Thrills and spills from the Black Hills: the entertainment scene in Rapid City, South Dakota, and beyond
Thrills and spills from the Black Hills: the entertainment scene in Rapid City, South Dakota, and beyondThrills and spills from the Black Hills: the entertainment scene in Rapid City, South Dakota, and beyondThrills and spills from the Black Hills: the entertainment scene in Rapid City, South Dakota, and beyondThrills and spills from the Black Hills: the entertainment scene in Rapid City, South Dakota, and beyond
In Black Hills Community Theatre’s production of “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” the titular coat is constructed of men’s ties — including 6 color-themed panels with upwards of 40 ties each. And if you’ve ever been to the tie display at a second-hand store, you know just how vivid those things can be.
Talented costume designer Chris Lee came up with the garment, which is central to the plot. The story (clearly secondary to the spectacle) is the biblical tale of Joseph, played exuberantly by Adante Carter. Rough recap: his father gives Joseph an ostentatious coat, his brothers get jealous and sell him into slavery, and Joseph rises to power interpreting dreams for the pharaoh. All to some really peppy music.
The production features music by Andrew Lloyd Weber and lyrics by Tim Rice, the duo who also brought you “The Phantom of the Opera.” But this is nothing like “Phantom.” Directed by Mikal Kraklio, “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” doesn’t take itself seriously at all; although based on the Bible, it is never overtly religious. It’s also not historically accurate: no matter who you ask, biblical-era people did not wear berets or cowboy hats, and they definitely did not wear ’60s-style polyester suits. But it’s fun, and at times laugh-out-loud funny.
As the cool, postmodern narrator, Michelle Martinson was front-and-center singing for virtually the entire production, and she filled the demanding role well.
Musical director Molly O. Dailey and choreographer Andrea Schaefer collaborated to make each song a blast, from the disco “Go Go Go Joseph” to the country-twanged “One More Angel in Heaven,” as well as other songs ranging from calypso to 1950s rock ‘n’ roll. Even the curtain call is an extended musical number. In the cast of 26 — that’s right, 26, all on that one little stage — it’s hard to stand out, but each member of the ensemble did a great job; in the lively musical numbers, each and every actor was constantly doing something interesting. It’s not only hard to single some out for praise, it’s actually impossible. Flip through the pages upon pages of cast bios in the program; they were well selected and well directed, and I salute them all.
The pharaoh — Stephen Faruggia as an over-the-top Elvis impersonator — was wildly entertaining; the only problem was that I didn’t take in any of the lyrics and had no idea what his song was actually about. Fortunately, that didn’t make a whit of difference. “Joseph” is straight-up entertainment for all ages, no mental investment required.
Exactly what I needed after a long day’s work.
“Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” is the very definition of family-friendly entertainment, but surprisingly, the audience when I attended was nearly all adults — people who could have seen this musical when it first hit the stage in 1968. Perhaps the 7:30 p.m. start time was just too late for a school night. Still, the theater was packed, and everyone seemed to thoroughly enjoy the musical.
After tonight’s Wacky Wednesday showing, performances are at 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday, with the last performance October 4, at the Black Hills Community Theatre at the Rushmore Mall. The box office is open from noon to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday; stop by, call 394-1786 or go to www.bhct.org for tickets, which cost $18 adults, $16 senior/military, and $11 students.
MDC’s performance was one of the most entertaining and energetic I’ve ever seen, especially for a band that formed around 30 years ago. And if you missed this show, you have another chance to see them tomorrow night.
That’s right, Millions of Dead Cops has a day off from touring, and they’ve volunteered to play Friday, August 21, at The Retired Enlisted Association, 1981 E. Centre St., Rapid City. Admission is only $2, all ages, and I’m guessing showtime is around 7 or 8 p.m.*Edit: Showtime is at 9 p.m., and either Old or Woman Is the Earth is opening. Thanks, Beert!* Part of this last-minute performance will be acoustic — what they call their “Millions of Dead Hippies” set.
Still to come: a full review of MDC, plus the local bands that performed. Stay tuned.
Rapid City’s first and only professional dance troupe, Dakota Dance Company, presented its second production ever on Friday night at the Dahl. Encompassing everything from classical ballet to very modern compositions, the evening featured original choreography and a crew of amazingly talented dancers, including young children.
The fun began with the very first dance, “Degas Dreams,” choreographed by Paul A. Burns II to music by Pugni. It was a classical piece with tulle and pirouettes and pink ballet slippers.
Degas, of course, is the 19th-century painter of these and other famous Paris ballet scenes featuring those very elements:
(Dance is a curious activity where athletes must do what they do while looking very pretty.)
In “Degas Dreams,” a group of ballerinas as light and graceful as cherry blossoms was joined by another dancer, charmingly human, who dreamed of being the primary focus of one of those pretty-as-a-picture scenes. Not even en pointe, she humorously tried to take the lead part from the primary ballerina. The piece included a very effectively acted comedic back-and-forth with the actual lead that drew several bursts of laughter from the audience.
The second dance could not have been more different: choreographed and performed by Andrea Schaefer, “Wavering” was a modern work featuring music by the Alan Parsons project. Her costume was unique, with a long linen skirt that split into strips stretching six or eight feet out from her, like an octopus’s tentacles, rooting her to one spot for much of the dance. She bowed and rose, shuddered and heaved, like a sea creature or a subconscious energy.
This solo dance was passionate, the meaning elusive, but so intimate that it felt like the audience didn’t exist. I will be thinking about this for a long time to come.
The evening continued with “All To One Me,” a piece by apprentice choreographer Brianna Boyle that , to me, focused on bringing grownups both back to life and back to youth.
“All To One Me” was bursting with life, energy, immediacy. In mismatched pairs — child with adult — the dancers became an extension of the music by Mark Mancina and Kaki King. Filled with claps, stomps and lifts, exciting movement, communication and a natural joy, the choreography was playful and friendly.
After a brief intermission (and cash bar in the lobby), the evening continued with Mary Ann Hodnett’s “Pure Visions.”
Set to hypnotic music by Burial, with varying degrees of trance and techno, the dance was hypnotic and hip-hop-esque and featured blacklight on pure white costumes, with heavy use of props such as hand-held lights, glowing balls, and veils; for much of the piece, barely visible dancers carried small glowsticks. Their green and purple glimmer spinning across the stage, disappearing and reappearing as the dancers crouched or turned, made up a great deal of the visual movement of this dance.
“Pure Visions” didn’t move me as much as other dances in “Procedo,” but it was easy to admire the technical ability, the skill, the complexity of the perfectly coordinated movements.
Finally, the production wrapped up with “The Arc Between,” another dreamlike work by Andrea Schaefer. In simple ivory shifts and petticoats, t-shirts and loose-fitting trousers, a relatively large cast of barefoot dancers acted out a wordless, expressive, sometimes aggressive piece to the music of Moby, the Shins, Racheals, and Black Angels.
“The Arc Between” distilled elements of life and society to universal forms: for example, a single fist in the air, a silent clap, a pointed finger, and at the center of the circled dancers, two young men wrestling without even touching. Movement became exquisitely stylized and allegorical, almost like Kabuki theater.
All live art has its imperfections, and “Procedo” is not without its flaws — wardrobe glitches, slight timing mishaps, etc. — but overall, the performance was enjoyable and entertaining, with a very professional feel. Several of the dances were thought-provoking and intense; afterward, I felt like my soul had run a marathon.
“Procedo” continues for one more performance tonight (that’s Saturday, Aug. 15) at 7 p.m. at the Dahl Arts Center in Rapid City. Tickets are $10 each, or two for $15.
*Slight edits were made to this piece after seeing the production a second time on 8/15 -RM*
Hundreds braved temperatures well into the 90s this afternoon to see Corduroy Vinyl perform and enjoy the other attractions provided at Summer Nights in Rapid City. This four-man band from Rapid City covers many other artists’ tunes, but they choose them judiciously; instead of Bob Seeger or Skynyrd, they play Woody Guthrie and the Decemberists, blending well with their own thoughtful originals.
After a bit, Mike traded his mandolin for an electric guitar, and things got a little louder. Here they are showing off with a couple original songs:
Then they take on Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Fortunate Son,” make it explicitly about Dick Cheney, and add a little Neil Young. I approve completely. (Music begins around 2:40.)
Fortified by ice-cold beer, many danced despite the heat, and a fun time was had by all.
Woman Is the Earth is an unforgettable experience. Over a hailstorm of percussion — the fastest man-made drumming I’ve ever heard — the singer screams and the guitars are played so fast fingers are just a blur. Sometimes it feels melancholy, sometimes violent, but always jarringly new. It’s like Woman Is the Earth invented a new type of music, a new song structure. Add a fog machine and a light show, and it’s better than a chocolate cake baked by a unicorn.
I captured the following video footage of this progressive black metal band’s performance Saturday evening; unfortunately, it’s not very good, mostly due to the sound quality — turn it down. The sheer volume of Woman Is the Earth is just too much for my poor little pawnshop camera and the music drowns in its agonized screeching.
I may have figured out a fix, though… keep your fingers crossed for my next video, which might not suck as much as this one.
Once again, I took no photos of Sam French, who plays bass in this local metal group (see my last post on them for the backstory). However, this time I have a good reason for not including him in my post: Sam wasn’t there.
As a matter of fact, I had planned to take photos exclusively of Sam on Saturday, and call it a one-man band; it would have been hilarious, I promise. As it was, I took the following pictures of the other members of the band. I apologize since this post is not nearly as funny as I assure you it would have been if circumstances had cooperated.
Without bass, Corundum lost the battle for “loudest local band.” That honor went to Woman Is the Earth, up next.
Literally. They’re booking a tour. Pretty soon people in other states will get to experience what Rapid City did Saturday night — namely, the best hardcore band around. These musicians are talented and dedicated, and it comes through in their music.
After the concert Aug. 1, some of Empires’ equipment inexplicably disappeared. If you know where it might be, please contact the band.
After an onslaught of originals, Empires wrapped up an energetic performance with their very best — “Destination: Desolation,” a jaw-droppingly good song that begins with a driving drumbeat and explodes into something breathtaking. The first time I ever saw Empires play, this was the song that made me stop taking pictures and say to myself, “These guys are AMAZING.” Happily, “Destination: Desolation” is one of the songs Empires is currently recording. I can’t wait for the CD.
You can catch Empires‘ next performance on Thursday, Aug. 20, when they open for MDC at the Dahl Arts Center.
$120 was definitely too much to pay to see Aerosmith play — but how much would you pay to see Steven Tyler fall off the stage? Because that’s what he did.
Aerosmith postpones concert after Tyler fall
STURGIS, S.D. (AP) — Aerosmith postponed at least one weekend concert after frontman Steven Tyler fell off the stage at a South Dakota show and suffered what a concert spokesman said were head, neck and shoulder injuries.
Tyler, 61, fell several feet while dancing around as the sound crew replaced a fuse that blew during the song “Love in an Elevator,” … an amateur video showed Tyler spinning around before falling.
Although the Rapid City Summer Nights website listed tonight’s performer as Groovedaddy, the banner hanging from the stage reads “Tom Willock & Friends.” It’s not clear what the distinction is, since Tom Willock is the lead singer/songwriter/guitarist behind the funky experience that is Groovedaddy; in fact, the very definition of Groovedaddy is “Tom Willock and some friends jamming.”
Perhaps this is a different set of friends.
Or perhaps there was some big showdown between the members of Groovedaddy, and this concert is a way for Mr. Willock to thumb his nose at his former bandmates: “I’m Tom Willock, and tonight I’m playing with friends for a change!”
Nah, it’s probably the first thing.
At any rate, I never got to hear them play. The music was delayed as they struggled with technical difficulties of an electrical nature (not just a plague of underground shows) and waiting around didn’t sound like a good idea because tonight, the threatening rumbling wasn’t only coming from several thousand testosterone-fueled Harleys, but also from this sky:
The crowd was a tiny fraction of recent Summer Nights audiences. As I left, some vendors were preparing for the worst…
And right now, the rain is pitter-pattering on my roof. Hope those guys got those electrical problems figured out.
The marquee atop the Elks Theatre says “Woman City” is playing, but the box office disagrees: tonight’s presentation of the indie flick set in South Dakota is not happening. The theater never actually received a copy of the film; they’ve been trying to reach the promoter for weeks with no luck.
As consolation, would-be attendees were offered free admission to “Angels & Demons.” Dude, you’d have to pay me to sit through that.
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