Twelve years in the making: That’s what the University of Maine School of Performing Arts’ production of Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro” has been – a long, difficult journey for director Tom Mikotowicz stretching back to those scary years in the late ’90s and early 2000s when there… Read More
Martina McBride is a performer in every sense of the word. She is a perfectionist with a vocal ability one could only wish for. She doesn’t just sing the lyrics to a song, she puts her whole body, heart and soul into every word, phrase and story. Read More
ORONO – Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo took the stage at the Maine Center for the Arts for a Sunday afternoon show that can best be described as Trocktacular. Yes, the troupe exhibited all the grace, all the beauty, all the discipline one would… Read More
Tuesday night, while watching “Chi: A New Era in Acrobatics” at the Maine Center for the Arts in Orono, I realized two things. One, it was very similar to last year’s show by the National Acrobats of Taiwan – although I liked the chair-stacking act better without a… Read More
When comedian Bill Cosby sat in a luxury chair provided for his performance Saturday at the Maine Center for the Arts gala opening, he immediately sank into its deep folds. “This chair is not good for old people,” he said, his mouth turned down in a signature scowl. Read More
“Aloha, Maine! It’s so good to be here on the island of Bangor!” The Hawaiian word “Aloha” is a warmly inclusive word with multilayered meanings of love, mercy, compassion, blessings, greetings and farewell. And the Saturday afternoon performance of Hawaiian slack-key guitarists Cyril Pahinui and… Read More
Pick it up, Bangor. That’s what Lester “Ska” Sterling, alto sax player for the Skatalites, commanded the crowd to do at the band’s Friday night performance on the Kenduskeag Dance Stage. And they did, with great enjoyment. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot var slot_sizes… Read More
Cephas & Wiggins and Bettye LaVette treated festivalgoers Friday night to a history of the blues in back-to-back performances on the Penobscot Stage. John Cephas and Phil Wiggins revealed the roots of the blues that cling to the dark dirt deep down in the Piedmont… Read More
It is impossible to not dance to salsa music. You can try to resist, but it’s futile: Your hips will start to twitch, your feet will start to move, and try as you might, your body can’t help but wiggle around, whether you know how to salsa or… Read More
Bangor’s rivers have a rich history of logging, but “wood” never blended so beautifully with the waterways as on Saturday, when Tony Ballog & The Golden Strings played traditional Hungarian music on amber-hued string instruments at Two Rivers Stage. Two violins, a bass and the cymbalom, Hungary’s version… Read More
Maybe Del McCoury missed out on the late ’60s and early ’70s, perhaps lying low in some hollow – make that “holler” – in the hills of Tennessee, letting the tie-dyed, hippie influences on bluegrass roll on past him. To see McCoury and his band… Read More
The so-called “Singing Bridge,” an industrial-looking structure spanning the channel between the Maine towns of Hancock and Sullivan, was torn down in 1999. Its passing left those of us who routinely crossed its metal roadway with memories of girders against an eastern sky, the three distinctive harmonic tones… Read More
Zulu dancing, jewel-colored outfits and driving percussion are not elements typically associated with church choirs. But if more religious services offered music and dance with the alacrity and fervor of the Soweto Gospel Choir, it’s a sure bet that the pews would be filled each week. Read More
It?s hard to believe that the same man who wrote the music to ?Over the Rainbow? also composed ?Blues in the Night? and ?Lydia the Tattooed Lady.? But that?s Harold Arlen for you. His signature sound drew from jazz, pop, swing and the blues,… Read More
ORONO – It slices. It dices. It sautes and slices. It rocks. It rolls. It bangs on bowls. It seasons and sizzles and the fun never fizzles. And it all can be yours for the price of admission. People in the first 10 rows will… Read More
With Maestro Xiao-Lu Li calling forth the first notes of Tchaikovsky’s music for “The Nutcracker” ballet on Saturday at the Maine Center for the Arts in Orono, a reverie arose for more than Clara Silberhaus’ dreamscape holiday fantasy. For 20 years, the Bangor Symphony Orchestra and the Robinson… Read More
After seeing “Broadway Spirit of Christmas,” a touring holiday revue presented Sunday at the Maine Center for the Arts in Orono, my new favorite holiday song is “Rock Around the Clock” by Bill Haley and the Comets. And no Christmas will ever be the same again without ranch-whistling… Read More
PRESQUE ISLE – When you watch Karen Montanaro on stage, you can’t help but notice how much feeling and expression she puts into each move. In one moment she’s a stage mother, cheerfully dragging her invisible daughter to a performance, and the next, she’s the… Read More
John Edwards had scarcely left the University of Maine’s Orono campus on Wednesday when he showed up again that night – this time portrayed by an actor – singing and gyrating to “I’m So Pretty” from “West Side Story.” It devolved into: “I’m so skinny. That’s from chasing… Read More
The Fes Festival of World Sacred Music started 10 years ago in Fez, Morocco, after the Persian Gulf War as a way to repair cultural bomb craters among Muslims, Christians and Jews. Typically, the festival is held once a year in a medieval palace in the city of… Read More
In a personification of the old cliche “The show must go on,” Mandy Patinkin gamely mined his repertoire Saturday night at the Maine Center for the Arts in Orono. The Broadway veteran was suffering from an unspecified respiratory ailment, something to which he readily admitted:… Read More
Napkins aren’t funny. Neither are sticks, paper cups, popcorn or toilet paper for that matter. Put any of them in the hands of a charming mime named Avner the Eccentric and they’re downright hilarious. Just ask any of the 90 people who filled the Wayside… Read More
Electric charges may take place constantly, but they are at their most dramatic in the dark. That’s what Capacitor, a multidisciplinary performance group, proved at a low-lit presentation Saturday at the Maine Center for the Arts in Orono. Under the direction of Jodi Lomask, a classically trained ballet… Read More
Most families would consider themselves lucky to have one talented musician among their ranks, but the Leahys are blessed many times over. The award-winning Canadian musical family gave its audience a phenomenal show Saturday at the Maine Center for the Arts with its perfectly blended… Read More
The floor of the Bangor Auditorium looked like many a child’s room Wednesday night, as it was littered with toys. That’s because the Disney on Ice production of “Toy Story 2” had arrived, for the first of eight shows. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot… Read More
London theatergoers braved bombs and walked through rubble to see Noel Coward’s comedy “Blithe Spirit” when it opened in 1942. The British playwright wrote it in a six-day marathon the previous year as a distraction and amusement for audiences during his nation’s most trying times. Read More
ORONO – They say it takes two to tango. Georgina Corbo proved them wrong as she danced passionately across the stage Sunday night during The Core Ensemble’s production of “Tres Vidas” at the University of Maine’s Minsky Recital Hall. googletag.cmd.push(function () { // Define Slot… Read More
ORONO – A regular feature throughout the Maine Center for the Arts’ history has been the amazing feats brought to this country by touring companies of Chinese acrobats. The Shangri-La Chinese Acrobats, who performed Saturday night, provided more of these anticipated pageantry and thrills. While… Read More
When Lily Tomlin comes onstage, you can never be sure who’s going to show up. It could be Edith Ann, the uninhibited girl with indelible insight into adults. It could be Sister Boogie Woman, a Gospel Groove evangelist who complained about having no shoes until she met a… Read More
No one loved a musical more than Jonathan Larson. He grew up in White Plains, N.Y., and went to the theater regularly with his family. Still, he had a yearning to change musical theater to reflect the sounds of a generation approaching the millennium. While working as a… Read More
Scrap Arts Music, which performed Thursday at the Maine Center for the Arts in Orono, is a zippy percussion quartet that reconfigures industrial material to make wacky musical instruments. In the beat-seeking hands of these trained drummers, sewer pipes, giant steel springs, PVC piping and recycled boat aluminum… Read More
As Richard Pryor has shown, some of the best humor often comes from the comic’s pain. Margaret Cho proved she understands that concept in her 80-minute show Wednesday night at the Maine Center for the Arts in Orono. Her longtime eating disorders, the racism and… Read More
ORONO – When their feet had stopped stomping, the Gaelforce Irish Dance Sensation on Saturday night had left the near-capacity crowd at the Maine Center for the Arts on its feet. Here and there across the packed auditorium, a child could be seen bobbing up… Read More
When you think of Super Bowl Sunday, what’s more of a natural fit than … Chinese acrobats? Well, maybe not. But the sellout crowd Sunday at the Maine Center for the Arts in Orono didn’t mind, as the New Shanghai Circus kept everybody amazed for… Read More
Can you remember the last time you laughed so hard you couldn’t catch your breath? If you’re like me, it has been a while. But over the weekend at the Maine Center for the Arts, “A Follies Odyssey: Paul Bunyan and the Aliens,” produced by Eastern Maine Medical… Read More
When the Tap Dogs take the stage, it feels like you’re watching that Diet Coke ad where the women in the office huddle around the window to check out the sexy construction worker on his break. Except there are six construction workers. And they can… Read More
ORONO – All the Peter Schickeles made an appearance at the Maine Center for the Arts Friday evening. There was, of course, the rumpled, addled P.D.Q. Bach, “the 21st of the 20 children” of the 18th century German composer, Johann Sebastian Bach. googletag.cmd.push(function () {… Read More
PORTLAND – Stars on Ice wrapped up its 15th season Saturday night at the Cumberland County Civic Center before a sell-out crowd. But the event itself, stellar as it was, ended up being secondary to the love-fest to its founder, Scott Hamilton, who was ending his touring career. Read More
ORONO – Take the choreography of those blue dudes in the Intel commercial, throw in a little Monty Python, add a half-cup of vaudeville and a soupcon of “Je ne sais quoi,” mix in some mime, top off with the mask work of commedia dell’arte, and there you… Read More
ORONO – How do you breathe new life into a classic tale? Use a dazzling array of color and impressive ice dancing. That’s what the skaters of the St. Petersburg State Ice Ballet did Saturday afternoon with the tale of Cinderella. googletag.cmd.push(function () { //… Read More
ORONO — Friday at the Maine Center for the Arts was some enchanted evening, as Bangor Community Theatre showed why “South Pacific” is both a Pulitzer Prize-winning and much-beloved musical. Fifty actor-singers, backed by John Haskell’s able group of musicians, put on a splendid performance of the story… Read More
PORTLAND – It was not just the big names of Champions on Ice, but also those farther down the bill that entertained the crowd Saturday afternoon at the Cumberland County Civic Center. As water ran down the sidewalk outside, the stars took to the ice… Read More
Walt Disney’s first groundbreaking animated classic came alive Wednesday night as Disney on Ice presented “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” the first of nine shows at the Bangor Auditorium. Set against the backdrop of a giant library, the theme of the evening was “reading… Read More