Summer in the city will be rocking at Lock 3 (a Knight Arts grantee) in downtown Akron. Tribute bands galore will be performing on most Friday evenings, with groups doing take-offs on such notable acts as Bob Seger; Bon Jovi; Elton John; Aerosmith; AC/DC; Crosby, Stills and Nash; Rascal Flats; Chicago; Abba; KISS; Pink Floyd; […]
Article · May 25, 2012 by Roger Durbin
Stan Hywet Hall ranks among the top 10 historic houses in the U.S. in usable footage (65,000 square feet). Add the Gardens to its name and you’ve got a gigantic estate that was built 1912-1915 by F. A. Seiberling, founder of Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company. It was given by the family to the City of […]
Article · May 23, 2012 by Roger Durbin
Double-dealing and double lives. That’s the stuff of farce because it leads to mistaking one person or situation for another. In the right hands, serious issues can be turned into laugh-a-minute comedy, and that’s nowhere more apparent than in the well-wrought productions running concurrently at Weathervane Community Playhouse (a Knight Arts grantee) through May 20 […]
Article · May 18, 2012 by Roger Durbin
Right before the curtain went up on “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change,” the usher said quietly that the show would be slightly over two hours with a very short intermission. Someone beside me groaned and said, “This better be good.” Actually it turned out to be a wonderfully funny, highly entertaining evening of […]
Article · May 16, 2012 by Roger Durbin
How do you segue from a classical Broadway play like “Cats“ to the sultry, smoothness of blues singer Bonnie Raitt? Actually it’s a whole lot easier than it sounds. The Raitt family did it readily enough. John Raitt lit up the footlights on Broadway as star in the original productions of “Oklahoma,” “Carousel” and “The […]
Article · May 11, 2012 by Roger Durbin
Having 13 venues for the Akron downtown art walk and new downtown art works events on May 5 didn’t seem to bring any bad luck. The weather was perfect, the crowds plentiful, the art stops and transportion spiffed up and eager to please, and the celebratory atmosphere charged. Downtown art walk met downtown art works and […]
Article · May 9, 2012 by Roger Durbin
Ballet Theatre of Ohio (BTO) will reprise its 2004 version of the classic romantic ballet “Coppelia” at the Akron Civic Theatre through May 6. It’s worth the effort to see. BTO is a pre-professional group that hires in professional dancers for adult (and usually male) roles. So for a local ballet company usually dominated by […]
Article · May 4, 2012 by Roger Durbin
The Akron Area Arts Alliance (AAAA) is showing off – its award-winning visual artists that is. And why not? The organization has been organizing and advocating the arts in the area for 20 years now. Ten years ago AAAA worked with the city of Akron to create Summit Artspace – a Knight Arts grantee – which […]
Article · May 2, 2012 by Roger Durbin
Akron composer Amy Barlowe wrote a 10-part requiem for orchestra, chorus and soloists in honor of her father’s memory. And to think, all I did was go in on flowers with my brothers for our dad. Still, you don’t just sit down one day and write a major composition. “It has taken me almost 10 years,” […]
Article · April 27, 2012 by Roger Durbin