Video: “The Voice” Round 4 Battles recap
Caution: This blog post recaps tonight’s “The Voice” Round 4 Battles, so if you don’t want to know what happened, don’t read any more. Here be spoilers:
What is it with Blake Shelton and shy girls?
The Oklahoma country star shows not the slightest shades of shyness, his new wife Miranda Lambert doesn’t seem a bit bashful, and Reba McEntire, his guest adviser on “The Voice,” isn’t known for her retiring demeanor.
So how is it that Shelton managed to pick a team of eight singers on the aforementioned reality TV series and end up with three shy girls in the mix? And these ladies aren’t just shy, they are full-blown stage-fright sufferers.
In last week’s Battle Round, Shelton pitted aggressive barefoot belter Serabee against bashful folk singer Dia Frampton, and Serabee attempted to vocally bulldoze the demure Dia. Her brash behavior didn’t please Shelton, who picked Dia to advance to the live phase.
He was guaranteed to send another bashful lady to the final phase tonight, matching his remaining performers: timid teenagers Xenia, 16, and Sara Oromchi, 18. He wasn’t sure what their vocal ranges were, so he went with what has been his overarching strategy for all the Battle Rounds: pick a classic hit that will force the singers to stretch the limits of their abilities.
Shelton selects The Pretenders’ “I’ll Stand By You,” and he and Reba set out to find out what the teens can do. It’s not that easy, since the girls will hardly open their mouths in the initial rehearsal. Papa Blake worriedly notes, “They’re scared to death.”
Sara asks for advice on how to show more attitude and later posits that whichever one is able to come out of her shell more will emerge as the victor. Meanwhile, Xenia is so nervous, she bursts into tears when Blake compliments her, prompting Reba to smack him after the girl is out of the room.
These two can barely make eye contact with their own coach, so it seems impossible that they will be able to vocally duke it out.
“I’ll Stand By You” proves a good fit for Xenia’s unusually raspy vocals, and she sounds lovely and unique without much discernible difference in demeanor. Sara works harder to assert herself, but her voice shakes with nerves and she misses too many big notes.
The fellow coaches get their chance to talk, and they are tactful: Christina Aguilera praises Xenia’s vocal quality and notes that Sara had more confidence but was too pitchy. Cee Lo Green dubs them both “able,” but nods in agreement when Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine says, “It was pitchy and there were nerves flying around everywhere.”
Levine also says that he doesn’t think the song was the right choice for them (again, it seemed to go best with Xenia’s voice, even though it was outside her range). Blake acknowledges that his fellow coach may have a valid point, he adds “The music industry is tough,” and singers have to be able to rise the occasion. Plus, it’s hard to figure out the range and abilities of singers who won’t even talk, much less belt.
In the end, Blake chooses Xenia, who hopefully will never have to do vocal combat again.
Team Blake finalists: Xenia, Jared Blake, Patrick Thomas and Dia Frampton.
“The Voice” to air after Super Bowl XLVI
NBC is giving the second season of “The Voice” a super lead-in.
The peacock network will air the reality TV singing contest – which in its inaugural season features Oklahoma country music star Blake Shelton, hip-hop standout Cee Lo Green, Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine and pop diva Christina Aguilera as its four celebrity vocal coaches – after the Super Bowl in February.
An hourlong episode will air Sunday, Feb. 5 following the network’s telecast of Super Bowl XLVI, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
“There is no better showcase on television than to follow the Super Bowl, and we believe The Voice is deserving of such high-profile exposure,” announced Bob Greenblatt, chairman of NBC Entertainment, Tuesday in a statement. “The attention grabbing blind audition phase of ‘The Voice’ has mass appeal and will fittingly team up with the biggest sporting event of the year.”
According to the trade publication, it hasn’t been determined whether the post-Super Bowl episode will be the season premiere. This season, the initial blind audition episodes were two hours long.
Of course, this is assuming that there is a 2012 Super Bowl.
There’s uncertainty over the coming year’s NFL schedule because of a labor dispute that led to the team owners’ lockout of players. A federal court hearing on the issue was scheduled this week, according to the Associated Press.
“The Voice” is the 2010-11 season’s top freshman series in the key adults 18-49 demographic, according to The Hollywood Reporter, ranking behind “American Idol” among new and returning series on all broadcast networks. Season-to-date, the music competition series averages a 5.4 rating and 12 million viewers.
The Mark Burnett-produced series aired its last “battle round” episode tonight, and the live episodes will start next Tuesday, June 7. Look for my new interview with Shelton about the show then.
According to the trade pub, NBC has slated the second round of “The Voice” for midseason as a two-hour lead-in to “Smash,” a drama about the making of a Broadway musical, on Monday nights.
-BAM
New releases for May 31, 2011: Kelli O’Hara releases “Always”
Kelli O'Hara
Oklahoma native and three-time Tony nominee Kelli O’Hara has released her sophomore album, “Always.”
The album, which features mostly classic show tunes and standards, is the follow-up to the Oklahoma City University graduate’s 2008 solo debut “Wonder in the World.”
According to the Associated Press, the Broadway star will play this year’s “A Capitol Fourth” concert, to air July 4 on PBS, along with Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers, Josh Groban, Little Richard, “Glee” star Matthew Morrison and “American Idol” winner Jordin Sparks.
Here is a list of new CDs, DVDs and books, from Amazon.com and VideoETA.com:
CDs
Kelli O’Hara, “Always.”
Death Cab for Cutie, “Codes And Keys.”
My Morning Jacket, “Circuital.”
Eddie Vedder, “Ukulele Songs.”
Kate Bush, “Director’s Cut.”
Jordan Knight, “Unfinished.”
Flogging Molly, “Speed Of Darkness.”
Black Stone Cherry, “Between the Devil & The Deep Blue Sea.”
Playing for Change, “PFC 2: Songs Around The World (CD/DVD combo).”
DVDs
Biutiful
Cross
Drive Angry
Kaboom
Passion Play
Psych: The Complete Fifth Season
Rookie Blue: The Complete First Season
Savage County
SG-U Stargate Universe: The Complete Final Season
True Blood: The Complete Third Season
The Waiting City
Books
Lady Blue Eyes: My Life with Frank by Barbara Sinatra
Through My Eyes by Tim Tebow, Nathan Whitaker
Dreams of Joy: A Novel by Lisa See
Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain by David Eagleman
Magic Slays (Kate Daniels, Book 5) by Ilona Andrews
-BAM
Box office report for May 31, 2011: “Hangover Part II” sets comedy record
Plenty of film fans were ready for more cinematic overindulgence over the Memorial Day weekend: “The Hangover Part II” binged at the box office with a $103.4 million haul over the four-day holiday weekend. The sequel to the 2009 Las Vegas-set blockbuster set a new revenue record for a comedy debut, according to the Associated Press.
“The Hangover Part II,” which brought back Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Zach Galifianakis and Justin Bartha as pals whose drunken antics get them into all sorts of outrageous trouble, this time in Thailand, surpassed the previous best comedy opening of $85.7 million for “Bruce Almighty” over Memorial Day weekend 2003.
The weekend’s other new wide release, the animated sequel “Kung Fu Panda 2,” opened in second-place with $60.9 million, according to the AP.
To read my review of the super-fun “Kung Fu Panda 2,” click here.
Here are the top 10 movies from the Memorial Day weekend, followed by distribution studio, gross, number of theater locations, average receipts per location, total gross and number of weeks in release, according to the AP:
1. “The Hangover Part II,” Warner Bros., $103,426,875, 3,615 locations, $28,610 average, $135,037,242, one week.
2. “Kung Fu Panda 2,” Paramount, $60,871,175, 3,925 locations, $15,509 average, $66,675,304, one week.
3. “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides,” Disney, $50,012,338, 4,164 locations, $12,011 average, $163,607,625, two weeks.
4. “Bridesmaids,” Universal, $20,736,910, 2,958 locations, $7,010 average, $89,343,465, three weeks.
5. “Thor,” Paramount, $12,080,141, 3,296 locations, $3,665 average, $162,439,444, four weeks.
6. “Fast Five,” Universal, $7,889,650, 2,981 locations, $2,647 average, $197,308,750, five weeks.
7. “Midnight in Paris,” Sony Pictures Classics, $2,555,210, 58 locations, $44,055 average, $3,460,194, two weeks.
8. “Rio,” Fox, $2,443,571, 1,672 locations, $1,461 average, $135,484,845, seven weeks.
9. “Jumping the Broom,” Sony, $2,385,436, 939 locations, $2,540 average, $34,666,502, four weeks.
10. “Something Borrowed,” Warner Bros., $2,278,192, 1,440 locations, $1,582 average, $35,192,518, four weeks.
-BAM
Video: “The Voice” recap and preview – Final Battle Rounds air tonight
The final of the four Battle Round episodes air tonight on the hit reality TV show "The Voice," which airs at 9 tonight on NBC (KFOR-4 in Oklahoma City, where it looks like, thankfully, it won't be preempted by tornado coverage this week).
Remember, next week, "The Voice" moves to 8 p.m. as the live shows begin and the American public can begin voting on the surviving singers. I'll have a fresh interview with Oklahoma country music star Blake Shelton - one of the four celebrity coaches on addictive TV singing contest - next week to coincide with the start of the third and final phase of picking the first winner of "The Voice." (It won't be the last: "The Voice" has been renewed for a second season.)
Since we've reached the last of the Battle Rounds, it's easy to see who will be paired up in tonight's episode. Or as Blake posted on Twitter (@blakeshelton): "Tonight @SaraOromchi and @X3NIA17 will battle to the death on NBC!!! Well.. Not to the death but to the sad..."
Speaking of sadness, Shelton had the sad distinction of presiding over the only real duet disaster to emerge so far out of the Battle Rounds, which when you think about it, have the potential to turn out terrible performances if the singer is determined to do her own thing at any cost.
Yes, I'm talking about Serabee, the barefoot power vocalist whom we barely got to see in the live audition phase but won over Blake by belting "Son of a Preacher Man."
Taking the ongoing theme of pairing contrasting styles and voices, Shelton pitted the experienced, vocally aggressive Serabee ("I've sung in front of 10,000," she said) and the breathy, folksy stage-fright sufferer Dia Frampton, a children's novelist who got both Blake and Cee Lo Green's attention in the blind auditions with her pretty rendition of "Bubbly."
Blake has developed a definite song-selection strategy in the Battle Rounds: Take a classic that falls somewhere between his competitors' comfort zones, toss it up there and see who rises to the challenge. In this case, the country crooner picked the Supremes' "You Can't Hurry Love," and Dia mostly wanted to get advice from Shelton and adviser and fellow Okie Reba McEntire on how to cope with her nerves. Blake cautioned Serabee not to oversing and "keep all the tricks down" and later commented "I hope that she's heard me."
She hadn't. Serabee stated before taking the stage that she was going to do her thing and that if "that outshines Dia, then I can't help that." Dia, in her demure lacy white dress, sweetly crooned the first verse and really seemed to take to heart Blake's advice to "own" the song. Her version was on of the folksy side, but at least she was clearly singing "You Can't Hurry Love," and Serabee didn't seem to think that was important. Dressed in a witchy ensemble of white shawl, funky hat and bare feet, Serabee launched into a growling version of the Motown hit that sounded just like her version of "Son of a Preacher Man" and evidently was designed to simply blow Dia out of the water. She plowed through the catchy classic like a bulldozer, making no effort to even sound like she was doing a duet with Dia, who then had to come back and harmonize with Serabee's caterwauling finale.
Of the coaches, only Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine was won over by Serabee. Cee Lo dubbed the duet "bizarre" - this from a man who dressed like Elton John at the Grammys, guys - but threw his support behind Dia. Christina Aguilera said the pairing was too "odd" for her to pick. Blake, who grew stony faced during Serabee's performance, let Reba talk first - "because I've got a lot to say" - and the redheaded vocal powerhouse gave respect to Dia for staying true to herself in the face of Serabee's "rangy things."
Blake agreed with his fellow coaches that it was an odd pairing but said he wanted to push the singers out of their comfort zones: "Sera, just because you can sing certain notes doesn't mean you have to do it all the time," he said. "And Dia, you did look uncomfortable up there a little bit, and you know, what it probably was uncomfortable. And I don't blame you for looking that way."
He quickly picked Dia. Interestingly, Serabee did not participate in last week's eliminated contestant conference call.
2011 Toby Keith & Friends Golf Classic raises $650,000 for OK Kids Korral pediatric cancer lodge
A version of this story will appear in Wednesday’s The Oklahoman.
Toby Keith’s spring charity event raises $650,000
For the second year, proceeds from the Toby Keith & Friends Golf Classic have been earmarked for the planned OK Kids Korral, which will provide housing for pediatric cancer patients and families seeking care at Children’s Hospital.
Oklahoma country music star Toby Keith’s eighth annual spring fundraiser has raised more than $650,000 to aid state children battling cancer.
For the second year, proceeds from the Toby Keith & Friends Golf Classic have been earmarked for the planned OK Kids Korral, which will provide housing for pediatric cancer patients and families seeking care at Children’s Hospital.
Keith’s two-day fundraiser opens every year with the “Denim & Diamonds”-theme dinner and auction, which again sold out with more than 750 attendees. The top two live auction items were private dinners with the event’s Norman-based host; each meal went for $52,000. An all-inclusive elk hunt at the Express UU Bar Ranch in Cimarron, N.M., including private jet transportation, earned a winning bid of $30,000. Other top items included an all-inclusive Houston Astros suite and a spot in Tiger Woods Celebrity Pro Am. Nothing in the live auction sold for less than $7,000, according to a news release.
More than 100 auction items lined tables at Norman’s Riverwind Casino. Silent auction items included tickets to a Minnesota Vikings game vs. the Chicago Bears, including a meet-and-greet with All-Pro running back and former University of Oklahoma standout Adrian Peterson ($3,200), an autographed Toby Keith “American Ride” tour jacket and guitar ($6,000), and an OU helmet signed by all the school’s Heisman Trophy winners ($3,200).
The second day of the event is a golf tournament at the private Belmar Golf Club in Norman. This year’s winners were the Steve Owens Insurance Team in first, the Access Sports Team in second, and the Flair Automotive/Enterprise Rent-A-Car Team in third. First-time participant Keith Myers won a Ford F-150 in the Built Ford Tough Shootout.
The Toby Keith Foundation has secured land near Children’s Hospital and had an architect draw up plans for the OK Kids Korral, and Keith recently told The Oklahoman he expects the facility to cost $8 million to $10 million to build. He plans to start a second celebrity golf tournament in Las Vegas in fall 2012 to boost the fundraising efforts.
“It’s slow gears turning, but it’s gonna be something that Oklahoma City can be really proud of when we’re done with it. It’s just a long battle,” he told The Oklahoman.
For information, go to www.tobykeithfoundation.org.
-BAM
Video: Red Bull Roots mini-documentary captures spirit of the red dirt music scene in Stillwater
Last month, a few dozen red dirt songwriter/performers converged in Stillwater for the filming of a mini-documentary about red dirt music, the uniquely Oklahoma genre that mixes rock, country, folk and more. The reunion, dubbed the Red Bull Gypsy Cafe, started out one evening at The Farm, the old homestead on the outskirts of town that is recognized as the birthplace of red dirt.
The day after the private story-swapping and jam session, the musicians played as duos at a public music festival at four Stillwater venues, where more filming took place.
Featuring founders, mainstays and newcomers to the red dirt scene, the nearly 4-minute final video recently was posted online at www.redbullusa.com.
Red dirt is the first genre chronicled for a new online docu-series called Red Bull Roots. The series will travel to various parts of the country exploring the origins of different genres of regional music, with mini-documentaries for each one eventually being collected on a dedicated website.
I was privileged to be invited to attend the reunion down on The Farm and watch the filming; to read my story, click here.
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Red Bull Gypsy Cafe mini-documentary chronicles Stillwater’s red dirt music scene
Musicians pack the shed known as the Gypsy Cafe at The Farm, the legendary Stillwater homestead recognized as the birthplace of red dirt music. Several musicians reunited in Stillwater last month for the filming of a Red Bull mini-documentary about red dirt music. (Red Bull photo by Trevor Paulhus)
Musicians Mike McClure and Randy Crouch play together April 15 at the Stonewall Tavern in Stillwater. Several musicians reunited in Stillwater last month for the filming of a Red Bull mini-documentary about red dirt music. (Red Bull photo by Kelly Kerr)
From Tuesday’s Life section of The Oklahoman. To see the Red Bull Roots mini-documentary on red dirt music, click here.
Red dirt roots
Red Bull mini-documentary goes down on The Farm near Stillwater to chronicle the uniquely Oklahoma music scene known as red dirt.
STILLWATER — Empty guitar cases were stacked against trees and scattered among spring wildflowers on the old homestead on the still-rural outskirts of this burgeoning college town.
The contents of those cases were being put to good use: Musicians gathered in circles of five or six to strum and sing, then reminisce about the last time they were there at the place they call simply The Farm.
Musicians John Cooper, left, and Stoney LaRue perform together April 15 at Eskimo Joe's in Stillwater. Several musicians reunited in Stillwater last month for the filming of a Red Bull mini-documentary about red dirt music. (Red Bull photo by Trevor Paulhus)
“You’re at ground zero of red dirt music. Welcome,” said John Cooper of the Payne County band the Red Dirt Rangers. “This is where it all began. … Of course, there used to be a farmhouse there instead of a Red Bull tent.”
Last month, a few dozen songwriter/performers converged under and around that tent for the filming of a mini-documentary about red dirt music, the uniquely Oklahoma genre that mixes rock, country, folk and more. The day after the private story-swapping and jam session, the musicians played as duos at a public music festival at four Stillwater venues, where more filming took place.
Featuring founders, mainstays and newcomers to the red dirt scene, the nearly 4-minute final video recently was posted online at www.redbullusa.com.
Red dirt is the first genre chronicled for a new online docu-series called Red Bull Roots. The series will travel to various parts of the country exploring the origins of different genres of regional music, with mini-documentaries for each one eventually being collected on a dedicated website.
Down on The Farm
“It was a family farm for 60, 70 years, and then in 1979, two crazy college boys actually found out that a house was for rent here,” Cooper said in between filming last month on The Farm.
Cooper and his buddy Danny Pierce, now a college professor who flew in from Tennessee for the mini-doc, lived there while attending Oklahoma State University. While Cooper and his fellow musicians penned and played songs for hours on end, Pierce became the caretaker and constant at The Farm.
“It evolved slowly. It was far enough from town to be away from local law enforcement and we had no neighbors here,” Cooper said. “It was a party house and because it was a party house, musicians found out about it.
“There was no ‘gotta shut it down at 2 (a.m.).’ We didn’t shut it down ever,” he added with a laugh. “In the ‘80s, after the bars closed down, the rally cry would go up, ‘Party at The
Red dirt musicians Cody Canada, left, and John Parker Millsap perform a duo show April 15 at Outlaws in Stillwater. Several musicians reunited in Stillwater last month for the filming of a Red Bull mini-documentary about red dirt music. (Red Bull photo by Trevor Paulhus)
Farm.’
“If you want to name drop, Robert Earl Keen’s been here. … Garth came out here back in the old days,” he said, referring to the OSU alumnus who became a country music superstar.
Lasting legacy
In the 1990s, the late Bob Childers, known as “the godfather of red dirt music,” became the main musical tenant at The Farm.
“It was a stopping place for a lot of musicians,” recalled Jimmy LaFave. “It was where the drug culture met the cowboy culture … there’s a lot of wild stories out of here. But (I remember) the music, the good music, and the feeling of having a tribe of people to belong to.”
The Rangers, Childers, LaFave and their contemporaries became mentors to the next generation of red dirt players. Cody Canada, Stoney LaRue, Mike McClure, Jason Boland and Monica Taylor were among those who gravitated to The Farm in the ‘90s. Taylor even lived for a few months under a tarp behind Childers’ trailer house.
“It was just so wonderful,” Taylor said. “At night, I could hear people pulling in … and rap, rap, rap on Bob’s door. And I’d wake up and go, ‘Oh, must be somebody with a new song’ and it usually was.”
The last year someone lived on The Farm was 1999; Pierce was the last to move away. The house was abandoned when it burned down in 2003.
But the shed dubbed the Gypsy Cafe, where much of the jamming took place, still stands. As the sun went down on the recent reunion, the musicians packed the shed to keep the music playing.
Though The Farm has become fallow, the red dirt scene keeps flourishing, with No Justice, Chris Bell and John Parker Millsap among those who represented the new generation for the mini-doc.
“The magic never left; it just moved down the street,” said Steve Rice of No Justice, recalling his first meetings with Boland and LaRue in Stillwater. “The magic’s still here.”
-BAM
Singer-songwriter Becky Hobbs pens musical “Nanyehi – Beloved Woman of the Cherokee,” based on an ancestor’s life
Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Becky Hobbs, who was born and raised in Bartlesville, is working to mount a musical titled "Nanyehi - Beloved Woman of the Cherokee," based on the life of her ancestor, Nanyehi, also known as Nancy Ward.
From Tuesday’s Life section of The Oklahoman.
Songwriter pens musical tribute to beloved Cherokee ancestor
Grammy-nominated Oklahoma-born songwriter Becky Hobbs penned the musical “Nanyehi — Beloved Woman of the Cherokee” based on the life of her renowned ancestor.
TULSA — Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Becky Hobbs dedicates her latest album to her parents, who always encouraged her to make music; her grandmother, who signed the Dawes Roll at age 17; and “all of our Native American brothers and sisters.”
But “Nanyehi — Beloved Woman of the Cherokee” is really for her fifth-great-grandmother, Nancy Ward, who was renowned as both a war hero and peacemaker, and now, thanks to her descendent, is the subject of a musical.
“Growing up in Bartlesville … my mom always said, ‘Becca, you’re a direct descendent of Nancy Ward, beloved woman of the Cherokee, and we had all of our family history documented,” said Hobbs, whose songs have been recorded by Alabama, Emmylou Harris, Glen Campbell and more, in a recent phone interview from her adopted hometown of Nashville, Tenn.
“When I look back, even then (as a girl) I was writing all kinds of little songs of peace and love and ‘let’s all get along and stop fighting,’ and I always knew in my heart that one day I would write what I thought would be a tribute album to Nancy Ward.”
Instead of just a tribute album, “Nanyehi — Beloved Woman of the Cherokee” is the soundtrack of a new musical Hobbs has co-written with Nick Sweet, an actor, theater director and writer who has penned several Oklahoma historical dramas. Hobbs and Sweet are teaming with the Tulsa Theatre Project to workshop the musical in the hopes of taking it from page to performance and spreading the legacy of her “beloved” ancestor.
“She changed American history. She played a very important part in making peace between the Cherokee and the white settlers,” Hobbs said. “There’s a lot of people, especially in the Oklahoma area, that may not have been alive today if Nancy Ward had not saved the life of their ancestor, be it Cherokee or white. … When she warned (Fort) Watauga about an upcoming raid by the Cherokee, it was to save lives of both the Cherokees and the whites.”
Cherokee heroine
Nancy Ward’s birth name was Nanyehi, which means “she who walks among the spirit people,” and she was born around 1738 in Chota, capital of the Cherokee Nation, now part of eastern Tennessee.
In 1755, Nanyehi accompanied her husband, Kingfisher, into war with the Creek Indians in the Battle of Taliwa. When he was killed, she took up his rifle and led the Cherokee to victory. She was honored as a “war woman,” given a place on the War Council and made leader of the Women’s Council.
She used her clout to promote peace between the Cherokee and white settlers as well as other tribes. After all, her second husband, Bryant Ward, was of Irish descent; she took the name Nancy Ward after marrying him.
“After years of nurturing her tribe, caring for orphaned children … and feeding the people, she was elevated to ‘Ghigau,’ which means beloved woman,” Hobbs said.
“When I see the role she played in American history — and the fact that the average American walking down the street has no idea who she was — my mission is to take ‘Nanyehi’ to the world stage. I want everyone to know who she was and what she did. Because it’s so very important now: Why are we killing each other? We share the same planet.”
Musical homage
Hobbs, best known for recording a string of country hits in the 1980s and writing songs for the likes of George Jones, Loretta Lynn and Conway Twitty. But in the 1990s, she began fusing country, rock and pop with sounds reflecting her Cherokee heritage, penning the songs “Pale Moon” and “Let There Be Peace,” which are on the “Nanyehi” album.
She mentioned her famous ancestor during a 2007 Bartlesville concert. Sweet who was familiar with the story, approached her after the show, and they soon began writing the musical together.
“This is my first venture into the world of musicals, and it’s been a real eye-opener. All my life, I’ve written songs … but this is a process that involves so many other people,” she said.
They are working with Tulsa Theatre Project, a new professional theater company, to take the show into its workshop phase, in which they will explore the best ways to take the story to the stage.
“Everybody involved in it is so passionate about the project, and they believe in it so much that we wanted to try to help them move it forward a little bit,” said Tulsa Theatre Project executive director Todd Cunningham.
The company and Hobbs are preparing for a free staged reading including music Saturday and a free July 10 workshop performance at the Tulsa Performing Arts Center. They also are planning a fundraising reception, featuring live music, Wednesday at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tulsa.
Their hope is to eventually mount a full-scale production of “Nanyehi,” though Cunningham noted that workshopping is a critical and often long process.
“It’s a great foundation, it’s a beautiful story, it’s a very motivational story, it’s got all the elements of what could be a great piece,” he said. “It’s in its infancy … but the most exciting part of all this is that we are here at the beginning.” of that process.”
Going on
“Nanyehi — Beloved Woman of the Cherokee”
Fundraising reception: 6:30 p.m. Wednesday in Sequoyah II Event Room, Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tulsa, 770 W Cherokee Street, Catoosa. For a donation at the door, attendees can hear musical performances by Becky Hobbs, guitarist Duane Sciacqua, Cherokee flutist Tommy Wildcast and Tulsa Project Theatre, have refreshments and participate in a silent auction.
Workshop: 7 p.m. Saturday at Tulsa Performing Arts Center, Third and Cincinnati. The free staged reading, featuring the musical’s songs, will be given before a panel writers and include a question-and-answer session.
Workshop performance: 2 p.m. July 10 at Tulsa Performing Arts Center, Third and Cincinnati. Also free, the second phase in the workshop process is intended to be more polished than Saturday’s presentation.
Information: www.nanyehi.com, www.facebook.com/nanyehithemusical and www.tulsaprojecttheatre.com.
-BAM
What to do in Oklahoma on May 31, 2011: Spend an evening with 2 Oklahoma documentary filmmakers
WOMEN BEHIND BARS Official Trailer from WOMEN BEHIND BARS on Vimeo.
Today’s featured event:
NORMAN – Hear two female documentary filmmakers will share their experiences relating stories of two very different topics at the “A CAN Evening with Amina and Stefanie,” sponsored by Cinematic Artists of Norman. Amina Benalioulhaj and Stefanie Leland will discuss their deadCenter Film Festival-selected documentaries beginning at 6:30 tonight at the Norman Train Depot, 200 S Jones. The event is open to the public.
Benalioulhaj is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma’s Women’s and Gender Studies Program in the OU College of Arts and Sciences. Upon reading the research of Presidential Professor Susan Sharp, she decided to make a film about the women and children affected by incarceration in Oklahoma. The documentary “Women Behind Bars” will show at this month’s deadCenter Film Festival. For information on “Women Behind Bars” go to http://womenbehindbarsthefilm.com.
Where Did the Horny Toad Go? - Trailer from Jar of Grasshoppers on Vimeo.
Leland is a biological science graduate of Southwestern Oklahoma State University. Having been raised in western Oklahoma, she was always interested in nature and wildlife. Her first film, “Food for Thought,” was shown at the deadCenter Film Festival in 2009. A film about local alternatives to the globalized food system, it has been a favorite of farmers markets and food co-ops. In the spring of 2010, she was approached by the Cimarron Group Sierra Club to produce and direct a documentary film about the effects of waste from a coal-fired power plant had on Bokoshe, a small town in eastern Oklahoma. The film, “Bokoshe: In the Air We Breathe,” went on to play at various public hearings and the town was featured on ABC World News Tonight with Diane Sawyer. With her first feature-length documentary, “Where Did the Horny Toad Go?,” Leland continues making films about topics for which she has a great passion. It will be previewed at the 2011 deadCenter Film Festival. For more information on “Where Did the Horny Toad Go?” go to www.hornytoadmovie.com.
For more information on tonight’s event, www.cinematicartistsofnorman.org.
For more events, go to www.wimgo.com.
-BAM
