Wow! That is what I have to say regarding Broadway Sacramento's opening night performance of the current national tour of "West Side Story."  The sold out house at the Community Center Theater suggests others agree. While it is beautifully staged, with wonderful singing anddance, and good acting, it is the material that is the star here. The powerful music of Leonard Bernstein coupled with the equally powerfully words of Stephen Sondheim are enough to make "West Side Story" a show worth seeing. Add in the choreography of original "West Side Story" director and choreographer Jerome Robbins, which can move from strongly ballet to strongly modern dance in a moment, and it's hard to beat. A

If you did not have green somewhere on you, you stuck out like a sore thumb on Thursday when hundreds came out with green hair, green glasses, green clothing, green hats and even green beards to celebrate St. Patricks Day. At 2 p.m., Heather Garner, 32, was at the Golden Pacific Bank booth at the de Vere’s St. Patrick’s Day Party in the Park at Cesar Chavez Plaza. “We are passing out free beads, hats and candy,” Garner said. “We brought over 3,000 beads and over 1,000 hats.” The Cesar Chavez Plaza was fenced and inside a St. Patrick’s Day celebration was in full effect. Bar stools, green and white balloons, a huge Guinness beer balloon were among the decorations that surrounded the pla

The weather forecast for Thursday is clear and sunny and Sacramento is counting down the hours to this year's biggest St. Patrick’s Day party. The de Vere’s Party in the Park kicks off at 10 a.m. on Thursday March 17th at Cesar Chavez Plaza in Downtown Sacramento for 12 hours of St. Patrick’s Day festivities, music, pipes, dancers, food, and drinks. 9th street between I and J streets will be closed to traffic beginning at 5 am to make room for all of the St. Patrick's Day festivities happening in the park. The street will reopen to traffic after midnight. Advance ticket sales for the Party in the Park available at deveresderules.com end at 11:30 a.m. on March 16, but tickets are availabl

A local dance troupe hopes to help turn Sacramento's St. Patrick's Day Parade into a céilí – and for all you non-Gaelic speakers out there, that means one big party. While a little beer is known to flow on St. Patrick's Day, the kind of party we're talking about is more of a cultural celebration. The céilí – or céilidh in Scottish Gaelic – developed in Ireland and Scotland as an entertaining get-together where stories were told, poems recited and songs sung. Modern céilís (KAY lees) often include dancing. The céilí is what St. Patrick's Day is all about, said Helen Healy, one of the grand dames of the city's Irish-American community. "It's a Celtic word for a gathering of music, song a

Sacramento’s St. Patrick’s Day party will be held downtown this year instead of on L Street so the event can accommodate the thousands of expected festivalgoers, according to Lisa Martinez, director of outreach and marketing for the Downtown Sacramento Partnership. The downtown organization and de Vere’s Irish Pub are organizing this year’s de Vere’s St. Patrick’s Day Party in the Park at Cesar Chavez Park from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Thursday, March 17. “Our goal is to create a bigger footprint for the event,” said Martinez, Downtown Sacramento Partnership’s director of outreach and marketing. From 5 a.m. to midnight on March 17, Ninth Street will be shut down between I and J streets for

Gaelic music filled the air of St. Stephen the First Martyr Parish Tuesday afternoon as the St. Patrick’s Pipe Band of Sacramento prepared for the festivities of the upcoming week. Youths ranging in age from 8 to 18 practiced everything from marching to timing and rhythm in preparation for St. Patrick’s Day performances at schools and the city’s parade on Saturday, March 12. The holiday holds a special significance for Sacramento-area Catholics, said Band Manager Matthew White. “St. Patrick is a co-patron of the Diocese of Sacramento,” he said. “When we formed back in 2005, we wanted to start something for Catholics, and we had a lot of interest (in a bagpipe band).” Despite being chie

"Listen for it as it comes…the pure, imperial sound of…Celtic Thunder." Sundry vocals, Irish folklore and dry ice poured majestically atop a meadow backdrop at Sacramento’s Memorial Auditorium Thursday, one of 70 stops the Irish supergroup will make in support of its third PBS television special “It’s Entertainment,” a performance series showcasing both the old world and the new. The rhythm of heartbeats from the sparse yet euphoric audience resonated with the thunderous percussion of traditional Celtic instrumentation. An amalgamation of cello, harp, fiddle, keyboard, piccolo, guitar, concertina, bagpipe and mandolin merged with the steadfast drumbeat to introduce the six voices of the

The beauty and mystery of family ties is observed by Big Idea Theatre in its latest production, “Dancing at Lughnasa” (pronounced loo-nasa) by Brian Friel. The story is a memory of Michael, played by Kirk Blackinton, who tells the sequence of events leading to the countless hardships and trials of his family. The importance of dance is metaphoric and ties everything together, even beyond the play’s end. Blackinton is the voice of Michael as a 7 year old, and each role in Michael’s family was acted with depth and heart.  The shift of power in the family from maternal sister Kate, played by Ruby Sketchley, to boisterous and effervescent Maggie, played by Liz Tachella Bowman, was extraordin

Old Sacramento, a 28-acre historic landmark and state historic park, will hold it’s 14th Annual St. Patrick's Day Parade & Festival on Saturday, March 13, 2010. New to this year’s event: a new date, a new time and a new parade route. The 2010 event will also include a Celtic festival in Waterfront Park (1000 Front Street) from noon – 6:00 p.m. featuring Irish music, dancing, food and a green beer garden. A number of vendors will be on hand to peddle their Celtic wares. Always a free event, the parade steps off from a new location (2nd & L Streets) promptly at 1:00 p.m. and proceeds throughout the historic district. Over 60 units, with more than 1,000 marchers, will delight the Irish and

It is with excitement that I am here to announce that the biggest St. Patrick's Day celebration in Sacramento is going to happen again. That's right folks, last year we did the undoable. We closed L Street between 16th & 15th for a St. Patrick's day block party like no other. Nearly 7000 people showed up, but it remained a festive and safe community event. We had no incidents, thanks to great security and great people who came to have a good time. This year, we're projecting attendance at 8,000 and I want to get everyone involved. We are working with The Sacramento Press to get the community involved and I'm going to keep everyone posted on the event as it develops right here. So join the