Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, May 6, 1994 TAG: 9405060083
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: Donna Alvis Banks
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Now, the new show in town is "Road to Paradise," an original musical comedy by Steve Brown based on the classic "road comedies" with Bob Hope, Bing Crosby and Dorothy Lamour.
Playmakers & Company will present the world premiere of Brown's light-hearted musical tonight at 7:30 p.m. The show will continue through May 22 at Playmakers' Playhouse in Blacksburg's University Mall.
When Brown started writing "Road to Paradise," he said he wanted to have fun.
"I wanted a new story, new songs and new adventures with people that I knew and loved, however, I kept the breezy spirit of the original."
Brown also directed the play. Anna Dalton, a veteran of the community theater troupe, is the producer, and Pat Horne is the choreographer.
To kick off the premiere, the cast will have a special celebration from 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday in front of Playmakers' Playhouse. The Sundancers will give a country-western dance demonstration, the "Magnificent Malevolo" will perform illusions and cast members will sing several songs from the show. Brown will be there to answer questions about the play.
Curtain time is at 7:30 p.m. today and Saturday and at 2 p.m. Sunday. The second run begins Thursday.
Advance tickets are available at The Weight Club in University Mall. Admission is $7 for adults or $5 for students and senior citizens.
ONCE UPON A TIME You remember the story of Rumpelstiltskin, the pesky little dwarf who spins flax into gold for the young lady who must meet the demands of the prince she has married.
The catch is she must guess his quirky name or give him her first child.
The Blacksburg Ballet School will present the classic German folk tale in a children's ballet Saturday at 7 p.m. in the Blacksburg High School Auditorium.
Jennifer Van Dyke, a student at Harding Avenue Elementary School, will dance the title role. Megan White will play the miller's daughter.
Admission to the performance is free.
IT'S SPRING! That means it's time for the annual Spring Festival at Warm Hearth Village in Blacksburg. The resident council at the retirement center puts on the festival each year to raise money for aid to elderly and infirm residents and to support community services, such as the local rescue squad and fire department.
The festival will be held Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Warm Hearth activity center. The day's activities include a big flea market, continuous bingo games and refreshments. The residents will sell spring plants and flowers, too.
The center is on Warm Hearth Drive off Merrimac Road.
EARTH TO EARTHA: That's the title of a new exhibit going up at Radford University's Flossie Martin Gallery. Works by graduate students Kelly Parady of Maine and Nancy Doolan of Florida will be on display through June 2.
Parady's large abstract paintings focus on the outdoor mystery of light.
"For years I've dealt with the concept of path," she says. "Path leading toward the light or path being a metaphor for transcendence or release."
Parady uses earth tones, blues and reds to represent light in her landscapes.
Doolan is a multi-media artist whose work is centered around women. The exhibit at Flossie Martin Gallery features a hands-on display of her work.
"My pieces are loosely painted, splashy paintings of scenes from American life - cafes and women and funky fashions," Doolan says. "It's hard to explain, but one painting is of this dreary bus lady and next to her is this really bright jacket. The public can take the jacket and put it on her."
A reception for Doolan and Parady will be held today at 5 p.m. in the gallery. Local art lovers are invited to meet the young artists and see their work.
Regular gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, 6 to 9 p.m. Thursday and noon to 4 p.m. Sunday. Admission is free.
WRITERS OF THE HILLS: Here's your chance to meet some best-selling authors.
Sharyn McCrumb of Shawsville, author of 12 fine novels set in the Appalachian Mountains, will be at Waldenbooks in New River Valley Mall Saturday. Her books, which she compares to Appalachian quilts, include the popular "If Ever I Return, Pretty Peggy-O" and "The Hangman's Daughter."
Of her work, McCrumb says, "I take brightly colored scraps of legends, ballads, fragments of rural life and local tragedy, and I piece them together into a complex whole that tells not only a story but also a deeper truth about the culture of the mountain South."
Joining McCrumb Saturday at Waldenbooks will be Charles Edwin Price, a writer known for his collections of Appalachian tales. Price's latest book, "The Mystery of Ghostly Vera and Other Haunting Tales of Southwest Virginia," includes stories of the ghost of Virginia Intermont College, a house of terror in Bristol, the ghost tales of the Martha Washington Inn in Abingdon, the Black sisters of Christiansburg and a haunted cave near Saltville.
McCrumb and Price will autograph their books, starting at 2 p.m. Saturday, at the bookstore.
The meet-the-author series at Jessie Peterman Memorial branch library in Floyd will continue Thursday with a presentation by novelist and journalist Donald McCaig. McCaig lives on a working sheep farm in Highland County with his wife, Ann, and their Border collies. His book, "Eminent Dogs, Dangerous Men," is the story of his trip to Scotland to find his dog.
McCaig also is the author of the popular "Nop's Trials," a Crown book about a sheep farmer who searches for his stolen Border collie, Nop. McCaig has written a sequel, "Nop's Hopes," to be released by Crown this month.
A reception for McCaig starts at 7:30 p.m. at the library in Floyd. The author will speak at 8 p.m. and a time for book-signing will follow.
The meet-the-author series is co-sponsored by the Friends of the Library and the Jessie Peterman Memorial Branch Library Endowment Fund. Admission is $3 at the door.
Monty Leitch, an author and columnist for The Roanoke Times & World-News, is the featured speaker at the next program on May 19.
WHAT'S UP AT SOUTH MAIN? Everyone's favorite, Electric Woodshed, will play at South Main Cafe in Blacksburg tonight. The band plays classic rock (from Hendrix to Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young) and dirty blues.
On Saturday, Trespassers Will takes the stage. The six-piece band has been performing locally for the past year, and we're all ears.
Trespassers Will is known for using inventive instrumental combinations. If you haven't heard them, imagine The Beatles or Pink Floyd with a banjo or maybe The Ramones with a mandolin.
The band sings three-part harmony and performs original songs, as well as old standards.
The music starts at 10 each night at the cafe, 117 South Main St.
by CNB