Arts roundup: Tulsa Gridiron, 'Rock the Presidents' coming to PAC
BY JAMES D. WATTS JR. World Scene Writer
Thursday, January 24, 2013
1/24/13 at 6:18 AM
The Broadway-bound production of "Jekyll & Hyde" plays through Sunday at the Tulsa PAC. You can read the Tulsa World's review in today's Scene section.
Local and national politics get treated - as all politics should - with gleefully good-natured scorn in the latest incarnation of the Tulsa Gridiron, which this year bears the title "Vision Trouble, or Help! We've Fallen Off the Fiscal Cliff and We Can't Get Up."
Local performers, directed by Rebecca Ungerman, will skewer a year's worth of governmental foibles, from the 2012 elections to Tulsa's new trash collection program, through skits and songs.
Performances are 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday at the Tulsa PAC, 110 E. Second St. Tickets are $27-$50. 918-596-7111, tulsaworld.com/mytix.
A slightly more serious, but still highly theatrical, look at American politics will be on display with "Rock the Presidents," part of the Tulsa PAC Trust's Imagination Series.
The show is a fast-paced, multimedia revue that manages to condense some 220 years of American history into a collection of original songs and images that are designed to be as informative as they are entertaining. After all, any show that contains a song that asks that musical, historical question, "Who in the World is Millard Fillmore?" has to be fun.
Performances are 7 p.m. Friday, 11 a.m. Saturday at the Tulsa PAC, 110 E. Second St., Tickets are $10. 918-596-7111, tulsaworld.com/mytix.
Two journalists fresh from the front lines of Iraq must now navigate an equally volatile and dangerous terrain as they confront the uncertainty of the present in Donald Margulies' play, "Time Stands Still."
Heller Theatre will open its production of this acclaimed drama by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of "Dinner With Friends" on Friday at the Henthorne PAC, 4825 S. Quaker Ave. Frank Gallagher directs a cast that features Kristin Harding and Will Carpenter, with Tim Hunter and Beka Buster.
Performances are 7:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday, Tuesday and Feb. 1-2, and 2 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $7-$10. 918-746-5065.
Music and artists from Poland will be on display in two separate concerts Saturday. The Signature Symphony at Tulsa Community College will feature guest conductor Piotr Sulkowski leading the orchestra in a program titled "In the Land of Chopin," featuring music by contemporary Polish composers, including Grazyna Bacewicz, whose Violin Concerto No. 3 will be performed by the orchestra's concertmaster Maureen O'Boyle.
The concert is 8 p.m. Saturday at the VanTrease PACE, 10300 E. 81st St. Tickets are $21.75-$32.50. 918-595-7777, tulsaworld.com/mytix.
The Broken Arrow PAC, 701 S. Main St. in Broken Arrow, will host the Karkowska Sisters as part of its "Up Close" series at 7:30 p.m. Saturday. Violinist Anna and pianist Kasha have performed at such venues as Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, and have won international awards for their music. They are also not adverse to adding a bit of comedy to their performances.
Ticket are $25. 918-259-5778, tulsaworld.com/mytix.
Frank Vignola's mastery of the guitar has earned praise from everyone including Les Paul, who once named him as one of his favorite guitarists.
Vignola takes the basics of jazz guitar and infuses it with classical precision, rock 'n' roll energy and an impish sense of showmanship. He'll perform in concert 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Tulsa PAC, 110 E. Second St. Tickets are $12-$28. 918-596-7111, tulsaworld.com/mytix.
"An Unholy Mess" is what the Nightingale Theater, 1416 E. Fourth St., is calling its current show by the theater's house band, the Calamites, which features original songs, skits and monologues. Performances are 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and tickets are $8 at the door.
Exhibits
PHILBROOK MUSEUM
2727 S. Rockford Road
tulsaworld.com/philbrook
918-749-7941
- Models & Muses: Max Weber and the Figure, through Feb. 3
GILCREASE MUSEUM
1400 N. Gilcrease Museum Road
tulsaworld.com/gilcrease
918-596-2700
- Edgar Payne: The Scenic Journey, through March 24
- National Geographic Greatest Photographs of the American West, through Feb. 3
- Prominent Figures of the West from the T.B. Walker Collection of Portraits by Henry H. Cross, through March 31
TULSA HISTORICAL SOCIETY
2445 S. Peoria Ave.
tulsaworld.com/tulsahistory 918-712-9484
- Life of a House: A History of the Travis Mansion, ongoing
TULSA AIR AND SPACE MUSEUM
3624 N. 74th East Ave. tulsaworld.com/tasm
918-834-9900
- Outreach to Space hands-on exhibit, through March 31
Original Print Headline: Political productions
James D. Watts Jr. 918-581-8478
james.watts@tulsaworld.com
