Opening night for “West Side Story” isn’t until Tuesday and already, Riverside Theatre has announced it has extended the run an extra week. The demand for tickets has been “overwhelming,” theater management says, even weeks before the curtain rises. Originally slated to close March 7, the musical now runs until March 15.
Not that they didn’t see it coming. Not only did the town seem musical-crazed over “Crazy for You,” which was selling out performances with no hope of extending the run, with “West Side Story” in the wings.
In addition, Riverside says the 1957 musical has been the most-requested musical among its audience for three years. It is an update of the age-old Romeo and Juliet dilemma, written by Arthur Laurents with lyrics by Stephen Sondheim (his Broadway debut), set to the music of composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein and directed and choreographed by Jerome Robbins, who went on to join George Balanchine at the New York City Ballet. Does it get any better? Well, apparently. Up for six Tony awards, it lost out to “The Music Man” for Best Musical that year. (Four years later, the film version made up for it; West Side Story was nominated for 11 academy awards, and won 10, while the “Music Man” movie the next year won only one. Take that, River City.)
Two-time Grammy-award winning singer/songwriter Jason Mraz is playing at the King Center Monday night. He won a Teen Choice award twice, and a People’s Choice award, too. His Brazilian-influenced beat took shape in a San Diego coffee shop, after he left college in Farmville, VA, and never looked back. He does look around, however; a human rights advocate with deep concerns for the environment, he’s invested in an avocado farm and an L.A. vegan restaurant.
Songs like “The Remedy” and “I’m Yours” have been huge international successes. His latest album, “Yes!”, released last July, was written with the all-girl pop-rock band, Raining Jane, with whom he appears Monday.
The concert starts at the school-night hour of 7:30 p.m. The King Center is at 3865 North Wickham Rd. in Melbourne. Go to www.kingcenter.com for tickets.
When the Danish National Orchestra performs at Community Church Monday, it will have a University of Miami alum as conductor. Cristian Macelaru, Romanian-born, studied violin at UM’s renowned Frost School of Music and became the youngest concertmaster ever to conduct the Miami Symphony Orchestra. For two seasons in a row, he replaced Pierre Boulez at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and has been conductor in residence with the Philadelphia Orchestra since 2011.
This year, he takes the baton for a subscription week in Philadelphia, and officially makes his Carnegie Hall debut with the Danish orchestra, which will be playing Sunday, Feb. 15, at West Palm’s Kravis Center, and the next night, Monday, at Vero as part of the Indian River Symphonic Association concert series.
Both concerts feature 25-year-old Taiwanese-Australian violinist Ray Chen, the first-prize winner in the 2008 International Yehudi Menuhin Violin Competition and the Queen Elizabeth Violin Competition the next year. He is currently studying at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. The program includes two Sibelius works and Nielsen’s Symphony No. 4, Op. 29.
Tickets for a 7:30 p.m. concert Monday, Feb. 16, at Community Church are $75; the cheapest seats at Kravis – $30 – are already sold out; a few remained at press time at $55 with others available at up to $105. Go to www.kravis.org. For IRSA tickets, go to www.irsymphonic.org.
If you’re up for a little road trip with the family next weekend, Miami’s Key Biscayne is hosting the fourth annual Virginia Key Grassroots Festival, a four-day family-friendly festival of folk, bluegrass and world music. In the line-up Saturday, Feb. 20, is Fort Pierce’s own third-generation lap steel guitar player, AJ Ghent. His concert at Sunrise’s Black Box stage the night before is sadly sold out, but hopes are he’ll be back and it’ll be on the main stage with plenty of seats.
Check out the rest of the festival lineup, including weeklong camping, cooking, instrument and dance workshops, at www.virginiakeygrassrootsfestival.com.
Further down the road in terms of time and up the road in terms of locale, the 19th Annual Suwannee Springfest of folk, bluegrass and blues takes place March 19- 22 in a park along the river in Live Oak. That’s north of Gainesville just north of where I-75 crosses I-10. The great David Grisman is on the line-up – he played with Jerry Garcia on the iconic album “Shady Grove.” He’s joining the Grammy-award winning bluegrass band of Del McCoury. Also on the weekend schedule: John Hiatt and Lucinda Williams – back after her terrific Florida tour. Also appearing is Joe Craven, the adored whacky professor at Vero’s extraordinary fiddle fiesta, the Mike Block String Camp. The festival includes camping on the Suwannee. Go to www.suwanneespringfest.com for more information.