Arts/Stage

For its first outing as traveling theater troupe without a permanent home, the Main Street Youth Theatre chose a play about a free-roaming spirit.

The theater is staging “Peter Pan” through Aug. 1 at its new location at the Visual and Performing Arts Center at Hilton Head Island High School.

And while previous productions of “Peter Pan” featured actors floating on rudimentary rigging, the actors in this new production will actually soar across the stage as the theater has hired ZFX Flying Effect, a Louisville-based stage effects company, to get the actors airborne. The company has experience: ZFX handled the flying effects for the Cathy Rigby-headlined national touring production of the musical, and their sprawling stage setup includes sculpted Neverland scenes, a warm depiction of the Darling Nursery and the windblown deck of the Jolly Roger.

But aside from the visual effects, the play offers a classic story with enduring charm and whimsy for the whole family, said director Jodi Layman. “It’s all about not wanting to grow up,” she said. “I think there’s a lot of humor that adults enjoy that kids really don’t get.”

The Arts Center of Coastal Carolina is going back in time to showcase the world’s first rock opera and something you don’t see terribly often on Hilton Head Island these days: “The Who’s Tommy.”

“We’ll be amping it up,” said director Russell Garrett, whose previous arts center credits include “Chicago,” “Cabaret” and “Ain’t Misbehavin’.” “It will be bigger and grander than the conventional staging.”

A revolutionary musical based on one of the most innovative albums in history — and winner of five Tony Awards, including Best Score — “Tommy” is a tale of a young boy whose life is forever altered by a terrible act of violence, but who finds redemption and instant celebrity when he discovers he’s unusually good at pinball.

There’s something beautiful in the buzzing of a kazoo band — at least to Rick Hubbard, who has brought back his Kazoobie Kazoo Show to the Hilton Head Comedy Club. The family-friendly concerts feature a rousing finale starring an all-audience kazoo band.

"Talking With …" is a monologue-based play that features 11 actresses between the ages of 18 and 80 offering revealing glimpses into their characters’ extraordinary lives.

John Caponera makes the elusive art of stand-up sound almost easy.

“All I really do is talk about the stuff that makes me laugh and hope it translates to the audience,” says Caponera, who arrives next week for his first engagement at the Hilton Head Comedy Club. “I’m just pointing out the crazy things in life.”

Of course, after honing his act for three decades at clubs and resorts across the country, Caponera’s easy confidence is understandable. “I’ve been doing this long enough that I can just have fun,” he says, “and I’ve got enough material to adjust my shows accordingly.”

By TERESA FITZGIBBONS • Special to the Guide

Travel back to the Roaring Twenties — a time when the rules for love and social behavior were rapidly changing — in the May River Theatre’s lively new romp, “Thoroughly Modern Millie.”

“We had seen another performance the show,” said director/choreographer Jodi Dupuis. “And we knew we had to bring it to the Lowcountry. It’s full of fun characters and it’s so visually appealing.”

Toe-tapping jazz, swinging ragtime and that Charleston beat provide the background for Millie (Jean White), a Kansas native looking to make it in the Big Apple. She dreams of being a “modern,” a trendsetting flapper on the lookout for Mr. Right — preferably one who can guarantee the ability to enjoy the finer things in life. Soon enough, she finds him in her boss, Trevor Grayden (Michael Weaver), but complications ensue when Millie takes a room at the Hotel Priscilla for Women, headed up by Mrs. Meers (Debbie Cort), who has a rather evil agenda of her own.

Love is in the air at the Arts Center, and it’s taking an epic turn. In a lavish production reminiscent of last year’s “Les Miserables,” the timeless love story “Elton John and Tim Rice’s Aida” arrives this week with both Grammy and Disney pedigrees.

“It’s the love story to end all love stories,” said director Casey Colgan. “It’s a very emotional, passionate show, but there’s a lot of happy in it too.”

Colgan, who also directed “Les Miserables,” will team up once again with scene designer Bob Phillips, lighting designer Terry Cermack and musical director Frederick Willard for this epic tale of forbidden love.

By Tim Adam Donnelly • Special to the Guide

To draw a verbal picture of Vincent Van Gogh, playwright David J. Loehr decided to go outside the artist’s mind — and to several decades after his death.

His play “Seeing Red” is told from the perspective of Emile Bernard, a Van Gogh friend and protégé who outlived the famous painter by 50 years. As Bernard faces the end of his own life, he reflects on the message Van Gogh was trying to get across — and what their friendship meant.

Among the many things it's known for -- the golf, the beaches, the alligators, all those little no-see-ums that cannot be killed no matter how often you slap them -- Hilton Head Island has an ever-changing nightlife scene, which might look a little different since the last Verizon Heritage. The Island Packet and The Beaufort Gazette offer a quick (and inarguably incomplete) guide to your nighttime post-tournament needs. Click here for a guide to post-Heritage activities.

By TERESA FITZGIBBONS • Special to the Guide

From Walt Disney to Tim Burton, many artists have drawn inspiration from Lewis Carroll’s “Through the Looking-Glass,” but one of the more recent is playwright William Donnelly, whose “Painted Alice” is being staged by the Palmetto Theatre Experiment, nicknamed Theatre X.

In Donnelly’s version, Alice is a frustrated artist whose Wonderland is made up of components from the art world.
“A big thing we’re interested in at Theatre X is the interrelatedness of the arts,” said producer and director J.W. Rone. “We looked for plays about the arts and this sounded really intriguing.”