Beast needs you ... to please buy a ticket to his performance at the Orpheum Theater. Please. Pretty please. Sob! He means, Grrrr!
These are tough economic times for many metro-area arts groups. So getting you to buy a ticket — or even, dare they ask, a season subscription — is Priority One.
It's not surprising, then, to see so many 2009-10 season programs filled with big names, sure things and safe bets.
Omaha Performing Arts has loaded its season with comfortable concerts and shows.
“Disney's Beauty and the Beast” leads a familiar lineup of Broadway productions that also includes “Little House on the Prairie” and the holiday chestnut “White Christmas.”
And if the Beast fails to lure you in, Omaha Performing Arts will be happy to sell you tickets for cellist Yo-Yo Ma, folksy personality Garrison Keillor and the Glenn Miller Orchestra.
The Omaha Community Playhouse asked its patrons to pick its anchor shows. They voted for “Fiddler on the Roof” and “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.” The playhouse also is staging “All Shook Up,” featuring a bunch of popular Elvis songs.
Please don't forget Opera Omaha, since the clown in “Pagliacci” will be crying bloody tears if you miss his performance. Also, make sure you RSVP for Mozart, who went to a lot of trouble to compose “The Marriage of Figaro.”
The Omaha Symphony hopes legendary violinist Itzhak Perlman will get you hooked on its season. Once snagged, it plans to reel you in with Beethoven's “Fifth Symphony.”
The Joslyn Art Museum, meanwhile, expects you to pop in to see its exhibit of children's pop-up books. And the Omaha Theater Ballet hopes you'll leap at the chance to see “The Nutcracker” for the 4,000th time.
So get a ticket, take your seat — be sure to turn off all cell phones and pagers — and enjoy the show.
– John Pitcher
Music
You can enjoy the pure sounds of Mozart from Itzhak Perlman and the unforgettable fusion of Pink Martini.
Visual Arts
You can see impressive art from all 50 states, intricate pop-up books and folksy images from a Dundee painter.
Theater
If Elvis isn't enough to get you “All Shook Up,'' “Rabbit Hole” and “Faith Healer'' will provoke your emotions.
Copyright ©2012 Omaha World-Herald®. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, displayed or redistributed for any purpose without permission from the Omaha World-Herald.
