Year in review: ‘Burana at Brucemore’ tops list of local events

By Diana Nollen

In a Corridor so rich in talent, choosing the top 10 events I reviewed this year is a daunting task.

So many local productions rival the professional touring artists who come through the region: “Annie” at Theatre Cedar Rapids in November and December; The Follies, moved to Cedar Falls in July; “Cosi fan tutte” staged by the Cedar Rapids Opera Theatre in June; and Meg Merckens as Ann Landers at the Iowa Theatre Artists Company in Amana in April.

But choose I must, so here are my favorite events from 2009:

1. Orchestra Iowa's triumphant “Burana at Brucemore” on Sept. 12. This epic event featured more than 230 singers and instrumentalists on stage and 4,046 audience members seated on the front lawn at Cedar Rapids' historic mansion. Following three stellar vocal soloists, the centerpiece for the evening was Carl Orff's hourlong masterpiece, “Carmina Burana,” instantly recognizable from such movie soundtracks as “The Omen” and “The Hunt for Red October.” What a way to launch the orchestra's 88th season.

2. “Wicked” flying high in the Civic Center of Greater Des Moines in September and October.

The witches of Oz have never looked better than in this prequel to the movie that has led generations down the Yellow Brick Road. Glorious songs, flying monkeys and witches and spectacular sets and costumes conjured up one of Broadway's biggest hits.

3. Natalie MacMaster whipping up Christmas spirit Cape Breton style Dec. 5 in Riverside. With fingers and feet flying, this masterful fiddler was a delight at every turn in a Hancher concert in the Riverside Casino Event Center.

4. The Joffrey Ballet's Hancher benefit performance Sept. 11 in the Civic Center of Greater Des Moines. Beautiful bodies in poetic motion helped usher in the Hancher season on another venerable stage, while raising money to rebuild a treasure lost in the Floods of 2008.

5. The Rock & Worship Roadshow that packed the U.S. Cellular Center on April 18. Nearly 8,000 people gathered for three hours of higher power pop anchored by hitmakers MercyMe. Concerts don't get much better than this.

6. “To Kill a Mockingbird” staged at Brucemore in July. Ominous giant trees, chirping night creatures and stellar performances created a perfect evening of theater for this beloved play exploring race relations in the 1930s Deep South.

7. Guy Mendilow in concert Sept. 23 at Greene Square Park in downtown Cedar Rapids. Part of Legion Arts' Landfall Festival of World Music, this Boston-based band showcases its roots in Israel, South Africa, North and South America, Japan and Europe. Especially fascinating is Mendilow's exotic overtone singing in which he creates two or more tones simultaneously, like a deep, vibrating string.

8. “Madama Butterfly,” staged by the Cedar Rapids Opera Theatre in January in Cedar Falls. Moving from the flood-damaged Theatre Cedar Rapids to Gallagher-Bluedorn, the opera company created a gorgeous, heartbreaking “Butterfly,” embracing the majesty of opera at its finest.

9. Duncan Sheik in concert March 3 at CSPS in Cedar Rapids. The man who topped the pop charts in the '90s with “Barely Breathing” has turned toward Broadway, giving us glimpses of “Spring Awakening” and previews of “Whisper House.” The intimate venue was perfect for this intimate, conversational, brilliant performance.

10. Joan Rivers bringing down the house Nov. 6 in Dubuque. Elegant and outrageous made for a curiously palatable mix as Rivers filled the Diamond Jo Casino's Mississippi Moon Bar with biting wit and laughter.