The Smith Center
Stage
Molly Ringwald Sings Jazz
Performing in Vegas fulfills a childhood dream for the former teen actress
May 8th, 2013
Here’s something you probably didn’t know about Molly Ringwald: When she was young, she holed up in her room at night listening to Louis Prima and Keely Smith’s live album from their classic Las Vegas show. Read more »
Stage
The Smith Center Hits its First Anniversary
President Myron Martin looks back at the performing arts center’s performance
March 5th, 2013
Feel better about yourself, Las Vegas? Declarations of cultural enrichment notwithstanding, the loudly trumpeted opening of The Smith Center for the Performing Arts on March 10, 2012 was, at its core, a nearly half-billion-dollar exercise in communal self-esteem. Read more »
Showstopper
War Horse Could be Trial Balloon for Drama at The Smith Center
February 7th, 2013
Tucked inside The Smith Center’s newly announced 2013-14 slate of touring Broadway productions—that last word nearly always synonymous with “musicals”—is War Horse, and it’s as close to a curveball as we’ve been thrown since our arts headquarters opened almost a year ago. Read more »
Music
Tour Buzz
January 31st, 2013
How do you know that a drummer’s knocking at the door? The knocking speeds up! What do you say to a drummer in a nice suit? “Will the defendant please rise?” Hey, did you hear the one about the drummer who finished high school? Me, neither! … OK, that should about do it. Read more »
Music
Weaver of Dreams and Nightmares
Natalie Merchant mixes children’s music and political action
January 24th, 2013
It was an eventful week for Natalie Merchant politically, which isn’t surprising. For 30 years she has been an activist and written environmental songs such as “Poison in the Well” for her old rock band 10,000 Maniacs. Read more »
Music
Not a Jam Band
Local musicians Überschall team up with legendary drummer Terry Bozzio
January 17th, 2013
An indie college coffee shop. The ultimate dive bar. And now the shining performing-arts epicenter of Las Vegas. After nearly 12 years, the musicians of Überschall are still going with their unique brand of improvisational grooves ranging from jazzy intonations to electronica. Originally forming as a side project of Blue Man Group musicians to break out from their eight-show-per-week routine, they’ve become a Double Down Saloon staple the last Sunday of every month. On January 20 they’ll descend upon The Smith Center, with legendary drummer Terry Bozzio joining them as a special guest. Read more »
Music
O Jazz Fans, Where Art Thou?
Trying to attract younger listeners, jazz is its own worst enemy. The Smith Center’s ‘Jazz Roots’ program provokes questions about how to turn it around.
January 10th, 2013
Hopscotching around the FM dial on the car radio several decades back, this pop-addled music lover happened across some dude named Dave Brubeck, pounding piano keys with the subtlety of a crane operator on some tune with a fifth beat tacked onto the usual four. Oddly … compelling. Read more »
Music
The (Luke) Duke of Swing
Good ol’ boy from Hazzard, Tom Wopat is now a standards- singin’, Broadway-lovin’ dude
January 10th, 2013
Consider his reputation as a Broadway musical mainstay (City of Angels, Guys and Dolls and Tony-nominated turns in A Catered Affair and Annie Get Your Gun). Or his post-Dukes straight acting (the sitcom Cybill, Glengarry Glen Ross on Broadway, playing a U.S. marshal in Quentin Tarantino’s new Django Unchained). Read more »
Concerts
Deana Martin’s Christmas Show
Cabaret Jazz at The Smith Center, Dec. 14
December 20th, 2012
The audience was primarily septuagenarians with nostalgia on the brain. Introduced by a video of “Father Dean,” Deana Martin took the stage with a spirited version of “I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm.” Supported by a quintet—including original Rat Pack musicians Vincent Falcone on piano and Joe Lano on guitar—Martin presented a jolly bag of holiday cheer mixed with plenty of yesteryear. Read more »
Keeper of the Vision
How Myron Martin—the man behind The Smith Center—became Myron Martin. An inside look at the salesman-performer-promoter-prankster who helped turn an unlikely dream into a smash hit.
December 13th, 2012
Big dreamers can start out as little schemers. You want to one day operate a palace of culture in a globally renowned city? You need some training-wheel deals. Read more »
