Last year was an amazing one for the Arts in Delaware. We had so many great experiences, and we’d like to share some of them with you. Below are each of our blogger’s picks for Delaware Arts Info Blog’s Best Of 2013 (in random order). We hope you’ll check out these organizations in 2014!
Blogger Charles “Ebbie" Alfree, III
My Best of 2013 were Wilmington Drama League’s Avenue Q; Delaware Theatre Company’s Love, Loss, and What I Wore; City Theater Company’s On the Air and First State Ballet Theatre’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
The Wilmington Drama League did an amazing job producing Avenue Q. The actors, sets, and puppets were superb — it was a perfect production! The wonderful female cast of Delaware Theater Company’s Love, Loss and What I Wore made me laugh and tear up. It’s impossible to not like this wonderful piece of theater about the trials/tribulations and the FUN/happiness of being a woman. It was so refreshing to see a new musical—On the Air—produced by City Theater Company. Joe Trainor and Kevin Regan wrote a witty musical that boasted a fantastic cast. A Midsummer Night’s Dream produced by First State Ballet Theatre was sumptuous. I was enthralled by the stunning dancers who gave enchanting performances while wearing ethereal costumes!
Blogger Margaret Darby
My Best of 2013 were the Delaware Chamber Music Festival, the second University of Delaware Master Series Kavafian Concert and City Theater Company’s production of Gypsy.
Of the four incredibly excellent concerts of the Delaware Chamber Music Festival, my favorite piece was the Elegiac Trio by Sergei Rachmaninov. The beginning of the piece was a subtle cello bowing so soft, I thought Clancy Newman was simply tuning, until Music Director and violinist Barbara Govatos joined in with a second soft rumble. The University of Delaware Master Players hosted Ani and Ida Kavafian and their excellent pianist, Jonathan Feldman for a concert so good, it kept me in goosebumps for the next three days. As to Gypsy, the cast of City Theater Company gave a small-scale production that had all the pizzazz of Broadway — giving a masterful portrayal of ambition and love with the Company’s signature humor and intensity.
Blogger Michelle Kramer-Fitzgerald
My Best of 2013 had to be the Delaware Art Museum’s American Moderns exhibit; City Theater Company’s Jesus Christ Superstar In Concert; Umberto Crenca’s Wilmington visit; and the WSTW Homey Awards at World Cafe Live.
The American Moderns exhibit (which closed on 1/5/14) was a rich, colorful trip through treasured American visual masters, including my all-time inspiration and favorite, Georgia O’Keeffe (seeing her originals, lent from the Brooklyn Museum, nearly took my breath away). The kickoff of City Theater Company’s 20th anniversary season with a blowout performance of Jesus Christ Superstar In Concert was awe-inspiring. Music Director (and role of Judas) Joe Trainor gave us a memorable and standing ovation-worthy celebration of one of Wilmington’s ‘little gems.’ Meeting artist/visionary Umberto Crenca — founder of AS220, an arts non-profit organization in Downtown Providence, Rhode Island — was such a treat. Crenca visited for Wilmington Renaissance Corporation’s Big Ideas Meeting, lending his insights and expertise on ways we can move Wilmo to the next level of a thriving Arts-centric city. In March, the WSTW Homey Awards at World Cafe Live was a power-packed Who’s Who of Awesome Local Music — psyched to see so many of my faves came home with honors. I’ve never felt prouder to be a Delawarean in the Arts in 2013! Now, how can we top it in 2014?!
Blogger Holly Quinn
My Best of 2013 included City Theater Company’s Jesus Christ Superstar in Concert; Delaware Theatre Company’s Love, Loss and What I Wore; OperaDelaware’s L’elisir d’Amore (The Elixir of Love); Wilmington Drama League’s Butterflies Are Free; New Candlelight Theater’s A Chorus Line; and Hot Breakfast’s new CD, 39 Summers.
What do YOU want us to cover in 2014? Email Arts in Media with your suggestions!
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