North Salt Lake's J. Michael Bailey Earns Lead in Shakespeare Festival's 'Les Miz'
By J. Michael Call
Utah musical theater lovers may have already heard Clinton native J. Michael Bailey sing the moving number “Bring Him Home” from the megahit musical “Les Misérables.”
But now audiences from Utah and beyond will have a chance to hear him sing not only that number, but all of Jean Valjean’s songs. Bailey has been selected to play the leading role in the Utah Shakespeare Festival’s upcoming production of the epic musical.
“It’s been something I’ve wanted to do for a long time,” Bailey said. “Now I get to own the role for up to six months, and it’s quite a thrill for me.”
After conducting a national casting search in New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles, artistic directors David Ivers and Brian Vaughn announced Bailey’s selection this week. They were familiar with Bailey’s work as he was in the festival’s 2009-10 acting company. Bailey played Jaggers in the premiere of the musical “Great Expectations” that season at the Cedar City festival.
In considering Bailey for the role of Valjean, the festival flew Bailey to Las Vegas and had him sing through the entire score.
“We needed to know if J. Michael had the vocal strength and range to withstand the demands of this show, and he nailed it,” said Ivers in a press release.
Bailey, who lives in North Salt Lake, grew up on a small farm in Clinton, where he played football and rode horses. He was 18 when he saw his first production of “The Phantom of the Opera” and fell in love with the theater. He studied musical theater at Weber State University and now has over 20 years of experience acting and singing all over the state.
In addition to the festival, the actor with the melodic baritone has appeared in numerous concerts and theatrical productions along the Wasatch Front. Bailey was the Demon Barber of Fleet Street in “Sweeney Todd” at the Egyptian Theatre in Park City. He was recently the Cowardly Lion in Grand Theatre’s production of “The Wizard of Oz,” in which his wife, Mary Anderson Bailey, played the Wicked Witch of the West.
WSU audiences will also recognize him as Capt. Hook in “Peter Pan” and John Wilkes Booths in “Assassins”
Bailey also appeared for three years with a small group of other performers in the Broadway-style Valentine’s concerts at WSU. Bailey’s performance of “Bring Him Home” during those concerts always won enthusiastic applause.
Based on Victor Hugo’s classic novel, “Les Misérables” is an epic and uplifting story about the survival of the human spirit. It focuses on the struggles of ex-convict Jean Valjean as he searches for meaning, love and redemption in 19th-century France.
“I am so grateful that the festival is trusting me to play Jean Valjean,” said Bailey, who is the father of three children. “I feel a strong attachment to Valjean because of the passion and sacrifices he’s willing to make for his child. ‘Les Misérables’ is the ultimate love story with justice, redemption, forgiveness, truth and hope; what more could an actor ask for?”
The musical includes some of theater’s most memorable songs: “I Dreamed a Dream,” “On My Own,” “Bring Him Home” and “Do You Hear the People Sing,” among others.
Written and composed by Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg, with lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer, “Les Misérables” is the world’s longest-running musical. It will be playing in the festival’s Randall L. Jones Theatre from June 23 to October 20. The show may be extended, Bailey said, depending on audience support.
For more information or to buy tickets call 1-800-PLAYTIX or check online at www.bard.org.
The original story can be found here.
Picturing Dance on Screen
By Kathy Adams
Special to The Tribune
First published Feb 28 2012 10:08PM
Updated 1 hour ago Updated Feb 29, 2012 11:51AM
Wim Wenders’ film “Pina” appears to have caught the attention of more than just dance fans. The movie’s Oscar nomination for best feature-length documentary came at a time when artists have been talking about creating and viewing dance for screens of various types. “Pina” seems to be part of a movement to make dance more accessible, while changing perceptions about the art form.
Certainly the 3-D technological wizardry of “Pina” is part of the intrigue. On the film’s website and in various interviews, Wenders has stated that using 3-D was the only reason he and Pina Bausch, the choreographer and subject, agreed to begin filming after 20 years of discussing the project.
Yet beyond technology, it’s Wenders’ judicious editing of an esoteric art form that might be the shot in the arm needed to attract new audiences to dance — without compromising artistic integrity. Wenders’ expertise as a cinematographer infuses visual richness into the work through context, point of view, and locations. The film works to capture the texture and emotion of the perishable art of choreography, but Wenders chose not to provide biographical depth or background on Bausch’s work. Instead, filmgoers are required to search out the choreographer and company backstory on their own.
“Pina” has sparked conversations about seminal dance films created for the big screen, such as “West Side Story,” released last year in a 50th-anniversary edition, but in contemporary culture those films represent just the tip of the iceberg. One example is the variety of amateur dance videos posted on YouTube, which range from fun to bizarre, yet don’t seem to account for taste or quality.
Digital distribution » That has led to the launch of websites such as TenduTV, which take the idea of distributing dance films seriously. The site offers profiles and interviews with world-renown dancers and choreographers, a blog, and informed descriptions of work, all intended to guide visitors to online rental or sales of its dance films through iTunes, Amazon and Hulu.
“We want to give people an experience where they can enjoy dance from all over the world that is worth their money,” said TenduTV founder and general manager Marc Kirschner in a phone interview. “We want to deliver it in beautiful high definition video with 5.1 surround audio.”
Kirschner praised the artistic work of Ellen Bromberg, a University of Utah dance and technology professor, as well as what he termed the “phenomenal program she has developed.” Bromberg’s compelling documentary on dancer/choreographer Molissa Fenley, “The re-staging of ‘State of Darkness’?” can be found on Hulu, via TenduTV. And Bromberg’s newest documentary on Judson Church dance artist Deborah Hay, “Deborah Hay, not as Deborah Hay” can be accessed through dance-tech.tv.
“What Mark [Kirschner] is doing by making dance and dance film more accessible globally is really important and it comes at a really good time,” Bromberg said. “The success of ‘Pina,’ casts new focus on dance and dance on film.”
Filming dance, in Salt Lake City » That brings us to the local choreographers and filmmakers who are a part of a national Dances Made to Order project, which Bromberg describes as part of an effort to “create a frame around dance and dance filmmaking and tie the country together.”
Dances Made to Order, launched in April 2011 by Los Angeles choreographer Kingsley Irons and filmmaker Bryan Koch, is a monthly, curated online series featuring 5-minute videos of dances created in just two weeks from ideas suggested by subscribers. The founders have extended the effort to 11 cities around the country. Ashley Anderson, a local dance advocate and founder of the loveDANCEmore website, was invited to curate the Salt Lake City edition. Anderson picked the artists, but subscribers will vote on their inspirations. (Themes will be posted March 7, and films will be created from March 16-April 1. .)
To Anderson, an important element of the effort is that artists are paid a percentage of subscription fees, in contrast to film festivals where artists pay a fee to submit work. “Since the U. has such a great screen dance program, I was able to pair and coordinate choreographers with filmmakers,” Anderson said. “The project is also a response to the uncurated dance videos that are all over the Internet. DMTO gives people an opportunity to see what experimental choreographers all over the country are thinking about and doing.”
How it works » The filmmakers give Irons a list of inspirational creative topics, and subscribers to dancesmadetoorder.com vote for their favorites. The top three themes must be used in each dance, no matter how wacky a combination. For example, three subjects for a recent series of Los Angeles films were: 1. Sugary/salty; 2. A film within a film; 3. Would you be better off if you hadn’t...?
Kirschner said the need for DMTO “extends out of the fact that in other countries the opportunities for dance film artists is much greater than in the U.S. because television networks have budgets which include commissioning dance.”
Instead, for American dancers, new media has created a virtual town hall for artists around the globe.
“When I came here 11 years ago, most students didn’t have email,” Bromberg said. “Now there are so many opportunities for students to think about the field and get their work out. They can create and put their own dance films up online.”
Josie Patterson-Halford » Earned a bachelor’s degree in dance from Weber State University. Her work has been featured at the American College Dance Festival, and in 2010 she served as a regional coordinator. She has performed with inFluxdance Company, and her solo choreography has been featured throughout the state of Utah.
Scott C. Halford » Weber State University graduate with a degree in integrated studies. While attending school, he founded the multimedia production company Foursite Studios, and later organized the Foursite Film Festival. Halford has made more than 60 short films.
Professor's Designs in Print Magazine
The poster series designed by Professor Larry Clarkson (Visual Arts) for theatre performances last year on campus has been included in Print magazine's 31st Regional Design Annual.
The competition showcases what is considered some of the best graphic design created across the US over the last year. With several thousand of entries submitted, only a few hundred or so are selected. The work of only three practicing designers from Utah made it into the annual this year, Larry Clarkson and DOVA alumnus Dan Christofferson included. Larry and Dan’s work, as well as the entire show, is available online at http://regionaldesignannual.printmag.com/far-west-2011/.
WSU graduate appears in Disney Christmas movie
Film extra work doesn't always require stellar acting skills, but Weber State University acting graduate Megan Nicole Rees truly earned her pay last March when she played a crowd member for the Utah-shot "Good Luck, Charlie, It's Christmas!"
"We were supposed to be in Las Vegas, so they wouldn't let us wear coats or jackets," said Rees, 25 and a Bountiful resident. "Occasionally, we could put on our coats, but we were out there a really long time, and it got pretty cold.
"I had to concentrate all my energy on not shivering."
"Good Luck, Charlie, It's Christmas!" debuts at 9 p.m. Saturday on the Disney Channel, which most Utah cable subscribers will find on Channel 33.
Director Arlene Sanford, whose credits include episodes of "Desperate Housewives," "Grey's Anatomy," "Monk" and Utah-shot "Everwood," said she took the job because she liked the script, and she already knew she liked shooting in Utah.
"I thought it was a funny script, and when a script comes my way that is funny, sweet and smart, and it makes me laugh and cry, I do it," Sanford said. "I also like road pictures. Most of the Disney movies take place more in high school, with a lot of the scenes near lockers."
The Christmas film is based on the Disney sitcom "Good Luck, Charlie," about a Denver family, the Duncans, who try to adjust to the birth of their fourth child, Charlie. In each episode, teen Teddy creates a video diary for young Charlie, giving her toddler sister advice on the family and on life as a teen.
The film follows the family on a Christmas trip that goes wrong when the mom takes an airline offer to delay her flight for a second, free ticket. She and Teddy spend the film trying to reunite with the rest of the family before Christmas.
"I think the movie is good for parents and kids, and I think it is funny," Sanford said. "It has something to say about teenagers being responsible, and the importance of family. It's also a lovely mother-daughter story."
Rubbing elbows
Rees, WSU class of 2010, said she heard about the need for extras from her agent, and shot scenes at The Gateway, in Salt Lake City. Another way to learn about extra jobs is to subscribe to www.utahextras.com, which charges an annual fee.
"Being an extra is fun," Rees said. "You sort of get to rub elbows with a lot of important people."
The standard extra rate in Utah is about $100 per day, Rees said. She also has worked as an extra in Los Angeles, where the rate is $64 for eight hours, and then increases depending on additional hours and factors -- including whether the extra has to get wet or use his or her own car.
Rees said she recently took a trip to Los Angeles and worked as an extra for "Law and Order," "Torchwood," "Damage Control" and a pilot for "Wonder Woman."
"I was there for a week, and worked pretty much every day," she said.
No guarantees
Rees said she hopes to move to the West Coast within the next few months to seek work as an actress. Her biggest stage role at Weber State was playing Dorinda, female lead in "The Beaux' Stratagem."
"I have done a lot of theater work, and I love it, but one of the things I like about film is you get to watch yourself and critique your work. It's something you can keep forever."
That's true for actors with key speaking roles, but there are no guarantees in extra work. All extras know they could easily end up on the cutting room floor.
"I was in a couple scenes," Rees said of "Good Luck, Charlie, It's Christmas!" "I was a shopper walking past in one scene, and that could easily get cut, but there's a second scene where I'm holding a big, giant blow-up candy cane, and an actress (Bridgit Mendler, as Teddy) steals it from me. It always depends on editing. You never know what shots they will use."
Weber State graduate tours country - on a bamboo bike
Jason Dilworth probably always saw things a little differently, first with the trained eyes of an art student at Weber State University, then as a bicyclist who viewed the world up close.
And now Dilworth, 30, and a 2006 WSU grad, has seen 2,500 meandering miles of America, from Greensboro, Ala., to San Francisco, from the back of a kit-assembled bamboo bike.
"A friend of mine, Marc O'Brien, said he wanted to bicycle across country before he turned 30, and asked if I wanted to go," said Dilworth, now a graphic arts teacher at State University of New York at Fredonia. "He asked if I wanted to go, and I said yes immediately. I kind of had some unfinished business."
O'Brien and Dilworth met when both studied art at the University of Virginia, O'Brien as an undergraduate, Dilworth as a grad student. After earning his master's in 2009, Dilworth applied for teaching jobs, and set off traveling west on his bicycle, for a summer of sightseeing and visiting friends he couldn't have afforded to see if it required air fare.
"I was in Bryce Canyon when I checked my voice mail and learned I had a teaching job," Dilworth said. "I ended my bike tour short, and left the red rocks for the green hills. But I always felt I had unfinished business."
When O'Brien suggested the latest ride, which would attract two more friends, he mentioned the idea of bamboo-frame bicycles. O'Brien had worked in Alabama, a state with a struggling farm community, and he learned that Alabama has ideal conditions for growing bamboo, a crop for which America is the largest importer. O'Brien and others believe bamboo is a good cash crop for Southern small farmers struggling to make a living.
So the bicycle trip, besides being a fun idea and a celebration of turning 30, became a promotion for Alabamboo, a movement to bring bamboo farming to Alabama.
The riders bought bike kits from Bamboo Bike Studio, an environmentally minded New York company. The team harvested its own Alabama bamboo and held the fibrous canes over heat for hardening.
The canes were then fitted into metal joints from the kit to form a bicycle frame. Dilworth said his bamboo bicycle rides a lot like his regular bicycle, except he feels extra pride knowing he made his cane-based bike.
The Alabamboo riders assembled their bikes in Alabama, and set off June 4 for a trip they would complete in Northern California on July 30. Dilworth and friends stayed away from interstates and took time to look at the art, history and peculiarities of the regions through which they passed.
"The South has these incredible opportunities, not just for economic growth, but for happiness," said Dilworth, an Idaho native who grew up in Vernal, Utah, and attended WSU on a scholarship. "Every place has incredible histories and local color.
"And riding, you see the South turn into the Midwest, and then into the Intermountain West, and into incredibly different communities in Utah. They fade out in Nevada -- then you get traffic and cars in California."
Dilworth said as the only mountain Westerner in the group, he was worried about what others might think of his childhood home.
"I hoped it wouldn't be too hot and dry, and that none of them would get stung by a scorpion," he said. "I hoped they would love it, and they did. I don't think any of them were expecting the majestic beauty."
The group aimed for a leisurely, flexible trip, with time built in for side excursions suggested by locals. The riders averaged about 80 miles a day, including one day of multiple wrong turns that landed them back where they started, much to their amusement.
Finally riding into San Francisco was satisfying, but that high was followed by a trip low.
"I hated to box up my bike," Dilworth said. "It had become part of me. I could hop on that bike and ride it anywhere."
Now back in New York, Dilworth says he feels trapped, relying on cabs, buses and his own feet to get him where he would rather bike. The bamboo bike is still in transit.
"It's back to school now, back to work," Dilworth said. "It's slightly disorienting. My hometown feels new to me, which I guess is why we travel. Still, I wish there had been time to bicycle back."
Article and Pictures here
WSU art grad inspires Snow Horse gallery
By Becky Wright and Bryon Saxton
Chad Hancey's friends and family gave him an unusual present for his birthday in 2009 -- an art gallery. He didn't actually get to keep the gallery, but the gift of knowing he helped bring it into being.
The Snow Horse Art Gallery, a project of the Davis Arts Council, opens with a reception at 7 p.m. Saturday in the hall connecting the Davis Conference Center and Hilton Garden Inn in Layton. Admission is free and open to the public.
The inaugural exhibit features paintings by nine professional artists living in Davis County: Farmington resident Simon Winegar; Larry Wade, Ann Marie Oborn and Garth Oborn, of Bountiful; Judy Cooley, Terrece Beesley and Carol Merrill, all of Layton; Kaysville's George Handrahan; and Scott Brough of Syracuse.
Creation of the gallery has been on the Davis Arts Council's to-do list for almost three years.
Former WSU Player rushes Opera Stage
By: Linda East Brady
It's always tough to serve two maestros.
Utahn Ta'u Pupu'a (Tao Poopoo-AH) learned that when he accepted a scholarship to play football for Weber State University.
Along with his grace on the playing field, Pupu'a is the owner of a rich singing voice, which has caught the ear of the opera world.
"When I went to Weber State University, I thought I could really study music and play football at the same time, because I always got A's in choir class," Pupu'a said in an interview last month in Ogden, when the now-New Yorker was in town to discuss the possibility of performing at Weber State University.
"Well, I had no idea what was involved with a music degree, what I got myself into -- ear training and sight singing and piano? It is really, really hard."
Weber Graduate Ambassador for Disney
Jolie Hales loves Disneyland.
She's worked there as a performer. She chose to stay there over a couple of other career choices that beckoned her, like directing.
Now, she hangs out with Mickey Mouse as an official ambassador for Disneyland Resorts, spending the next two years representing Disneyland at local hospitals, local events and special radio and media activities around the country as an emissary of good will and magic.
According to Disneyland Resort President George A. Kalogridis, to be named an ambassador is one of the highest achievements a cast member can reach. It involves months of preparation, interviews with other cast members and resort executives, and requires a depth of passion and knowledge of Disneyland. Hales will serve with fellow ambassador Rene Torrico.
