30 DAYS OF OPERA
Opera Memphis hopes to culture the masses with fourth annual event.
If you can’t imagine going to the opera, be forewarned that the opera will be coming to you.
Opera Memphis’ season gets under way throughout September with its fourth annual 30 Days of Opera, a series of varied performances around town intended to give “everyone in Memphis some opera in their lives,” says Ned Canty, the organization’s general director.
As Canty told the National Council on the Arts back in March, “Memphis is at the intersection of high and low culture,” so any arts organization that wants to tap into that needs to understand the mix where Grit-and-Grind coexists with sophistication.
Since it first ventured onto the public scene in 2012, 30 Days of Opera has presented pop-up arias, master classes, full concerts and children’s operas at street corners, festivals, markets and libraries — all free.
This year’s program will include shows at the Cooper Young Festival, the Levitt Shell, the Memphis Farmers Market, Germantown Festival, South Main Trolley Night and elsewhere. Performances of “The Playground King” — an original children’s opera — are also scheduled.
Social media has been essential to 30 Days since it began. That first year, Canty said he hired four great singers who were Internet savvy and liked going up to people after a performance, chatting them up and posting online.
This year, Opera Memphis raises the ante with an even more thorough online presence, including video, audio and photo resources uploaded daily. Those updates will be available at 30DaysofOpera.com, which is up now with a schedule of performances.
Opera Memphis is hoping the community will share experiences by using the hashtag #30DaysofOpera on social media.
The 30 Days concept has gotten local support from ArtsMemphis, Evolve Bank & Trust and AutoZone. It also has received backing from Opera America as well as the National Endowment for the Arts, which earlier this year asked Canty to speak to its National Council on the Arts about civic engagement. The NEA had given the 30 Days project $15,000 in 2013 and $30,000 this year to beef it up even further.
Performances begin in the coming week with events at several Memphis libraries. Later events are listed on 30DaysofOpera.com.
‘HEIGHTS’ OF EXUBERANCE
Hattiloo Theatre’s high-octane production of “In the Heights” is an exhilarating tour of the Washington Heights neighborhood in New York City. The set features a series of storefronts with the denizens — mostly Dominican but with plenty of blending of Puerto Ricans and Cubans — sharing their hopes and dreams mainly in freestyle rap with lots of reggaeton, merengue and salsa stirred in.
The musical, by Lin-Manuel Miranda, is less about the predictable fairy-tale plot than about the expressive characters who want to leave the barrio but have a hard time making it happen.
At the center is Usnavi, a Dominican bodega owner who longs to go back to his native country. But he’s smitten by Vanessa, who works at a salon and is intent on moving to Greenwich Village. CJ Sagadia’s winning performance makes his character fully sympathetic, and Noelia Warnette-Jones is terrific as the restless young woman.
Almost everyone in the cast is beautiful and charming, most have gorgeous voices, and everyone dances up a storm, even on the cramped stage. Director/ choreographer Patdro Harris channels the energy and action throughout and wraps it up with a spirited finale. “In the Heights” runs through Sept. 6 at Hattiloo Theatre, 37 S. Cooper St. Showtimes are 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Friday, Saturday; 2 p.m. Saturday; 3 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $26-$30. For more info, go to hattiloo.org or 901-525-0009.
BOY MEETS BALLET
Playhouse on the Square opens its season with “Billy Elliot the Musical,” adapted from the 2000 film “Billy Elliot” about an 11-year-old who’s gotta dance. The problem is the dance he likes is ballet, which confounds his father and older brother, who are miners in northern England who have embarked on a bitter strike.
The story bears a resemblance to “In the Heights” at Hattiloo, in that there’s the pull of community versus the pull of the outside world, and they dance about it.
It’s an all-out production, and a very sincere one as well. The story has the town’s miners fighting a losing battle for their jobs, their pride and their traditions. They do battle with the police and strikebreakers, and in the rousing “Solidarity” number, the struggle seems glorious.
At the center of the story is Dad, with Michael Detroit owning the role (he pretty much owns all his roles) and Billy played by the promising Benjamin Cheng. Cheng is called on to do an extraordinary amount of work — singing, tap dancing, ballet dancing, running around and on stage for most of the production. Billy’s big moment is his audition for the Royal Ballet School in London, and that scene is well presented and satisfying.
There are plenty of powerful moments, but sometimes it’s the numbers that take it down a notch that work incredibly well. Travis Bradley, a Ballet Memphis company member, dances as the Adult Billy with his younger self, and it’s a beautiful scene. And toward the end, there is a gorgeous ensemble singing “Once We Were Kings” as the miners return to work without joy. “Billy Elliot the Musical” runs through Sept. 6 at Playhouse on the Square, 66 S. Cooper St. Showtimes are 8 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sundays. Tickets are $35 Thursdays and Sundays, $40 Fridays and Saturdays. $22 Seniors/ Students/Military. $15 Children under 18. Info: 901-726-4656 and playhouseonthesquare.org.