If you're hooked on the arts and the lure of live performance — or you know someone special who is — then you're acquainted with a person whose appetites are insatiable. In the waning weeks before the holidays*, you're already spreading hints family-wide, on the prowl for bargains to reciprocate with, and salivating over the orgy of price-cutting that comes with Black Friday and Online Monday. (*Note to goyim: Chanukah pounces in the middle of next week!)
Here are some fresh ideas, mostly for a C-note or less, and by fresh, I mean goodies you couldn't have purchased or asked for in 2009.
Broadway Goes Green — In the age of lavish overpriced retrospective collections (some in bloody mono, for chrissake), Sony has reissued a batch of original cast recordings — and a few vintage revivals — of a slew of Broadway musicals. The 10 classic albums in the Masterworks Broadway series are reissued in eco-friendly packaging, which translates to wallet-friendly pricing that will appeal to devout cheapskates of all colors and creeds. Included in the series, going for as little as $8.99 apiece at Amazon, are such familiar titles as Peter Pan, Mame, 1776, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, 42nd Street, and Oliver!
Other power titles in self-recommending Lincoln Center revivals are Annie Get Your Gun with Ethel Merman, Carousel with John Raitt, and The King and I with Risë Stevens. I've only auditioned five of these, and the sound was studio-tight on every one. I particularly treasure the reissue of City of Angels, winner of the 1990 Tony Award for Best Musical, since it was recently unavailable on CD. James Naughton, of Billy Flynn fame in Chicago, sings and noire-ishly narrates the hard-bitten role of fictional shamus Stone – opposite Gregg Edelman as Stone, the pulp writer who created him. Dee Hoty, who recently starred here in 9 to 5, is the beautiful socialite who hires the gumshoe.
A Handful of Hi-Fi and Video — If you'd like to stream the plentiful audio riches of your computer to your stereo and enjoy the sonic riches of true floor-standing loudspeakers, new answers to your fervent prayers have appeared. This year's edition of Apple's AirPort Express Base Station AirPort Express Base Station comes with souped-up 802.11n transmission and AirTunes software, and it works on Macs via the AirPort utility and PCs via Apple's Bonjour program. The handy little receiver has its own little foldaway AC prongs so you can plug it near your stereo — or your printer, for that matter. A simple Y-converter inserted in the mini-jack takes you to your old-style left-right channels, or you can do an optical converter. USB and Ethernet connections are also built into this elegant miniature. The unit without connecting cords goes for $90-$99, depending on how far you wish to venture online beyond your SouthPark Apple Store comfort zone. And since it's so portable, you can hook this baby up anywhere you take it.
The wonders that the AirPort Express Base Station performs for your iTunes collection on your stereo are paralleled by the exploits of the new Logitech Revue for YouTube videos on your HDTV. Featuring the embattled Google TV platform, the Revue delivers video to your home theater and tacks on the fun and flexibility of a keyboard for $300 (at Amazon and Best Buy). Programming may be somewhat iffy right now, but there's the special allure of adding the special speaker-cam accessory ($150) and doing hi-def Skype video calls on widescreen HDTV. Haven't seen a straight-up discount yet on the Revue, but Dish Network offers it for $179 with their $4 monthly DVR integration service, adding some neat functionality to the unit.
DVDs to Treasure — After delighting in my review copy of Leonard Bernstein — Reflections ($18.72-$24.99 online), I test-drove the musical documentary on my Lenny-loving mom and dad, who loved the DVD more than I did. Then Gramophone magazine cinched it, naming the Medici Arts release the 2010 Gramophone Award winner in the documentary DVD category. No confirmations necessary on the Live in HD production that I saw at Regal Stonecrest 22 back in February of the Met Opera's Carmen. The sizzle of Elina Garança as the title temptress and the frenzied passion of Roberto Alagna as Don José are now on DVD for all to see ($32 at Amazon).
Hot Romantic Tickets — It's never a bad idea to treat a lover to some intensely exciting musical entertainment, so why not aim your advance ticket buying for February, when you and your honey will be tired of your winter hibernation and Valentine's Day looms on the calendar? Opera Carolina's production of La Traviata (Feb. 3, 5-6) is a tragical, romantic, life-affirming hit machine. If you're thinking of a friskier evening, Charlotte Symphony's youth-oriented Tangos and Tapas (Feb. 4) will have you snackin' and steppin' with pre-concert hors d'oeuvres in the Knight Theater lobby and a post-concert salsa party at the new Mint Museum. A double-dose of Romeo & Juliet (Feb. 11-12), including Tchaikovsky's famed overture, is offered by Symphony at Belk Theater the following weekend for more sedentary concertgoers.
Carolina Voices is offering Bohème to Bublé (Feb. 11) to cuddle up to, and if the whole music+museum combo intrigues you, the Bechtler Museum offers a couple of February flavors for 2011. The Jazz at the Bechtler series serves up Jazz for Lovers (Feb. 4) while Tangos and Tapas ticketholders are noshing on their hors d'oeuvres next door at the Knight (mooching on the music as they munch, we suspect), but closer to Valentine's Day, the Music at the Bechtler chamber music series wholeheartedly celebrates the holiday of romance, presenting An Evening of Duets (Feb. 13).
Now if your sweetheart, significant other, or plain theater fanatic isn't already subscribed to the Broadway Lights Series, I'd guarantee that a ticket to In the Heights (Feb. 15-20) will bring pleasure and gratitude well into March. No show that I've seen in recent years more vibrantly expresses the American Dream — or does it with more hip-hop funkiness and ethnic spice.
Tickets to all these events, and a whole lot more, are available at CarolinaTix.org. You mean to tell me that you don't have that website bookmarked yet? Make that a free gift to yourself, and have a happy holiday season.