Las Vegas Spotlight: September 2007

Las Vegas will be seeing some more Broadway star power when Tony Award winner Brian Stokes Mitchell comes to town for a concert at the UNLV Performing Arts Center on September 14. The star of Ragtime and hit revivals of Kiss Me Kate and Man of La Mancha, will likely perform selections from his solo album, which features beautiful musical theater masterpieces both classic and modern, including “Something’s Coming,” “Being Alive,” and “How Glory Goes.”

The Super Summer Theatre season is coming to a close this month with the hilarious musical Johnny Guitar (September 13-22), a tongue-in-cheek adaptation of the cult film starring Joan Crawford. Featuring a book by Nicholas van Hoogstraten and score by Martin Silvestri and Joel Higgins, Johnny Guitar is about a sassy saloon proprietor named Vienna and the guitar-toting cowboy who falls for her.

The Las Vegas Little Theatre is starting its new season with Lanford Wilson’s The Hot L Baltimore (September 14-30). The award-winning work takes place in the lobby of a seedy hotel over the course of one day, as the diverse residents meet and interact.

Another one of Las Vegas’ most dependable theater companies, Theatre in the Valley, recently lost its performance space (the Valley View Rec Center) and will soon be losing its support from the Department of Tourism and Cultural Arts. But fans of the company can lend their support by attending the upcoming fundraiser production of Brighton Beach Memoirs (September 22-23). Performances of the Neil Simon play, directed by Megan Kuykendall, will take place at the Henderson Convention Center.

School’s back in session, and so is UNLV’s Theatre Department! The season begins with a new rendering of Amadeus (September 21-30), Peter Shaffer’s brilliant drama about the rivalry between Austrian composers Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Antonio Salieri.

The Community College of Southern Nevada is also back to bringing us quality theater with a production of August Strindberg’s classic drama Miss Julie (September 21-30). This oft-performed play about a young woman of high social standing who engages in a flirtatious power struggle with a servant never loses its power to shock.

Finally, a word to the wise: Jersey Boys tickets are now on sale! If the production at the Venetian is as big a hit as the one on Broadway, you better start buying your tickets now, even though performances don’t begin until April 4, 2008.