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Show Monday June 22, 2009 __J. New this week CD Cheap Trick: The Latest, June 23 Amazon.com Regina Spektor: Far, June 23 Wilco: Wilco (The Album), June 30 Amazon.com Rob Thomas: Cradlesong, June 30 mazon.com Inkheart, June 23 Amazon.com Confessions Of A Shopaholic, June 23 Amazon.com Pink Panther 2, June 23 Amazon.com entourage \Entourage: — The Complete Fifth Season, June 30 Alyssa Lev/is UVU Review Former American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson performs barefoot at UVUphoria on June 11, 2009. Her crowd-pleasing favorites were a hit that engaged the diverse crowd, which included recently appointed UVU president Matthew Holland and family. Amazon.com Professor takes simple approach Artist in Residence premiers at Hale West Valley LMELSUNDQUIST Culture writer David Tinney, prolific Utah Valley director/choreographer and the theater department's Artist in Residence, made his directorial debut at the Hale Centre Theatre in West Valley on June 13 with the classic musical. Hello, Dolly! Tinney's resume is long and impressive. He's been the Artistic Director for Provo Theater Company, taught at BYU, and directed and choreographed at Tuacahn, Orem's Hale, and Sundance. At UVU, he directed Holiday Night Live in 2007, Robber Bride- groom in 2008, and Chess in January of this year. Tinney brings a rare flavor the shows he directs - despite 20 years of directing experience, he still knows how to bring a youthful perspective. Also, by acting as both director and choreographer of many musicals, he keeps the show's movement fluid. "He gets the whole show," said David Weekes, who plays Horace Vandergelder in one of the two casts of Hello, Dolly! "The movement and the blocking and the choreography all works together because it's all his concept." Hello, Dolly! is a clas- sic warhorse musical, but it has managed to avoid the bad reputation that other classics like Oklahoma! and Annie Get Your Gun have earned. You may already know the story, but the music and the endearing characters are bound to keep the audience interested. Jennifer Parker Hohl, who plays Dolly across from Weekes, told of a speech Tinney gave in their first rehearsal. He talked about watching a Discovery Channel show about roller coasters. When the host was asked what his favorite roller coaster was, he said it was the old wooden one at Coney Island. Tinney likened this to the old white roller coaster at Lagoon. "That's what Hello, Dolly! is," Hohl remembered Tinney saying, "It's the old white roller coaster at Lagoon. It's a great ride, and it gives the same feeling of Americana and the boardwalk and hot dogs. It's main street Disneyland." After working on dozens of classic musicals, Tinney espoused a go-to ideology. "This is my mantra, which I adopted from some well loved directors and teachers. Just tell the story, everything else is frosting. Choreography, costumes, set, and scenery arc just frosting. They must serve the story. If it doesn't tell the story, get rid of it." However, his productions are far from cold readings with no set or costumes. He has incorporated some new and interesting design themes into Hello, Dolly! In the script, Dolly Levi holds one-sided conversations with her dead husband. At one point she speaks to him about how she was reading her Bible, and out fell a dried pressed oak leaf. She found the leaf on the day she met.her hus- Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen, June 24 ahoo.com My Sister's Keeper, June 26 Yahoo.com Public Enemies, July 1 See DOLLY • A7 ioo.com |