Nation takes notice of Smith Center, Las Vegas’ cultural gem

Most performing arts centers "would kill to have one PBS special," notes Myron Martin, president of The Smith Center for the Performing Arts. "We're 4 months old, and we're already doing our second."

Clearly, the word is out about The Smith Center - and Las Vegas has a hit on its hands, according to patrons and performers alike.

Last weekend, one of The Smith Center's initial attractions - the Canadian Tenors - returned to shoot an upcoming PBS special after "falling in love" with The Smith Center's 2,050-seat Reynolds Hall, according to the Tenors' Fraser Walter.

And, speaking of PBS, a special titled "From Dust to Dreams: Opening Night at The Smith Center for the Performing Arts" will air next month, showcasing not only the March gala's all-star lineup but the distinctive, $470 million art deco addition to the downtown skyline.

Beyond the PBS buzz, other signs point to The Smith Center's emergence on the national cultural landscape.

Last month, The New York Times focused on The Smith Center's arrival, exploring how Las Vegas became "as much Liszt as Liberace," to quote the article's headline.

In April, the Cleveland Plain Dealer's classical music critic wrote that, with The Smith Center, "Las Vegas has staked a place on the musical map, presenting to the globe a venue where even the best ensembles will be glad to appear" - including the Cleveland Orchestra, which "sounded great there."

No wonder the orchestra's executive director, Gary Hanson , praises Reynolds Hall as "acoustically a first-rate hall - and it's architecturally a first-rate hall. That's a rare, rare achievement. We were thrilled to play there."

And during a recent New York trip, such Broadway veterans as Chita Rivera, Ben Vereen and Linda Lavin approached Martin to tell him "they've heard such great things about The Smith Center," he said. "And this is in New York City, where everyone's supposed to be jaded." (Vereen's scheduled to bring "Steppin' Out with Ben Vereen" to Reynolds Hall on Nov. 10.)

For their part, many Southern Nevadans who have visited The Smith Center seem far from jaded, extolling everything from the art deco-influenced architecture and opulent interiors to the variety of programs - from Broadway musicals to classical, jazz and pop concerts - presented so far. (The Smith Center also has hosted a variety of private events, including weddings, corporate meetings and a let's-put-on-a-show summer camp for kids, Camp Broadway.)

"The fact that we've had such a diverse lineup of offerings - that's how I would judge our success so far," Martin said.

His biggest surprise? That more Las Vegans didn't turn out last month to hear Broadway composer Stephen Sondheim discuss his legendary career.

After all, "he's a living god," Martin said, adding that "I had someone come up to me in tears, so inspired that in Las Vegas, we would get to hear Stephen Sondheim."

Overall, audience response to The Smith Center has been "absolutely better than expected - and I had very high expectations," Martin said. "People are truly, truly inspired by the work that's happening here."

Among them is Juergen Barbusca , manager of communications for Cox Communications, who calls The Smith Center "a phenomenal addition to existing cultural offerings" around town. "I think The Smith Center is going to serve as a beacon that says to artists, 'There's a place in Las Vegas for you to play.' "

Some of the artists who now have a home here include classical superstars (Yo-Yo Ma, Joshua Bell), touring Broadway performers (in shows such as "The Color Purple," "Mary Poppins" and "Memphis"), jazz and cabaret artists (from the Preservation Hall Jazz Band to Pia Zadora) or local groups presenting everything from "Willy Wonka Jr." to a monthly Composers Showcase.

Until The Smith Center opened, Michael Antony and his family - wife Lisa and 11-year-old son Macoy - traveled to Orange County's Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa, Calif., to catch touring Broadway shows, driving "10 hours to see a three-hour show," noted Antony, a corporate training manager for Station Casinos.

The Smith Center is "like a dream for me," said retiree Robert Lepore , a New Jersey native who moved to Las Vegas in 1977 to work at the Stardust - and has been missing big-city shows ever since.

In his view, The Smith Center's arrival "I think, finally, puts an end to all the malign comments about the lack of culture in Las Vegas."

And when artist Martin Kreloff , who moved to Las Vegas from Los Angeles eight years ago, walked into the Reynolds Hall lobby to see Sondheim, "I thought it was in the middle of some Astaire and Rogers movie," he said. "I thought, 'We have come of age - it's real, it's real.' "

If local audiences are happy, The Smith Center's resident companies - the Las Vegas Philharmonic and Nevada Ballet Theatre - second that emotion.

The Philharmonic's musicians are "just beyond ecstatic" about playing in Reynolds Hall, Philharmonic President Jeri Crawford said.

In addition, Crawford noted, season subscriptions have increased 25 to 30 percent since the orchestra moved to The Smith Center.

Reynolds Hall's other resident company, Nevada Ballet Theatre, staged its 40th-anniversary gala there in May. But the troupe also has used the 300-seat Troesh Studio Theater, and NBT artistic director James Canfield hopes to take the company outside for free presentations in the adjacent Symphony Park.

In the meantime, "now we have it all," Canfield said of the ballet's Smith Center home. "There's a consistency" for dancers and audience members alike.

"The response to the company from our gala was so positive," he said. "People who were never in our audience before" attended "and were stunned and surprised that something of this caliber existed."

Despite the generally positive reviews, however, a few problems have surfaced during The Smith Center's opening run.

"Parking was clearly the first," Martin said, noting long post-performance waits at valet parking because "people would show up over a one-hour period - and they all left at the same time."

But the third-party operator that provides the center's valet parking increased its staff and "I'm no longer hearing complaints," Martin said.

Sun City Anthem residents Robbi and Dennis Senneke were "impressed with the valet parking," Robbi Senneke said, describing it as "very smooth, very easy."

Inside Reynolds Hall, however, some patrons complained about poor sound during performances of the touring Broadway musicals, which use amplification.

That's "a problem that plagues every performing arts center," Cleveland's Hanson said.

Many touring acts, musical and theatrical, travel with their own sound engineers and their own sound systems, which they use at every venue.

"The impression of the hall is often compromised by the (visiting) sound engineer, whose solution for everything is making it louder," Hanson said.

"It's been a learning curve with amplified sound," Martin said. "We have taken a number of steps to improve the amplified sound quality," including adding "some of what we call 'fill' speakers" that visiting productions can use to enhance their own equipment. If they opt not to use the Reynolds Hall audio system, that is.

At "The Color Purple," the first touring musical to play Reynolds Hall, "you couldn't understand what people were saying," Antony said. But by the time "Million Dollar Quartet" arrived in June, "I thought, 'That's how this is supposed to look and sound.' There are growing pains."

Reynolds Hall's exemplary unamplified acoustics also contributed to another annoying problem: disruptive squeaks whenever box-seat audience members would shift their chairs, which are not anchored to the floor.

"The chair noise thing was one of my pet peeves," Martin said.

To solve that problem, sledlike bases - covered in thick, heavy carpeting - are being installed on the box-seat chairs.

"We tried them out - we tried to make noise and we couldn't," Martin said. "So we can check that one off the list."

Also on Martin's to-do list: address various food and beverage issues, from an evolving Cabaret Jazz menu to the challenge of serving 2,000 Reynolds Hall patrons during a single 15-minute intermission.

Philharmonic President Crawford cites some box-office glitches in the opening months, noting that "they're still working out ticketing. It's a learning process. I don't know if they really anticipated how much the community was needing this."

Yet not every audience member has enjoyed a positive Smith Center experience.

Sun City Anthem resident Susan Kansier , who moved to Southern Nevada from Northern California nine years ago, "was absolutely thrilled when I heard about The Smith Center," especially because she's missed seeing Broadway tours.

"I am super happy that it's here," she said. "What I didn't like were the seats." Specifically, "the nosebleed section," where Kansier found herself sitting with other Sun City Anthem residents who traveled by bus to see "Memphis" last month.

"I never dreamed they would put seniors up there," with "steep stairs to climb," plus a railing that "was right there in my sight line," she said. "I've been to Broadway and off-Broadway" theaters and "that balcony ranks with the worst. It's an embarrassment to The Smith Center."

Adds Anthem neighbor Robbi Senneke, "in this particular case, the cheap seats are also dangerous."

Despite her less-than-stellar experience, however, Kansier remains "super happy that it's here."

So are most of the audience members who share their impressions with Martin. He said the compliment-to-complaint ratio is running "a hundred to one, five hundred to one, a thousand to one."

As proof, "we are selling more tickets than we budgeted for," he said. "Our attendance is higher than we anticipated. We couldn't feel better about the way the community has supported this center."

And locals like Michael Antony couldn't be happier about finally having a performing arts center to call their own.

"How could it possibly be that a city would change from one building? But I feel like it has. All of a sudden, we're classier and smarter and more deserving," Antony said. "It's ours, and people need to wrap their arms around it as tight as they can if we want it to stay."

Contact reporter Carol Cling at ccling@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0272.