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THEATRE AND DANCE

A-to-Z Guide to Greater Cincinnati:
"Best Place to Live in North America"

Art

Classical Music

The new Aronoff Center
for the Arts on Walnut Street.

Local audiences prefer musicals

BY JACKIE DEMALINE
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Cincinnati is not a theater/dance town - our German forebears favored music, and that tradition continues, in all forms.

Playhouse in the Park

The serious playgoer will drive straight to Eden Park and Playhouse in the Park. Which is not to imply that all you'll see is Ibsen and Shakespeare, although that's part of the schedule at Cincinnati's professional resident theater. The theater has wooed 20,000 subscribers by knowing what they want - a mix of classics, comedies, premieres, off-Broadway hits - and at least one musical each season. Two stages - the 629-seat thrust Marx Theatre and intimate 220-seat Shelterhouse - operate September through May.

Call (513) 421-3888.

Broadway Series

Fifth Third Bank Broadway Series likes to brag that it has the biggest touring series subscription in the country. Its 20,000-plus loyal fans see national companies of Phantom of the Opera and Sunset Boulevard in the series' spiffy new downtown home, the $82 million Aronoff Center for the Arts.

Call (513) 241-7469.

College-Conservatory of Music

More musicals are popular at University of Cincinnati's College-Conservatory of Music, acknowledged as one of the best training grounds in the nation. During the academic year, the two mainstage musicals and two operas are a sure bet to be among the best the city has to offer. And don't overlook the hardly publicized theater labs. During the summer CCM does small musicals and revues in repertory in its Hot Summer Nights series. Best of all, because it's a college program, the first priority is to train professionals, and that means out-of-the-way work, from Little Me to Das Barbecu. Audiences aren't scared off - these tickets go fast.

Call (513) 556-4183.

Other theatre

For something different:

Ensemble Theatre specializes in new work in the downtown neighborhood Over-the-Rhine. Call (513) 421-3555.

Fahrenheit Theatre is the fledgling professional company specializing in classics and resident at the Aronoff Center. Call (513) 559-0642.

Carnegie Theater in Covington, Ky., is an incubator for several experimental ensembles. Call (606) 655-8112.

Dance

Dance audiences have exactly two choices - Cincinnati Ballet for classical repertory and Contemporary Dance Theatre, which tours breakthrough and nationally known companies to the Aronoff Center's 440-seat Jarson-Kaplan Theatre.

Cincinnati Ballet

Local ballet audiences favor story ballets and that's always the majority of the six-engagement, October-through-April season (which always includes a holiday production of The Nutcracker.) Two offerings a season are mixed repertory under a common theme.

Call (513) 621-5219.

Contemporary Dance Theatre

Contemporary Dance Theatre demonstrates a good eye for good dance. Recent concerts have danced the gamut from established companies such as David Parsons to new troupes such as Megatron.

Call (513) 751-1000.