WICKED ANNOUNCES LOTTERY FOR $25 SEATS

PERFORMANCES BEGIN
THURSDAY, APRIL 23RD – SUNDAY, MAY 10TH
AT THE TIMES UNION CENTER MORAN THEATER

JACKSONVILLE, FL – A day-of-performance lottery for a limited number of orchestra seats will be held daily for WICKED, which will be performing from Thursday, April 23rd to Sunday, May 10th at the Times Union Center’s Moran Theater. Each day, 2½ hours prior to show time people who present themselves at the Artist Series box office at the Times Union Center will have their names placed in a lottery drum and then thirty minutes later, names will be drawn for a limited number of orchestra seats at $25 each, cash only. This lottery is available only in-person at the box office, with a limit of two tickets per person.

WICKED is a new musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz (Godspell, Pippin, Disney’s Enchanted, Academy Award winner for Pocahontas and The Prince of Egypt) and book by Winnie Holzman (“My So Called Life,” “Once And Again” and “thirtysomething”) based on the 1995 best-selling novel by Gregory Maguire. The musical is directed by two-time Tony Award winner Joe Mantello (Take Me Out, Love! Valour! Compassion!, The Vagina Monologues, 9 to 5) and features musical staging by Tony Award winner Wayne Cilento (Aida, The Who’s Tommy, How To Succeed…). WICKED, the untold story of the witches of Oz, is produced by Marc Platt, Universal Pictures, The Araca Group, Jon B. Platt and David Stone.

Long before Dorothy drops in, two other girls meet in the land of Oz. One – born with emerald green skin – is smart, fiery and misunderstood. The other is beautiful, ambitious and very popular. WICKED tells the story of their remarkable odyssey, how these two unlikely friends grow to become the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good Witch.

WICKED features set design by Tony Award winning Eugene Lee (Ragtime, Show Boat, Candide, Sweeney Todd), costume design by Tony winner Susan Hilferty (Spring Awakening, Into the Woods, Assassins), lighting design by Tony nominee Kenneth Posner (Tony Award winner for The Coast of Utopia, Hairspray) and sound design by Tony Meola (The Lion King, Man of La Mancha). Stephen Oremus is the show’s music director. Orchestrations are by William David Brohn, with dance arrangements by James Lynn Abbott.

WICKED has “cast quite a spell” (Washington Post) throughout North America, breaking box office records in every city that it has played, including Toronto, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington, DC, Philadelphia and Boston to name a few.

Called “one of the most successful shows in Broadway history” by The New York Times and “a phenomenon that keeps growing” by the Los Angeles Times, WICKED continues to thrill audiences around the world. There are currently eight productions of WICKED worldwide, including two North American tours, a Broadway production, San Francisco production, London production, a Japanese-language production, a German-language production and Australian production. A Dutch-language production of WICKED will open in 2011.

PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE
Thursday, April 23 7:30 PM
Friday, April 24 8:00 PM
Saturday, April 25 2:00 PM & 8:00 PM
Sunday, April 26 1:30 PM & 7:00 PM
Tuesday, April 28 7:30 PM
Wednesday, April 29 7:30 PM
Thursday, April 30 7:30 PM
Friday, May 1 8:00 PM
Saturday, May 2 2:00 PM & 8:00 PM
Sunday, May 3 1:30 PM & 7:00 PM
Tuesday, May 5 7:30 PM
Wednesday, May 6 7:30 PM
Thursday, May 7 7:30 PM
Friday, May 8 8:00 PM
Saturday, May 9 2:00 PM & 8:00 PM
Sunday, May 10 1:30 PM & 7:00 PM

WICKED will be performed at the TIMES UNION CENTER’S MORAN THEATER THURSDAY, APRIL 23 – SUNDAY, MAY 10 for twenty-two performances. Good seats are still available for all performances and can be purchased for as low as $30, plus applicable service charge and facility usage fee. Discounts are available for some performances for groups of 15 by calling (904) 632-3228.

To order by phone with Visa, MasterCard, American Express or Discover call the FCCJ Artist Series Box Office at (904) 632-3373 (toll-free outside of Jacksonville 1-888-860-BWAY.)

Tickets are also available online with Instant Seat Selection by visiting the
FCCJ Artist Series’ website, www.artistseries.fccj.org.

SUPER SCIENTIFIC CIRCUS

THE FCCJ ARTIST SERIES PRESENTS

IN JACKSONVILLE
APRIL 25, 2009 11:00 AM & 2:00 PM
WILSON CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS

JACKSONVILLE, FL – Step right up for this amazing show, creatively performed by a multi-talented circus clown and a mime extraordinaire. The Super Scientific Circus starring Mr. Fish and Trent the Mime, proves that science can be fun and funny. Alternately assisted and foiled by the comedic antics of Trent the Mime, Mr. Fish uses amazing circus skills that could involve everything from boomerangs, bubbles and beachballs, to bull whips, and magic to introduce the principles of friction, inertia, centripetal force, aerodynamics, sonic booms, air pressure, and ultraviolet light.

Super Scientific Circus comes to Jacksonville’s Wilson Center for the Performing Arts on Saturday, April 25, 2009 at 11:00AM and 2:00PM.

-more-

The audience learns how to make and throw their own boomerangs, how to blow giant soap bubbles, and how to put a needle through a balloon. Whether you flunked high school chemistry or have a PhD in astrophysics, you will love this show!

Super Scientific Circus has performed at Taipei National Theatre (Taiwan), Paper Mill Playhouse (New Jersey), University of Hawaii, Civic Arts Plaza (California), North Shore Music Theatre (Massachusetts), Hong Kong International Children's Festival, Detroit Youth Theatre, The Florida Theatre, and other venues around the world.


About the Performers:

John Lepairz
Mr. Fish, born John James Lepairz, spent seven years as featured clown with the Big Apple Circus in New York and on tour. He has appeared on HBO and on ABC's "Great Circus Performances of the World," and was awarded first place in clowning at the International Circus Festival in Sarasota, Florida. His two-man show, The Funny Stuff Circus, performed in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and all over the United States and Canada. A graduate of Oberlin College and the LeCoq School of Mime and Clown in Paris, he is the proud father of three children.

Trent Arterberry
Trent Arterberry has toured across North America and Europe, and appeared as a star attraction on the QE2 and S/S Norway. He has performed with symphony orchestras and opened for Julio Iglesias, B.B. King, and the Kinks. In New York he starred in the Christmas Revels. His television appearances include an Emmy-nominated news feature, and his awards include "Performing Artist of the Year" by the National Association of Campus Activities. His most unusual assignment was being filmed underwater with the sharks and eels in the Giant Ocean Tank of the New England Aquarium.

SUPER SCIENTIFIC CIRCUS will be performed at the WILSON CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS April 25, 2009 for two performances only. Tickets cost $15.00.

To order by phone with Visa, MasterCard, American Express or Discover call the FCCJ Artist Series Box Office at (904) 632-3373 (toll-free outside of Jacksonville 1-888-860-BWAY.)

FEATURED AUTHOR: Alastair Reynolds

By staff writer Craig Harvey

Alastair Reynolds hit the scene with the amazing Revelation Space. It was a dark, cold and gothic setting of mankind's future into the unforgiving blackness of interstellar space. This was hard science fiction at it's best. No faster than light travel, making trips between star systems very lengthy voyages spanning decades or centuries. Man himself adapting and evolving to colonize new and strange worlds, most of their enviorments hostile and desolate. We were not alone, but intelligence other than ourselves was scarce. Mostly dead civilizations were all that were found. There were alien forces at work however, that would give humanity it's greatest and most desperate challenge for survival. This series is still ongoing with five books and numerous short stories.

Alastair has released several stand alone novels that are seperate from this Revelation Space series, "Century Rain", "Pushing Ice", and now his most recent work "House Of Suns." This novel is breathtaking in scope, spanning millions of years on a galactic scale, and has to be his boldest, most awe inspiring science fiction novel to date. It is the story of two humans (two clones actually) Purslane and Campion. They are the offspring of Abigail Gentian who cloned herself and sent her "shatterlings" into space to categorize and observe (as well as help) civilizations across the galaxy. With no faster than light travel, they observe the rise and fall of humanity across time. There other "lines" that do the same thing and they meet every 200,000 years to share information. However, someone wants to put an end to the Gentian line and this is where the action really takes off. Trust me when I say, that this is science fiction on a scope yet unheard of. Movement had the pleasure of an earlier interview with Alastair a few years back, and he was kind enough to answer some of my in depth questions once again. (At the time of this interview, House Of Suns has been out a while, Alastair was not able to do the interview when I originally sent it to him several months ago due to work related issues). He is now working on a new novel entitled "Terminal World."


1. First congratulations on your latest book House Of Suns. It's great. My brain kind of hurt a bit after reading it (in a good way) because of the vast scope of space and time that is experienced within the story. Does writing a novel that encompasses such a huge scale pose difficulties for you? The challenge of imagining what humanity will be like millions of years in the future seems like an extremely daunting task.

"There are challenges, certainly, but at the same time it's an area of SF that has always excited me, so it's as much about fun and freedom as anything else. You'll note that the foreground characters aren't really all that different to us; it's the background ones who are stranger. Really, though, I didn't find HOS to be any more or less hard to write than any of my other books. The real problems are never the ones you anticipate at the start, anyway - they're the ones that sneak up on you."


2. The ending of House Of Suns screams for a sequel (or series of sequels). Hopefully we will be seeing one in the future?

"No firm plans, but I wouldn't rule it out. I hope it doesn't scream for a sequel in the sense of being incomplete, as that was very much not my intention; to my mind it's a story unto itself, and while the ending is relatively open, there's also a sense of closure for Campion and Hesperus."


3. The Priors (in House Of Suns) were actually an alien race that came billions of years before us, but that was the only evidence of another intelligence arising in the Milky Way correct? Do you really envision the galaxy that empty or a more probable chance of life now that we are finding extra solar planets quite common?

"Correct. But that's just an assumption I settled on for HOS. As you're aware, the RS books take an entirely different tack. It's all about exploring the most interesting or appropriate angle for the work in question. I think the whole "how common is life" thing is still a very, very open question. We are indeed finding lots of extrasolar planets, but most of them are not in the orbits we were expecting. We'll get a better picture when we have the means to detect Earthlike planets in Earthlike orbits. At the moment the most fruitful technique is biassed to find massive planets in short-period orbits, so it's not surprising that we're turning up so many oddball planets."

4. I wanted to ask a bit about distance and time in House of Suns and Pushing Ice (which I will get to a bit later) mainly relativity as to the view of the space traveler. In House Of Suns Purslane and Campion traveled 62,000 light years real time at near light speed but you stated that around 3,000 years passed ship time correct? Granted both were in status so no time passed for them. Now in the novel Pushing Ice, the crew of the Rockhopper stranded on the Janus probe traveled near the speed of light to the alien artifact some 200 plus light years away, but was then accelerated even more from the artifact they thought they were heading towards originally to an even further destination. 1. The Janus probe never actually went superluminal correct? 2. If not, the relativistic effects were described as only decades even though they traveled, I assume thousands or millions of light years further? 3. But in House of Suns the 62,000 light year
trip took 3,000 years ship time. Did I miss something? How do you calculate the relativistic time scale for ship time?

"I calculate relativistic effects using the standard equations for time dilation (actually I don't; I've got a table of values for various fractions of c, but I have done the math in the past). You're right that there is no superluminal travel in PI, even though some readers seem to have misunderstood that aspect of the novel. In PI, we can assume that Janus was accelerated much closer to c than Purslane and Campion ever got, with a correspondingly higher time dilation ratio. The closer you get to c, the less time passes, so the ratio between shiptime and planetary time can become arbitrarily small."


5. Also, the wormhole left behind by the priors (In House Of Suns) enabled superluminal travel between galaxies, but what about between the stars in the milky way? If they could travel that far, why did they not use them to travel between star systems in the galaxy itself?

"I hope I covered this: they can deal with the relatively short timescale of galactic travel, but intergalactic travel was a step too far for them. And, although I didn't go into it, we could also speculate that the technology could only be practically applied on a galactic timescale, kind of analogous to the way that we don't use rockets for inter-city transport."


6. One more tech question. In House of Suns the ships used by the line were quite large, many kilometers to be exact. You mentioned that the ships could enter a planetary atmosphere even though they could not land. Is that possible for a ship so large? This might not be the best example but in the film Independence Day (again, not a great sci-fi flick by any means) they had similar type ships and I read on one astronomy site that ships so huge would set the atmosphere on fire because of the amount of friction it would cause. Unless your ships had some way around that? Maybe this site was incorrect? Sorry to bombard you with scientific issues!

"We're so far into the realms of super-science that I think the answer is that a ship could be as large as you like, provided it's equipped with the right kind of magic gravity nullifiers etc. And I've never heard of the setting-the-atmosphere on fire thing. The ships in HOS can generate fields, of course, so their hulls wouldn't necessarily be in contact with the air. And they wouldn't have to come in so fast that they caused catastrophic effects to the planet."


7. Your previous novel Pushing Ice was said to be a stand alone novel. Again, with all the open-ended possibilities within the story, it also begs to have a sequel. Are you going to continue this story line or leave it as is?

"Again, there may be a sequel one day. My position is that I want to write one, but there are other books I want to write first."

8. You have many strong female lead characters in many of your books.. Do you find it easier or harder to write a female vs. male lead character?

"I just kind of go with the flow, in all honesty. I don't think one's harder than the other. The problems tend to arise when a character gets stuck in the wrong gender early on in the story, and I don't recognise it. Sometimes all kinds of problems can waft away as soon as I realise that he ought to be a she, or vice versa. That sounds like a very simplistic, haphazard approach, but no one hands these things down to you on a stone. It's the same with viewpoint."


9. Now the question I am most interested in. When is the next Revelation Space book coming out? The last book "The Prefect" was a wonderful detective story that really took some interesting turns and answered some major questions about the Glitter Band. You have a vast universe in which to play in with so many unique character types that the story possibilities seem endless.

"There'll certainly be another one, but again I wouldn't want to say exactly when it will happen, or exactly where in the future it will slot. I don't want to fall into the trap of explaining too much, but at the same time I'm mindful that there is still scope for new stories there. Thanks for liking The Prefect; I enjoyed that one and I'd like to do more with Dreyfus and his associates, but it might not be for a book or two (or three)."


10. Any chance of another mission to "the spire" from the novella Diamond Dogs? It would be interesting to see another team try to crack the mystery of what it is and who built it. How about Dr. Trintignant? Now there's an interesting fellow.

"I think I'm done with The Spire, and probably also done with Dr T - but who knows? I certainly don't..."


11. Your stories are what I would say are some of the hardest and best Sci-fi out there. You go to great lengths to keep it within what is possible while letting your imagination create amazing futuristic visions. Did you ever consider writing more of a space opera that was more light hearted? Full of superluminal starships, alien civilizations and epic stories? Kind of like you do now, just escape the laws of physics and have fun? Or would that difficult because of your background in physics and astronomy?

"I think House of Suns *was* that book, to be honest - it's very, very far from nuts and bolts hard SF. The new one, Terminal World, might even be further in that direction still. I don't think I could write a balls-to-the-wall Star Wars type space opera in which *everything* is possible, but that doesn't mean I won't do "fun" stuff in the future. But as it happens, the book (or rather sequence of books) that are firming up in my mind at the moment are much closer to pure hard SF than almost anything I've done to date, although I hope that they'll still have a fair measure of surprise and sense of wonder in them."


12. How do you feel about our current space program? Do you feel we are making any headway at all? We keep sending probes to Mars for signs of early life, do you think it's a dead end? Mars is a never ending fascination with Astronomers. They don't want to give up the search even if it seems to be futile.

"I'm still pretty excited about space and our exploring of it. I'd wish we were a bit further on with manned spaceflight, but there's no escaping the technological challenges, which are enormous - far more so, I think, than most people realise. Just building a rocket engine is astonishingly difficult. The fact that we did it 50 years ago doesn't take anything away from that for me.

Mars is anything but a dead end. I don't think we'll ever stop peeling back the layers of mystery there. It's going to be a fascinating few decades."

13. On the flip side as I mentioned earlier, the hunt for extra-solar planets seems to be a huge success. How long do you think it will be before we discover a terrestrial size planet such as Earth or Mars? Or better yet, one with Earth-like conditions?

"I think we'll find a terrestrial-sized planet in the next decade, and we'll have a low-res image of an Earthlike planet (with oceans, landmasses etc) within 25, if there are any out there, of course."

14. Speaking of Earth, not much is mentioned about it in the Revelation Space series. Any chance of a visit there in any part of the time-line? Perhaps during the golden age?

"No, I decided early on not to bring Earth on stage. It's pretty much iced over and under-populated for most of the sequence; the action has moved elsewhere in the solar system. I did this deliberately as I'd read far too many SF novels where the action shifts to Earth and all of a sudden the carefully engendered sense of disbelief crumbles away. I'd always end up wondering - have they still got Wales? Does it still rain? Are there still pubs and carparks and seaside pavilions? I didn't want to engage with any of that, so I didn't."

15. You seem very interested in detective stories as shown in "The Prefect" and the novel "Century Rain". Did you ever consider just writing a 1920's noir style detective novel void at all of science fiction? Or any other type of genre at all? You could do fantasy well I think, considering the Palatial virtual reality simulator that Abigail uses in House of Suns.

"I'm a big fan of detective and crime fiction, yes, but I certainly don't have the chops to do a non-SF crime novel. I can't see myself ever doing anything much resembling high-fantasy, either - the sequences in HOS are more of a piss-take than anything else. If I was going to do a fantasy, I'd try and carve out my own niche, getting as far away from wizards and dark lords as humanly possible. But I probably wouldn't bother, as I'm not terrifically excited by fantasy in the first place. I like some of the weirder stuff out there, but most of it doesn't rock my world. If I'm going to read about people hacking each other apart with swords, it might as well be a historical novel, I figure."


16. Well, that's about it other than what's currently playing in your cd player or Ipod?

"On a bit of an Arcade Fire kick at the moment, among other things."

FCCJ Artist Series Presents "One Night of Queen" April 8, 2009

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 8, 2009 7:30 PM
TIMES UNION CENTER ● MORAN THEATER

JACKSONVILLE, FL – One Night of Queen formed in 2000 after Gary Mullen won ITV’s ‘Stars In Their Eyes’ grand final with a record poll of 864,838 votes, more than double the runner up and the most votes ever received on the show. Along with his band ‘The Works’, Gary delivers the look, the sound and the showmanship of arguably the greatest live band of all time. One Night of Queen will play in Jacksonville on Wednesday, April 8, 2009 at 7:30 PM at the Times Union Center’s Moran Theater.

Over the past 7 years One Night of Queen has toured virtually non-stop around the UK, Germany, Portugal, Holland, Belgium, France and New Zealand, playing theatres, arenas and festivals to sell-out crowds everywhere.

In September 2005 the show was invited to perform at the BBC’s ‘Proms in the Park’ event in Hyde Park, London, alongside Andrea Bocelli, G4 and Simply Red. Being described as “the highlight of the day” and receiving rapturous applause from 45,000 fans, cemented One Night of Queen’s reputation as being “much more than a tribute”.

In spring 2007 as well as completing tours of the UK, France and Germany, the band took part in a Canadian TV Documentary focussing on the World’s best tribute bands. 2008 will see the show embark on it’s first ever tour of the USA and Canada.

GARY MULLEN

Born in Glasgow in 1973, Gary Mullen has been a lifelong Queen fan. A regular in the karaoke bars around Glasgow, Gary would the wow crowds with his uncanny performance of Queen’s songs.

At 26, while working as a computer sales person, Gary’s wife Jackie and mother Theresa secretly sent away an application to ‘Stars In Their Eyes’. After auditioning as Freddie Mercury, Gary was offered a place in the heats. Gary not only won his heat but went on to become grand final winner of the 2000 series. Polling 864,838 votes in the Live Grand Final, more than double the runner up, this is the all time record number of votes cast for an artiste on this TV show.

After winning the show Gary returned to his computer sales job in Glasgow. He stayed for four weeks but the demand for him to perform was too much and it became apparent that his career choice was about to change quite dramatically. Even Brian May himself wrote to Gary, wishing him well and saying what a remarkable likeness he has to Freddie, in more than just voice and appearance on stage – what finer accolade could there be?!

After touring as a one-man show for a year, Gary decided it was time to put a band together and pursue his dream of filling theatres with his tribute to Freddie and Queen. ’The Works’ were formed at the end of 2001 and One Night of Queen was complete.

Since then, Gary and The Works have thrilled audiences across the UK, Germany, France, Portugal, Holland and as far afield as New Zealand. A very special performance came in 2005 when One Night of Queen were invited to perform at the BBC’s ‘Proms In The Park’ alongside G4, Andrea Bocelli and Simply Red.

Stranger projects have included working for various advertising campaigns. In 2003 Gary recorded a version of ‘I Want To Break Free’ for an Irish internet provider. Gary sang the vocal and the sound was dubbed over an actor’s performance, i.e. someone pretending to be Gary pretending to be Freddie – bizarre!

In 2007 Gary recorded a radio advert for ‘Which?’ magazine, not a Queen song, but specially written lyrics to a popular opera tune. Rumour has it that the members of Queen have heard it and thought it spookily accurate to Freddie’s voice!

Outside of One Night of Queen, Gary is a devoted husband and father to three children. Not only a singer, Gary spends much time playing the guitar, piano and drums and writing original material.

ONE NIGHT OF QUEEN will be performed at the TIMES UNION CENTER’S MORAN THEATER Wednesday, April 8, 2009 for one performance only. Tickets range in price from $30.50 to $80.50. Discounts are available for groups of 10+ or 20+ by calling (904) 632-3228.

To order by phone with Visa, MasterCard, American Express or Discover call the FCCJ Artist Series Box Office at (904) 632-3373 (toll-free outside of Jacksonville 1-888-860-BWAY.)

Tickets are also available online with Instant Seat Selection by visiting the
FCCJ Artist Series’ website, www.artistseries.fccj.org.

THE FCCJ ARTIST SERIES PRESENTS GILLIGAN’S ISLAND THE MUSICAL

The most syndicated show in television history is setting sail on its first National Tour and will be

DOCKING IN JACKSONVILLE
MARCH 6-8, 2009
WILSON CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS

JACKSONVILLE, FL – Look out America, Gilligan's Island The Musical is docking at a desert island near you and the hilarity found in America's most cherished sitcom is in full effect in this larger than life stage musical. Bringing back all those well known and beloved characters from one of the most popular television shows of all time, this lovable musical comedy is sure to please the generations of audiences that the television show first inspired. Gilligan's Island The Musical is coming to Jacksonville’s Wilson Center for the Performing Arts March 6-8, 2009 for four performances only.

"Gilligan's Island" has been a series, three TV movies, two cartoon series, a reality series, and the subject of more comedians' jokes than the mother-in-law. "Gilligan's Island" is an icon whose theme song and characters have become pop culture icons. It has been syndicated on more cable stations than any other series in history and continues to run on both Nickelodeon and TV land. "Three hour tour," "Ginger or Mary Ann," are just a few nuggets from the Gilligans Island television show that remain part of every-day vernacular.

Gilligan's Island The Musical debuted in Flat Rock, North Carolina with Director Steve Rothman after a workshop presentation first seen in the early 1990's. From there, it went to Chicago, San Diego, and Thousand Oaks. And every production was lauded by critics and audiences alike.

"You've got to love it….Timeless" said the Today Show.

"A great time…..Fabulous!" reported CBS Morning News.

And People Magazine described it as "Love and lust among the coconuts."

The creators of the musical- Lloyd Schwartz and Hope and Laurence Juber- have continued to hone and develop the play over the years. Loyd is the son and long-time collaborator of Sherwood Schwartz, the creator of the "Gilligan's Island" television series, as well as "The Brady Bunch" television series. Hope Juber is Sherwood's daughter.

Gilligan's Island: The Musical is a straightforward story of relationships and survival. Beginning with the #1 TV theme song of all time, Gilligan, The Skipper, Mary Ann, Ginger, The Professor, and The Millionaire and his wife are shipwrecked and trying to get off the island. Natural disasters befall them, hurricanes, quicksand, etc., as they learn to get along and survive. Their biggest challenge comes from the U.F.O. and its Alien, who monitors their behavior. By the end of the play, the castaways manage to defeat the extraterrestrial and save the entire planet, while staying marooned themselves. Updated somewhat to reflect the times, Gilligan's Island: The Musical still has comedy, heart, love, drama, nostalgia, and sing-able songs that stick true to the characters that audiences have fallen in love with for the last 40 years.

GILLIGAN’S ISLAND THE MUSICAL will be performed at the WILSON CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS March 6-8, 2009 for four performances only. Tickets cost $40.50. Discounts are available for groups of 10+, 20+, or 40+ by calling (904) 632-3228.

To order by phone with Visa, MasterCard, American Express or Discover call the FCCJ Artist Series Box Office at (904) 632-3373 (toll-free outside of Jacksonville 1-888-860-BWAY.)

Tickets are also available online with Instant Seat Selection by visiting the
FCCJ Artist Series’ website, www.artistseries.fccj.org.

MOMIX

Review by Mia Carlin

MOMIX is a company of dancer-illusionists under the direction of Moses Pendleton. For over 25 years, MOMIX has been celebrated for its ability to conjure up a world of surrealistic images using prop, light, shadow, humor & the human body.

With its hypnotic imagery, fluid movements and overall mysticism, MOMIX is both provocative and mesmerizing. Hypnotized by each piece in the program, you forget that you are watching the actual dancers live. Some of the pieces are so magical that you wonder how on earth they pulled it off. Being in the 2nd row you would think that one would be able to identify a little bit of realism, but not me. Everything about the performance completely stunned me, leaving me awestruck about what I had just witnessed. From a very wide & creative range of ideas, MOMIX had the ability to re-invent snakes, fire, galaxies, mythology & body part separation from just a few pieces of gym equipment, lights, one screen & ribbon.

The lighting & sculpture props spellbind you in such a way that you really feel part of the story – that somehow you have been transcended in time into this foreign hemisphere. And not only are the dancers skilled but they are beautiful. I mean, strikingly, angelically beautiful! Their bodies are perfectly sculpted and it feels as though you are viewing a real life God or Goddess in action. Zeus, Athena, Triton, you name it – these dancers look like the work of Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel.

Not to mention the precise & captivating choreography. This is not just a dance performance of skill & acrobatics, but fluid movements of dynamics, muscle & strength.

The dancers use all of their body weight, holding it in mid air while being twisted, turned & glided for several minutes at a time, and for a moment you really feel as if they are actually flying. There are no strings involved – no tricks of any kind, just the dancers and their one prop – gliding them through mid air like mystified beings from another universe, another plain in time.

Although alluring in nature, MOMIX excerpts also found ways to humor the audience. In one piece, several dancers are connected head - to – ass, as they writhe on the floor to form a completely wacky centipede; making you wonder just how far one will go for the love of dance.. Another piece has the stage lit up by a black light, giving the illusion of flying seagulls, mouths, and television sets rather than dancers dressed in all black with white arms. One of the last pieces, 4 silhouetted dancers eventually morphed into one via the illusion of a giant screen & light projection. This piece went from a beautiful version of Adam & Eve to them morphing into one body & Eve’s head coming out of Adam’s crotch.

Imagination is a funny thing – a wonderful thing. It’s one of the most important outlets in life that keeps us centered when things to wrong or when life gets tough. Imagination is something that expands our minds while in the midst of boredom. It can be our friend when we have none, our teacher when we’re craving to learn, the lighted path from our hearts to our future. For Moses Pendleton, it was just that. An imaginative boy born & raised on a lonely dairy farm in North Vermont, who wanted to find a way to share his childhood fantasies with the world – and so he did.

This is not to say that we should escape from all responsibilities that adulthood has brought to our doorstep, but damn it if we can’t be excused for being absentee from it for a couple of hours.

MOMIX

THE FCCJ ARTIST SERIES PRESENTS
MOMIX
COMING TO JACKSONVILLE
JANUARY 29, 2009 7:30 PM
THE FLORIDA THEATRE

JACKSONVILLE, FL – MOMIX transports audiences from their everyday lives to a fantasy world through its trademark use of magical lighting and imagery. Momix has thrilled fans in over 22 countries and has been featured on stage, screen and television. In an endless search for another gravity, Artistic Director Moses Pendleton combines athletic dance, riveting music, outrageous costumes, inventive props, and pure talent to create an entertaining multimedia experience.

The FCCJ Artist Series presents MOMIX, the company of dancer-illusionists and ingenious artistry founded by Moses Pendleton, coming to Jacksonville on Thursday, January 29, 2009 at 7:30 PM at The Florida Theatre for one performance only.

Under the artistic direction of Moses Pendleton, MOMIX brings a mesmerizing experience to audiences by presenting its unique combination of spectacle, visual wit and fantasy. Using light, shadow, props and eclectic music, Pendleton's genius for endless creativity results in endless possibility. His well-trained troupe of performers takes arabesques and pirouettes beyond the limit in performances that a New York Times critic recently noted, "defy the impossible."

MOMIX is celebrating its 20th anniversary this month with a return to New York's Joyce Theater for a three week run. Making its world premiere is Pendleton's new work, "Opus Cactus," which has audiences cheering at its beauty and sheer physical daring. Also appearing are two acclaimed and popular favorites, "MOMIX in Orbit" and "Passion," full "of those patented MOMIX moments - when your eyes forget to blink and your breath forgets to come out" (NY Newsday).

MOMIX has brought its unique style of surreal, sublime performance to theaters, screens and arenas around the globe. The company has been the focus of award-winning specials for PBS in the U.S. and for RAI in Italy, and has appeared on other broadcasts in more than 55 countries. MOMIX participated in the "Homage a Picasso" in Paris and represented the U.S. at the European Cultural Center event at Delphi. For the IMAX screen, the company's mix of power, magic and rhythmic movement is captured in the film, "Imagine." MOMIX also appeared with the Montreal Symphony in the Rhombus Media film, "Pictures at an Exhibition."

MOMIX will be performed at THE FLORIDA THEATRE on Thursday, January 29, 2009 at 7:30 PM. Tickets range in price from $30.50 to $70.50. Discounts are available for groups of 15+ or 40+ by calling (904) 632-3228.

To order by phone with Visa, MasterCard, American Express or Discover call the FCCJ Artist Series Box Office at (904) 632-3373 (toll-free outside of Jacksonville 1-888-860-BWAY.)

Tickets are also available online with Instant Seat Selection by visiting the
FCCJ Artist Series’ website, www.artistseries.fccj.org.