In Brief: Music, theater and family fun
Family fun
ZELZAH SHRINE CIRCUS
VISITS ORLEANS ARENA
Ever wanted to join the circus?
You won’t have to run away to explore the world of the center ring now that the Zelzah Shrine Circus is back in town. That’s because, an hour before every show, audience members are invited to meet the performers, ride the elephants and clown around.
The circus, which continues through Sunday at the Orleans Arena, spotlights human daredevils — from aerialists to motorcyclists — and animals from tigers to ponies.
The show goes on at 8 p.m. Friday; 11 a.m., 3 and 8 p.m. Saturday; and 10 a.m., 2 and 6:30 p.m. Sunday at The Orleans, 4500 W. Tropicana Ave. For tickets ($18-$65), call 702-284-7777 or go to www.orleansarena.com.
Theater
LITTLE THEATRE
GOES ‘BAREFOOT’
Once upon a time, Pulitzer Prize-winning legend Neil Simon was a promising young playwright.
That time was 1963, when the author of the 1961 hit “Come Blow Your Horn” opened another comedy — about polar-opposite newlyweds (one of them played by a rising star named Robert Redford) struggling to adjust to post-honeymoon married life.
That play, “Barefoot in the Park,” became Simon’s longest-running stage hit — and, 50 years later, it’s still generating laughs, as Las Vegas Little Theatre will demonstrate starting Friday.
Gillen Brey directs the comedy, which involves not only the feuding couple (buttoned-down lawyer Paul and his free-spirited spouse, Corie) but the charming crackpot upstairs, along with Corie’s widowed mother.
“Barefoot in the Park” will be presented at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday on the main stage at Las Vegas Little Theatre, 3920 Schiff Drive; performances continue at 8 p.m. Jan. 16-17, 2 and 8 p.m. Jan. 18, 2 p.m. Jan. 19, 8 p.m. Jan. 23-25 and 2 p.m. Jan. 26. For tickets ($24 for adults, $21 for students and seniors), call 702-362-7996 or go to www.lvlt.org.
Music
QUINTET PLAYS
FREE CONCERT
Classical music is in the air Saturday as the Las Vegas Wind Quintet presents a free concert at Charleston Heights Arts Center.
Clarinetist Dave Hawley (a former member of the Lawrence Welk orchestra) leads fellow ensemble members — Bonnie Buhler-Tanouye on flute, Dave Beasley on horn, Matt Guschi on oboe and Sam Pisciotta on bassoon — in performing works arranged specifically for wind quintet.
The concert begins at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Charleston Heights Arts Center, 800 S. Brush St. For more information, call 702-229-6383 or visit www.artslasvegas.com.
Theater
TONY-WINNING ‘RED’
DEBUTS AT ONYX
What is art? That is the question underlying John Logan’s Tony-winning drama “Red,” which opens a three-weekend run Friday at the Onyx Theatre.
“Red” takes place in 1958, as famed abstract impressionist Mark Rothko (played by Taylor Hanes) and his young assistant Ken (Cory Goble) work feverishly on a series of murals for the Four Seasons restaurant inside the new Seagram Building. That is, until Ken realizes his definition of art differs greatly from that of his troubled mentor.
Benjamin Loewy directs the Poor Richard’s Players production, which will be presented at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the Onyx Theatre, 953 E. Sahara Ave. Performances continue at 8 p.m. Jan. 16-17 and Jan. 24-25, with a 2 p.m. matinee Jan. 19.
For tickets ($20), call 702-732-7225 or visit www.onyxtheatre.com.
Art
‘WALLY’S WORLD’ LANDS
AT STATE MUSEUM
If U.S. Highway 50 across the center of Nevada ranks as “the loneliest road in America” (as Life magazine once dubbed it), then it stands to reason that an art collection based in Eureka, located on U.S. 50, would be “The Loneliest Art Collection in Nevada.”
That’s the subtitle for “Wally’s World,” an eclectic traveling exhibit featuring 35 examples from the more than 1,500 works of art collected, and exhibited, by Wally Cuchine.
The exhibit opens Saturday at the Nevada State Museum; Cuchine will discuss his passion for Nevada art, and artists, from 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday at the museum.
Director of the Eureka Opera House for 18 years, Cuchine began bringing art to “Loneliest Road” communities (including Ely, Fernley and Eureka) in 1978, starting with an 18-foot travel trailer full of art. He expanded to a 26-foot model and finally to a 14-by-60-foot mobile home.
Artists featured in the exhibit include Ron Arthaud, Lyle V. Ball, Cherlyn Bennett, Ralph Bennett, Max Bunnell, Thelma Calhoun, Robert Cole Caples, Mary Chadwell, Diane Dunn, Mary Lee Fulkerson, Ruth Hilts, Larry Jacox, James Lawrence, Jean Legassick, Laverne Lightfoot, Gary Link and Barbara Maclean, along with Sharon Maczko, Jack Malotte, Jim McCormick, Marilyn R. Melton, Jeff Nicholson, Ron Oden, Dennis Parks, Mimi Patrick, Nancy Peppin, Brent Perkins, Roy Powers, Barbara Prodaniuk, Shirley Shaft, Annabelle Shelly, Craig Sheppard, Sidne Teske, Wally Wallace and Larry Williamson.
“Wally’s World: The Loneliest Art Collection in Nevada” continues through Feb. 28 at the Nevada State Museum, 309. S. Valley View Blvd., adjacent to the Springs Preserve. The museum is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursdays through Mondays; for tickets ($9.95 for adults, including Springs Preserve admission; 17 and under are free), call 702-486-5205 or visit museums.nevadaculture.org.
Family fun
DISNEY FAVORITES
SKATE INTO TOWN
A magical mash-up of beloved Disney characters skate into the Thomas &Mack Center starting Wednesday as Disney on Ice’s “Rockin’ Ever After” arrives Wednesday for an eight-performance run.
“Brave’s” feisty Scottish princess, Merida, makes her Disney on Ice debut, joining such skating favorites as “The Little Mermaid’s” Ariel and Sebastian, “Tangled’s” Rapunzel and Flynn and “Beauty and the Beast’s” title characters.
“Rockin’ Ever After” takes the ice at 7 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday at the Thomas &Mack Center at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Tropicana Avenue and Swenson Street. Performances continue at 7 p.m. Jan. 17, 11:30 a.m., 3 and 7 p.m. Jan. 18 and 1 and 5 p.m. Jan. 19.
For tickets ($13-$63), call 702-739-3267 or visit www.unlvtickets.com. For more information on “Rockin’ Ever After,” click on www.disneyonice.com.
— By CAROL CLING
