Sunday, October 04, 2009
Arts & Extras: Opera soprano has role on the silver screen
Elizabeth Futral will be featured in "Juan," a modernized version of the opera "Don Giovanni."
Arts & Extras column
Mike Allen, arts columnist
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An internationally renowned opera soprano who lives in Franklin County has made her move from stage to silver screen.
Elizabeth Futral, who is married to Opera Roanoke artistic director Steven White, spent her summer in Budapest, Hungary, performing before the cameras in a modernized version of "Don Giovanni," the 16th-century opera composed by Mozart about a womanizing cad.
Futral has starred in productions at New York's Metropolitan Opera and performed in venues all over the world. "This is the first time she's done a movie," White said.
Titled "Juan," the Danish production imagines the legendary fictional rogue as a 21st-century playboy who recruits a friend to create an Internet video database of all the women whose lives he has ruined. White, who visited Budapest to watch the filming, called the movie "a very contemporary take on the 'Don Giovanni' story." The action includes car chases, he said. "It's not your father's 'Don Giovanni.'"
Futral plays one of the title character's scorned former lovers, named Elvira. White shared a movie spoiler: In the film, Futral's character commits suicide by walking into the Danube River.
Of the scenes his wife performed in, "That's the scene I really didn't want to miss," White said.
Futral found the experience a bit different from working on stage, because she was asked to perform her part in pieces, rather than rehearsing to perform it in its entirety on stage, her husband said.
Though she did sing live during her scenes, she found she had less control over how the performance came across -- much is in the hands of the director, who is Royal Danish Opera artistic director Kasper Holten.
"She found it very interesting." White said. "It didn't convince her that she wanted to be a movie star or a movie actress."
'Paint for Preservation'
The Historical Society of Western Virginia, which operates the History Museum of Western Virginia and the O. Winston Link Museum in Roanoke, has put out a call for artists to participate in a Nov. 7 benefit auction.
Called "Paint for Preservation," the event asks artists to create pieces the morning of the auction based on three "endangered" historic Roanoke landmarks: the Patrick Henry Hotel, the Virginian Station on Jefferson Street or the Mountain View mansion on 13th Street. The works can be drawings, paintings, watercolors, mixed media, sculpture or photographs.
The plan is for the artists to bring their work to Center in the Square by 4 p.m., and the auction, which benefits the historical society, will take place while the paint, so to speak, is still wet.
The society asks that artists who'd like to participate in the event register by Friday. Artists are asked to e-mail development.hswv@cox.net with contact information, a couple of photos representative of their art and which site they prefer.
For more information, call 857-4394.
Soiree Noir
The Grandin Theatre is holding a fundraising event, called Soiree Noir, with an eye toward emulating the hard-boiled, stark-shadowed film noir genre that spawned such classics as Humphrey Bogart showcases "The Maltese Falcon" and "The Big Sleep," Alfred Hitchcock's "Shadow of a Doubt" and "Notorious" and the Orson Welles thriller "The Third Man."
The Oct. 24 event is a social gathering for ages 21 and up to be held at the Roanoke Ballet Theatre just down the street from the movie house. Costumes are optional, with swing jazz to be played by Vinton band G.T. Swing, and a silent auction to benefit the Grandin.
Theater executive director Kathy Chittum says that the admission price -- $35, $40 at the door -- has been halved from previous fundraiser events, and she hopes that will lead to double the attendance.
For more information, call 345-0477 or visit www.grandintheatre.com/ soiree_09/.
Brass quintet
The Empire Brass, a quintet whose repertoire ranges from Bach and Handel to jazz and Broadway, will perform at 4 p.m. Sunday at Greene Memorial United Methodist Church at Church Avenue and 2nd Street in downtown Roanoke. The event is free.
For more information, call 344-6225.
Art exhibit at W&L
Washington & Lee University art professor Kathleen Olson's exhibit "Somewhere in Between" features paintings of interiors and landscapes created during a 2007-08 sabbatical in France, Greece, Italy and Montenegro.
The exhibit opens Thursday in Staniar Gallery in the university's Lenfest Center for the Arts. Olson will be giving an artist's talk at 5:30 p.m. Friday in Wilson Hall, followed by a reception. The show will close Nov. 6.
For more information, please call 458-8861.
On the blog
As you're reading this, the Roanoke Arts Festival is about halfway over, but odds are you can still buy a festival pass, as so few sold. Visit the Arts & Extras blog for my take on what went right, what went wrong and what the Arts Council of the Blue Ridge wants to try differently next year: blogs.roanoke.com/arts
