MAT rocks the town with “Rocky Horror”

By the time actor Reid Reimers appeared on the stage of the Wilma Theatre on Friday night, the crowd was already primed for a party. The band was blazing, the lights were swirling, and a phalanx of actors was cavorting around the stage. Still, nothing could prepare those in attendance for the moment when Reimers, his towering, six-foot-six frame pinched into a skimpy black boustier, dropped into the scene on a hydraulic platform atop six-inch platform shoes and began singing about sweet transvestites from Transsexual, Transylvania.

Fishnet stockings, stiletto heels and rock and roll: Friday night’s opening of “The Rocky Horror Show” at the Wilma Theatre was a coming out party for Montana Actors’ Theatre in more ways than one. And in the more typically staid world of local theatre, the raucous cheers from the near-capacity crowds that packed Friday’s first two performances will likely resonate in the local community for a long time to come. [Read More...]

New art criticism blog in town

Local zine queen Debby Florence and painter Jonathan Marquis have started a new arts blog, with an aim of adding more critical dialogue to the scene. Debby sent me a really nice note saying she doesn’t want it to appear that they’re stepping on my toes or territory….But frankly, I’m all about more [...]

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And all we get is ventrilloquists and sappy crooners…

This video is apparently an except from “Ukraine’s Got Talent.” It’s remarkable, not least for the fact that it ran on what I presume is mainstream television. Puts anything I’ve seen on “America’s Got Talent” to shame. Enjoy.

Campfire tales, online

A couple of months I previewed an interesting event at the PEAS Farm, a live storytelling event called “Eat Our Words.” You can read about it here. A reader alerted me to the fact that a recording of the event has been posted online. Check it out, it’s pretty cool.

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

Never count your money when you’re sittin’ at the table…

Today I spent some time unburying myself from an overflowing inbox, and I came across a press release I received a couple of months ago that was so bizarre, I didn’t know what to do with it. So I’m sharing it, with minimal comment, except to say: This is probably the weirdest back-story to a CD that I’ve seen in my days at the Missoulian. The full press release follows… [Read More...]

Walk like an Egyptian

This Saturday is, of course, Halloween; and there are about a billion things going on in town, most of them involving conspicuous costumery. Still, the best costumes won’t be found at the bars; instead, they’ll be on screen at the Roxy Theatre, where the Metropolitan Opera’s “Live in HD” series continues with Verdi’s “Aida,” the most spectacular of operatic spectaculars… [Read More...]

‘Real World’ casting call in Missoula

And here I thought all those people just happened to live in the same house together by coincidence…MTV has announced a Missoula casting call for its next season of “The Real World.” Come show them how hot and vacuous deep and real you are… [Read More...]

A rose is a rose, a daisy is a brain…

My old friend Eric from Indiana posted up some important linguistic questions to ponder. I invite you to consider….

The nature of ‘nurture’ in actorspeak

Earlier this week, London Guardian columnist Hadley Freeman penned this deliciously irreverent column about the plague of pretentious actor-speak. Fortunately, around here, I don’t hear many of our local thespians employing such artificially elevated tones when talking about their work. But as the arts writer for the Missoulian, I’ve heard plenty of this [...]

Torture’s Top 20: do you REALLY want to know?

Earlier this week, the Washington Post reported that a coalition of musicians are demanding that the government release the titles of all the songs that were used at Guantanamo Bay “to try to coerce cooperation or as a method of punishment.”

Seriously? I mean, if you’re a musician, do you really want to [...]