By Gioia Patton
Magnificent Mona Bismarck, Kentucky Style icon
Frazier History Museum
Learn more about a homegrown fashion icon at the retrospective on the style of Mona Bismarck, a mid-century socialite from Louisville whose beauty and haute couture won her the title of Best-Dressed Woman in the World. “Her extraordinary catlike eyes and blue-grey hair are New York phenomena,” stated Vogue in 1936 — “[and] her dressing is high art.” A major client of Balenciaga and other world-class designers, she helped popularize several trends in women’s wear, including halter neck tops, asymmetrical bias-cut dresses, colorless nail polish, aquamarine, and double-strand pearls. The exhibit features 50 ensembles spanning five decades of her haute couture, beginning in her Golden Years of the 1930s and concluding in the 1970s. Magnificent Mona Bismarck will contain four galleries: History and Pre-war; Day Wear and Cocktail Wear; Evening Wear; and her Greatest Love, gardening. Special attention is given to Bismarck’s intimate collaborations with the designers Cristóbal Balenciaga, Hubert de Givenchy, and Madeleine Vionnet, and jewelers Belperron and Verdura.
WHERE: Frazier History Museum
WHEN: Through July 29
TICKETS: Adults (18+) $12, Seniors (60+) $10, Member Adult (18+) No Charge
CONTACT: Get tickets here.
Over the River & Through the Woods
Derby Dinner Playhouse
Laughter — guilt — lasagna! This family comedy, written by Joe DiPietro, features Nick, a single, Italian-American from New Jersey, who, since his parents have moved to Florida, now sees both sets of his grandparents every Sunday for dinner. The story opens with Nick revealing the news that he’s been offered a dream job — a job that would take him away from his beloved, but annoying, grandparents. Nick’s news doesn’t sit well, though. “How could he betray his family’s love and move to Seattle?” his grandparents wail in unison. And thus begins a series of schemes by the quartet to keep Nick around, schemes that include bringing to dinner a lovely single girl as bait.
The cast includes longtime DDP favorites Brian Bowman, Cary Wiger, Tina Jo Wallace, J.R. Stuart, and Rita Thomas.
WHEN: Through July 8 for various performances
WHERE: Derby Dinner Playhouse, Clarksville, Indiana
TICKETS: $34-$47
CONTACT: here or 812.288.8281
The Floyd Central Theatre Arts production of Disney’s Newsies
The Kentucky Center
Based on true events, Disney’s Newsies was a 1992 feature film before it became a smash Broadway hit in 2012. “Newsies is a timely story because it is about the powerful voice that young people have when an entire generation rallies together,” says Floyd Central High School Director of Theatre Arts Robbie Steiner via email. “Not unlike the teenage voices that have recently been speaking out against school gun violence and as part of the #Metoo movement, the teenage newsies of 1899 changed their world by challenging the most powerful men in New York and across the nation. At a time when the voices of our youth are being heard loud and clear, it has been exciting to work on this piece with a group of dedicated teenagers,” Steiner says.
Newsies features new choreography and a score by Alan Menken of Disney’s Aladdin and Beauty and the Beast fame.
WHEN: June 22-23 @ 8pm
WHERE: The Kentucky Center
TICKETS: $15-$40
CONTACT: The Kentucky Center box office (501 W. Main St.) walk up or drive thru, 502.584.7777, or here. Call 502.566.5111 for information about the range of accessibility options offered.
*Appropriate for all ages
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