Premieres pace 2014 in the arts

Everything’s a gamble in Las Vegas. Even — and maybe especially — in the arts.

Yet, glancing into the rearview mirror for one last look at 2014, the wins seem to outnumber the losses. (At least from your faithful correspondent’s perspective.)

A most auspicious star shone over The Smith Center for the Performing Arts in 2014.

The downtown arts complex welcomed its millionth guest in June, during a sold-out “Book of Mormon” performance.

But that’s not all The Smith Center welcomed during the past year.

Under the canopy of a carnival tent pitched in Symphony Park, a literally magical production of Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” — co-adapted and co-directed by Las Vegas’ own Teller — began its theatrical voyage in April with an entrancing world premiere. Subsequent “Tempests” at American Repertory Theater (which co-produced the premiere) in Cambridge, Mass., and South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa, Calif., had the play, but not the tent — making lucky Las Vegans the only ones, so far, to see the show as originally conceived.

The Smith Center also strutted its stuff as the kickoff point for the current national tour of the Tony-winning musical “Kinky Boots,” bringing composer Cyndi Lauper and director-choreographer Jerry Mitchell to Reynolds Hall to supervise the launch.

While we’re on the subject of touring Tony-winners, “Once,” “Porgy and Bess” and “Pippin” also found their way to the Reynolds Hall stage this year — along with the aforementioned “Book of Mormon” and a return engagement of the center’s opening attraction, “Wicked.”

They had plenty of company throughout the year.

In Reynolds Hall, the Las Vegas Philharmonic — which appointed Nevada-raised Donato Cabrera as its new music director following a two-season search — celebrated Donato’s arrival with a concert that also marked The Smith Center debut of soprano Deborah Voigt.

Another renowned opera star, Renee Fleming, also graced the Reynolds Hall stage in 2014, along with such musical notables as violinist Joshua Bell, jazz guitarist Pat Metheny, Broadway diva Patti LuPone and pop crooner Johnny Mathis. (Banjo master Bela Fleck, meanwhile, made his third Smith Center stop, performing his classical compositions with the string quartet Brooklyn Rider.)

In the dance department, Nevada Ballet Theatre augmented its annual “Nutcracker” with such classics as “Coppelia,” while Nevada Contemporary Dance Theater debuted its first full-length ballet, the fanciful “Alice Down the Rabbit Hole.”

Over at Cabaret Jazz, regular headliner Clint Holmes led a lineup that ranged from the monthly Composers Showcase to such starry visitors as Oleta Adams, Cheyenne Jackson and John Pizzarelli. Meanwhile, the Troesh Studio Theater showcased both offbeat comedy (the Kinsey Sicks’ “America’s Next Top Bachelor Housewife Celebrity Hoarder Makeover Star Gone Wild!”) and more serious fare (the Alzheimer’s exploration “Henri”).

Theater extended its reach far beyond The Smith Center, however, with local debuts of Tony-winners (Las Vegas Little Theatre’s “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike,” the Las Vegas Academy’s “In the Heights”) and imaginative originals (Table 8’s “Cherry Orchard of the Living Dead”). And, in its 39th season, Super Summer Theatre kept packing ’em in at Spring Mountain Ranch with the likes of “Spamalot” and “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.”

Another welcome theatrical trend: intrepid impresarios importing such out-of-town shows as off-Broadway’s “The Last Five Years” and Chicago’s “Seven Homeless Mammoths Wander New England.” (Los Angeles gets into the act next week when “Re-Animator: the Musical” opens at the Troesh; see Friday’s Neon for more on the latter.)

But there were a few reversals on the theatrical front, too.

The Cultural Corridor Theatre Center, which planned to revamp the shuttered Reed Whipple Cultural Center, bailed on the downtown location, announcing a new name — Clark County Theatre Center — and a new location near Town Square.

And the Onyx Theatre, which has hosted numerous local productions for more than a decade, may be closing the curtain for good following Sunday’s “Christmas Carol” matinee.

Speaking of shutdowns, the local art scene suffered its share, including the Contemporary Arts Center (founded in 1989), which closed its gallery in April following its 25th-annual juried show. Downtown’s Trifecta Gallery also announced that it would close; January’s scheduled exhibit by Cirque du Soleil artists will be its last.

The art picture looked brighter during downtown’s second annual Life Is Beautiful festival in October, where the offerings included murals (including one by local mainstays Tim Bavington and Sush Machida), site-specific installations at the Western Hotel and a collaboration between the Las Vegas Philharmonic and Cirque du Soleil’s Beatles-themed “Love.”

Collaboration led to celebration, meanwhile, as Nevadans saluted the Silver State’s sesquicentennial with everything from museum exhibits (“Every Age Is an Information Age,” still playing at the Nevada State Museum, Las Vegas) to the Junior League’s “Copa Connection” series, which recalled the glory that was the Sands with concerts, panel discussions, even a “Meet the Copa Girls” reception.

The Smith Center’s sesquicentennial extravaganza’s lineup ranged from Wayne Newton to cowboy poet Waddie Mitchell. And, in a preview of coming attractions, the Las Vegas Philharmonic’s January “Battle Born, Nevada Proud!” concert was led by a guest conductor named Donato Cabrera — who, four months later, became the orchestra’s music director.

Proving that, as always, rolling the dice on the arts in Las Vegas can be a lucky thing indeed.

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