ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, March 28, 1997 TAG: 9703280038
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
COLUMN: out & about
SOURCE: DONNA ALVIS-BANKS
Ah ...spring!
Birds twittering, butterflies flitting, green sprouts growing ...
And growing ... and growing ... and GROWING!
You'll feel the growing pains at Virginia Tech this week when "Little Shop of Horrors" opens for business in Squires Haymarket Theatre.
The play, based on the 1960 movie by Roger Corman, is set in a flower shop on the poor side of town. The shop clerk, Seymour Krelbourn (played by Arthur Mahaney), is hoping to improve his station in life when he stumbles upon a rather unconventional business asset named Audrey II.
Audrey II is a Venus flytrap with an unquenchable thirst for vital fluid of the human kind.
The bodacious bloodsucker seduces all sorts of customers into Seymour's shop and business begins to boom. When Seymour discovers that the plant needs human blood to survive, he's forced to make a choice.
Should he feed the cunning carnivore and savor his newfound success ... or tune in to his conscience and destroy the creeping thing?
"Little Shop of Horrors" opens Monday and runs through Thursday with shows at 7:30 each evening. Admission is $7 for the public or $5 for students with Tech ID.
This is the first production by State Your Name Theatre Company, an organization run completely by students through the Virginia Tech Student Union.
For more information on SYNTCO, e-mail Anna Finkner at syntcoxc2vt.edu. For ticket information, call 552-7591.
HEROES: That's the title of Virginia Tech's University Symphony Band concert coming up Wednesday. The performance features works representing heroes, both real and mythical.
Aaron Copland's "Lincoln Portrait" is one of the selections you'll hear. Tony Distler, director of Tech's School of the Arts, will narrate the piece.
The band also will perform "A Movement for Rosa," a composition by Radford University's Mark Camphouse. Camphouse, director of bands at Radford, wrote it as a salute to Rosa Parks, the black woman who was arrested in Alabama in 1955 after refusing to give up her bus seat to a white passenger.
The program includes "To the Airborne" by Ron Nelson, a piece honoring the men and women of the Strategic Air Command, as well as music from the movie "Star Wars" and the 1996 Olympics.
Conductor David McKee has selected works by Ralph Vaughan Williams and Charles Carter - his personal heroes - and graduate assistant John Ross will direct David Gillingham's "Heroes Lost and Fallen (A Vietnam Memorial)."
Wednesday's concert starts at 8 p.m. in Squires Student Center's Commonwealth Ballroom. Admission at the door is $2.
ANYTHING AND ...Everything!
Everything is the band everybody who's anybody is talking about.
J.T. Griffith of Jam and Online Magazine says they're one of the best kept secrets in American music.
Darius Rucker of Hootie and the Blowfish says when he goes to see the band, he has to pick his chin off the floor.
Hailing from the D.C. area, Everything travels around the country performing more than 200 live shows a year. The band and Trumpeter Records received a 1996 nomination for best rock album by the National Association of Independent Record Distributors. The winners will be announced in May.
You can catch Everything's live show Tuesday. The six guys will bring their mix of jazz-rock-ska to the Lyric Theatre in downtown Blacksburg. Doors open at 9 p.m. and the music starts at 10.
Advance discount tickets, $6, are available at the Record Exchange and the Lyric. Admission at the door Tuesday is $8.
SHAKE A LEG: It's time to hunt for eggs at Blacksburg's Caboose and Municipal Park.
The annual Easter Egg Hunt for kids ages 3-7 is Saturday. It starts at 10 a.m. and goes until the candy runs out.
The event, sponsored by the Blacksburg Parks and Recreation Department, is open to all kids and it's free. The Easter Bunny will be there, too.
Don't forget to BYOB (bring your own basket)!
CALLING ALL MUNCHKINS: Flying monkeys, witches and tin men welcome, too.
Auditions for the Summer Musical Enterprise production of "The Wizard of Oz" are fast approaching.
Tryouts for munchkins and flying monkeys will be held April 4, 6-9 p.m. Auditions for all parts will continue April 5, 10 a.m.-1 p.m. and 2-5 p.m. If you want to try out for the chorus and principal roles, you'll get your chance April 6, 2-5 p.m.
Auditions will be held at the Blacksburg Christian Church, 204 Watson St. Everyone should come with a prepared monologue and a song. Just don't choose a song from this show for your demo.
Questions? Call 552-4619.
LENGTH: Medium: 92 linesby CNB