theater. See interview on page 29.

E-mail the editor

Printer-friendly version

more...

personals | cover | news | columns | music | movies | arts | dining | listings | classifieds | mediakit | promotions | home

Review: Forty Years of Alumni Artists
NKU Gallery celebrates 40 years with alumni show

Curtain Call: Theaters, Actors, Etc.
Paying for Good Theater

Cincitecture
The Clyffside

Articulations: Inside Artists' Heads
Kevin T. Kelly

Calendar Listings

	Join the CityBeat Mailing List
	» JOIN NOW