Arts in the City

Christmas is a great time for arts in the City.  My favorite arts tend to be music.  Osbourn had their combined concert this week which I attended and that was very well done…there were about a million kids there.  I don't know how the teachers and staff get it all done.  The re-arranging of the stage gets a bit old but there were many musical groups to accomodate so it's worth it.  The concert was pretty well attended and the majority of folks stayed even though the production was long.  There's some real talent in those groups.  My daughter plays viola – which I also played – so she has to suffer through it as well…:)

This being Christmas, there's other great stuff going on.  We normally go see the Manassas Ballet's Nutcracker this time of year.  We've been doing it since our daughter was taking dance lessons.  Of course, then we were going to see her dance.  I think that the furthest she ever progressed was being one of the mice or rats or whatever they are.  The Dancing Days (sorry LedZep) are now behind us so we go to watch other people dance.  When we first started going, the production was held at Metz middle school.  If you've ever been there, it's a pretty big auditorium but it is a school auditorum.  Rather utilitarian in nature and presentation.  One day there's 300 kids in there, the next day a ballet and on Sunday a church service.  Yes, it's a stage but that's about it.  For the past several years these productions (and a ton of other great stuff) have been presented at the Hylton out at George Mason. 

I admit that I was a bit skeptical the first year we went to see the Nutcracker out at the Hylton.  I wasn't sure how well the local ballet company would be able to scale their production to such a facility.  I told Amy after their first production at the Hylton that I was mightily impressed with how well they "grew" their production to fit the stage.  This years edition is no different.  The sets continue to evolve and that transparent curtain thing is just magical.  The whole family loved it although I do admit to nodding off a bit during the second half…hey!  It's past my bedtime man….

I believe that this year is the first year we caught the opening night's production and they did a pretty cool tribute to the branches of the military.  They also had John Gregory out on stage to offer some remarks.  John has been a fixture in Manassas for a long, long time.  He has been, and is, a community activist, succesful business owner, chair of the local GOP and an all-around Manassas Booster.  He's also a veteran.  It was his construction firm that put the cupola back on the old City Hall!  I've known John for a long time and I never fail to be impressed by his insight and am always gratified when he is kind enough to listen to my political woes and give me advice.  The guy knows how things work and Manassas is a richer place to have citizens like John.  We need more like him. 

In any event, if you get the time, go see the Nutcracker.  The Hylton Center is a pretty amazing place and the Manassas Ballet works very hard to put on a good show.  Oh, one last thing: they have a live orchestra.  I've never seen a Manassas Ballet show where they didn't have a live orchestra – even at Metz!  It adds a lot to the production.  I used to play the viola so I'm almost as intersted in the music as I am the production.  Especially the second half which doesn't seem to have much "story" to it….at least to me…:)