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We've got five winners, but check this out ...

Man, you guys are fast!

We had our first five comments on the "Alegria" ticket giveaway in a matter of minutes. If only people bought tickets around here that fast we'd get more shows!

Just teasing.

The tickets have been given away, but I found out a few minutes ago that UTEP's Special Events office is releasing some more tickets to all eight performances of the Cirque du Soleil spectacle.

They start at $35 and were seats that were being held back until the production was loaded in and visibility could be determined.

I don't know how many tickets we're talking about or at what different price levels.

They're on sale at the UTEP Ticket Center, Ticketmaster and 800.745.3000.

 

5 by 5 — win tickets for 'Alegria' opener

I just got handed five pair of choice seats to Wednesday's opening performance of "Alegria" by Cirque du Soleil at the Don Haskins Center.

Want 'em?

The first five readers to post a comment on this blog by 5 p.m. El Paso time today (Tuesday) will get the tickets.

They're good seats, by the way, in row 12 of section Z, which is on the middle right of the lower bowl.

There's a few catches: You can't be an employee of the El Paso Times or its sister publications; and you have to be able to pick up your tickets during business hours Wednesday at the Times office, 300 N. Campbell.

"Alegria" is the first Cirque du Soleil show to come to El Paso. It's here for eight performances Wednesday through Sunday at the Don.

Go to Ticketmaster, the UTEP Special Events or Cirque du Soleil sites for ticket info.

Winners will be contacted by our staff.

 

Theater review: This 'Beast' is a beauty

"Beauty and the Beast" is one of those timeless fairy tales that seems to find a new audience with each new generation.

The folks at Disney certainly are doing their best to keep the Beast tradition alive, first with its 1991 animated classic-in-the-making, which gave us a snarling Beast, a strong-willed Belle and a bunch of talking (and singing) household objects.

Disney's "B and B" begat the Broadway musical, which added songs and fleshed out characters, and piled up the sixth-longest run in Great White Way history over a 13-year period.

That spawned the touring version, "Disney's Beauty and the Beast," a new production of which launched in February and came to the Plaza Theatre Monday night, the kickoff of its annual Broadway in El Paso Presented by El Paso Electric series.

To say it was the hottest ticket on a cold night was an understatement. Word has it the show sold out more than a week ago, and there were at least a few poor souls chilling near the box office to buy, not scalp the coveted tickets.

Inside, the theater was filled with the old guard and young parents with little princesses and, presumably, princes in tow. More than a few sported their Sunday best, and a couple of the little girls I saw held some of the $5 plastic roses that were on sale in the lobby, along with $15 tiaras and $25 Belle dolls (my favorite was the t-shirt that said, "He's such a beast").

The merch served as a reminder that this centuries-old French folk tale has more than enduring appeal, it's pretty friendly to cash registers too.

The story's a pretty simple woman-is-imprisoned-by-beast story. She's stuck in the horned, fanged monster's castle after trading her dreams for her bumbling inventor father's freedom.

Of course, the Beast is a beast because he wasn't very nice to an old woman who turned out to be an enchantress. She turned him into a monster and his servants into animate objects, including a candle (Lumiere), clock (Cogsworth), teapot and teacup (Mrs. Potts and Chip) and wardrobe (Madame de la Grande Bouche).

Teach him to turn down a free rose.

To break the spell, he must fall in love with someone who loves him in return, kind of tough when you go around growling, snorting, scaring and imprisoning people. But Belle's no pushover, refusing his order to join him for dinner, but making a connection when the big guy risks life and paw to rescue you her from a pack of wolves (well, a trio).

You don't have to see it to know how it turns out, but this production from NETworks is an eyeful and an earful. The staging was top-flight, from Stanley A. Meyer's richly detailed sets to Tony Award-winning costume designer Ann Hould-Ward's tastefully muted (and versatile) threads to those inventive songs (like the layered vocals on "Belle") by Alan Menken, Tim Rice and the late Howard Ashman.

The rich staging was indicative of the kind of high level of quality with which director Rob Roth, who directed the Broadway musical, approached this update. The production, which offers a nice balance of sentiment and humor, ran two hours with intermission, moved quickly and seldom sagged.

Roth's crisp direction and imaginative staging have a lot to do with that, but so does the energy and talent of the young cast, which, instead of the usual one great and a few good singers, boasted three strong lead vocalists and a supporting cast that managed to be cute and clever without ever being cloying.

Nathaniel Hackmann as the posturing, flexing, beer-swilling and self-loving Gaston had an especially strong, almost operatic baritone and a flare for Gaston's insufferable egocentrism.

Justin Glaser balanced the Beast's boorishness, awkwardness and vulnerability with a tenor that soared and roared on his signature song, "If I Can't Love Her."

Liz Shivener's Belle was almost overshadowed by her co-stars' muscular voices, but found her strength on the inspirational showcase "A Change in Me."

 A strong supporting cast brought a comedic balance to the romantic elements with good comic timing and restraint, including Merritt David Janes as the mischievous French human candle, Lumiere (part Pepe Le Pew, part Maurice Chevalier), Keith Kirkwood as the dithering timekeeper Cogsworth and Michael Fatica as Lefou, the muscle-bound Gaston's slapstick sidekick.

The production wasn't without its problems and curiosities. Microphones cut out occasionally and created static in one instance. One of the biggest production numbers, "Be Our Guest," with its can-can dancing plates and gymnastic "Welcome" mat, lacked the energy of the more satisfying "Gaston" dance number, with its inventive stein-clicking routine.

It's a kids show (as their frequent laughter would attest) that adults can watch, but the scene in which Gaston stabs the Beast was a bit strong for some of the very young children in the crowd. Another scene where Chip talks while resting on a serving tray was just plane weird. It looked like Mrs. Potts was addressing a decapitated child.

But they're minor quibbles. "Disney's Beauty and the Beast" was easily one of the best quality productions I've seen over the two years I've been covering Broadway shows at the Plaza. And it's a shining example of just how well an age-old story can be told with a youthful energy.

 

Concert update: Warped dates announced, including NMSU return

The Vans Warped Tour folks are getting an early jump on announcing next year's circuit, just in time for the holiday season.

Next year's tour will include a June 29 return visit to the NMSU campus.

The tour starts June 24 in Dallas, instead of its traditional California opening, and ends Aug. 14 in Portland.

Today's tour announcement coincides with the sale of an advanced ticket sale running today through Dec. 10.

Tickets are $45 and come with a ticket, a 2011 tour holiday ornament for the city designated, tour crew socks and other memorabilia.

Bands will be announced starting Dec. 8.

For info on the holiday ticket pre-sale, go to vanswarpedtour.com.

 

Concert update: 'Spamalot,' Bret Michaels, Rosie Flores

The Plaza Theatre's Broadway series gets underway Nov. 29 with a single performance of "Disney's Beauty and the Beast" at 7:30 p.m.

Meanwhile, for the second installment of that series, "Monty Python's Spamalot," will go on sale next week.

It'll be here for one show only at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 25.

Tickets are $30, $55 and $65, plus service fees, and will go on sale at 10 a.m. Dec. 3 at the box office, Ticketmaster outlets, ticketmaster.com and 800.745.3000.

In other show news:

• Though rocker-turned-reality star Bret Michaels doesn't go onstage until 9 p.m. Nov. 30 at Speaking Rock, two local opening bands will perform earlier.

Gates open at 5, music starts at 6, with Texas Road House and Ulysses performing.

It's an 18-and-up show.

Speaking Rock GM Karl A. Maahs expects about 20,000 people for Michaels' show.

The stage, by the way, will be set up on the south end of the lot, just as it was for Enanitos Verdes and Blondie.

S. Old Pueblo Road will not be closed, as it was for Korn's concert last Oct. 30.

• Got the ticket prices for that Rosie Flores concert I told you about last week.

The Texas rockabilly queen will perform an 18-and-over show at 8 p.m. Dec. 4 at the Lips Lounge, 510 N. Stanton.

Austin rockabillly guitarist Danny B. Harvey and El Paso's Hotrod Boogie, Hillside Gamblers and Nino Inferno will open.

Tickets are $5 at the door for anyone 21 and over, $8 for those 18-20.

 

Concert update: Koz sells out, STP to Speaking Rock

I don't know what's in the water, but Dave Koz has sold out here for the eighth time.

Koz's Dec. 9 Christmas show at the Plaza Theatre was declared a sellout today by promoter Connie Paul Concerts.

That means the soulful smooth jazz saxman has sold out eight shows in nine stops here over an 11-year period.

Wow.

It's not the water, of course. Koz is a showman, prides himself on bringing a new stage show to town every time and surrounds himself with compatible co-stars.

Next month's "A Smooth Jazz Christmas" show, includes previous touring companions Jonathan Butler, Brian Culbertson and Candy Dulfer.

Now, the promoters say, there may be a few single tickets left, but that number was less than 15 as of Monday night.

The only way to get two tickets together is by taking your chance in the El Paso Times' Facebook contest.

All you've got to do is become a fan of our Facebook page to be eligible for the two tickets, backstage passes and a post-show meet-and-greet that will include having your picture taken with the headliner.

The entry deadline is Dec. 1.

In other big concert news:

• Speaking Rock Entertainment Center has booked Stone Temple Pilots for a free show at 9 p.m. Feb. 17. It'll be limited to those 18 and older.

You'll recall the group canceled its Sept. 21 Coliseum show after singer Scott Weiland went off the rails a few nights before at a concert in Houston.

The band took a couple of weeks off, probably to cool their heads, before resuming their tour.

Tickets sales weren't particularly strong for that show, which also may have factored into the early break.

 

Guest concert review: Cook whips up a funny, ribald show at Pan Am

I didn't make it to Sunday's Dane Cook concert at NMSU's Pan Am Center in Las Cruces, so here's a review by Amanda L. Bradford of our sister paper, the Las Cruces Sun-News.

Sounds like she liked it, no? I tell ya, love him or hate 'em, the guy's good live.

LAS CRUCES — Most standup comics don't need rows of security personnel standing, arms linked, to keep a crowd in check for their entrance.

Then again, Dane Cook isn't most comics.

Cook strutted onto the stage Sunday night at the Pan American Center like a rock star, with AC/DC blaring from the speakers and a montage of fans sporting his trademark Super-Finger hand gesture flashing on the screens overhead.

Cook's openers — J. Chris Newberg, Ben Gleib and Al Del Bene, three comics well-matched to his style of comedy — had the crowd of more than 4,000 fans warmed up and ready for the 38-year-old comedian's first area performance.

Of course, as Del Bene pointed out, the Las Cruces audience was ready to cheer just about any statement, if it was delivered with enough enthusiasm. "America!" was greeted with a roar. "Beer!" got an even more vocal response.

The stage itself, a bare platform in the center of the arena, allowed all the comedians to play to the audience in every direction. It seemed a little awkward for the openers, who probably aren't used to it, but Cook was right at home, bounding around the stage and delivering his signature storytelling comedy style to a crowd that was clearly swept up in it.

The material — more than an hour of new stories — stayed away from some of the darker topics of last year's tour, in which he discussed losing his parents to cancer and coming to grips with the fact that he's as hated by his detractors as he his loved by his fans.

Instead, he returned to the kind of energetic, rambling storytelling and sometimes-uncomfortable topics that made him popular.

The subject matter certainly wasn't for the faint of heart, but shock value has always been part of Cook's appeal, and he relates the stories in an effortless, conversational way. He mused on how best to hide a knife after stabbing someone and how to ensure your victim will never report a mugging.

There was also the question of whether assault with a Nerf bat counted as domestic violence and a lesson in the perils of not completely removing your movie makeup before a date.

Most of it's not fit to print, but it definitely had the audience howling.

Once he reached the end of his very funny solo set, Cook brought out his guitar along with Del Bene — the two were childhood friends, it turns out — and they serenaded one lucky birthday girl in the audience. The song took a predictable turn, but Miss Birthday was unwilling to oblige their request to flash them.

Cook finished off the night by showing off his considerable guitar talent, most notably in a rendition of "The Humpty Dance" in the style of folk-rocker Jack Johnson — with a bit of Queen thrown in.

Like much of his humor, it sounds strange on paper, but somehow, it worked.

 

Concert review: A little bit of everything in EPSO concert

You could say this weekend's El Paso Symphony Orchestra concerts had a little bit of everything — except one of classical music's traditional warhorses.

But they had a lot of other things, including a program of music written by American composers (including one who was newly naturalized at the time he wrote his piece), an onstage visit by one of those composers, a performance of his concerto that featured the rarely showcased saxophone, an audio recording of another of the composers and an audience sing-along.

It was the kind of adventurous program that conductor Sarah Ioannides has brought to the mix since her arrival in 2005 and, one hopes, the kind of thing her successor will continue after the maestra leaves at the end of this season (more than 200 people have applied for the job; next season will be an audition for the six finalists).

All of the pieces were written in the 20th century and the composer of one of them, David Amram, was on hand for the performance of "Ode to Lord Buckley," his concerto for saxophone and orchestra. Kenneth Radnofsky, the guy who commissioned it and premiered it in 1981, was on hand to perform it.

Buckley, Amram explained, was a comedian who loved to quote everything from Shakespeare to the Bible. He was also something of an underground favorite of other artists, a beat era artist with whom Amram performed on the night before his death in 1960.

This performance of "Ode to Lord Buckley" came just a few days after the eclectic composer's 80th birthday. His appearance here, which included a visit and birthday cake at a Thursday rehearsal and a meeting with UTEP music students on Friday, comes during the symphony's 80th anniversary, a coincidence, Ioannides pointed out.

But one wonders if the vivacious octagenarian's presence didn't add a little spark to Saturday's performance. It started with a lively reading of George Gershwin's "Cuban Overture," a bit of smokey '20s-style Havana that featured some energetic work by the violins and some tasty island atmospherics from an expanded percussion section.

Amram humbly joked that the Buckley piece needs no explanation if he's done his job right, but it's a good thing he was there to explain it in a brief interview with Ioannides. The first movement was written in a neo-classic style to honor Buckley's love of Shakespeare (and Amram's former tenure as the composer for Joseph Papp's Shakespeare in the park series in NYC). The second highlights his love of jazz. The third blended both Arabic and Jewish folk music, a movement Radnofsky joked in a pre-concert "Opening Notes" talk "solved the Middle East crisis."

If only it was that easy.

Radnofsky, however, solved the intricate complexities of a piece he's lived with for almost 30 years (he's also lived with his tux that long, he said it's the same one he wore when he premiered the piece on March 17, 1981).

He made his gold-colored saxophone sing, playing with a purity of tone and a deceptive ease that had at least one guy sitting near me saying "wow" after a couple of particularly brilliant runs. The good ones make it look easy. Radnofsky took it a step further, making the written notes sound improvised at times, especially during the blues-dipped second movement.

The second half was just as eventful, beginning with the alternately solemn and dynamic "Music from a Scene for Shelley," written by Samuel Barber in the 1930s in an attempt to capture some of the emotions articulated in Shelley's play "Prometheus Unbound."

Ioannides played host again before the finale, explaining to the audience that before the orchestra could perform the last movement from Swiss-born composer Ernst Bloch's "America: An Epic Rhapsody," she wanted to have the crowd practice singing the anthem at its end.

After three runthroughs and a scratchy archival audio clip of the late composer and eventual American citizen Bloch discussing the piece ("This symphony is your symphony," he explained), Ioannides firmly commanded her troops through "1926 The Present-The Future," the work's bombastic finale. It sounded a lot better live than it did on the recording I studied in advance. The again orchestra rose to the occasion.

The anthem's pretty corny, but novelty of the sing-along — how often do you get to participate in a classical music concert — made it palatable. That and the presence of the 164 members of the UTEP Chorale, Men' Glee Club and Women's Glee Club, which are directed by Dr. William McMillan and Dr. Elisa Wilson.

Radnofsky (and his wife) sat next to me during the sing-along and the guy's not just a superb musician, he can sing, which is pretty intimidating when you can't sing.

Ioannides looked very at ease and in command throughout Saturday's concert (the orchestra also performed Friday). This was despite a balky right knee on which she plans to have surgery this week. She didn't have to conduct from a chair, as she feared.

And she must have a lot of confidence in the program. She's planning to conduct some of the same pieces, including the Gershwin and the Bloch, in, curiously, a Christmas concert with the Spartanburg (SC) Philharmonic next month and as the guest conductor of the Louisville Orchestra in January.

The conductor is rooted in the classics, but she has a thing for newer music, too, and this is a case where her instincts paid some real aesthetic dividends. 

It was a stirring conclusion to an eventful night filled with refreshingly unusual and inventive touches.

 

Guest concert review: Still Blondie after all these years

P.A.M. "Pam" Gravalos is a 52-year-old El Pasoan whom I interviewed for a story on Blondie that ran Nov. 12 on the cover of our Tiempo section.

Since I didn't make it to Blondie's free show Nov. 16 at Speaking Rock, which was attended by an estimated crowd of 10,000 people, I asked Pam if she'd write down a few impressions.

Here's what she wrote:

One of the women with whom I'd attended the Blondie concert had said that when she grew up, she wanted to look just like Debbie Harry, who is 25 years her senior!

Harry has always been the face and voice of Blondie, prompting the now vintage t-shirt, which stated that Blondie was a band not a person. Nonetheless, Harry, 65, remains timeless in her looks and ever fashion forward.

The Speaking Rock audience — which jammed into the parking lot across S. Old Pueblo Road from the venue — was visually treated to a black-and-white stage, with cool, simple graphics. This was offset by her long mane of white hair and the classic hipness the band embodies. Nevermind that their talent has held up over the years.

I had waited many, many, many years to see Blondie, and they did not disappoint in their first El Paso performance. Harry's voice is still edgy and sublime, fellow founding member (and her former boyfriend) Chris Stein a magician on guitar, and the other original member, drummer Clem Burke, kept the heartbeat pounding as Harry sang and danced about the stage.

Seasoned professionals that they are, the original members worked well with three newer recruits, including Matt Katz-Bohen on keyboards and bassist Leigh Foxx, a holdover from the solo band Harry fronted before Blondie reunited in 1997. The old-timers had no problem letting the newcomers shine. Newest member Tommy Kessler on guitar performed his solos in a psuedo-garage band stance, clearly enjoying the music and audience. His playing was on point.

Harry is legendary for her sultry moves, all very controlled and understated, hinting at the fire below the surface.  When she prances and shakes her hips, it is a provacative accent to the lyrics she belts out.  Unlike Shakira, who is mostly movement with voice, Harry is voice first, then motion temptress.

The show took me back to my post-high school era, when disco was finally being replaced by new, fresh music.  Blondie opened the more mainstream doors of many genres: punk, new wave, rap. They even made some disco worth a listen.

They played "Rapture," on which she took complete control of the audience. Later there was "Atomic," "Call Me," "The Tide is High."  All songs on my list.  While they didn't perform "Die Young, Stay Pretty" (Clearly some sort of Dorian Gray reasoning), the show was peppered with some of their new songs from the forthcoming "Panic of Girls." I am waiting with bated breath for it (it's due out early next year).

Given the humble arena in which they performed — it's a parking lot, actually — the quality and enthusiasm with which they delivered their music to their adoring fans (not all of whom were from the middle-aged demographic), the grace with which they thanked the opening act, their final song "Heart of Glass" could easily be called "Heart of Class."

 

 

Concert update: Fluffy orders double at the Plaza

Looks like El Paso fans of Gabriel "Fluffy" Iglesias can look forward to twice the comedy next year.

The heavy funnyman has added a second show at the Plaza Theatre for 8 p.m. Jan. 15.

Tickets are $36, plus service charges, and go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday, Nov. 19.

Iglesias' Jan. 14 show is all but sold out, theater officials say, with only single tickets left.

He was last here in 2009, when he taped two sold out shows at the Plaza Theatre that April.

His "I"m Not Fat, I'm Fluffy" special debuted last November on Comedy Central and was released on DVD.

Tickets for Fluffy's shows are on sale at the box office, Ticketmaster and 800.45.3000.