Interlude - December 17
December 17, 2020
Holiday song special, comedy lessons, songwriters exhibit, 'All Is Calm' and more
Welcome back to Interlude, your weekly update on arts, entertainment and enrichment opportunities from the Center and its friends.
Give the gift of funny
Seeking a truly unique gift for the comedy fan in your life? How about a registration for the Center’s next Intro to Stand-Up Comedy class in February?
In just five weekly sessions, touring professional comedian Mat Alano-Martin guides students through the history and theory of the art form, development of their own five-minute stand-up routines, and a graduation performance for family and friends.
Learn more about the comedy class.
Saturday: Academy alumni sing seasonal songs
Music plays an important role in our holiday memories and traditions, and our friends at the Great American Songbook Foundation are celebrating that fact with a special online program premiering at 8 p.m. Saturday.
Twelve Songs of the Season will feature performances of classic seasonal songs by more than 20 alumni of the annual Songbook Academy summer intensive, including local students as well as others across the nation who are already making waves in the world of arts and entertainment. Host Michael Feinstein will contribute a tune or two and share the fascinating histories and anecdotes behind such holiday standards as “White Christmas,” “Winter Wonderland,” “Sleigh Ride” and “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.” Watch a preview here.
Best of all, this one-time-only holiday special is free to view! So if you or someone you know needs a holiday pick-me-up, learn more and register here for Twelve Songs of the Season.
Online exhibit celebrates Jewish songwriters
Little-known fact: Many of the songs we associate with the holidays were written by Jewish immigrants – “The Christmas Song,” “Silver Bells,” “Holly Jolly Christmas” and “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year,” to name just a few.
The Songbook Foundation has created an online version of its popular exhibit A Fine Romance: Jewish Songwriters, American Songbook, profiling artists such as Harold Arlen, Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, Jerome Kern, and the stage musical team of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein. All came from families that immigrated to America in the 1800s or fled persecution in Europe at the turn of the 20th century, and their work has become part of the fabric of American life. Check out the exhibit here.
Relive the magic of All Is Calm
Two years ago this week, the Center presented an unusual seasonal stage production that, through traditional songs and historical texts, re-creates the amazing true story of British and German soldiers who came out of their World War I trenches to share a holiday moment of peace with their adversaries – singing carols, trading tobacco and chocolates, playing soccer and burying their dead. Theater Latté Da’s All Is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914 drew raves from a multigenerational Palladium audience that included many veterans.
This year, PBS is offering All Is Calm for free online streaming, as well as a TV airing of the production on local stations, including at 10 p.m. Friday on WFYI for Central Indiana viewers. Learn more and watch the show here.
This week in performing arts history
Before writing his blockbuster The Music Man, Meredith Willson had a successful career in broadcasting.
December 13: On this date in 1981, Amy Lee of the rock band Evanescence was born in Riverside, California. In December 2017, backed by a 28-piece orchestra, Evanescence performed songs from its Synthesis album to a packed house at the Palladium.
December 15: On this date in 2006, blues legend B.B. King was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George W. Bush. King played to a sold-out Palladium in November 2012.
December 18: On this date in 1892, Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky's ballet The Nutcracker premiered in St. Petersburg, Russia. Initially panned but now considered a holiday classic, it has been performed at the Center by the Grand Russian Ballet in 2017 and the Indiana Ballet Conservatory in 2019.
December 19: On this date in 1957, The Music Man by Meredith Willson (pictured above) opened at the Majestic Theatre on Broadway, later winning the Tony Award for Best Musical and marching on for 1,375 performances. The musical has been produced twice at the Center, by Carmel Repertory Theatre in 2012 and Civic Theatre in 2017. Willson’s papers, including early drafts of The Music Man, are housed in the Great American Songbook Archives and are being digitized for worldwide access by scholars, performers and fans. Check out the Meredith Willson Digital Collection here.
