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'Witness for the Prosecution' keeps audiences guessing
Actor Gary Coleman pleads guilty in Utah court
Rich Heldenfels: 'Past Life' is unbelievable
Michael Jackson doctor charged with manslaughter
Gary Coleman scheduled for Utah court appearance
'Christmas Story' actor finds challenges behind camera
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Man robbed at Tallmadge Avenue eatery
Another winter punch heading toward Ohio
Four teens restrain man, take items from his Akron home
Complaints against officer keep coming
Police: Ohio girl dies after fall into snow bank
Region makes way for latest batch of snow; cancellations rise
Cuyahoga Falls residents come home to find burning couch on balcony
Blogs:
First Bell - On Education:
No City of Akron basketball tonight
Pets:
Pet telethon re-airs
The Heldenfiles:
Chipmunks "Squeakquel" on DVD/BD March 30
Akron Zips:
Late surge gives Zips ugly road win
Tribe Matters:
Blogmail response on Hafner
Cleveland Browns:
Stallworth's contract terminated
Balanced Ledger:
QB in Browns future: another mock draft
Kent State Sports:
KSU Notes – February 9
Cleveland Cavaliers:
NBA Power Rankings from Around the Internet
Buckeye Blogging:
Buckeyes grab 18 players on signing day
Varsity Letters:
Garfield at Buchtel basketball
All Da King's Men:
Palin At The Tea Party Convention
Blog of Mass Destruction:
Republican Pre-Conditions
Akron Law Café:
Law, Love and Chocolate
Car Chase:
Collector Car Hobby Loses One of the Best—Jim Roll
Let's Talk Real Estate:
Decisions Decisions: Credit Cards or Your Mortgage?
Ohio Travels with Betty:
Loucile is looking for a Lake Erie getaway in June for three kids, ages 1, 3, and 5.
Sound Check:
Talk of the Town – Top entertainment picks for the weekend
HRLite House:
OFCCP Report
Akron Gamer:
Makers of 'Castle Crashers' unveil 'BattleBlock Theater'
See Jane Style:
Do IT this week: Layering
By Kerry Clawson
Beacon Journal staff writer
POSTED: 09:40 p.m. EST, Nov 17, 2009
University of Akron dance graduate Melissa Thomas is high-kicking through 31 cities in just two months as a Rockette performing in the tour of the Radio City Christmas Spectacular.
In her fifth year as a Rockette, the Parma native performs an average of 12 shows a week but sometimes up to 18. The tour will arrive at Cleveland State University's Wolstein Center for just one performance at 6 p.m. Sunday.
Thomas reports that her mother has snatched up 150 seats at CSU, where the show has been reproportioned to play to an arena crowd of 8,000.
''It's mind-blowing and it's an adrenaline rush when you hear that many people screaming for you,'' Thomas said.
Growing up studying dance and watching the Rockettes on TV in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, she never dreamed she'd one day become one of those glamorous, iconic women.
''I absolutely do think it's the pinnacle [for dancers]. There's a legacy that's gone on for 75 years,'' she said of the famous precision dance troupe.
Thomas, a 2001 UA graduate, auditioned for the Rockettes for three years before she got the job. She performed in New York at Radio City Music Hall in 2007 and 2008.
''There's something about performing at Radio City. It's every little girl's dream,'' she said.
This hoofer, who has danced since age 4, said UA gave her a solid ballet background that enabled her to further explore her first loves: jazz and tap.
In the Christmas Spectacular, she performs in eight scenes in eight costumes, one of which requires a precisely choreographed, 90-second costume change.
The Parma native is 5 feet, 7 inches tall, an average height for the Rockettes, who range from 5-foot-6 to 5-foot-101/2. She likes the fact that the troupe is known for looking identical and moving as one dancer.
''I like feeling like I'm part of this uniform group. It makes me feel more like a Rockette when I'm dressed like this'' in full Spectacular regalia.
Part of the beauty of being a Rockette is that you can live anywhere, said Thomas, who's now based in Parma Heights and is planning for a summer wedding.
''You can come from wherever and you can live wherever in the off-season,'' she said.
Sunday's show costs $49.50-$74.50. For tickets, call 800-745-3000 or go to http://www.ticketmaster.com.
Go wassailing
Sally Schneider, director of choirs at Firestone High School, will lead an early holiday music celebration with a Feaste of Confections, a new twist on the school's biennial madrigal dinner, Friday and Saturday at the school, 333 Rampart Ave, Akron. The renaissance evening of choral music also will feature the Symphonic Choir and Madrigal Singers in period costume.
After wassail toasts and heraldry, guests will enjoy a sit- down dessert sampler. Tickets are $15; reservations are required by Wednesday. Call 330-873-3400, ext. 2.
'Fraulein Maria'
Choreographer Doug Elkins has a knack for shaking things up without even trying, kind of like Maria at the abbey.
He'll bring his unique brand of irreverence to Cleveland on Friday and Saturday with the cabaret-style Fraulein Maria, a deconstruction of the beloved Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The Sound of Music that combines dance styles ranging from ballet to hip-hop in this spoof on contemporary culture.
The piece, performed by Doug Elkins and Friends, has become a cult favorite in New York, where it premiered in 2006 at the hip nightclub Joe's Pub at the New York Public Theatre. It'll play for two weeks this holiday season in New York, but Northeast Ohio audiences will get to see it at the Hanna Theatre at Playhouse-Square. (Performances are at 8 each night, with tickets starting at $15. Call 216-241-6000.)
Elkins, whose Doug Elkins Dance Company disbanded in 2002, is a b-boy, or break dancer, whose work knows no boundaries when it comes to melding pop culture with high art. His comeback Fraulein Maria, hailed as a ''jewel of choreographic invention and comic subtlety'' by the New Yorker, draws on most of the songs from The Sound of Music movie.
In Cleveland, five Northeast Ohio dancers have been cast in The Lonely Goatherd hip-hop segment. They are Kelly Brunk and Amy Miller of GroundWorks DanceTheater; Rebecca Nicklos of MegLouise Dance and MorrisonDance; Ellen Ressler Hoffman, formerly of Verb Ballets; and Marie Zvosec, a graduate of the School of Ohio Dance Theatre.
''I think the idea of taking something as iconic as The Sound of Music and playing with the themes is just hysterical and really brave,'' said Miller, a longtime Akron resident who recently moved to the Cleveland area.
She said the charismatic Elkins creates sequences that start with Martha Graham-style movement and morph into hip-hop, ballet and even karate: ''He's a junky for movement.''
Arts happenings
-- The University of Akron School of Music will create a slice of 1920s Vienna at A Viennese Salon at 5:30 p.m. Sunday at Guzzetta Recital Hall, 139 E. Buchtel Ave. Music, theater and new media will converge when the Solaris Wind Quintet performs Arnold Schoenberg's Quintet, Op. 26, within the Viennese era's historical and cultural context. The evening will include poetry and art by Russian Wassily Kandinsky and popular music by German composer Kurt Weill and American jazz trumpeter Louis Armstrong.
Solaris is the woodwind faculty quintet-in-residence at UA. Joining the free program will be mezzo-soprano Megan Elk and members of the New World Performance Laboratory, as well as the Cosmicswandive, a team of new media students from the Myers School of Art who will will provide a digital videoscape.
-- Miller South School for the Visual and Performing Arts will host a talent show at 7 p.m. Saturday in the school auditorium, 1055 East Ave., Akron. The show will include singing, dancing, acting, instrumental music, ventriloquism, jump-roping, stand-up comedy and a rock 'n' roll band. Cost is $7 for adults and $5 for students and senior citizens. Proceeds will help upgrade the auditorium's sound system.
-- Children's Concert Society's annual scholastic composers contest for kindergarten through grade 12 will continue through Feb. 5. Compositions may be written by individuals or groups. Students from public, private, parochial or home school in Summit County and the surrounding area may compete. Winners will perform their compositions April 28. Call 330-972-2504 for an application.
-- Chamber ensemble Suite Elegance, which combines strings and flute, will offer an evening of holiday and seasonal music at 7 p.m. Saturday at First Christian Church, 6900 Market Ave. N., Plain Township. The evening also will include dancers from Living Fountain Dance Company in Canton and a post-concert dessert.
The concert is free but an offering will be collected to support the church's community wide Harvest Meal, delivered on Thanksgiving Day to those in need. Canned goods also will be collected. For information, call 330-456-2600.
Arts writer Kerry Clawson may be reached at 330-996-3527 or kclawson@thebeaconjournal.com.
University of Akron dance graduate Melissa Thomas is high-kicking through 31 cities in just two months as a Rockette performing in the tour of the Radio City Christmas Spectacular.
In her fifth year as a Rockette, the Parma native performs an average of 12 shows a week but sometimes up to 18. The tour will arrive at Cleveland State University's Wolstein Center for just one performance at 6 p.m. Sunday.
Thomas reports that her mother has snatched up 150 seats at CSU, where the show has been reproportioned to play to an arena crowd of 8,000.
''It's mind-blowing and it's an adrenaline rush when you hear that many people screaming for you,'' Thomas said.
Growing up studying dance and watching the Rockettes on TV in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, she never dreamed she'd one day become one of those glamorous, iconic women.
''I absolutely do think it's the pinnacle [for dancers]. There's a legacy that's gone on for 75 years,'' she said of the famous precision dance troupe.
Thomas, a 2001 UA graduate, auditioned for the Rockettes for three years before she got the job. She performed in New York at Radio City Music Hall in 2007 and 2008.
''There's something about performing at Radio City. It's every little girl's dream,'' she said.
This hoofer, who has danced since age 4, said UA gave her a solid ballet background that enabled her to further explore her first loves: jazz and tap.
In the Christmas Spectacular, she performs in eight scenes in eight costumes, one of which requires a precisely choreographed, 90-second costume change.
The Parma native is 5 feet, 7 inches tall, an average height for the Rockettes, who range from 5-foot-6 to 5-foot-101/2. She likes the fact that the troupe is known for looking identical and moving as one dancer.
''I like feeling like I'm part of this uniform group. It makes me feel more like a Rockette when I'm dressed like this'' in full Spectacular regalia.
Part of the beauty of being a Rockette is that you can live anywhere, said Thomas, who's now based in Parma Heights and is planning for a summer wedding.
''You can come from wherever and you can live wherever in the off-season,'' she said.
Sunday's show costs $49.50-$74.50. For tickets, call 800-745-3000 or go to http://www.ticketmaster.com.
Go wassailing
Sally Schneider, director of choirs at Firestone High School, will lead an early holiday music celebration with a Feaste of Confections, a new twist on the school's biennial madrigal dinner, Friday and Saturday at the school, 333 Rampart Ave, Akron. The renaissance evening of choral music also will feature the Symphonic Choir and Madrigal Singers in period costume.
After wassail toasts and heraldry, guests will enjoy a sit- down dessert sampler. Tickets are $15; reservations are required by Wednesday. Call 330-873-3400, ext. 2.
'Fraulein Maria'
Choreographer Doug Elkins has a knack for shaking things up without even trying, kind of like Maria at the abbey.
He'll bring his unique brand of irreverence to Cleveland on Friday and Saturday with the cabaret-style Fraulein Maria, a deconstruction of the beloved Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The Sound of Music that combines dance styles ranging from ballet to hip-hop in this spoof on contemporary culture.
The piece, performed by Doug Elkins and Friends, has become a cult favorite in New York, where it premiered in 2006 at the hip nightclub Joe's Pub at the New York Public Theatre. It'll play for two weeks this holiday season in New York, but Northeast Ohio audiences will get to see it at the Hanna Theatre at Playhouse-Square. (Performances are at 8 each night, with tickets starting at $15. Call 216-241-6000.)
Elkins, whose Doug Elkins Dance Company disbanded in 2002, is a b-boy, or break dancer, whose work knows no boundaries when it comes to melding pop culture with high art. His comeback Fraulein Maria, hailed as a ''jewel of choreographic invention and comic subtlety'' by the New Yorker, draws on most of the songs from The Sound of Music movie.
In Cleveland, five Northeast Ohio dancers have been cast in The Lonely Goatherd hip-hop segment. They are Kelly Brunk and Amy Miller of GroundWorks DanceTheater; Rebecca Nicklos of MegLouise Dance and MorrisonDance; Ellen Ressler Hoffman, formerly of Verb Ballets; and Marie Zvosec, a graduate of the School of Ohio Dance Theatre.
''I think the idea of taking something as iconic as The Sound of Music and playing with the themes is just hysterical and really brave,'' said Miller, a longtime Akron resident who recently moved to the Cleveland area.
She said the charismatic Elkins creates sequences that start with Martha Graham-style movement and morph into hip-hop, ballet and even karate: ''He's a junky for movement.''
Arts happenings
-- The University of Akron School of Music will create a slice of 1920s Vienna at A Viennese Salon at 5:30 p.m. Sunday at Guzzetta Recital Hall, 139 E. Buchtel Ave. Music, theater and new media will converge when the Solaris Wind Quintet performs Arnold Schoenberg's Quintet, Op. 26, within the Viennese era's historical and cultural context. The evening will include poetry and art by Russian Wassily Kandinsky and popular music by German composer Kurt Weill and American jazz trumpeter Louis Armstrong.
Solaris is the woodwind faculty quintet-in-residence at UA. Joining the free program will be mezzo-soprano Megan Elk and members of the New World Performance Laboratory, as well as the Cosmicswandive, a team of new media students from the Myers School of Art who will will provide a digital videoscape.
-- Miller South School for the Visual and Performing Arts will host a talent show at 7 p.m. Saturday in the school auditorium, 1055 East Ave., Akron. The show will include singing, dancing, acting, instrumental music, ventriloquism, jump-roping, stand-up comedy and a rock 'n' roll band. Cost is $7 for adults and $5 for students and senior citizens. Proceeds will help upgrade the auditorium's sound system.
-- Children's Concert Society's annual scholastic composers contest for kindergarten through grade 12 will continue through Feb. 5. Compositions may be written by individuals or groups. Students from public, private, parochial or home school in Summit County and the surrounding area may compete. Winners will perform their compositions April 28. Call 330-972-2504 for an application.
-- Chamber ensemble Suite Elegance, which combines strings and flute, will offer an evening of holiday and seasonal music at 7 p.m. Saturday at First Christian Church, 6900 Market Ave. N., Plain Township. The evening also will include dancers from Living Fountain Dance Company in Canton and a post-concert dessert.
The concert is free but an offering will be collected to support the church's community wide Harvest Meal, delivered on Thanksgiving Day to those in need. Canned goods also will be collected. For information, call 330-456-2600.
Arts writer Kerry Clawson may be reached at 330-996-3527 or kclawson@thebeaconjournal.com.
Comments
Click here to post your comments
Posted 04:46 PM, 11/18/2009
All i can say is WOW, will you marry me?
Canton, OH
Posted 06:08 PM, 11/18/2009
Melissa is a Hottie !!!!! YOWZA !!!!!!!!
Akron, OH
Posted 09:47 AM, 11/19/2009
Wouldn't mind a couple of those legs for Thanksgiving.
akron, oh
Posted 01:34 PM, 11/19/2009
The heck with legs, I like breastmeat for Thanksgiving.
Akron, OH
Posted 10:45 PM, 11/19/2009
Isn't Melissa Thomas pretty?
rmk/akron
Akron, OH
Posted 11:40 AM, 11/20/2009
Definitely outta our league, kraus.
