Bright Ideas

As I alluded to in an earlier post tonight, the fall arts season is kicking off already in Amarillo with ALT's Bright Ideas, opening Thursday for a two-week run in the Adventure Space.

Now, I suppose I could link to the newspaper's coverage of the show, but ... well, it's quite lacking. The story, and I use that term mondo-loosely, is just cribbed from a postcard. No original interviews, no legwork. At least they shot a couple of photos to go along with the three-paragraph story.

Anyway, the play looks like a witty urban comedy about parents who are desperate to get their child into a prestigious preschool. From the review and synopsis I found online (in a 3-second search, mind you), it looks as though Bright Ideas is of a piece with several other season-openers at the Adventure Space, such as As Bees in Honey Drown and Kimberly Akimbo.

They've had mixed success in this genre before. The sensibilities of New York comedy don't always translate in a community theater in the middle of Texas. The cast has promise, though: Jayme McBride and Amy Spears are solid performers, and Heidi Stricker is one of the theater's best actors. Jonathan Mobley's never had a lead role, so I'm interested to see what he does. There's also a newcomer, Brad Davis. (Presumably not this one.) I'll report back after I see it next weekend.

Of course, the summer arts calendar isn't quite wrapped up yet. The Symphony (plug, plug) returns to Palo Duro Canyon on Sept. 3 for A Space Odyssey, which is looking more and more like it's going to be one wild show. We had a meeting in the office today and I finally got brought up to speed on the plans, which involve Strauss waltzes, kids in Ewok costumes, lasers, fireworks and lots and lots of John Williams music.

And before that, Amarillo Opera puts on its Musica Variada show Friday, featuring a host of singers in a mostly Latin-tinged show. Among the perfomers is my co-worker Eric Barry, who unfortunately hasn't been rattling the maracas around the office this week.