Briefs: First Friday, family fun and more

First Friday

SPECIAL GUESTS JOIN

SPRING CELEBRATION

It’s the “Rite” stuff at tonight’s First Friday as special guests join more than 75 artists, 15 bands and DJs and two dozen food trucks for the monthly downtown Arts District festival’s “Rite of Spring.”

Nevada Ballet Theatre will pop up at various locations to present “4 x 8s,” demonstrating the wide range of styles associated with classical ballet.

Members of Shaolin Kungfu Chan, meanwhile, will perform a ritual Chinese Lion Ceremony, associated with luck and prosperity, starting at 7:30 p.m. at the Welcome Tent (near Charleston and Casino Center boulevards) and moving throughout the festival. A kung fu demonstration follows at 8:20 p.m. at The Hub (Casino Center and Colorado Avenue).

At the KidZone , young artists will receive inspiration, advice and autographs from a genuine Disney princess: Paige O’Hara. The voice of Belle in “Beauty and the Beast,” O’Hara now performs in Luxor’s “Menopause the Musical” — but, as an accomplished painter, also creates canvases featuring Belle for Disney Fine Art. Animators from the Chuck Jones Experience also will be on hand.

Other First Friday highlights include musical performances by Kalsey Kulyk and Rusty Maples (7:15 and 9:15 p.m., respectively, at the Third Street Stage).

First Friday runs from 5 to 11 p.m. in the Arts District (along Casino Center, Third and Fourth streets, between Charleston Boulevard and Imperial Avenue).

For parking, shuttle and other information, check the First Friday website at www.firstfridaylasvegas.com.

Music

STUDENTS, PROS TEAM

FOR ‘TOUCH OF BRASS’

In a showcase for top brass, Saturday’s “Touch of Brass” concert at The Smith Center finds the Las Vegas Philharmonic calling in reinforcements: 32 members of the Clark County School District Honor Brass Ensemble.

The high school musicians, standouts from district high schools, will join the Philharmonic’s brass section on Giovanni Gabrieli’s Canzon Septimi Toni 2 for a 44-musician rendition of the 16th-century composition. Written for St. Mark’s Cathedral in Venice, where Gabrieli was organist and principal composer, the canzon (which means “song” in Italian) features an antiphonal call-and-response technique; to create the surround-sound experience, the musicians will be stationed around The Smith Center’s Reynolds Hall.

Daniel Meyer conducts the Philharmonic; Phillip Haines directs the Honor Brass Ensemble, whose members will be in the audience for the remainder of the concert featuring eminent trumpeters (and teachers) Barbara Butler and Charles Geyer , who will play “Carmen Fantasia,” a special arrangement of excerpts from Bizet’s opera.

Rounding out the program: Brahms’ Symphony No. 3 in F major and Barber’s Overture to “School for Scandal.”

The concert, preceded by a pre-concert talk at 7:15 p.m., will begin at 8 p.m. in Reynolds Hall at The Smith Center for the Performing Arts, 361 Symphony Park Ave.

Tickets ($25-$94) are available by phone at 702-749-2000 or online at www.thesmithcenter.com.

Family fun

TANK ENGINE THOMAS

CHUGS INTO MUSEUM

Boulder City’s Nevada State Railroad Museum boasts plenty of trains — but none like TV’s Thomas the Tank Engine, who pulls into the station Saturday for a two-weekend “Day Out With Thomas” tour.

This year’s “Go Go Thomas” tour — the 18th such excursion — gives children of all ages the chance to climb aboard and ride with the beloved blue locomotive.

In addition to a 25-minute rail journey powered by the star engine, visitors will meet railway controller Sir Topham Hatt and enjoy activities from arts and crafts to storytelling. Also on tap: games, a bounce house and model train layouts.

Proceeds from the two-weekend event will help the museum maintain and restore railroad equipment and improve infrastructure.

Thomas the Tank Engine rides depart every 45 minutes from 9 a.m. through 3:45 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at the Nevada State Railroad Museum, 601 Yucca St., Boulder City. The event continues April 13 and 14.

Tickets ($16 for ages 2 and older) are available by phone at 866-468-7630 or online at www.ticketweb.com/thomas.html. More information is available by phone 702-486-5933 or online (www.NevadaSouthern.com).

Dance

‘FEAT’ SPOTLIGHTS

UNLV DANCERS

Moving feet deliver “A Moving Feat” this weekend at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, courtesy of UNLV’s dance department.

Three performances showcase UNLV students and faculty members — and an eclectic variety of dance styles.

One featured dance, Margot Mink Colbert’s “Five for Five,” features excerpts from five classical and contemporary musical works for five UNLV dancers.

Other choreographers include faculty member Dolly Kelepecz and guest artists Jeneane Gallo Huggins, Greg Sample, Don Bellamy and Debra Noble.

“A Moving Feat” will be presented at
8 p.m. today and 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday in the Judy Bayley Theatre on the UNLV campus, 4505 S. Maryland Parkway.

Tickets ($18 general admission, $10 for seniors, students, military and disabled) are available by calling 702-895-2787 or going online to pac.unlv.edu.

Theater

SPANISH-LANGUAGE

‘MONOLOGUES’ SET

Nothing’s lost in the translation as “Los Monologos de la Vagina ” — the Spanish-language version of Eve Ensler’s “The Vagina Monologues” — takes over the Winchester Cultural Center Theater stage this weekend.

For the past seven years, VDay LV En Espanol has presented the Spanish-language adaptation at various area locations as part of global movement, inspired by Ensler’s play, to end violence against women.

“Los Monologos de la Vagina” will be presented at 7 p.m. today and Saturday at the Winchester Cultural Center, 3130 S. McLeod Drive.

Tickets ($12 in advance, $15 on the day of the show) are available by calling 702-455-7340.

Music

CSN stages jazz chamber, concerts

Multiple sounds of music take over this weekend at the College of Southern Nevada’s Cheyenne campus, 3200 E. Cheyenne Ave. in North Las Vegas.

The Department of Fine Arts’ Jazz Singers present “Vocal Jazz Solo Nights” at 7:30 p.m. today and Saturday in the BackStage Theatre. In addition to singing such ensemble favorites as “Candy” and “Green Dolphin Street,” each student will perform solos in styles ranging from swing to reggae to R&B.

And at 2 p.m. Sunday, members of the CSN Orchestra will perform chamber music selections in the Recital Hall as a fundraiser for the String Studies program.

Tickets for both concerts ($8 adults, $5 students and seniors) are available by calling 702-651-5483; more information is available online at www.csn.edu/pac.

— By CAROL CLING