Theater Review: Wicked at The Morrison Center For The Performing Arts

Last night, my wife and I took a ride that defied gravity in Boise, as Wicked transformed the city into the magical land of Oz. The show was one of the most complete and satisfying musicals I've come across in a long time. Packed with spectacular coups de theatre and magical effects, Winnie Holzman's script keeps the gags coming as it cleverly subverts the film that spawned it.

The story of Elphaba, the titular Wicked Witch in Broadway’s smash hit musical, Wicked, has become as classic and engrained in our hearts as the original story of Dorothy from Frank L. Baum’s source material for the show, The Wizard of Oz. Composer and lyricist Stephen Schwartz was immediately inspired to create a musical about Elphaba when he read the novel by Greg Maguire which expanded and twisted the universe and gave us another look into the world many of us grew up reading about and watching in the movies. The musical is a look into the land of Oz before that familiar girl from Kansas and her dog arrived in Munchkinland and shows that in life, not everything is merely black or white – or green!

The production was fortunate to boast a pair of ace leading women in the main roles. As Glinda,  Kara Lindsay delivered a sensational star turn, displaying a crystal-pure voice and sharp comic timing;  Laurel Harris loaned her powerful pipes to the tricky role of Elphaba. Wizard of Oz  fans will be fascinated by all the back stories. They answer, analyze and develop questions including: "Is Glinda really that good?" ... "Where did the flying monkeys come from?" ... "How did the Scarecrow and Tin man come to be?" Built on songs by Stephen Schwartz, the best thing about Wicked is its stars, whose talent casts a powerful spell.

Presented at one of the nation's best venues -- The Morrison Center for the Performing Arts -- the costumes, stage props, actors, music -- everything was top notch. Wicked is a seductive slice of popular entertainment. Thus, it has the potential  to help a younger audience develop  a lasting taste for musical theater. Like any good Broadway musical, it taps into every emotion in the book. The impeccable phrasing and timing combine with surprisingly ingenious humor and a gripping narrative. The play gave the material every chance to shine.

The emerald curtain will continue to rise through May 4, 2014. Wicked is a musical you can take the entire family to.

Boise State Partners With Sun Valley Film Festival

BY: ELLIERODGERS

Recognizing that the arts, creativity and culture play a vital role in Idaho’s prosperity, Boise State University is announcing a new partnership with the Sun Valley Film Festival, scheduled for March 13-16.

This partnership will not only provide opportunities for students, faculty and professionals to further their creative activities, it also will leverage the economic impact of the arts in Idaho.

“Arts and culture provide more than ideas and inspiration — they spur the creativity and innovation that are a vital part of Idaho’s quality of life and our future,” said Boise State President Bob Kustra. “Boise State is committed to positioning our students at this intersection of the arts and innovation.”

The arts create a wide diversity of jobs, employing writers, designers, film and video producers, as well as other positions in advertising, media, tourism and entertainment.

“Communities that support the arts and culture not only enhance their quality of life, they also invest in their economic well-being,” said Terri Schorzman, director of the Boise City Department of Arts & History.

Film Festival Director Candice Pate said the Sun Valley event, now in its third year, has become known as a filmmaker’s festival in part because the area is so steeped in cinematic history, but also due to its intimate location far from the Hollywood scene.

“We have a proven knack for drawing industry heavyweights and independents,” Pate said. “But the Sun Valley Film Festival also offers student and Idaho filmmakers the chance to showcase their work.

“This new partnership with Boise State — especially the addition of its students and faculty — brings a new vibrancy to the festival this year and for years to come,” Pate said.

The festival will screen more than 50 curated films and host filmmaker Q&A sessions, parties and panels. There will be several new programs, including conTent — an afternoon dedicated to digital content — the Future Filmmakers Forum and Works-in-Progress workshop. As part of Boise State’s partnership with the festival, the university will present the signature standing-room-only Coffee Talks with top industry insiders.

The Sun Valley Screenwriters Lab will be hosted by Melisa Wallack and Craig Borten, co-screenwriters of the Academy Award-nominated “Dallas Buyers Club.”

For more information about the festival, go towww.sunvalleyfilmfestival.org.

Screening of ‘Rafea: Solar Mama’ at Boise State Featured Peggy Goldwyn

The Arts and Humanities Institute at Boise State University teamed up with the Family of Woman Film Festival and presented an early viewing of “Rafea: Solar Mama.” The film, shown on March 5, in the Special Events Center.

The story is about a Bedouin woman named Rafea who lives with her daughters in one of Jordan’s poorest desert villages on the Iraqi border. She is given a chance to travel to India to attend the Barefoot College, where illiterate women from around the world are trained in six months to be solar engineers. If she succeeds, she will be the first female solar engineer in Jordan and will be able to electrify her village, train more engineers and provide for her daughters. But first she will need to find support and be able to change the longstanding traditions of her Bedouin community.

Peggy Goldwyn, a longtime filmmaker, screenwriter and humanitarian who was vice president of the Samuel Goldwyn Company for 20 years, is the founder of the Family of Woman Film Festival, and will be on hand to open the event. Meagan Carnahan Fallone of the Barefoot College will introduced the film lead a discussion afterward.

The Family of Woman Film Festival was launched in 2007 by Friends of UNFPA (United Nations Population Fund) board member Peggy Elliott Goldwyn in Sun Valley in order to bring attention to the work of UNFPA. It has since grown to include six films and many other events over a six-day period. This year’s festival is March 4-10.

For more information on the film, visit www.rafeasolarmama.com; for more information on the Family of Woman Film Festival, visit familyofwomanfilmfestival.org.

Idea of Nature Lecture Series March 13

The third annual public lecture series titled “Interdisciplinary Explorations – The Idea of Nature” continues March 13 with “Emily Dickinson and Science” by Richard Brantley.

This series is inspired by the theme that big questions need interdisciplinary answers. The goal of the series is to foster the public humanities by bringing distinguished lecturers to Boise.

The lectures are free, open to the public and no tickets are required. The lectures will be held from 6-7 p.m. in the Student Union Simplot Ballroom. Each lecture will be followed by a reception with a no-host bar and appetizers. To reserve a spot at a reception, or for more information about free parking and the series, send an e-mail to samanthaharvey@boisestate.edu or visitscholarworks.boisestate.edu/ideaofnature.

Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) took her cue from the scientific method. “Experiment escorts us last,” she wrote. Just as her understanding of temporal and spatial change channeled geology, so her sense of the sublime consulted astronomy. Her grasp of the bald, cold truth of life’s struggle out-Darwined Darwin. Thus she thrilled and shuddered in nature’s creative and destructive presence.

Brantley is professor emeritus at the University of Florida. His works brings together philosophy, religion and literature. His essays appear in such journals as Studies in English Literature, Eighteenth-Century Studies, Studies in Romanticism, Eighteenth Century Life and Harvard Theological Review.

He is the author of Wordsworth’s “Natural Methodism” (Yale, 1975); “Locke, Wesley, and the Method of English Romanticism” (Florida, 1984); “Coordinates of Anglo-American Romanticism: Welsey, Edwards, Carlyle, and Emerson” (Florida, 1993); “Anglo-American Antiphony: The Late Romanticism of Tennyson and Emerson” (Florida, 1994); and “Experience and Faith: The Late-Romantic Imagination of Emily Dickinson” (Palgrave Macmillan, 2004).

The lecture series continues April 24 with Susan Oliver, “Getting to the Roots of the Matter: Trees in 19th Century Literature.” Oliver is a reader in English Literature at the University of Essex in England. She specializes in late-18th-century and Romantic period literature, transatlantic studies, periodical culture and environmental writing. She also works on the more general literature and culture of the 19th century.

The British Academy awarded her the Rose Mary Crawshay Prize (2007) for “Scott, Byron and the Poetics of Cultural Encounter.” She recenlty was Andrew W. Mellon Fellow at the Huntington Library and has held fellowships at the University of Wyoming, the American Philosophical Society, the MLA, the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities at Edinburgh University and at Essex.  She is Honorary Fellow in Literary Studies in the Department of English, University of Wyoming, and a senior member of Wolfson College, University of Cambridge.

The “Interdisciplinary Explorations: The Idea of Nature” public lecture series is supported by the Idaho Humanities Council, The Osher Institute of Lifelong Learning, the College of Idaho and the following units at Boise State: Arts and Humanities Institute, College of Arts and Sciences, College of Education, College of Social Sciences and Public Affairs, Extended Studies, Department of English, the College of Business and Economics and the Environmental Studies Program.

Distinguished Lecture Series Presents Richard Heinzl April 8

BY: KATHLEEN TUCK

The Honors College Distinguished Lecture Series at Boise State University presents Richard Heinzl at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 8, in the Student Union Jordan Ballroom.

The lecture is free and open to the public. No tickets are required. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and free parking is available in the Lincoln Avenue Garage.

Heinzl, the Canadian physician who founded the first North American chapter of Doctors Without Borders, will deliver a lecture titled “Creating Opportunity in a World Without Borders.”

The Nobel Peace Prize-winning humanitarian medical relief organization has inspired a commitment among medical professionals to help the world’s most vulnerable populations. Heinzl will share stories of ordinary people doing extraordinary things in the midst of war and other challenges.

Heinzl founded the Canadian chapter in 1988 when he was just out of medical school. Shortly thereafter he became its first field volunteer, spending an extraordinary year in remote Cambodia. These experiences are captured in his memoir, “Cambodia Calling: A Memoir from the Frontlines of Humanitarian Aid.”

Hundreds of volunteers have since followed in his footsteps, bringing their healing skills to help many of the world’s most vulnerable people. For his work, Heinzl has been named one of Report on Business’s Top 40 Under 40. He also was awarded an honorary doctorate from his alma mater, McMaster University. 

The Distinguished Lecture Series features speakers who have had major impacts in politics, the arts, science, business or other realms of contemporary significance. Former speakers in the series include environmental architect William McDonough, National Book Award winner Jonathan Kozol, investigative journalist Seymour Hersh, Nobel Laureate in economics Joseph Stiglitz, biologist E.O. Wilson and Nobel Peace Prize recipient and former president of Poland Lech Walesa, among others.

For more information, visit go.boisestate.edu/distinguishedlectures.