Briefs: Music, theater, family fun

Music

TRUMPETER joins
MARDI GRAS CONCERT

Trumpeter Byron Stripling is used to playing with big bands.

But Saturday night, he’s joining a really big band: the Las Vegas Philharmonic, which celebrates “Mardi Gras in Las Vegas” at The Smith Center’s Reynolds Hall.

Stripling — along with drummer Bob Breithaupt and Bobby Floyd on the Hammond B3 organ — will get the good times rolling with a program designed to “evoke the feeling one would get in old New Orleans,” says Stripling, a veteran of the legendary Count Basie Orchestra who’s now music director of the Columbus Jazz Orchestra.

Stripling likens that spirit to a musical gumbo, “letting all kinds of music come together as one,” from French opera to Creole. “You throw it all together in your gumbo and spice it up.”

The music’s especially tasty with the entire orchestra playing, according to Stripling, who collaborated with “the incredible musicians of the Las Vegas Philharmonic” three or four years ago, he notes.

“It’s a fun thing to present to audiences, who normally see the orchestra in a classical mode,” Stripling says, “and suddenly they’re swingin’.”

Guest conductor Steven Jarvi — music director of Winter Opera Saint Louis — will lead the Philharmonic.

“Mardi Gras in Las Vegas” begins at 8 p.m. at The Smith Center for the Performing Arts, 361 Symphony Park Ave. For tickets ($25-$94), call 749-2000 or go online to www.thesmithcenter.com.

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Theater

THEATer presents

‘ALLERGIST’S WIFE’

Midlife crisis turns comedic in playwright Charles Busch’s award-winning “The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife,” which opens a three-weekend run tonight at Las Vegas Little Theatre.

Mired in Manhattan malaise, title character Marjorie (played by Melissa Riezle ) tries to rouse herself from her funk — but it isn’t until the arrival of a worldly childhood friend (Rozanne Sher) that she’s able to shake her dark mood.

The comedy, Busch’s first for a mainstream audience, “earns its wall-to-wall laughs,” according to New York Times critic Ben Brantley. (With, among other things, adult language and situations.)

Stephen McMillan directs the comedy, which will be presented at 8 p.m. today and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday at the Las Vegas Little Theatre, 3920 Schiff Drive; tickets ($21-$24) are available by calling 362-7996 or going online to www.lvlt.org.

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Music

HENDERSON, SMITH CENTER

STAGE GOSPEL SALUTES

From The Smith Center to the Henderson Pavilion, gospel music steps into the spotlight this weekend.

First up: Henderson’s 10th annual Gospel Fest. The free celebration of music, history and culture — keyed to Black History Month — gets under way at 5 p.m. today and continues at 11 a.m. Saturday at the Henderson Pavilion, 200 S. Green Valley Parkway, with additional events Feb. 22 and 23.

This weekend’s program pays homage to Detroit’s influence on the music scene with Broadway in the Hood’s Motown salute, “A Night of Soul.” In addition to musical performances, the two-weekend gospel fest includes children’s activities and Southern cooking.

For more information, visit HendersonLive.com or call the Henderson Pavilion box office at 267-4849.

At 5 p.m. Sunday, The Smith Center’s Reynolds Hall hosts “The Artistry of Gospel,” a benefit for the Unity Village Family Life Center, featuring multiple Grammy nominee Richard Smallwood with Vision.

Tre Thomas hosts the intercultural, interfaith gospel celebration, which features an 18-voice choir and a 30-piece orchestra made up of Las Vegas Philharmonic members.

Tickets ($23-$93) are available at The Smith Center box office, 361 Symphony Park Ave., by phone at 749-2000 or online at www.thesmithcenter.com.

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Family fun

‘TRUCKEE,’ ‘LITTLE WOMEN’

BECKON FAMILY AUDIENCES

A new exploration of Nevada history and an adaptation of “Little Women” highlight this weekend’s family musical options.

The Rainbow Company Youth Theatre’s production “Across the Truckee” — the latest chapter in the award-winning troupe’s “Nevada Series” — blends musical theater and audience participation while introducing four memorable figures from Nevada history, including Henry T. Comstock (of Comstock Lode fame) and Civil War photographer Timothy H. O’Sullivan.

“Across the Truckee” will be performed at 7 p.m. today and 2 and 7 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at the Historic Fifth Street School, 401 S. Fourth St. For tickets ($7 for adults, $5 for teens, seniors and military, $3 for children 12 and younger), call 229-6553 or 229-6383 or visit www.artslasvegas.org.

A musical version of “Little Women,” meanwhile, wraps up an eight-performance run this weekend at the Summerlin Library Theater, 1771 Inner Circle Drive.

Based on Louisa May Alcott’s 1869 novel, the show (which played on Broadway in 2005) focuses on the adventures of the four March sisters in Civil War-era Concord, Mass. — and beyond. The production, from Broadway Bound and Studio One’s Summerlin Dance Academy, features young performers from 5 to 18.

“Little Women” will be performed at 7 p.m. today and 1 and 7 p.m. Saturday; tickets are $15 and may be purchased by phone (838-5131) or online (www.broadwayboundlv.com).

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Comedy

SILLY, SWEET COMBINE

IN IMPROV ‘VALENTINES’

Radio days of yore set the stage for “11 Funny Valentines for You,” an afternoon of free improvisational comedy at 2 p.m. Sunday at the Clark County Library, 1401 E. Flamingo Road.

Original audio skits reminiscent of radio broadcasts from the 1930s and ’40s feature actors, an onstage announcer — and manual and prerecorded sound effects that add to the merriment.

For more information, call 507-3459 or go to the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District’s website at www.lvccld.org.

— By CAROL CLING