"Spiral" by Alex Stopa featuring the Pana Percussion Quartet celebrates its Las Vegas release

Alex Stopa is a drummer, percussionist, marimba soloist, and composer based in Las Vegas; chances are, he has played for you if you are a local. An active member of our community, he has performed at every type of gig. From the Create Our Recovery concert series in vaccine clinics to the open air of Water Street to the Smith Center, he brings the beat that keeps us grooving. Born in Australia, Stopa moved to Las Vegas in 2001, where he has since performed for a wide variety of musical acts, including the Las Vegas Philharmonic, Cirque du Soleil, Le Rêve, resident and touring Broadway musicals, and headliner acts, including Aretha Franklin, The Who, Amy Grant, Idina Menzel, and Placido Domingo. His original compositions and arrangements reflect his diversity as a performer. Drawing inspiration from classical, jazz, pop, rock, and world music, his music blurs the lines between genres, and his pieces are performed frequently around the world.

Spiral is an original composition for a percussion quartet that fuses classical, pop, and jazz styles. Stopa writes of the piece, “As a musician living in Las Vegas, I’m fortunate to have the opportunity to perform a broad range of musical styles. One night I might be in the Smith Center with the Philharmonic or a touring Broadway show; the next, I might be in a jazz or rock club. The music that I write is inspired by this diversity.

Spiral was composed for the Pana Percussion Quartet, a group that I’ve performed for over a decade. I remember reading that Duke Ellington would often write music tailored to the individual strengths of his band members. As I composed Spiral, I kept this in mind, writing parts that I hoped would reflect the personalities of the group.

The piece is built around a repeated rhythmic motif: a pattern of five that can be heard on the vibraphone near the beginning of the piece. I imagined this spiraling pattern as the rhythmic DNA of the work; a musical double helix. This imagery formed the inspiration for the title”.

Pana Percussion Quartet is Alex Stopa, Ryun Louie, Jeffery Crowell, and Eliseo Rael.

In keeping with his local pride, Stopa chose Art Square Theatre in Downtown Las Vegas to shoot his video with a local film crew, including Emmy award-winning editor and director Michael Tushaus (Digisphere Productions) with cinematographer Tim Harbour and camera operator Gray Gubler. The recording engineer was Josh Connolly (Studio A), and mix engineer was Robby Wingfield. This project is supported in part by the Nevada Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Check out this new #vegasmusic - a fine example of #VegasBornArts!

#EatMoreArt

EMAV Review: Life Sucks *****1/2 Irresistible

Gobble Up this Life

By Paul Atreides

Photo by Richard Brusky

In a wild and ostentatious retelling of Checkov’s Uncle Vanya, playwright Aaron Posner takes the characters and delves into modern conundrums of family, friend, and frenemy relationships with Life Sucks.

Now showing at Vegas Theatre Company (VTC), director Daz Weller assembled an extraordinary cast and brought a flawless production fraught with angst and fun. As souls cry out for help and understanding and love among old friends, family members, and ex-lovers, the energy here is high octane. It mixes a shred of drama into the comedy without missing a beat.

Each actor dons their character like a second skin. They all break the fourth wall to engage the audience and slink back to the script without us actually realizing it. From the obnoxious Vanya (Erik Amblad) to the silly Pickles (Amy Solomon), from the pontificating Professor (Timothy Cummings) to the down-to-earth Babs (China Hudson), from the beauty queen Ella (Jamie Carvelli) to the plain Sonia (Amanda Guaredado), to the exhausted Dr. Aster (Nick Huff) there’s not a false note to be found. By turn, each character is lonely, hopeful, lustful, and just the slightest bit hapless in their approach to life.

Each one gets a short scene to themselves. It’s here where both China Hudson and Erik Amblad really stand above the rest. Hudson is magnetic as Babs. When she mentions dirt boys and boots and says, “I would’ve liked to nibble on those,” she manages to convey regret, lust, and hope for life all at the same time. Amblad has a monologue in Act 3 and delivers it with so much truth that you could have heard a pin drop; he’s a master at breaking the fourth wall and improvisation with the audience.

Whitney Lehn Meltz has designed a set that brings the audience right into the home by surrounding the audience with set pieces making the play more intimate and immediate. Jake Harrell’s sound manages to perfectly add to the atmosphere with a mixture of standards, blues, and pop.

This marks the 20th year for VTC (formerly Cockroach) and its 10th year in the space at Art Square. As theatre strives to entice audiences back to live shows after the pandemic, Life Sucks they’ve provided a shining gem to do so. At 2 hours and 20 minutes (including intermission), this production flies by in an instant. The play contains strong language, live (blank) gunfire, and smoking, and VTC recommends this for audiences aged 13+.

Does life suck? Everyone has troubles. Everyone has regrets. Everyone has lost dreams. But, as Hudson says toward the end of the play, gratitude for the successes and the good things should make us want to “eat every morsel of life.”

The performance was SRO for an opening night in the middle of the week. Tickets will disappear fast. Go, gobble this up before it’s gone.

What: Life Sucks

When: 7:30 p.m. 11/1,2,5,11,12,14,18

2 p.m. 11/5,12,13

5 p.m. 11/6,13,20

6:30 p.m. 11/13

Where: 1025 S. 1st St., Suite 110

Tickets: $20 - $38 (www.theatre.vegas)

Grade: *****1/2 Irresistable

Producer: Vegas Theatre Company; Artistic Director: Daz Weller; Director: Daz Weller; Set Design: Whitney Lehn Meltz; Lighting Design: Gina Manago; Sound Design: Jake Harrell; Costume Design: Candice Wynants; Combat Director: Kevin Stevens; Technical Director: Camren Wakefield; Stage Manager: Zachary Krause

EMAV Review: Misery Satisfying ***

Misery Onstage

by Paul Atreides

I am not one to critique a manuscript when I review it unless it’s an original, new work.

In the case of Misery, William Goldman adapted the Stephen King novel to the screen. He’s adapted other works to the screen, most notably All the President’s Men, and won an Oscar for the effort.

One of the toughest things to do–and do successfully–is to adapt a well-known, well-received book and film to the stage. That’s what Goldman has attempted here by adapting his own screenplay for the stage.

His stage adaptation for Misery, now playing on the Las Vegas Little Theatre (LVLT) mainstage, contains numerous very short scenes to move the action forward in time and poses challenges in the theatre. The playwright has let them down, yet director Walter Niejadlik does his best with the given material.

The script doesn’t provide an opportunity for the actors to establish and seal emotions before moving on. Gillen Brey must switch rapidly from Annie Wilkes’ happy “Number One Fan” and careful caretaker to demanding jailer and attempted murderer. The result is that much of Brey’s portrayal comes out on the same level. There’s no time for the menacing macabre to develop through the scenes.

Heath Robertson, as novelist Paul Sheldon, has it much easier: Invalid to the gracious patient to frightened invalid, and he can make that transformation across the 90-minute production. But given the time lapse from start to finish, Paul has issues, as well. A dislocated shoulder popped back in place before the action of the play begins, putting him in an arm sling for months on end. After Annie says Paul’s legs are getting stronger every day; he never once attempts to stand.

The set, designed by Ron Lindblom and dressed by Michael Blair, is positively gorgeous. Small details of the Wilkes rural farmhouse are everywhere, from the clapboard exterior to the knickknacks on tables and pictures stashed on shelves.

Ginny Adams’ lighting is excellent in more ways than simply adding atmosphere. During preshow, before the play starts, the sound and flickering of television wade onto the stage as Robertson lie comatose on the bed. Then, Adams takes the special effects up a level with a fire in a wastebasket, smoke and flame included. (Not to worry, it’s all an ingenious illusion.)

As Paul sits working on the manuscript Annie has demanded, the sound of his typing is overridden by sound effects, then back to life to indicate the passage of time. The two don’t segue smoothly. The issue with sound design stems from a line of dialogue describing all the snow still covering the ground and roads after there has been quite a storm and the sound FX brought a deluge of rain. Again, we probably have to blame the playwright.

Even if you’re a purist, this can still be a satisfying and fun Halloween treat for Misery film fans because the play stays loyal to the screen version.

What: Misery

When: 8 p.m. Friday - Saturday; 2 p.m. Sundays through November 6

2 p.m. Saturday, October 28

Where: Las Vegas Little Theatre-Mainstage, 3920 Schiff Drive

Tickets: $30 (702-362-7996; www.lvlt.org)

Grade: *** Satisfying

Producer: Las Vegas Little Theatre; Director: Walter Niejadlik; Asst. Director: Mark Hooker; Set Design: Ron Lindblom; Lighting Design: Ginny Adams; Sound: Lisa Tollefson; Stage Manager: Jim Braun