Arts briefs: Opera LV stages ‘Barber of Seville’

Music

OPERA LV STAGES

‘BARBER OF SEVILLE’

It’s been around for almost 200 years and it’s still knocking ’em dead.

That’s Rossini’s “The Barber of Seville,” which Opera Las Vegas brings to UNLV’s Judy Bayley Theatre this weekend, with the Metropolitan Opera’s Gregory Buchalter, Opera Las Vegas’ artistic director, conducting.

Buchalter’s bringing some Met colleagues with him for the fully staged production, including rising star Renee Tatum and Met veterans Philip Cokorinos, Peter Strummer and Daniel Elijah Sutin.

“The Barber of Seville” transports audiences to 18th-century Spain, where young Count Almaviva (sung by tenor Victor Ryan Robertson) loves the beautiful Rosina (Tatum, who makes her debut in the role). Alas, Rosina’s guardian, an older doctor (bass-baritone Strummer), confines her to the house — and plans to marry her himself.

As for “The Barber of Seville’s” title character, Figaro (baritone Sutin), he’s the one Rosina and Almaviva choose to help them circumvent the doctor’s control, but Figaro’s convoluted plans don’t always go smoothly, resulting in comic chaos before true love triumphs in the end.

“The Barber of Seville,” in Italian with English supertitles, will be presented at 7:30 p.m. Friday and 2 p.m. Sunday in the Judy Bayley Theatre at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 4505 S. Maryland Parkway. For tickets ($55-$95), call 702-895-2787.

Movie/music

HENDERSON HOSTS

CHAPLIN’S ‘CIRCUS’

The immortal comic genius of Charlie Chaplin — and live orchestral accompaniment — combine for a night of laughter and music Saturday when the Henderson Symphony Orchestra accompanies Chaplin’s “The Circus.”

The 1928 comedy — in which Chaplin’s Little Tramp inadvertently becomes the title circus’ star attraction — boasts a musical score from the movie’s 1969 rerelease, which was composed by Chaplin himself.

The Henderson symphony, conducted by Taras Krysa, will accompany “The Circus” at 8:30 p.m. Saturday at the Henderson Pavilion, 200 S. Green Valley Parkway. For tickets ($10), call 702-267-4849 or visit HendersonLive.com.

Photography

SIN CITY EXHIBIT

HONORS YEAGER

It wasn’t supposed to be a memorial exhibit, but that’s the reality at Sin City Gallery, where “Bunny’s Bombshells” — which showcases Bunny Yeager’s pin-up photography — continues through July 20.

Yeager died May 25 at 85, but kept working into her 80s, recently photographing “Pin-Up” headliner Claire St. Claire — which seems fitting, because “not many people know that Bunny started her career in Las Vegas,” gallery owner Laura Henkel says.

Beginning as a model herself in the 1950s, Yeager initially picked up a camera to take her own portfolio shots, but wound up on the other side of the camera, bringing a unique viewpoint to a previously male-dominated pursuit.

In addition to discovering ’50s pin-up icon Bettie Page, Yeager also shot bikini-clad Bond girl Ursula Andress emerging from the surf in “Dr. No” and became the first woman to shoot photographs for Playboy.

Sin City Gallery, located in the Arts Factory at 107 E. Charleston Blvd., is open from 1 to 7 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays; for more information, call 702-608-2461 or visit www.sincitygallery.com.

Family fun

DUCK AND COVER

AT MUSEUM

Baby boomers can revisit the past — and introduce their kids and grandkids to the “duck and cover” era — Saturday at the National Atomic Testing Museum’s annual Family Fun Day, which this year is devoted to “Civil Defense and Emergency Safety.”

Inspired by Civil Defense programs of the 1950s and ’60s, the museum event’s activities will include fallout shelter construction and stocking areas, a Geiger counter station, face painting, raffles and Civil Defense films, along with a Duck and Cover game designed to show schoolkids how to stay safe, under their desks, in the event of a nuclear attack.

Family Fun Day will run from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at the Atomic Testing Museum, 755 E. Flamingo Road. Admission is $10 for two family members and $5 for each additional person. For more information, call 702-794-5151.

Art

FLUTIST BLUEFLINT

INSPIRES EXHIBIT

Boulder City’s Tim Blueflint is most definitely an artist. But his medium isn’t the conventional paint on canvas, as demonstrated by “Toubat: A Canvas of Wind and Wood.”

The Nevada Humanities Program Gallery exhibit showcases Blueflint’s work as a Native American flute maker, performer and educator.

A registered member of the Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Chippewa and the Comanche Tribe, Blueflint’s interest in the flute began when he would “watch my grandfather play his flute and my grandmother would be transformed into another realm,” he recalls. After his grandfather’s death, Blueflint decided “I couldn’t let my grandmother go through the rest of her life not hearing that sound again, so I learned how to play.”

“Toubat: A Canvas of Wind and Wood” continues through July 25 at the Nevada Humanities Program Gallery, in downtown’s Art Square Garden Courtyard at 1017 S. First St. Regular hours are 1 to 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday; the gallery is open until 9 p.m. First Friday. For more information, visit nevadahumanities.org.

Music

BENOIT HEADLINES

JAZZ IN THE PARK

Multiple Grammy nominee David Benoit is the latest jazz fixture to headline the free Jazz in the Park concert series at the Clark County Government Center Amphitheater, 500 S. Grand Central Parkway.

Benoit will perform at 7 p.m. Saturday, drawing from a repertoire that ranges over more than three decades and 25 solo recordings.

Seating for those with picnic baskets, blankets and low-back chairs begins an hour before the performance; food vendors will be available on site. For more information, visit www.clarkcountynv.gov/Depts/parks/Pages/jazz-inthe-park.aspx.

Dance

INDIAN DANCERS

PERFORM AT UNLV

Contemporary Indian dancer and choreographer Sruti Das leads a free dance concert at 4 p.m. Sunday in the UNLV Student Union theater.

Trained in Bharatnattyam, a classical dance format from South India, Das also has experimented with modern dance, mixing classical and contemporary forms while adding elements of yoga and the ancient Indian martial art Kalarippayattu.

For more information, email Das at sruti2000@hotmail.com.

— By CAROL CLING