Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, July 7, 1990 TAG: 9007070035
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: E1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Jeff DeBell
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Artistic director Don Baker said only three of the 11 concerts held so far have broken even at the box office.
Last year, Lime Kiln's concerts were well-attended and frequently sold out. In response, the Lexington theater this year added Wednesday night concerts to the established Sunday series. Baker said he's wondering whether that's too many.
There is no thought of canceling any of the remaining concerts, but Baker said the indifferent response will affect planning for next year, "especially the question of a Wednesday series."
There are 18 more concerts scheduled, starting with Sunday's performance by Country Rain. Still to come are such high-quality acts as David Bromberg, Livingston Taylor, Loudon Wainwright III, Trapezoid, Peter Ostrouchko, The Red Clay Ramblers, The Seldon Scene, and John McEun & Vassar Clements.
\ More One Night Stands
One Night Stands will return, according to Susan Cole of The Arts Council of Roanoke Valley.
Next season's acts will be actor/monologist Spalding Gray, whose credits include the movie "Swimming to Cambodia;" the Kronos Quartet, one of the country's premier chamber music groups; and solo dancer Molissa Fenley.
There's a possibility that sponsors will sweeten the pot with an optional bus trip to Richmond to see Sankai Juku, a Japanese dance troupe that performs in a low pool of water.
This year's well-received inaugural series included five groups or individuals, with most of the performances in Mill Mountain Theatre's intimate Theatre B. Though there are fewer performers scheduled for next season, Cole said, they are better known and can be expected to draw larger audiences. Two of the three performances will be in Mill Mountain's main theater.
The performance series is sponsored by the arts council in cooperation with Mill Mountain Theatre and the Roanoke Museum of Fine Arts.
The arts council plans a fund-raising campaign this summer. The idea is to launch the drive and essentially wrap it up before the United Way and other big campaigns get under way in the fall. Bert Levine is heading the campaign, which has a goal of $55,000.
Elsewhere in the arts
Also planning a fund drive is Center in the Square, which will seek $125,000 toward the support of its $727,000 operating budget for 1990-91.
Center has an ongoing endowment drive, but has never before campaigned for operating funds.
"There's no way around it," chairman Warner Dalhouse said, noting reductions in interest earnings and support from the state.
\ The Richmond Ballet and the Roanoke Symphony, which collaborated on "The Nutcracker" in 1987, will bring the popular holiday ballet back to Roanoke this winter.
As in the first instance, the show will be a presentation of Dominion Bank. Performances will be held Dec. 21 and 22.
\ The absence of a title song in Mill Mountain Theatre's upcoming production of "Magic to Do" does not mean the title has other "deep, symbolic significance," director Ernest Zulia says in his program notes.
There is a much simpler explanation. The play is named for a song that was in an earlier version of the show. It was cut but the title was retained.
"That's show biz," Zulia writes.
"Magic to Do" is a revue of the songs of Stephen Schwartz, who is best known for "Godspell" and "Pippin."
by CNB