Local artists in Middletown

Brilliant colors handled with sure-handed verve splash through the Local Artists show at Middletown's Gilbert W. Perry Jr. Center for the Arts. This third annual exhibit is a refreshing summer stop, with paintings both pleasing and accomplished.

The show hangs to Aug. 1. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, noon to 5 p.m. Thursday and Friday.

Ricardo Colon's fauvist Latin pink street scene in the gallery window sets the tone, picked up by Tracy Landmann's bold cafe vignettes and Joyce R. Hoover's kaleidoscopic still lifes. Judy Robb renders little landscapes in big dashes of unblended bright white and green. All of them temper their pure colors by using black outlines for a contemporary graphic effect.

Samantha Norwood's quieter pointillist woodland in acrylic is also deft. And Abigail McBride's luminously lavender view of a river bank is a impressionist charmer.

For contrast, Pamela Skwish deconstructed a flower in a shadow box paper collage. The dominant black in Nancy Williams Woodword's two abstracts looks organic and fluid.

The gallery is at 51 W. Main St., Middletown. Young students' work is in the hall.

The Delaware Shakespeare Festival's Twelfth Night

Shakespeare Al Fresco

 

~ By Jessica Graae

 

Thanks to Mother Nature’s bountiful rain, we caught the Delaware Shakespeare Festival’s opening of Twelfth Night on Saturday in Wilmington’s beautiful Rockwood Park.  The company, in its seventh year, continues a much-loved tradition for Delawareans who might not otherwise get much Shakespeare or theater in the summer.  The Bard’s hysterical farce entertained young and old.

 

We got to the park early to get the perfect spot for our blanket in front of the Rockwood Mansion, which serves as the stage for this enthusiastic young company.  Its Tudor-style crossbeams and slightly crumbling façade transport the actors and audience to a by-gone era.  Scenic designer Simon Harding uses the various levels and doorways of the house to maximum effect, with minimal fuss.  The sunlight, which lights the set for the first hour of the performance, gives way to stage lighting creeping in, almost unnoticed.

 

Orsino’s famous opening lines “If music be the food of love, play on” are underscored by the sultry sounds of a saxophone playing.  The music and designer Regina Rizzo’s clever costumes of linen and tweed transport us to the 1930s or 1940s.  Rizzo even creates an updated version of the cross-gartered leg ensemble for Malvolio, whose role was performed hilariously by Brian McCann.

 

Ably directed by Karen DiLossi, the entire cast projected their words with clarity.   The actors moved about freely, without being constrained by the location of the microphones.  I was concerned the latecomers sitting further back might miss nuances of the performance, but it was clear from the hearty laughter and applause, nothing was missed. 

 

For more information about the performances, which run through August 1, go to www.delshakes.org or call 302.764.0113.

Brandywine Guitar Quartet at Pell Gardens

Chris Braddock, Dan Graper, Mark Unruh and Mark Oppenheimer are the versatile members of the guitar quartet they founded in the summer of 2008.

Speaking to Chris about the group means hearing the incredible energy and enthusiasm he has for the music. He, like the other three, is a composer (see blog on SOWETO Festival for a review of his composition for harpsichord and mandolin for Melomanie.)

For the August 9 concert at the Pell Gardens along the canal in Chesapeake City, Chris has transposed the William Zinn arrangement of Eine Kleine Nachtmusik by Mozart, and Dan Graper has arranged some Leroy Anderson string quartet arrangements of Blue Tango, Jazz Pizzicato, Belle of the Ball.

They will even do a Beethoven trio arrangement as well as the first movement of the third Brandenburg Concerto – so variety will not be lacking.

Come enjoy the gardens under the stars with this free concert.

To listen to the quartet: www.myspace.com/brandywineguitarquartet.

To hear Dan Graper’s music: www.myspace.com/dangraper.

To hear Chris Braddock’s music: http://www.braddockmusic.com/.