BALANCING ACT
2007-08 arts calendar blends risk, innovation with crowd-pleasing favorites.
By Bill Goodykoontz

It's a tough choice for anyone putting an arts schedule together. Do you give people what you know they want, or what you think they need?

It's not unlike putting together an all-yo-can-eat buffet. You want to be somewhat daring, but not too daring. There has to be room for the meat and potatoes among the sushi and steak tartare.

Certainly the challenge of finding the proper balance holds true at Arizona State University, where the performing arts run the gamut from popular to challenging - or maybe, with luck, both.

Here's a look at some of the upcoming schedules, which offer a little bit of every.

HITS AND CULTURE BLEND AT GAMMAGE

Finding a good balance is a dilemma Colleen Jennings-Roggensack, the executive director of public events and assistant vice president for cultural affairs at Arizona State University, faces every year. And it gets tricky.

Last year, for instance, the bulk of her schedule at ASU Gammage was made up of shows that came directly from their Broadway run.

"That was the good news," Jennings-Roggensack said. "The bad news was that the vast number of people in our audience didn't know those plays."

Less familiarity means fewer seats filled. that, obviously, isn't the goal. Thus, Jennings-Roggensack wanted a balance for the 2007-08 season, mixing the old dependables with newer fare. So a hit like "Jersey Boys," which kicks off the season, is mixed in with a "smaller" show like "The Wedding Singer."

Again, balance.

Also on tap are such sure-fire hits as "Oprah Winfrey Presents The Color Purple," "Camelot," "Twelve Angry Men," "My Fair Lady" and "Sweeney Todd."

"I'm thrilled with the balance," Jennings-Roggensack said of the ASU Rampage schedule. "It has mega-hits. It also has work that is culturally important."

THEATER DEPARTMENT ROLLING THE DICE WITH RISKY WORKS

Plenty of chances are being taken with the theater schedule put on by the Herberger College of the Arts, with a calendar studded with shows that range from "She Loves Me," a romantic musical comedy; to "dark play or stories for boys," a play about a boy's Internet identity turning into the real thing, with all the consequences that implies; to "Urinetown," the popular Broadway musical about a revolution kicked off by fees for public toilets. Also included is "Triangle," a new play from laurie Brooks, about the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire of 1911.

It's a more daring schedule than many Valley theater companies are putting on (they, too, face the balance challenge). Certainly it's intriguing, but is it a risk?

Of course it is. That's what's so exciting about it.

"Some of our most popular productions have been the riskiest," said Linda Essig, director of Herberger College's School of Theatre and Film. "last year's production of 'Iphigenia Crash Land Falls on the Neon Shell that Was Once Her Heart' sold out all but one performance; our FEstival of New Work, featuring world premiers of plays by untested playwrights, also is one of our most popular offerings.

"We are building a youthful audience interested in edgy, committed and engaged theatre and performance," Essig said. And they're not playing it safe while doing so.

DANCE DEPARTMENT'S TRAJECTORY SWIFT, VARIED

The season kicks off Sept. 20 with "Nova: A New Trajectory," consisting of "new and classic work of ARizona's dance stars." That's to be followed by a performance featuring works of choreography by MFA candidates, as well as a concert in collaboration with Herberger College's School of Music, and "Image: Sinuous and Swift," a concert combining dance with the work of writers and visual artists.

"The September concert will build on our recent celebration of 75 years of dance at ASU and include work by current and past faculty, alumni and possibly students," said Pegge Vissicaro, the interim director of Herberger College's department of Dance. "The fall and spring concerts will explore the inter-relatedness of the arts, either as collaboration or as inspiration."

MUSIC SCHOOL'S CONCERT SEASON PERFECTLY IN TUNE

Talk about eclectic. The season offerings from the School of Music (also affiliated with Herberger College) includes everything from guitarists Jorge Caballero and Xufei Yang to trombonist Curtis Fuller to vocalist Mark Murphy performing with the ASU Jazz Ensembles and faculty and the ASU Concert Jazz Band.

Speaking of jazz, in addition to Fuller and Murphy, the concert series also includes Joel spencer, "Chicago's hardest working drummer," playing with the ASU Jazz Repertory Band, as well concerts featuring the music of Had Jones and Mel Lewis and the music of Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn. And Michael Kocour and piano student in the ASU Jazz Studies program will perform the music of Oscar Peterson, including selections from his "Bursting Out" CD.

"Next year's concert series...celebrates the vast spectrum of musical language, bringing together diverse populations," said Kimberly Marshall, the director of the ASU Herberger College School of Music. "There's something for every musical taste."

Bill Goodykoonts is a Chandler-base freelance writer.

TICKET INFORMATION
ASU Gammage
Phone: (480) 965-3434
E-mail: boxoffice@asugammage.com
Web: http://asugammage.com

Herberger College
(Dance, Music, Theater)
Phone: (480) 965-6447
E-mail: cfaboxoffice@asu.edu
Web: http://herbergercollege.asu.edu/calendar/tickets.php