Copious Notes

Kayoko Dan takes a bow with the Central Kentucky Youth Orchestra Concert Orchestra Sunday night at the Lexington Opera House. Photos by Rich Copley.

Since I am a Central Kentucky Youth Orchestra parent, I stay away from writing about CKYO for the paper — sort of an obvious conflict of interest there.

Dan addresses the audience.

But it is certainly worth noting that the Kayoko Dan era officially got underway Sunday night with the Youth Orchestra’s season-opening concert at the Lexington Opera House. The group’s Symphony Orchestra and Concert Orchestra played a tidy program of just over 90 minutes that included music from Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake” for the Concert players and the third movement Gustav Mahler’s “Symphony No. 1 in D Major ‘Titan’” for the Symphony. That was some challenging stuff, to say the least.

Also debuting was CKYO assistant conductor Daniel Chetel, who was actually a candidate for the top spot and ended up coming to Lexington to pursue a doctorate in musical arts and conducting at the University of Kentucky, where he also serves as assistant conductor of the UK Symphony. Chetel, who holds a bachelors from Harvard and a masters from the University of Maryland, was offered the Kentucky post by UK Symphony director John Nardolillo after he interviewed for the CKYO job. Sunday night, Chetel conducted the Concert Orchestra in an arrangement of Modest Mussorgsky’s “The Great Gate of Kiev” and the Symphony in the second movement of Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Symphony No. 7 in A Major.”

Assistant conductor Dan Chetel greets Concert Orchestra concertmaster Laura Saikawa after conducting Mussorgsky

The Symphony’s program was a bit of an introduction to Dan as she said from the stage it was her favorite movements from symphonies. Bookending the Beethoven and the Mahler on that program called “Symphonic Progression” were the first movement of Franz Joseph Haydn’s “Symphony No. 104 in D Major ‘London’” and the fourth movement of Tchaikovsky’s “Symphony No. 4 in f minor.”

When Dan auditioned for the Lexington Philharmonic’s music director post, Tchaikovsky was also a centerpiece of her LPO concert with music from “Swan Lake.” So, judging by her programming — Tchaikovsky’s “Russian Choral and Overture” opened the concert — and comments from the stage Sunday, it looks like CKYO kids will be getting used to Peter I.

Chetel’s presence also drove home the fact the Philharmonic and Youth Orchestra’s recent music director searches yielded two new conductors each: new Philharmonic music director Scott Terrell and Dan, who first came here as an LPO candidate, and Dan and Chetel at the CKYO. So Lexington’s conductor pool is enhanced with a trio of new talent, which is certainly worth noting.

Click the play button to hear a podcast of our River of Time report for WEKU-FM 88.9:

Copious Notes podcasts are available on iTunes.

The University of Kentucky Opera Theatre presents the world premier production of composer Joe Baber and librettist Jim Rodgers’ River of Time Oct. 8-10 at the Lexington Opera House. The opera, commissioned by UK Opera, looks at Abraham Lincoln’s early years including his search for purpose in his life and the roots of his desire to fight slavery. Photos by Rich Copley | staff.

Feature: Lincoln Opera portrays a ‘journey to greatness’

Quest Community Church's new state-of-the-art 2,400-seat auditorium was built with private funds. Could Lexington arts supporters do something similar?

What do you think of Lexington’s inventory of theaters and other venues for live performances?

Currently, leaving aside our behemoth of Rupp Arena, our major arts and entertainment venues are the Singletary Center for the Arts, which seats about 1,500, and the Lexington Opera House, which accomodates just under 1,000. Then, in the seats-a-few-hundred category, you have the black box theater in the Downtown Arts Center, the Lyric Theatre, which is currently being rennovated, and the Kentucky Theatre. There are also venues such as Studio Players’ Carriage House Theatre and the Lexington Children’s Theatre that are almost exclusively used by the groups that occupy them, and University spaces such as the University of Kentucky’s Guignol Theatre and Transylvania University’s Haggin Auditorium that are primarily used by the institutions.

Am I leaving any Big Kahunas out?

So, is that a good inventory. What do we lack?

Some lament we never got the major performing arts center that was supposed to happen where the courthouses now stand at Main and Limestone. Others say Lexington isn’t ready for a venue of that caliber. Others look at smaller spaces such as the Woodford Theatre’s venue in Falling Springs Arts and Recreation Center and wonder why Lexington couldn’t have something like that for groups that may see the Opera House as too big for their needs.

Still others say creativity trumps venues, and point to places such as Charleston, S.C., that have built vibrant performing arts scenes without an ideal inventory of venues. Here, we have examples such as Balagula Theatre at Natasha’s Bistro and Bar and the chamber music festivals that bookend the summer taking place in  an old tobacco barn at Shaker Village and Fasig-Tipton’s horse sales pavilion showing a creative use of non-traditional spaces in town.

Here’s another fly I’ll throw in the ointment: I just attended a concert last week in a new, state of the art 2,400-seat Lexington venue that would have been the envy of many area arts groups: Quest Community Church’s new sanctuary. If there is a desire for a new theater or theaters in town, do you need to have public funds to build it, or can the arts community come together to make something happen like, oh, Quest or a little baseball park near Broadway and New Circle that was built with private funds.

That’s sort of a distillation of conversations and thoughts I’ve had over the last several years about Lexington’s theater space.

So, what do you think? Hit the comment button and let’s talk.

Lauren Tenney (left, front), Meredith Dunlevy (back, left), Megan Jacobs (right, front) and Ashley Wilcock (back, right) dance while cellist Peter Kucirko plays a sonata by J.S. Bach in a rehearsal of a new piece which will be performed as part of the company's season-opening concert, Sept. 18. Photo by Rich Copley | LexGo.com.

The Lexington Philharmonic and Lexington Ballet are teaming up to sell tickets to their season premieres for one price.

Scott Terrell. Photo by David Stephenson | LexGo.com.

Both the Ballet’s Sept. 17 and 18 Fabric of Dance performance and the Phil’s Sept. 25 MasterClassics concert are big debuts: the ballet unveiling its new professional performing company and the Phil’s new music director Scott Terrell opening his inaugural season with guest Evelyn Glennie, the most famous percussion soloist in the world.

The organizations are selling a combined ticket for $60. Individual tickets are $20-$35 for the ballet and $40-$100 for the Philharmonic. Call (859) 233-4226.

William Arnold, Henry Zahn, and Chris Duncan perform Greased Lightning, during the the second annual Paragon Music Theatre Cabaret at Natasha's Bistro & Bar. Photos by Mark Cornelison | Herald-Leader staff.

Most of us who follow musicals have had those wow moments, where we see a song we’ve known for years in the context of the show it’s from and get what it’s all about.

One of the secrets to the success of Paragon Music Theatre’s Summer Cabaret at Natasha’s Bistro & Bar is that it would leave you with few of those wow moments for the tunes it presents. Under Robyn Peterman-Zahn’s direction, the 90-minute show-tune revue delivers plenty of mini-dramas and comedies representing 17 different shows, and it has plenty of wow moments of its own.

Wow moments like:

■ Javier Pereira nailing Frankie Valli’s “I love you baby!” in Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You from Jersey Boys.

Jan Hooker performs Taylor, the Latte Boy.

■ Jan Hooker’s precious rendition of Kristin Chenoweth’s Taylor, the Latte Boy.

■ Carmen Geraci leading a conniving take on Annie’s Easy Street.

■ Katie Owen’s Meadowlark with a fluttery dance by Haley Fish.

■ A stirring five-song distillation of Les Miserables, a show we have yet to see here in Lexington, though you could have left Natasha’s feeling like you had.

In a market that’s coming dangerously close to being oversaturated with cabarets and show-tune revues - Grand Night for Singing, the Lexington Singers pops concerts, and the proposed Actors Guild of Lexington cabarets - Paragon’s offering makes a clear case for itself both to be seen as this edition continues Aug. 17 to 19 at Natasha’s and when the cabaret returns in the winter. Paragon will reconstitute its schedule this coming season to present Hello, Dolly! at the Lexington Opera House from Oct. 22 to 25, the cabarets in the winter and The Sound of Music at the Opera House next summer.

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Alltech announced the lineup for its 16-day Fortnight Festival Sept. 25-Oct. 10. Like last year, the event will kick off with a country concert at Applebee’s Park and feature performances around the state, many of which are associated with series by other venues and organizations.

Unlike last year, the event is confined to just over two weeks. Sept. 25 is significant as it will mark exactly one year until the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games.

The lineup is:

• 

  Ricky Skaggs performs in Ashland Oct. 8 and Owensboro Oct. 10.

  Sept. 25 - Jason Aldean and Miranda Lambert, Applebee’s Park, Lexington

• Sept. 26 - Bettye LaVette, Singletary Center for the Arts, Lexington
• Sept. 26-27 - Beguiled Again by Actors Guild of Lexington, Downtown Arts Center, Lexington
• Sept. 28 - Fairplay Collective, Downtown Arts Center, Lexington
• Sept. 29 - Singer/Songwriter Night, Downtown Arts Center, Lexington
• Sept. 30 - Marc Smith Poetry Slam, Downtown Arts Center, Lexington
• Oct. 1 - Makem & Spain Brothers, Lexington Opera House, Lexington
• Oct. 2 - Mary Chapin Carpenter, Equus Run Vineyard, Midway
• Oct. 3 - 38 Special & Kansas, Murray State University Regional Special Events Center, Murray
• Oct. 6 - The Decemberists, Singletary Center for the Arts, Lexington
• Oct. 6-7 - Battle of the Bluegrass, Tin Roof, Lexington
• Oct. 8 - Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder, Paramount Arts Center, Ashland
• Oct. 9 - John Sebastian of The Lovin’ Spoonful, Grand Theatre, Frankfort
• Oct. 10 - String Band Day, Appalshop, Whitesburg
• Oct. 10 - Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder, RiverPark Center, Owensboro
• Oct. 10 - Ronan Tynan with the Lexington Philharmonic Orchestra, Singletary Center for the Arts, Lexington

Visit the Alltech website for tickets to each event.

The Drowsy Chaperone was nominated for 13 Tony Awards and won 5 in 2006. It comes to Lexington as part of the 2009-10 Broadway Live series. These photos are from a dress rehearsal in St. Charles MO., Jan. 1, 2009. This is not necessarily the same cast that will be in Lexington. Courtesy of the Lexington Opera House.

Lexington Opera House program ­director Luanne Franklin says she wants to get two kinds of young people into her theater’s Broadway Live series, and for the 2009-10 series, she has some things for both of them.

For kids, the series offers two classic titles: The Wizard of Oz, Nov. 6 to 8, and Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, May 7 to 9. For both shows, the theater is moving up its curtain times an hour, to 1 and 7 p.m. That’s ­particularly helpful in the evening, so kids won’t have to stay up well past their bedtimes to see the whole show.

That one of the characters in Avenue Q is named Lucy the Slut should be enough to tell you it isn't a kid's show.

For another type of young person, the college student or young professional, the series, which was publicly announced Thursday night, presents Avenue Q from April 9 to 11. Yes, it’s a puppet show. But it’s a puppet show with full-frontal puppet nudity and plenty of R-rated dialogue. It was the ­upset winner of the 2004 Tony Award for best musical, topping heavily favored Wicked.

“We have to have something young ­professionals want to see,” Franklin says. “It’s very important they come to the theater and realize it is not a stuffy place and we have shows that are relevant to them.”

Entries that the theater has ­programmed previously to appeal to younger theatergoers have included Rent and this past season’s 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.

Among the shows targeting families, Franklin says, Beauty and the Beast is significant as the first Disney production to come to the Opera House. She attributed the milestone to the Opera House’s ­growing reputation as a viable stop for top-tier ­companies, thanks to the theater being the site of technical rehearsals for touring productions of 12 Angry Men in 2007 and Mamma Mia! earlier this year.

Rounding out the schedule are Of Mice and Men, produced by Barter Theatre in Abingdon, Va., Sept 25 to 27; The Drowsy Chaperone, Jan. 22 to 24; and Camelot, Feb. 12 to 14.

Season tickets go on sale Friday, but individual tickets won’t be available until Aug. 21 for the fall shows and Nov. 16 for the spring shows.

There are a few changes for season ­subscribers:

■ The cost of a season subscription will rise $5.

■ Subscribers who add a donation of $125 or more to their tickets will have ­admission to Pardy’s Pub, with ­complimentary drinks and food before the show and during intermission at Friday and Saturday evening shows. Subscribers to the Saturday matinees and both Sunday performances will be able to make reservations at deSha’s, which normally does not take reservations, as much as two hours before those performances, and receive a ­complimentary appetizer or dessert with an entree before or after the show.

■ Broadway Live subscribers will have the first shot at buying tickets for the Radio City Christmas Spectacular, starring the Rockettes, at Rupp Arena on Dec. 10.

■ Recognizing economic realities, the theater is offering payment plans for season tickets, with half-payments due in August and January.

Despite the recession, Franklin said that for the just-completed 2008-09 season, “we did as well as we have any season.”

Lawrence Brownlee as Prince Ramiro and Elina Garanca as Angelina (the Cinderella character) in the Metropolitan Opera's production of "La Cenerentola." Photo by Ken Howard | Metropolitan Opera.

You have two options for seeing Cinderella Saturday.

If you like the local arts, dance option, you can glide over to the Lexington Opera House where Kentucky Ballet Theatre is presenting two performances of the ballet, at 2 and 8 p.m. This will be the classic ballet, based on the music of Sergei Prokofiev.

If your tastes run toward national arts and opera, you have the Metropolitan Opera’s final Live HD presentation of the season: Giacomo Rossini’s La Cenerentola. A point of interest for Rossini heads here is that Cindy (actually Angelina in the opera) will be played by Elina Garanca, who had a bigtime debut as Rosina in last year’s Met production of Il Barbiere di Siviglia. The opera shows at 12:30 at the Regal Hamburg Pavilion and the Lexington Green Movies 8.

Have a hard time choosing? You could hit the opera in the afternoon and ballet at night. Or, if that’s too much parking in theater seats, the Opera repeats at 7 p.m. May 20.

Lexington Ballet artistic director Luis Dominguez found inspiration for Saturday afternoon’s show in his 5-year-old’s library.

Dominguez was aware that other companies had staged stories by celebrated children’s author Beatrix Potter as ballets, and it seemed like a good idea for a spring family show.

“I have a 5-year-old, Alex, and he has the books, and I went and read the books, and I thought, ‘Why not? Let’s do it,’” Dominguez says.

“Beatrix Potter came about because we wanted to have a ballet that would appeal to adults and kids alike, and that would have resonance because it was an old tale.”

Dominguez’s original version of The Magical Tales of Beatrix Potter will top off a big weekend for the company. Friday night, Lexington Ballet hosts and opens for Dance Theatre of Harlem Ensemble. That brings the artistic director’s old company to his current stage.

The back-to-back performances make life hectic for Dominguez, getting his dancers ready for Saturday while also preparing to welcome an internationally acclaimed touring ensemble to town. He says the events coincided because the ballet was already planning to present Beatrix Potter when the opportunity to present Dance Theatre of Harlem Ensemble emerged. Dominguez says it worked perfectly because the theater was already booked.

So Friday night will be all about world-class dance, and Saturday afternoon will be all about emerging dancers in the Bluegrass.

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The cast of the national tour of 'Mamma Mia!' celebrated the seventh anniversary of the road show of the Broadway hit at Natasha's Cafe on Tuesday night. They are, from left: Michael Lindner (Harry Bright), Kittra Wynn Coomer (Rosie), Martin Kildare (Bill Austin), Michelle Dawson (Donna Sheridan), John Hemphill (Sam Carmichael), Rachel Tyler (Tanya), Adam Jacobs (Sky) and Liana Hunt (Sophie). Photo by Matt Goins.

A tremor rumbled across the floor of the Lexington Opera House Friday night as the overture to Mamma Mia! played.

You might have thought it was a pumping bass, which you get in a lot of pop musicals.  But this had a distinct rhythm: toes tapping.

There is a basic buy-in with Mamma Mia! and that’s the music of ABBA. If you love it, chances are you will love Mamma Mia! on at least one level. If you would rather undergo painful medical procedures than listen to the 1970s chart-topping band’s music, best to avoid the Opera House this weekend, where Mamma Mia! is playing as part of the Broadway Live series.

Obviously, there are a lot of us in the former category, as Mamma Mia! has played on Broadway since October 2001 — outlasting every show it faced for best musical at the 2002 Tony Awards, including winner Thoroughly Modern Millie — and it’s celebrating its seventh year on tour.

Lexington is getting a special part of that tour. The Lexington Opera House served as the base for rehearsing a new edition of the road show, with a set designed to fit into smaller venues than the tour has played before and several new cast members.

Even some cast members said Friday was like an opening night.

And it looked that way, both in the high energy and some of the glitches.

Mamma Mia! is more than a concert of ABBA’s hits such as Dancing Queen, Waterloo and the title tune.

The songs are put in the service of a story about a young woman, Sophie, who’s getting married on the Greek Island she grew up on with her mother, Donna. Sophie wants to be given away by her father, but the problem is he could be any one of three men Donna had flings with in the summer of 1979. So, Sophie invites the guys to her wedding in hopes of finding out who her father is, so he can walk her down the aisle.

Hey, it’s a story. And it does yield a few genuinely emotional moments, the strongest of which is Slipping Through My Fingers, which Donna sings as she dresses Sophie for the wedding. There’s also the somewhat compelling story of who dad is, illustrated with some of ABBA’s more intense songs such as Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! and Under Attack.

Ensemble numbers such as those are the strongest parts of this production, and really show how cool it is to have an Equity production in town, meaning all of the actors are members of the stage actors union. We’ll say is again, just because you’re Equity doesn’t mean you’re better. But Broadway Live’s recent Equity tour engagements such as Chicago and 12 Angry Men have shown how good those shows can be, particularly with the immediacy of the intimate Opera House.

Clearly, on opening night, Mamma Mia! was still working out some things such as lighting cues and sound. The audio may have bedeviled the leading ladies in the first act. As Donna, Michelle Dawson went through several numbers where she was hard to hear, as if her microphone was not loud enough. More vexing was Liana Hunt as Sophie, who was flat throughout most of the first half.

Maybe it was nerves for the actor making her tour debut, or maybe she was having trouble hearing herself. Whatever the problems, they were gone in Act II, Dawson delivering a showstopping The Winner Takes it All and Hunt getting redemption with Attack and a solid reprise of the show opener, I Had a Dream.

This production was loaded with winning supporting performances, particularly Kittra Wynn Coomer and Rachel Tyler as Donna’s old singing buddies and Adam Michael Kaokept as the hotel worker with a taste for older women.

Mamma Mia! is ultimately a theatrical confection. If it accomplishes anything beyond entertaining, it may be that it shows there was a real dramatic sensibility running through Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus’ ABBA hits. But that tremor in the floor tells you the show is accomplishing its primary goal.

• What did you think? If you saw Mamma Mia! this weekend, particularly one of the Saturday or Sunday performances, comment, and let us know what you thought.