.xNlcx. Entertainment
Wccketlu
Preview
The following is a brief guide to
weekend events. Please call venues
for more information.
CONCERTS:
Duffy 's Tavern, 1412 0 St
Sunday: Picknee, Black
Dahlias, The Formula
Duggan's Pub, 440 S. 11th St
Friday and Saturday: Blue House
Kimball Recital Hall, 12th andR
streets
Sunday: faculty recital featuring
Donna Harler-Smith, soprano
and Michael Cotton, piano
Knickerbocker's, 9010. St
Friday: Bo Diddley
Saturday: Nation of Fear, N.O.S.
Mo Java Cafe, Suite D, 2649 TV
48th St
Friday: Kyle Knapp
Mueller Planetarium laser
shows,
Friday and Saturday: Aerosmith,
Pink Floyd: “Dark Side of the
Moon.”
Orpheum Theatre, 1605
Howard St, Omaha
Friday and Saturday: Omaha
Symphony with Skitch
Henderson
Pla-Mor Ballroom, 6600 West
OSt
Friday: The Rumbles
Saturday: Full Choke
Sunday: Bordertown and
Sandy Creek
Zoo Bar, 136 N. 14th St
Friday and Saturday:
The Bel-Airs
THEATER:
Mary Riepma Ross Film
Theater, 12"1 and R streets
All weekend: “Pecker”
Star City Dinner Theatre, 803
QSt
Friday and Saturday: “Improv
Antics” starring local celebri
ties
Museum of Nebraska History,
15th and P streets.
Sunday: “Top Hat” starring
Fred Astaire and GingerRogers
Lincoln Community;
Playhouse,
2500 S. 56th St
All Weekend: “Light Up the
Sky”
Lied Center for Performing
Arts, 12th andR streets
Friday: “The Kingston Tno”
ART:
Noyes Art Gallery’, 119 S. 9th St
Friday and Saturday: Faridun
Negmat-Zoda, oil paintings;
Max Cox, pottery; Tom Borg,
blown glass
Center for Great Plains Studies,
Love Library
All weekend: The North Platte
Project: Photographing Nature’s
Works and Their
Transformations by Michael
Farrell
venin
at the
Play features local politician, TV anchors
By Diane Broderick
Staff writer
Theater owner Bob Rook says there's nothing
worse than watching actors stumble through bad
improvisations.
So for this weekend’s “Improv Antics,” Rook
wrote around the problem by providing a script.
Rook is the writer, director and an actor in
“Improv Antics,” a play that puts local celebrities in
roles they don’t traditionally play - stage roles.
Its performers include former state senator and
current mayoral candidate Don Wesely and news
anchors Rod Fowler and Gina Greco. They are vol
unteering their time to raise money for the Star City
Dinner Theatre, 803 Q St. Suite 100.
' I ve watched
bad improv,” said
Rook. “It’s terrible.
It’s agonizing. But
these scripts allow it
to stay fresh and new
but still allow some
sort of scripted
direction.”
Preparation for
performances has
been kept to a mini
mum, because of the
performers’ time
constraints.
“These people
are really busy,”
Rook said. “They
only get three
rehearsals. They
can’t get the normal
four weeks.”
The show is set
at a fictional broad
cast station,
W.I.M.P.R.O. V.
Radio, and consists
of a series of vaude
... Well, most of them are.”
Mayoral hopeful Wesely has had
some experience onstage and working
with Rook. Wesely appeared in both
“Letters” and “Oz.”
He was first paired onstage with
then-Lt. Gov. Kim Robak in “Letters.”
“The first rehearsal with her, I
though it was going to be easy,” Wesely
said. “You know, it doesn’t look that
hard. I found out it’s very difficult, and I
really needed to work at it.”
But the challenge was frightening
and exhilarating at the same time,
Wesely said.
“I loved it. The thrill of being up
there and having the lights on
and having people laugh and
people cry. I was hooked.”
The element of a live audi
ence is what KLKN-TV
(Channel 8) news anchor
Fowler finds disquieting,
despite his television exposure.
“People think because we
do this every night that we’re
just as comfortable as can be in
front of crowds and audiences,”
Fowler said. “But other than a
couple of camera people, we
don’t have people standing in front of us in
the studio.”
“So it’s different to have eyes looking,
staring at you. It’s a different challenge.”
It’s also a refreshing change from life
behind the news desk, Fowler said.
“In ‘The Wizard of Oz,’ I was the Tin
Man. We can totally get out of the character
element that most people recognize us as,”
he said.
And while a variety of “Improv” skits
provide that component of escapism, one
sketch brings some performers pretty close
to real life.
A news conference spoof stars real-life
news personalities, including KOLN-TV (Channel
10/11) anchor Greco portraying a reporter and
Wesely playing a politician.“Hopefully people
won’t see any resemblance between the character
and me. I’m playing a pretty outlandish politician,”
Wesely said.
He focuses on losing what he would do in the sit
Heather
Glenboski/DN
ACTRESS
MARY
Roadway
plays a psy
chic reader
at rehearsal
for “Improv Antics” Wednesday
night.
Theatre Preview
The Facts
What: Improv Antics"
Where: Star City Dinner Theatre
When: Friday and Saturday dinner is served
at 6 p.m., curtain time is 7:30 p.m.
Cost: $23 for dinner and show
$13 for show only
The Skinny: Local celebrities take to the
stage for theater fund-raiser
vine ana radio skits updated tor a modem audience.
Rook has worked on projects involving Lincoln
celebrities before, including “Love Letters” in 1996
and “Oz in Concert” in 1997.“One thing is you
know they’re going to sell well because they’re pub
lic figures,” Rook said.
“And they’re used to being in front of the public.
Heather Glenboski/DN
MAYORAL CANDIDATE Don Wesely wears many faces as he
performs for the Star City Dinner Theatre. The show,
“Improv Antics,” runs Friday and Saturday at 7:30.
uation, he said, to create a character that works.
But beyond the technique, nerves play a big part
in the actors’ performances.
“It’s a scary experience,” Wesely said. “I dread
the whole thing. ... Am I gonna flub a line? Am I
gonna look stupid?”
One classroom skit features Wesely and Greco
as bratty students giving the teacher a hard time.
“My problem is I want to laugh, I think it’s so
funny,” Wesely said. “I’m still such an amateur at
this.” But because the show is presented as a radio
play, the actors don’t have to worry too much about
forgetting their lines, Greco said.“We have our lines
memorized, but we have our (script) books in front
of us if we forget,” she said.
Though no plans have been made for another
local celebrity production, Rook said he’ll keep his
eyes open for more opportunities - for as long as the
performers are still willing.
“I’ll sure do another one. We’ll see how many of
them are left standing Saturday after their nerves
kick in,” Rook said.
Diddley brings beat to Knickerbockers
By Jeff Randall
Senior staff writer
In the world of music, countless
artists make names for themselves by
selling records, winning awards and
drawing screaming fans to their con
certs.
But very few can lay claim to a
musical style with their name. Richard
Wagner inspired the term
“Wagnerian.” And John Philip Sousa is
so closely identified with marches that
his name is practically synonymous
with them.
But Bo Diddley beats both of them.
Because Bo Diddley has the Bo
Diddley Beat.
An early rhythm and blues shuffle
mixed with the so-called “hambone,”
the Bo Diddley Beat is an instantly rec
ognizable sound. Diddley may not
have sold a million records, and he may
not be a perennial Grammy contender,
but he has a beat named after him - and
nobody else in the world can say that.
Concert Preview
The Facts
What: Bo Diddley w/ Shithook
Where: Knickerbockers, 901 0 St.
When: Tonight at 9:30 p.m.
Cost: $18 in advance
The Skinny: Living legend Diddley
struts with local legends Shithook
Diddley will bring his guitar, his
music and his beat to Knickerbockers,
901 O St., tonight.
Diddley, born Elias McDaniel,
made a name for himself in the mid
1950s with self-referential songs such
as “Bo Diddley,” “Diddley Daddy” and
“Hey Bo Diddley.” But he is probably
best known for his bar band classic
“Who Do You Love?” and the cocky
fast-cars-and-tough-guys tune “Road
Runner.”
But despite his artistic innovations,
memorable songs and flamboyant
style, Diddley never met with great
commercial success.
Early rock 'n’ rollers such as Elvis
Presley, the Beatles and the Rolling
Stones cited him as a major influence
and covered his songs almost faster
than he could write them. Nowadays,
the 70-year-old Diddley tours the
country as a true solo artist, recruiting
local bands for backup.
Tonight’s show will be
backed by local
favorites Shithook, a
band with a particular
fondness for Diddley's
work. And they are not
alone.
More than 50
years after he began
performing on the
streets for spare
change, Diddley
still has his
style and he
still has his
endearing
arrogance.
And, of
course, B
D i d d 1 e y
still has his
beat.