Old and New, Carol Still Seduces

by Warren Francke

You’d think there was nothing new to say about A Christmas Carol in its 37^th year at the Omaha Community Playhouse. And you’d think, after the big spread in the daily about its NET documentary airing Friday, as the Dickensian delight opens, that I’d devote this space to other theater.

After all, Mirror of the Invisible World, the Mary Zimmerman play directed by Cindy Melby Phaneuf, opens at the University of...

Enduring…Explosive…Exciting:

by Cheril Lee

“Probably the most viscerally exciting piece ever written for the instrument.”

That’s how violinist Joshua Bell described Tchaikovsky’s “Concerto in D for Violin and Orchestra.” Bell performs the piece with the Omaha Symphony this Friday and Saturday.

He said the piece is incredible, passionate and exciting. Bell estimated he’s played the work about a 1,000 times since he was 13 years old but insists it is...

Pick: Games++

by Amanda Mischke

November 10
Games++
Bemis Underground, 12th and Leavenworth St.
9am-9pm, Free
 
Think you’re a leet game developer who’s looking for an opportunity to create an awesome game that’ll get everybody hooked? Or are you a pro gamer who’s looking to show off your mad skills? Whether your specialty is in board games, card games, or video games, Alex Myers and Jeff Thompson are hosting a 12-hour Game Jam where gamers...

Pick: Jackson Browne

by Chris Aponick

November 12
Jackson Browne w/ Sara Watkins
Orpheum Theater, 409 South 16th St.
7:30 p.m., $49 to $170, ticketomaha.com

Billed as an acoustic tour, Jackson Browne will present a career-spanning selection of his songs with all-new set lists nightly. Browne rose up in the New York music scene in the late 60s, gaining major notice for his work writing and playing on Nico's Chelsea Girl album. He then launched his...

Pick: Small Houses

by Chris Aponick

November 8th
Small Houses w/ Field Club, Great American Desert
The Slowdown, 729 North 14th St.
9 p.m., $7, theslowdown.com

Jeremy Quentin plays country-leaning indie folk songs under the name Small Houses. The Michigan-based Quention packs his low-key songs with intimate details and delivers then with a delicate, sweet singing voice. Quentin gently rollicking instrumentals center around finger-picked guitar...

Pick: “Monster”/ Will Anderson, Dan Crane, Leslie Diuguid

by Mary Day

Nov. 9
“Monster”/ Will Anderson, Dan Crane, Leslie Diuguid
RNG Gallery, 157 W. Broadway, Council Bluffs
Reception 7-10 pm; exhibit thru Dec. 9
Dixiequicks.com, 712.256.4140

Welcome to a world where pubescent, tipsy leviathans ride heavy, wooden, rectangular surfboards on waves of not your Grandma’s fabric; where bags of bones burn rubber and put ice in their wine.  Imagine green screen creatures. Do they...

Tish, age 13 and 6-1, no Raggedy Ann

by Warren Francke

Here’s one of my favorite bits of Omaha Community Playhouse trivia and it involves that great native Omahan who died last week at age 86, Letitia “Tish” Baldridge. If you read Mike Kelly’s column, you know about her connection to Jackie Kennedy and her fame as an author and etiquette columnist.

More than a half century ago, she was 13 and one of many young girls who auditioned for the theater’s production of...