March 2009 Archives

If you're not a diehard Doctor Who fan before you visit the latest exhibit at the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, you'll come out as one.

Chock full of costumes, nifty computer displays, and episode excerpts, the Doctor Who exhibit tickles all the senses. Running till January 4, 2010, the Kelvingrove is the only Scottish destination to play host to the traveling Doctor Who exhibit.

In the "Be A Dalek" display, anyone can get inside the robot, manipulate the menacing plunger-arm, and speak into the microphone lodged inside the robot to create a terrifying, android voice, sure to scare enemies, as well as family.

Lurking in a dark corner is an army of giant Daleks. A red button on the wall lures visitors with the warning "DO NOT PUSH." Playing on the predictable psyche of kids and adults alike, everyone, of course, pushes the button. The machines instantly come to life and their inhuman-like sounds crescendo with the repeated screams "Life Forms Detected! Life Forms Detected!" You'll have to find out for yourself what comes next ... or if you'll live to tell about it.

Bailie Liz Cameron, Chair of Culture and Sport Glasgow, admits, "Yes, I'm a fan myself." She plans on taking her grandchildren during the Easter holiday since the first weekend has already been sold out. "It's a great show for anyone from 9 months to 99 years old."

It's grand fun for all, with exhibits eliciting good, old-fashioned scares. Sounds of screams melting into uncontrollable laughter reverberate throughout the cellars of the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum at the new Doctor Who Exhibit.

-Helen I. Hwang

Doctor Who Exhibit, Runs until January 4, 2010. Ticket prices are 7.50 adults, 4.50 children and concessions. Family tickets cost 18, plus a service charge. Tickets are available on www.SECxtra.com or by calling 08444 815 816. Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Argyle Street, Glasgow, G3 8AG.

It's hard not to notice the plywood tent set up on Byers Road with ominous sounds of drilling and hammering emanating from its chambers. The reason being the much-loved and much-used Hillhead Library is undergoing a construction project to make its front entranceway more wheelchair and pushchair accessible. The new front doors are scheduled to be completed on April 16. Meanwhile, patrons can still use the library by using the back entranceway. Library employees, on call in their little, chilly back office, are always on hand to give assistance, even carrying pushchairs up two flights of stairs, as I can personally attest to.

James Doherty, spokesperson for Culture and Sport, promises "great improvement" to make the library universally accessible.

Crash Bang Wallop, the percussion-centered children's concert, was a huge, ahem, hit with the young crowd last Saturday at the Royal Concert Hall in Glasgow. The sound of a range of drums - from handheld ones to a gigantic Odaiko drum that took up the back half of the stage - reverberated through children's tiny torsos and parents' heads.

Owen Gunnell and Oliver Cox, two young guys with impressive musical abilities, lit up children's faces with their cool, enthusiastic charisma.

With acts that included Mugenkyo's fusion taiko drumming to Albannach's edgy Celtic music, the audience was thrilled by the music.

So much so that a pair of feisty boys sitting next to me used their shaker eggs, tambourines and their hands to rock and air-drum along with the music nonstop for an hour. If you can generate that sort of focused enthusiasm from a child, it's a concert worth attending.

- Helen I. Hwang

www.childrensclassicconcerts.co.uk

Upcoming Children's Classic Concert is The Wow Factor.
Saturday, 14 March, Dundee Caird Hall, 3 p.m.
Saturday, 25 April, Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, 3 p.m.
Sunday, 26 April, Stirling Macrobert Centre, 3 p.m.

Once again, the Russian State Ballet of Siberia’s rendition of The Nutcracker dazzles with artistic expressiveness that rivals the top ballet troupes of the world. Alluring costumes with soothing colors picked from a palette of candy canes and candy wool transport you to the winter wonderland of Tchaikovsky’s Slavic winters, even if it’s a balmy 10 degrees Celsius in Glasgow on the last day of February when the ballet company performed on the last day of its weeklong visit to King’s Theatre.

With choreography based on Vasily Vainonen’s 1934 version of The Nutcracker, I was pleasantly surprised to see more pirouettes from Maria than the George Balanchine version I’m more familiar with in America.

The ballet is a condensed 1 hour and 45 minutes, presumably to keep younger audience members enthralled with the plot line. But the shortened version leaves out some of the dramatic buildup essential to even a good children’s book. The Moor painted in brown face paint and muddy-colored hands wouldn’t tour in the U.S. without eliciting street protests organized by the civil-rights activist and Reverend Al Sharpton.

Nevertheless, The Nutcracker production from the Russian State Ballet of Siberia entertains with its stunning costumes, artistic sensibilities and gorgeous dancing.

-Helen I. Hwang