Early alert: "Jesus Christ Superstar," the rock opera by legendary writing team Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, comes to the Pioneer Center for the Performing Arts in Reno Jan. 26Ð28 for five shows.
This is a theater experience worth the bucks. Tickets are at (877) 840-0457 and range from $35 to $70.
FILMS WITH A KICK
Not quite sure whether this belongs here or in the Friday GO outdoors page, but The Tahoe Adventure Film Festival plays at the MontBleu Resort Casino & Spa Friday and Saturday.
Included are guest speakers, action photo displays, break-dancers and DJs, and on screen, the best action/adventure films of the year.
This is different than any other film festival. Submissions are narrowed to the top 10 best adventure sports films of the year from different sports. Most films are edited for the festival's fast-paced format, featuring 10-12 minute clips or segments of each top adventure film.
There will be raffles for season ski passes and adventure gear. All films are available for purchase in their full format from the filmmakers. Tickets are $15 plus tax for general admission or $25 for a combined Friday/Saturday pass by calling MontBleu at (800) 648-3353, at all Ticketmaster outlets or at www.ticketmaster.com.
Guest speaker Glen Plake will share his film adventures Friday night. And Saturday from 7 p.m. on the best films will be shown. There's a late party as well for those who aren't exhausted by seeing all those ultimate-action movies.
WINE WITH A HEART
Recently, I commented on the new wine- tasting bistro in Carson City, noting that it gave the town an upscale spot to imbibe. I also mentioned that a favorite wine, Sancerre, was not on the menu. Lo, a bottle of it appeared, and I am delighted.
D'Vine is having more of an impact of just a bottle of wine, however. In its short life, it has already held a Cash For Kids night with $1,650 being raised for needy local children, and poured the wine for the Carson Boys & Girls Club fundraiser here at the Appeal and the Children's Museum's Youth Night. A new helping hand in town.
Me and Bobby McGee (the me is June Joplin, of Comma Coffee fame) appear at D'Vine at 200 N. Stewart St. Included are fine wines (five-wine flights, $15), awesome hors d'oeuvres and salads, and a groovy attitude. She performs at D'Vine Wine every other Friday evening from 6 till 9-ish (New Year's Eve 8 to 12:30).
FROM THE VAULTS
In "Autumn Sonata" Ingmar Bergman probed the depths of human relationships, as he did in almost all his films. God may be somewhere, but He's not here.
The film stars Ingrid Bergman in her last movie (she was suffering from cancer during the filming) and longtime Ingmar collaborator Liv Ullman. Ingrid is a concert pianist who has just lost her husband in death. Ullman is her daughter and the housewife of a rural Swedish minister.
In one incredible scene, the two women play Chopin on the piano with a powerful range of expressions. Little is said, but the pain of both women is obviously immense. This one scene is so moving that the rest of the film seems to trifle away. Ingrid is no longer the beautiful innocent of "For Whom the Bell Tolls," but she is something very special, not soon to be matched. It's 92 minutes and unrated but probably PG.
Julian Barnes' "The Lemon Table" is cut from a different cloth. It's a collection of short pieces (not exactly short stories) mostly concerned with the effects of age on the characters, as well as how concertgoers live with the noise around them. It's at times lofty, at times scatalogical and at times insightful. These sketches can be witty (the old British major who discovers that his mistress of many a year was not at all what he thought, the woman who finds her husband has been lying for years to her about playing billiards) or simply classic themes.
Barnes isn't well known on this side of the Atlantic, which is our misfortune.
• Contact Sam Bauman at 881-1236 or Sbauman@nevadaappeal.com.