by Monica Chamness
Staff Writer
As the new year dawns, the local arts scene is promising several major productions in the coming months.
The University of North Florida opens its inaugural year at the newly-completed Fine Arts Center with a performance by Metropolitan Opera star and Grammy Award winner Kathleen Battle. Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra conductor Fabio Mechetti will accompany her as they christen the Lazzara Theatre Jan. 23.
“What we are trying to do is create a culture of curiosity,” said Allison Blackstone, marketing coordinator for UNF’s Fine Arts Center. “The performances will come from a traditional place that is recognizable but with a twist. It’s taking what’s comfortable and pushing it a little farther.”
In the University Gallery, “Street Scene: A Decade of New Painting in Jacksonville” is scheduled to open Jan. 16. Eleven local artists will have their works on display until Feb. 20. Jim Draper (probably most famous for his palm tree paintings) and Steve Williams, co-owners of Pedestrian Gallery in Springfield, are two of the artists whose contemporary works will be shown. Artists Ryan Rummel and Jonathan Lux, whose “Mannacles+Fetters” exhibit is currently on display at Pedestrian, are also in the show. Creations by gallery owner Lee Harvey, painter/sculptor Marsha Glazière and Mark Creegan with his signature drum paintings, Christian Pierre and Tony Rodrigues are also participating. Jerry Smith and Kurt Polkey, having exhibited at the former Brooklyn Contemporary Art Center are the other exhibitors. Street Scene chronicles the metamorphosis of the Riverside art scene.
On Feb. 19, the Fashion Group International hosts its Gottex Cruise 2003 Runway Show. Expect swimsuits adorned with beads, ruffles, pinstripes, oriental accents and animal stripes to prance down the runway in bold colors. VIP tickets can cost as much as $2,000.
“The show promises a global array of beachwear coupled with upcoming trends such as corseting, fringe and crochet,” said Darleene Unger, Fashion Group’s event co-chair. “Gottex’s recent show marked the first time ever swimwear was shown on the runways of New York and we are privileged to be the only other city to present the show.”
Ushering in March is the MOMIX dance company with its production of “In Orbit.” The 20-year-old international troupe of “dancer-illusionists” pride themselves on inventiveness and physical beauty. Creating surrealistic images using props, light, shadow, humor and the human body is their trademark. The March 5 show is one of a series of dance performances this season at the Florida Theatre.
The pièce de résistance is the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra’s fully staged opera, “Carmen.” April 5, Metropolitan Opera diva and Jacksonville resident Victoria Livengood reprises the classic role of this tale of love and betrayal. The one-night-only show will be the second grand opera to be performed at the T-U Center.
Wrapping the Florida Theatre’s Winter Movie Classics is the futuristic film (for its time), “Metropolis.” Shot in 1927, the plot is similar to “Planet of the Apes.” The wealthy ruling class make their home in luxurious skyscrapers while slave labors toil away underground. The protagonist, son of the rich villain, changes his bratty ways when he meets a beautiful slave woman. Having toured the laborers’ wretched habitat, the hero begins marshaling for humanitarian reform, only to be thwarted by an evil industrialist who pledges to turn the slaves against the reformers.
Spring showers will bring unique performances from the Riverside Fine Arts Series. May 6 will be marked by the sounds of the Girls Choir of Harlem, the counterpart of the Boys Choir, at the T-U Center. The performance will be characterized by a soulful blend of classical, spiritual and raucous gospel. A portion of the proceeds benefit 100 Black Men of Jacksonville’s youth programs.
In the summer, Florida Community College at Jacksonville concludes its Broadway Artist Series June 17-22 with the Disney musical “Beauty and the Beast.”
Other big-name productions this season include “Lord of the Dance,” “Swan Lake,” “The Pirates of Penzance” and Puccini’s “Madama Butterfly,” the classic opera of a young Japanese girl who breaks ties with her family and her faith to marry an American Navy lieutenant. He subsequently abandons her and their unborn child to return years later with an American wife and a desire to adopt their son.
July ushers in the annual Playwrights’ Festival at St. Augustine’s Limelight Theatre. An original script from a Florida playwright will be performed for the first time as well as staged readings of several other new works.