elcome to The Culture Bucket, a monthly mishmash of observations, news nuggets, feedback from readers and perhaps some snark – all about the local arts scene. Basically, it’s a place for the little stuff that keeps falling through the cracks because the items don’t necessarily feel big enough to be posts on their own. I envision adding to each edition as the month progresses. I’m hoping in particular that readers can share their experiences at arts events. If you liked something – or if you didn’t – let me know (and tell me why). I and my arts elves can’t get to everything in the area, so if you’re feeling inspired about something you attend, please pass it along.
My concept for the feature includes adding to the lineup as the month goes on. I’ve tried to start things like this in the past, but they’ve always faded away. This time, I declare it won’t – and to prove it, I made a logo!
Here are some items to kick off the (tail end of) March edition of The Culture Bucket. In this edition (click on a link below to jump to that section):
Broadway in Fresno’s next season
A stunning ‘Madrigal Feaste’
A sold-out Keyboard Concerts
CMT is ready to get mean
Measure P panelists needed
Summer Arts is on the horizon
Munro’s Coming of Age Theorem
Broadway in Fresno’s next season
The biggest title in the Broadway in Fresno 23-24 season (“Aladdin,” opening May 1 for a seven-performance run) is still to come. But that didn’t stop the announcement for the 24-25 season.
And it’s got me excited. “SIX” (which will play April 1-6, 2025) is the rock star of the lineup. I saw this brisk, raucous show on Broadway in 2021 and loved its smart, pumped-up, multiethnic energy. (It tells the stories of the “six Queens,” aka the wives of Henry VIII, who gather together for a rock-concert evening.) Like the soon to come “Aladdin,” this is an Equity tour, which means a more experienced cast and a longer run. That’s good for a show like this, which is heavily dependent on the acting and singing and not so much on plot and production values.
I’m also very happy to see that “Come From Away,” one of the most emotionally compelling musicals I’ve seen in recent years, is also traveling to the Saroyan. It’s a non-Equity company playing a standard two-performance, midweek run (Nov. 12-13). The show tells the improbable story of how dozens of international flights were forced to ground after 9/11 in a tiny town in Newfoundland, Canada. It’s a beautiful ensemble musical that just might leave you dry-heave-crying at the end. (I’m really looking forward to the rights being released to community theaters.)
The other two productions in the season: “Annie” (non-Equity), running Feb. 11-12; and another newer show, “Tina: The Tina Turner Musical” (May 12-13, 2025), which is currently touring the country with an Equity company. Playbill lists that company disbanding on Aug. 4, 2024, however. I’m assuming a less expensive, non-Equity tour will be on the road by the time it gets to Fresno.
While I’m really happy to see “SIX” make it to the Saroyan from Broadway in such a short amount of time – and also to see “Come From Away” to play here at all – we’re still waiting for an upgrade in terms of Broadway tours coming to Fresno. Once again, we have one Equity show with a week-long run (which means you can actually schedule a date with Broadway on a Friday or Saturday night), along with three other productions playing Tuesday and Wednesday nights. I keep hoping for a blockbuster two-week run, and maybe even an upgrade to the Thursday-through Sunday position for the smaller shows. (And maybe even hope for five or six titles a year, perhaps, rather than just four.) But, for now, I’ll celebrate with Henry’s queens.
Question: Which Broadway touring shows would you like to see come to Fresno? Send me an email or leave a comment, and I’ll include it in next month’s edition of The Culture Bucket.
A stunning ‘Madrigal Feaste’
Congrats to Fresno Pacific University for what sounds like an excellent event: the “Madrigal Feaste,” which ran March 22-23 at the Warkentine Culture and Arts Center. The Renaissance-themed event included a three-course meal presided over by King Henry the 942nd while His Majesty’s Jester, the Royal Singers and Musicians, and Royal Juggler entertained and amused the court.
Gloria Brough won tickets to the event through The Munro Review (you’ve gotta enter to win, folks), and had a grand time. She even sent pics:
And she writes:
The evening was spectacular! The music and performers (some of whom were our servers 🙂 carried me back to the 15th century! The vocalists and chorus sounded professional. The play was delightful and created lots of audience laughter (and at one point audience participation).
The strangers who sat down at our table immediately became wonderful conversationists. I wish you could have joined us.
A sold-out Keyboard Concerts
Another TMR ticket winner, Viktor Kral, was excited to report an excellent turnout for the Keyboard Concerts performance featuring the Tigran Hamasyan Trio. He writes:
Absolutely SOLD OUT HOUSE, even added more chairs, for tonight’s performance by Tigran Hamasyan! One of my all time favorites, for the Keyboard Series, in my opinion! Always a pleasure to hear his artistry in motion.
CMT is ready to get mean
In case you missed it, here’s the upcoming season for Children’s Musical Theaterworks:
Measure P panelists needed
Now that the application period has closed for Measure P arts grants – and if you haven’t had a chance to read Doug Hoagland’s in-depth story about the gears moving behind the scenes, be sure you do – the Fresno Arts Council needs community members to serve as Grant Review Panelists to ensure applications are reviewed and funds are distributed in a fair and equitable manner. “Artists, Culture Bearers, Community Leaders are encouraged to apply,” the Measure P folks say. “Share your expertise to impact the future of Fresno’s Cultural Arts ecosystem today!
Panelists will independently read and score applications over a three week period, and should expect to dedicate an additional ten hours to meeting, including a 1.5 hour orientation and two panel discussions of up to four hours each.
Deadline to apply is 11:59 p.m. Monday, April 1.
Summer Arts is on the horizon
Speaking of applications: Some important deadlines are fast approaching for students and community members looking to participate in the CSU Summer Arts program at Fresno State.
The application deadline is April 15 for international courses and May 15 for courses at Fresno State.
The dates: CSU Summer Arts will be held in two sessions at Fresno State: June 24 to July 7 and July 8 to July 21. In addition, three-week international courses will be offered in Italy (June 18-July 9), Germany (July 14-Aug. 4) and Mexico (July 15-Aug. 5).
The Summer Arts lineup looks great, by the way. Theater fans will be happy to know that the Chicago-style comedy course is back. William Raines (co-founder of Corridor 2122) is coordinating the “Art>Anthropocene<Action” visual arts course. And our own Michael Krikorian (Fresno State piano professor) is coordinating the “Scoring for Video Games” workshop.
Munro’s Coming of Age Theorem
Finally, I wrote a mathematical equation this week, and I’m proud. In case you missed it in my review of “Mean Girls” at the Saroyan, here it is:
The appeal of staged, filmed and novelized entertainments either satirizing, glorifying or psychoanalyzing high school life is conversely related to the square root of one’s age multiplied by the number of uniforms/costumes worn (football, band, cheer team, theater, penitentiary), then factorized by how much acne you had and adjusted for household income, then expressed in inverse fraction form. The answer is 40. Always 40. And that’s the age when you begin to get bored by the never-ending reductive obsession with how high school is only slightly less appalling than World War I trench warfare, and that the cliques that form there are truly and seriously a Gomorrah-like invitation to just ask the universe to wipe out the human race once and for all.
You know what else turns out to be 40? The number of the high school reunion you attend where the barriers really come down and all the cliques can forgive and hug. It sure happened at my 40th. As I watched “Mean Girls,” I thought: Perhaps high-school rivals really can reconcile like they do on stage at the end of the show, wrapping up everything with a neat pink bow. You just have to wait for a few decades to make it happen.
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