Music:
There are two free outdoor concert series coming up in the area. On Saturdays from 6 to 7 p.m. at Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield there’s the Arts in the Park concert series. It starts Saturday, May 4, with the 399th Army Band Double Time Jazz Combo. On May 11 will be Lem Sheppard, May 18 Casey and the Atta Boys, and on May 25, closing out the series, will be the Missouri State University Community Band. Find more information at the National Park Service.
Gigs in the Garden is a series of concerts happening at the Springfield Botanical Gardens, sponsored by the Hatch Foundation and Springfield Sister Cities. They’re all on a Sunday at 2 p.m. The first one’s this Sunday, May 5. It's Eddie Gumucio, a singer-songwriter who listeners might know from his hosting Beneath the Surface on Wednesday nights here at KSMU. May 12 will be Maddi Warren and Alli Butler, and the series will close on May 19 with the Republic Community Band. More information at the Sister Cities website.
There are some Shoe Tree Listening Room shows coming up. Springfield native delta blues artist, King Clarence, plays the listening room Saturday, May 4, at 7. Tickets are $15. Psych rock outfit, ShapeEater, plays on May 10 at 7. Tickets are $20. Country band Decidedly Darling plays on the 11 at 7. Tickets are $20. And on the 12, Ozark Mountain Daredevils co-founder, Michael Supe Granda, also at 7, also $20. Shoe tree shows are all alcohol-free. More information at arrowcreativereuse.org.
Next Saturday, May 11, Springfield Symphony Orchestra will hold their last concert of the season. #TheSleepingBeauty is a collaboration with the Saint Louis Ballet, performing Tchaikovsky’s classic. That will be at Juanita K. Hammons Hall at 7:30 p.m. Tickets start at $64 including fees. For more information, visit the symphony website.
A little bit of theatre news:
Springfield Contemporary Theatre opened The Other Place last weekend. On that week’s Arts News, director Karen Sabo described the show like this:
"The show is about Dr. Smithton, and she is a dementia researcher. And then dementia starts to affect her family in a very direct and palpable way. And I won’t go into too many details because, spoilers. But that is the gist of this 90-minute, one-act show."
The run continues Friday night through Sunday, May3-5, and next weekend, May 9-12. Performances are at 7:30 p.m., except for Sundays, which are at 2:30 p.m. Tickets are $32 for adults and $10 for children, with Thursdays being pay what you can. For more information, the SCT website.
Also, Tent theatre tickets for this summer are on sale. The lineup this year is Beautiful: the Carole King Musical June 6-8 and 10-15, Crimes of the Heart June 21-22 and 24-29, and Mystic Pizza July 5-6 and 8-13. This will be Tent’s second season at the John Goodman Amphitheatre. Tickets do sell out on some days, so it would not be unwise to get them early. More information here.
A big weekend downtown:
First Friday Art Walk is tonight. Here are some highlights:
Carl’s Bad Designs will open their fashion showroom at 314 S. Campbell Avenue. They’ll be showcasing runway pieces in their very campy, lacy style, as well as local artwork, vintage clothes and handmade jewelry.
BookMarx is hosting their 10 Year Anniversary Photographic Retrospective exhibiting photos of the store and, most importantly, cats that live in the store taken by staff and customers.
Interior design firm slash retail store slash art gallery Obelisk Home is hosting the opening reception for Soft Spoken Sunlight by J.D. Hull, who does really vibrant, thick oil paintings, as well as the opening reception for a Karen Schneider Retrospective exhibition. It’ll also be the last day to view the Glendale Alumni Exhibition and bid in their 18th Annual Birdhouse Auction.
More information on these and all the other things going on at First Friday Art Walk here.
Springfield Regional Arts Council stape ArtsFest, is happening this weekend. I had Rachel Lambert, who handles community engagement for SRAC, in the office earlier this week to discuss. Here is that interview:
Tickets are $5, and children under five are free. More information here.
What's going's on at the art museum?:
Over at the Springfield Art Museum, the Missouri State University MFA Showcase officially opens Saturday, May 4, and runs through the 26 in the Weisel and Kelly Galleries. The exhibition features the thesis body of work of four Masters of Fine Arts students who work in a variety of mediums. The show is curated and installed by those students as well, under the guidance of the museum’s curatorial staff.
Also running at the art museum is Ancient Artifacts Abroad, which closes in mid-June and Survey of Ceramic Art and Creating an American Identity, which close in late June. Breath, Light and Distance; Renaissance Works on Parchment and Paper; and the collection focus exhibitions Bradi Barth and Glenna Goodacre don’t close until the museum closes long-term for renovations on September 2. As always, museum admission is free. More information at sgfmuseum.org.
Some special screenings are coming up at the Moxie Cinema soon:
This Wednesday, May 8, they’ll screen Being John Malkovich, the 90s surreal comedy classic with a script by Charlie Kaufman, direction by Spike Jonze, and a performance by John Cusack, among others.
Next Friday, the 10, they’ll show Omen, the magical-realist directing debut of Belgian-Congolese rapper Baloji.
Also on the 10, they’ll show Le Samourai, a classic 1960s French thriller following a lone hitman.
Then, on the 15th, they’ll screen Elevators to the Gallows, another French thriller, this one about a plan to murder gone awry. It’s part of the Essentials series, so if you’re a member at the moxie, it’s free. Information on all these screenings at moxiecinema.com.