Arts Scene: TSO plays Rachmaninoff; ATC lets fly 'Denim Doves' - Tulsa World

Sergei Rachmaninoff is today known as the composer of such popular works as his Piano Concerto No. 2 and his Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini.

During his lifetime, he was perhaps better known as one of the finest pianists of his generation and a highly respected conductor.

Rachmaninoff attempted to sum up the totality of his life in music with his final composition, the Symphonic Dances, Op. 45, which he composed in 1940, just a few years before his death.

The three-movement work contains quotations from some of his previous compositions, such as his First Symphony, and his choral work, the “All Night Vigil.”

The Tulsa Symphony Orchestra will present Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances as part of its Classics season.

Leading the orchestra will be a musician who, like Rachmaninoff, is equally at home on the podium and at the keyboard.

British-born Matthew Halls became known as an early music specialist through his work as artistic director of the Oregon Bach Festival. He routinely works with major orchestras, including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra and the Philadelphia Orchestra, which coincidentally premiered Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances in 1941.

The program will also feature the orchestra’s principal bassoonist, Richard Ramey, in Astor Piazzolla’s “Serie del Angel,” along with Richard Strauss’ antic tone poem, “Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks.”

Performance: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 13, at the Tulsa PAC, 101 E. Third St.

‘Denim Doves’

Things seem to be going pretty well for the five women who occupy a house set deep within the Missouri woods. They have freedom to do pretty much whatever they wish, with their only responsibility being to produce an heir for their naive husband.

Then, a new wife enters the scene, and the lives of the sister wives get turned upside down.

So begins “Denim Doves,” by former Tulsa Artist Fellow Adrienne Dawes, which is being presented by the American Theatre Company.

Director Carly Conklin said in a statement, “Adrienne Dawes has created a unique world full of hilarious and haunting imagery that straddles the line between the disturbing reality of a future in which women have no power and the ridiculous absurdity of men who have too much.”

The play, which features music by Erik Secrest and lyrics by Cyndi Williams, and stars Kathleen Hope, Kathryn Hartney, Jennifer Thomas, Kara Bellavia, Phena Hackett, Anna Bennett, Milena Hope, Sean Rooney, Thomas Hunt and Nick Lutke. Karlena Riggs is music director.

“Denim Doves” contains strong language, adult situations and sexual content and is intended only for mature audiences.

Performances: 8 p.m. Friday-Sunday, April 12-14, and Thursday-Saturday, April 18-20, at Studio 308, 308 S. Lansing Ave.

‘The Wedding Singer’

Theatre Tulsa concludes its 96th annual season with its production of “The Wedding Singer,” the musical by Matthew Sklar, Chad Beguelin and Tim Herlihy of the popular film comedy that stars Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore.

Set in the mid-1980s, the wedding singer is a fellow named Robbie (Stephen Zenishek), an aspiring 1980s rock star who sings at weddings but can’t keep celebrating love after his failed relationship with former fiancee, Linda (Marissa Hess) — until he finds a new budding romance with his waitress friend Julia (Lindsay Powell).

The supporting cast includes Kaley Durland, Ian Weddle, Fletcher Gross, Ben Rodriguez, Billie Sue Thompson and Jenny Guy.

Theatre Tulsa Executive Director Jarrod Kopp directs the production, which has Christy Stalcup as music director and Jennifer Alden as choreographer.

Performances: 2 p.m. Sunday, April 7, and April 14; 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, April 11-13, at the Tulsa PAC, 110 E. Second St.

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