Brush With Success
Prediction in the arts business is at best a shaky proposition, but some are saying that the vibrant colors and brilliant technique of a Polish-born Louisville painter will make her a star. You have a chance to judge from her exhibition opening Dec. 1 at the First Friday Gallery Hop in one of Louisville’s most agreeable urban spaces, the light-filled lobby of the Kentucky Center. Her name is Ewa Perz (pronounced AY-vah Persh) and her story is as interesting as her work. Born in Gdansk, she trained as a biologist and is multi-lingual. She’s lived in several countries and spent long spells in Miami and Mexico. Maybe this is what causes her paintings to display brilliant color and a kind of bold-brush realism that is instantly attractive. Largely self-taught, Perz has been painting seriously for only four years yet is already establishing a reputation as a teacher at Mudpies Studio on Shelbyville Road. Your first step, maybe, is to access her website at www.ewaperz.com and survey her animal pictures, of which the brazen roosters are good examples — arresting, startling, beautiful. Next, take a look at her fruits and flowers, which have the same splashy realism. Then head downtown for a show of the real thing at the Kentucky Center.
Great Scott
As the major arts organizations settle into their holiday routines and the serious business of making money with box-office bonanzas like The Nutcracker and A Christmas Carol, Kentucky Opera offers something less fanciful. Hard as it is now to imagine, the interminable and boring novels of my compatriot Sir Walter Scott were eagerly devoured by our 19th-century ancestors and are examples of literary properties that long ago would have faded from public consciousness had they not been preserved, so to speak, in the amber of opera. (Other examples are the potboiler dramas of Victorien Sardou, such as La Tosca, and plays of once-popular American dramatist David Belasco, including his Madame Butterfly). Scott seemed to the continental Europeans the very essence of Romanticism as he scribbled away in his northern castle, churning out what came to be called collectively The Waverley Novels. These inspired composers of the 19th-century Romantic Movement to write a slew of operas based on their plots: Bizet’s The Fair Maid of Perth, Arthur Sullivan’s Ivanhoe and many others; and the main survivor in the repertory is Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor. It’s based on Scott’s turgid re-telling of an allegedly true story: A Scottish lass, Lucy Ashton, loves one fellow but is compelled by her scheming brother to marry another. On her wedding night she goes mad, kills her unfortunate spouse and descends the long staircase into the crowded wedding party, her wedding gown stained with her ex-husband’s blood, to treat us to the longest, most taxing (for the singer) and probably greatest "mad scene" in all opera. The process is sometimes and derisively referred to as "going quietly mad in white satin." The opera is a prime example of the movement known as bel canto, where an extended vocal line, supreme technical skill and beauty of tone reign supreme. It is a very entertaining piece, highly recommended for its melodic wonders — the tunes really are of the best — and runs for two performances at the Kentucky Center Dec. 1 and 3; the number to call is 584-7777.
Texas Two
Of the various holiday options this year, I am settling for A Tuna Christmas at Actors Theatre, which I have hitherto resisted but which discerning friends tell me I need to see at least once, not so much for its very funny story line as for the virtuosity of two actors — a returning Bill McKinley and debutant Sheffield Chastain — who between them incarnate more than 20 citizens of the Texas town of Tuna. We are always going on about the joys of seeing performances in intimate spaces, where a true communication is possible between actor and audience, so it will be good to revisit the Victor Jory Theatre during Tuna’s run, which lasts till Jan. 4 (584-1205).
Final Thought
These things are cyclical, we know, but it does seem that there is a new energy and an optimism to the Louisville arts scene not apparent in recent years — perhaps not seen since the boom years of the 1980s, when corporations competed for the privilege of writing large sponsorship checks. It is reflected, or in part brought about, by a new breed of arts leaders who seem to me to be as vibrant a crop as the city has ever boasted. David Roth is immensely liked as the new head of the opera company who, in addition to his strong resume, has the interpersonal skills to woo donors and bring glamour back to the company. Brad Broecker is a hustler, but a charming one, and his no-nonsense approach to the business of promoting the Louisville Orchestra is wonderfully unstodgy in an organization where for years stodge has been standard. Jennifer Bielstein is much admired by her colleagues at Actors, and the fact that her engagement had the blessing of retiring administrative director Sandy Speer is the highest accolade. The Louisville Ballet is making great leaps (sorry!) under the joint leadership of Bruce Simpson (a compatriot of mine also, but not at all boring) and Jack R. Lemmon. Heady times!
