SCI-FI JULY at the Savoy Theater

WEEKLY GUIDE TO ARTS, IDEAS, AND EVENTS IN CENTRAL VERMONT
SCI-FI JULY at the
Savoy Theater
story on page H.3
Poster by
Nathan Hidook
JUNE 25, 2009
Page H.2 • June 25, 2009
HORIZONS
The Bridge
Music Festival Celebrates Turlough Carolan
By Nancy Taube
300-year-old Irish composer comes
alive this weekend in Worcester, Vermont, at the third annual Carolan Festival. Held at the beautiful Mallery Farm
overlooking the North Branch of the
Winooski, you couldn’t conceive of a finer
setting outside Ireland to hear the music of
one of Ireland’s most celebrated harpers and
composers.
Turlough Carolan was born in 1670 near
Nobber, County Meath, a village about 75
kilometers northeast of Dublin. In 1684. his
family moved 130 kilometers east to Ballyfarnan, County Roscommon, where his father took a job with the MacDermott-Roe
family of Alderford House. Mrs. MacDermott-Roe gave him an education, during
which he showed talent in music and poetry. After being blinded by smallpox at the
age of 18, Mrs. MacDermott-Roe apprenticed Carolan to a family relation who was
an accomplished harp player. She supported
him during his three-year apprenticeship,
and when he reached 21 years of age, provided him with a harp, a horse, a guide, and
sufficient money to begin his professional
career.
His success was negligible at first, but
when it was suggested to him that he try his
hand at composing, he wrote “Sheebeg and
Sheemore,” a slow, lyrical piece about two
fairy mounds in County Leitrim, now a staple in Irish traditional music repertoire. His
fame quickly spread throughout Ireland so
that he made his living traveling from house
to house in western Ireland, performing for
famous and wealthy people. He would
often write a tune in honor of the man of
the house or his wife or daughter, and his
style of composing was influenced by the
European Continental music of the time—
such as the Italians, Arcangelo Corelli and
Francesco Geminiani—as well as the Irish
melodies he would have heard from his
youth.
In 1720, Carolan married Mary Maguire,
and they settled near Mohill, County
Leitrim. In 1738, he returned to the home of
his patron, Mary McDermott-Roe. It is said
that his final composition was to her Butler
who brought him his last drink. He died on
the March 25, 1738, aged 68 years. He was
buried with much ceremony in the cemetery
A
Mallery farm, 2008 Carolan Festival. Photo by Chuck Schwartz.
at Kilronan, Ballyfarnon, County Roscommon, leaving a legacy of music that has
moved the hearts of people the world over.
Elizabeth Hunt Schwartz, John Mallery,
and Fran Purcell Mallery, all of Worcester,
Vermont, conceived of the Carolan Festival
in the fall of 2006, after they met at a political event and discovered their mutual enthusiasm for Irish music—and Carolan’s
music in particular. Mallery was performing
“Sheebeg and Sheemore” among other Carolan tunes with The Nips—the 20-year-old
local, traditional music group—after which
Schwartz approached him to say it was her
favorite tune. Schwartz explains: “Before I
moved to Vermont from Louisville, Kentucky, I heard a band down there called Ten
Penny Bit play ‘Sheebeg and Sheemore,’ and
I didn’t know what it was, but I absolutely
loved it. So I asked the tin whistle player,
and he told me the name was ‘Sheebeg and
Sheemore.’” It became a song of connections for her as she later met author Art
Edelstein in 2001 after he played the song at
a Montpelier restaurant on St Patrick’s Day.
Edelstein revealed that he had just finished
a biography on Carolan titled Fair
Melodies. “I read it, and reread it,”
Schwartz says, “and became more and more
interested, and started buying CDs from the
discography in Fair Melodies.”
The night she met John Mallery, he told
her that he had built a stage and pergola on
his farm for his wedding to Fran the previous summer, and that he and Fran had discussed having some kind of a festival there
to utilize the setting beyond the wedding.
“He said he thought it would be wonderful
to have a Carolan Festival there and use the
setup. And I said I’d love to help.” Soon,
with the dedicated help of Art Edelstein and
Helen Husher, they created the first Carolan
Festival in June 2007. It was such a success,
they expanded it for 2008.
This year’s Carolan Festival promises to
build on the successes of the previous two
years. And the number of people helping to
organize it has expanded as well to include:
Shannon Lee Wolf, Andy Leader, Janet
Leader, Patricia deGogorza Gahagan, Kenric Kite, Michael Fullerton, Sue Bettman,
Bill Lynn, and Nancy Lynn. The schedule of
events presents a wide range of tunes, instruments and talents from near and far.
1 p.m. Open Session: all are welcome to
play or listen.
1:45–3 p.m. Small Sessions: tune-centered,
at various locations around the property.
Session Leaders:
Lucy Andrews Cummin (harp): “Molly
MacAlpin” by Thomas Connellan
(“Carolan's Dream” is a variation on
this tune).
Bob Frost (banjo): “Planxty Burke.”
Emery Hutchins (concertina): “James Betagh” and “Carolan's Quarrel with the
Landlady.”
Bob Paul (hammered dulcimer) and Mary
Paul (harp): “Miss Noble” and
“George Brabazon, First Air.”
John Mallery (piano) and Fran Purcell
Mallery (recorder): “Kitty Magennis”
and “Maurice O’Connor, Third Air.”
3 p.m. Open Session.
4 p.m. Presentation by Bob Paul, original
member of The Angel Band: A Smorgasbord of Techniques for Improving Musicality.
4:30 p.m. Performances: spontaneous ensembles welcome out of the Small Sessions.
5 p.m. Open Dance with Session Musicians:
Style of your choice, or be creative! You
can request a tune, or dance to whatever
is being played. (Irish Step, Clogging,
Waltzing, Improvisation)
5:45 p.m. Potluck Picnic Supper.
6:30 to 8 p.m. Performances: spontaneous
ensembles welcome. Sign up in advance,
or during the day.
6:40 to 7 p.m. Performance: Hilari Farrington (Irish harp) and Benedict Koehler
(Uillean Pipes).
8 p.m. Contra dance: To Carolan Tunes.
9 p.m. Bonfire—along with more music and
dancing.
All Day: Swimming in the river!
Tune books are available for a modest
price, as are books and CDs by area musicians and authors.
John Mallery and Elizabeth Hunt Schwartz. Photo by Nancy Taube.
The Carolan Festival runs from 1 p.m. to 9
p.m. Saturday, June 27, at Mallery Farm,
108 Norton Road, Worcester. A modest donation ($10/person, $15/family) will be requested to cover the cost of tents, etc. This
is a not-for-profit event. For further details
or directions, contact Elizabeth Schwartz at
ehuntschwartz@gmail.com, 802-229-9468.
On the day, contact John Mallery at 802272-2899.
The Bridge
HORIZONS
June 25, 2009 • Page H.3
We Are not Alone . . .
The Savoy Theater Presents Sci-Fi July 2009
by Tim Tavcar
he Third Annual Sci-Fi July Festival
opens Friday, July 3, at 11 p.m. with a
screening of Steven Spielberg’s classic
Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
The brainchild of Savoy Theater projectionist and assistant manager, Eric
Reynolds, Sci-Fi July presents a total of nine
films during July, with showings every
weekend. All evening shows will be at 11
p.m., and for those who aren’t nightowls,
all features will be repeated in the afternoons at either 3:30 or 4 p.m., depending
upon their running times.
Reynolds proposed this series to the
Savoy’s Rick Winston three years ago. Having what he modestly terms an “in-house
advantage,” he was given the green light to
launch this series, which has been attracting
a greater number of sci-fi film aficionados
ever since. An enthusiastic cineaste himself,
Reynolds waxes almost poetic about seeing
films of all genres, but especially the classics
featured on this year’s festival, on a big
screen in the ambience of a theater and in
the company of passionate movie-goers.
"It’s an entirely different experience from
watching the same films at home on a television screen. Many times I have previewed
a film at home before we screened it at the
Savoy, and I thought, well that was OK. But
as a projectionist, I am amazed at what an
incredibly heightened experience it is to see
a movie surrounded by other audience
members who are gasping, guffawing, or
whatever—just reacting to what they are
experiencing on the big screen. It brings
such a heightened sense of what the filmmaker is trying to communicate, seeing how
his or her work is affecting others around
you. It raises the experience to a much
higher plane of involvement and enjoyment
for everyone in the theater.”
The nine films that comprise this year’s SciFi July are classics of the genre and are guaranteed to kindle a sense of awe and amazement in their audiences. Reynolds feels that
this year is comprised of his strongest line-up
of films to date. Here is a complete schedule
and show times of each film:
T
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
(1977): Friday, July 3, 11 pm; Saturday,
July 4, 3:30 pm
Steven Spielberg’s meditation on the UFO
phenomenon that gripped people the world
over, giving them the opportunity of seeing
what it was like a long time ago in a galaxy
far, far away, then allowing them to see
what it would be like on Earth when the visitors come calling.
Planet of the Apes (1968): Saturday,
July 4, 11 pm; Sunday, July 5, 4 pm
Cowritten by Rod Serling, Planet of the
Apes crafts an incredible world where man
was a lower order animal and apes evolved
into the dominant species. The story is skillful and entertaining, yet it leaves room for
social commentary, political discourse, and
an exploration of the human condition,
with its subtext reflecting the time of the
turbulent 1960s when it was made.
Flash Gordon.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
(1957): Friday, July 10m 11 pm;
Saturday, July 11, 4 pm
Aliens (1986): Saturday, July 18, 11 pm;
Sunday, July 19m 3:30 pm
Based upon a three-part serial written by
Jack Finney, screenplay by noir artiste Daniel
Mainwaring, additional dialogue writing and
direction by Sam Peckinpah, directed by Don
Siegel, and eerily musically scored by Carmen
Dragon, this quintessential B movie is very effective in eliciting horror through slow-building, but inexorable tension.
Slaughterhouse Five (1972): Saturday,
July 11, 11 pm; Sunday, July 12 4 pm
The film of Kurt Vonnegut’s stark meditation on the American bombing of Dresden
during WWII, where upwards of 40,000
civilians were killed in an inferno of incendiary and high explosive bombs, and the effect its destruction had upon its emotionally
vulnerable participants.
Logan’s Run (1976): Friday, July 17, 11
pm; Saturday, July 18; 4 pm
The Saturn Award–winning Michael Anderson Film, Logan’s Run was the standard
bearer for cinematic science fiction in the
malaise days of the 1970s. In an attempt to
stave off overpopulation, starvation and
poverty, a post “little war” generation of
youths has become the globe’s dominant social force, where a young fascist military
force called Sandmen enforces a mandatory
death sentence on all reaching the ripe old
age of 21.
James Cameron’s sequel to the 70s horror
sci-fi flick Alien is a case study of how to
make a relatively low-budget movie look
like mega-bucks were spent in its making.
Cameron’s movie has the perfect blend of
action, suspense, horror, and sci-fi and inspired a cult following of fanatical fans.
Flash Gordon (1980): Friday, July 24,
11 pm; Saturday, July 25, 4 pm
Director Mike Hodges has fashioned a
campy, comic book extravaganza that has it
all—hissable villains, beautiful women, a
hunky hero, and high stakes. Laughably bad
and fantastically good at the same time, this is
a guilty pleasure that everyone can enjoy!
Brazil (1985): Saturday, July 25, 11 pm;
Sunday, July 26, 3:30 pm
The quintessential Terry Gilliam film provides an object lesson in how to create cinema with vision, blow an enormous budget,
and create an undeniable work of art that
makes many viewers’ top-10 lists, and yet
still not achieve a true box-office success. A
splendid example of imagination run riot
across the silver screen. With dazzling visual
effects and stunning sets, Brazil is a film that
must be seen on a big screen.
Dr.Strangelove or How I Learned to
Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
(1964): Friday, July 31, 11 pm;
Saturday, August 1, 4 pm
The greatest nuclear holocaust comedy of
al time, Stanley Kubrick’s darkly hilarious
Strangelove is a landmark movie whose
madcap humor and terrifying suspense remain undiminished by time. It is definitely
one of the great political satires and war
thrillers—with three riveting, nerve-rending
plot strands twisting together like a fuse
about to blow. With a razor-sharp script
written by satirist Terry Southern, novelist
Peter George, and Kubrick himself,
Strangelove is an all-time classic of humor,
horror, suspense—and warning.
Eric Reynolds concludes by offering
grateful thanks to the local merchants who
sponsored the Third Annual Sci-Fi July Festival, without which it truly would not have
been possible. One of these supporters, the
Langdon Street Café, will host informal
postscreenings, include a sci-fi category during their famous Trivia Nights and, in the
works, a possible Flash Gordon Costume
Competition, where winners will receive
Sci–Fi July festival tickets.
For more information ion this unique cinematic experience which is guaranteed to take
you to the “outer Limits,” visit the Savoy Theater’s website at www.savoytheater.com or
call 802-229-0598. The Savoy Theater and
Downstairs Video are located at 26 Main
Street in Downtown Montpelier.
Boréal Tordu
The Maineiacs to Play at Langdon Street Café, Wednesday, July 8
ritically acclaimed wherever they perform, Boréal Tordu’s genre-defying
music has been hailed as “…folk
music in the purest sense, because it relies
on tradition but folds in contemporary values and sensibilities.”
Boréal Tordu began when fiddler Steve
Muise and singer Robert Sylvain discovered
a mutual interest in the music of their
shared Acadian heritage. While signs of
their parents’ French culture can still be
found in Maine, it was almost lost to their
generation, after years of forced assimilation. More than a revival, their music represents a continuation of musical traditions
passed down from the Acadians, the Québécois, and the unique French-speaking people
of the Republic of Madawaska and mill
towns all over New England.
And in 2009, representing today’s generation of Acadian-Maineiacs and inspiring
the populace to forget toil and care, comes
Boréal Tordu. More than a revival, this is
the reinvention of a culture almost lost to a
new generation. Whether playing original
creations inspired by their ancestral roots,
or the traditional songs passed down
C
through their familial heritage, the result is
a rhythmically unstoppable, lyrically fantastic blend of French-Canadian traditions
with original Americana sensibilities.
Their 2006 release La Bonne Vie was
called “an inspiration to the Franco-American community” by Dirty Linen magazine,
and has been heard on the PBS series Now
with Bill Moyers. The band features fiddler/accordionist Steve Muise and Acadian
singer-songwriter and dobro player Rob
Sylvain, known for his work in the band
Douce with Matthew Doucet of Lafayette,
Louisiana.
Rounding out the rhythm section is Pip
Walter on guitar and backing vocals, and
Andy Buckland on upright bass. Thrice
nominated for the Portland Phoenix
reader’s poll award for Best World Music
Act, Boréal Tordu continues to innovate
and abide in a genre by itself.
Catch their infectious music-making at
the Langdon Street Café on Wednesday,
July 8, at 8 p.m. For more information,
check out the café’s website at www.langdonstreetcafe.com or visit the groups own
Boréal Tordu. Photo by Alexa Ward.
site at www.borealtordu.com. Find out why
one reviewer observed to the readers of the
Portland Press Herald: “A friendly note
from Boréal Tordu—Cajun wasn’t born on
the Bayou.”
Page H.4 • June 25, 2009
HORIZONS
The Bridge
REVIEW
Solstice in Song: The Green Mountain Opera Festival 2009
by Mimi Clark
n the eve of the summer solstice in central Vermont, into a verdant heaven, came Le
Nozze de Figaro, Mozart, and da Ponte’s opera, The Marriage of Figaro. Three centuries after its initial debut, this opera of love still delivers plenty of stimulation,
laughter, and the joy of being alive, poking fun at men and women in their most intimate
relationships. Presented at the Barre Opera House, the comic opera or opera buffa offered
far more than today‘s “I ain’t gettin’ any” music. In this year’s production of the Green
Mountain Opera Festival (GMOF), complex emotions of love and desire were exposed, annotated, illuminated, and enhanced with elegance and grace.
The three-week festival propelled by its first grant from the National Endowment of the
Arts offered many open rehearsals and master classes, galas, and miniconcerts, all featuring the principal players as well as the five winners of the Emerging Artists program, who
were selected from 220 international applicants. The stellar conductor, Jacques Lacombe,
from our neighboring Quebec, fit the fledgling opera company into his busy schedule and
was everything that the world admires in a Frenchman: a lover of beauty, methodical, committed to excellence, gentle and precise in his direction. In his master class, he addressed the
difficulty of knowing how much is enough and not too much when flipping or rolling an
"r" in the romance languages. He tenderly conveyed to his students how significant opera
had been to the people of Vienna after the Second World War. The city had been leveled,
and the opera house was the first choice of the people to be renovated. He warned his students of the dangers of learning overly difficult roles and parts before they were ready. The
beauty of the music would be most enhanced by a voice that had progressed sufficiently to Andrew Wilkowske as Figaro and Jennifer Aylmer as Susanna. Photo by Spencer Leonard.
express the intent of the conductor and only comes with years of patient experience and
maturity.
if the music was resonating with passion throughout his body. His desire for Suzanna, as
The stage director, Ellen Schlaefer, was always present in, around, and behind the scenes, sinister as it was, rang out as an irresistible summons every time he mentioned her name.
almost invisibly and maternally guiding her actors, obsessed with important details that in His passion, power, and virility were conveyed by superb acting and singing. The countess,
the final production allowed the actors to execute their roles with incredible agility, fluid- his ignored wife played by Kate Mangiamelli, sang beautifully as she attempted to recover
ity, and ease. Allison Grant, her supporting director for the Emerging Artists, who profes- her wayward husband. Like Jackie O, she knew her place and gave it honor and dignity in
sionally traverses Canada, her home, was another pleasure to watch behind the scenes. She spite of his infidelity. The comic relief was expertly performed by bass Mark Freiman, who
has the expertise and gentility to disarm any remaining inhibitions the young actors may sang the same role of Dr. Bartolo in the GMOF first production of The Barber of Seville,
have had, including the Michigan based baby tenor, 24-year-old Dustin Scott, who sang the mezzo soprano Katrina Corbeil, as Marcellina, a crowd favorite; and tenor Brett Noorileading role in the midfestival presentation of Donizetti’s Elixir of Love. Love has been in gian-Colby in two roles of Basilio and Curzio. Last but not least , a stellar performance by
the air throughout the festival.
another crowd favorite, the lovable teenager Cherubino, played by mezzo Adriana Zabala,
Another compatriot, pianist Emily Hamper, literally travels the globe to accompany who as a young pubescent male was enamored with everything in a skirt.
singers on the harpsichord as well as the piano, having provided the most authentic addiNext June, the perfect distraction and escape from all the rain will be the Green Mountion to the orchestra for the production of Figaro. Her perfect timing and touch illuminated tain Opera Festival culminating at the Barre Opera House. It is not to be missed.
every moment of every scene, as if to punctuate each measure with distinction.
The orchestra was exceptional and not surprisingly
so as they heralded from all over New England, reserving in their busy lives the privilege to honor the
genius of Mozart. It was a feast for sore eyes to watch
these impeccably dressed 30 masters of perfection
come together under the direction of a conductor
who obviously had won their allegiance and affection.
The sets behind them were the artistic mastery of
now local resident Gary Eckhart, who brought beauty
he heading over Charlotte Potok’s obituary reads “Verand elegance to every detail. The 17th-century castle
mont Potter Dies.” But that’s not really accurate. Thee
pottery displayed at the Blinking Light Gallery —a
details were highlighted in gold and soft reds. Gilded
small representation of a voluminous life’s work—preserves
moldings framed towering windows and doorways
her energy and imagination, her humor, skill, and endless inconveyed with relative simplicity suggesting the luxuventiveness. Potok lives on in the clay she shaped, decorated,
rious status of the dwelling’s inhabitants. Gorgeous
and fired into table wear, furniture, wall hangings, and
cerulean blue light, designed by Julie Duro, occupied
planters. She’s not dead any more than the ancient and modthe entire back wall and softly changed from rose
ern masters whose traditions she absorbed and advanced,
pink and red violets to deep cobalt blue, denoting the
whose ranks she has joined.
gradual changes of day to evening to night. Their suMost artisans have teachers or mentors, but Charlotte
perb collaboration enhanced all the peaks and valleys
was
mostly self-taught. Her one instructor was David Gil at
of human emotion that took place in their midst. Red,
Bennington
Potters. From Gil, she learned the basics of deblue, and gold, the full spectrum of color, lent a persigning
and
producing clay pots. Back home in Plainfield,
fect balance on stage. The costumes designed by
she
talked
Goddard’s
president into letting her set up a potRobin Darcy-Fox were equally matched in luxury and
tery
and
start
a
ceramics
program. She loved working with
elegance as the sets. Faithful to the period, the dirndl
students, her little program flourished—and she had a studresses were very flattering on all the actresses, perdio where she could produce her own work. For the next 50
haps even more so than their modern attire.
years, in a tool shed, a horse barn, an expanded mudroom,
The fast-paced highly trained voices were matched
she set up a wheel, a work table, and a kiln and made every
with extraordinary acting skill and professional exkind of object that could possibly be fashioned out of clay.
pertise of the highest quality, from the principals to
Charlotte’s early work was simple and utilitarian, earththe local chorus. Jennifer Aylmer, who played
enware
glazed in muted colors. Then she started fooling
Suzanna, includes appearances with the Metropolitan
around.
A bright color here, a set of geometric sculptures
Opera in her resume. She was easily lovable as she
there, a porcelain lamp that looked like a sky scraper. Then
scurried around rapidly discoursing in Italian as if it
she looked back into history for inspiration and instruction, Charlotte Potok.
were her native tongue. A lyric soprano of sweetness
as she was to do periodically throughout her life. The first
and charm kept the world around her together, busily
backward glance was at Greek pottery and resulted in a se- tery led Charlotte to adapt their materials and designs to her
trying to accomplish one resolution or another. Her
ries of both formal and folk pieces which echoed the ancient own work for a while—then back to modern times. She colarias should have been met with greater applause.
Aegean civilizations. Returning to the 20th century, she laborated with Ed Koren to make porcelain kitchenware
baritone Andrew Wilkowske, who played Figaro, is
started making stylized copies of paper ware out of porce- decorated with his shaggy cartoon characters. Then she proanother gifted actor and singer and clearly demonlain. The New York Times called the work “Pop Art in duced brightly glazed plates shaped like fish, huge vases
strated his complete devotion and love for his fiancée
Porcelain,” and the Museum of Modern Art bought a set for shaped like women’s torsos, bird baths made out of porcewith ease, charm, and grace. Phillip Addis, who
its permanent collection. Quilted porcelain followed and lain. And back again to ancient times, 10,000, 20,000 years
played Count Almaviva, had me spell bound. When I
kids’ porcelain drinking cups that looked like alphabet back to little figurines of women, most likely goddesses.
read his program bio, which acclaimed him to be one
Potok made 10 simple, moving sculptures based on the
blocks. Those are at the Smithsonian.
of the most lauded singers of his generation—which is
small deities. They were her last project.
A
long-lasting
love
affair
with
pre-Columbian
Mayan
pota young one—I was skeptical. But he very quickly had
O
Vermont Potter Charlotte Potok Retrospective
At Blinking Light Gallery, Plainfield, July 2–30, 2009
T
me mesmerized. His every step was spring loaded as