Night Clubs Reviews

May 24, 2008 - "Bowfire" takes its cue from heavy metal for a commercial evening of mostly loud muzak at Reno's Grand Sierra Resort

By Jack Neal

There’s no reason violinists shouldn’t be rock stars. Why shouldn’t classically talented and skilled people make money?

That seems to be the sum and substance of Bowfire, the current rage of night club, concert hall and jazz circuits. Bowfire played the Grand Theater of Reno’s Grand Sierra Resort Friday night (5/23/08) before a sold out crowd that greeted the group with just slightly less enthusiasm than what might greet Elvis should he return to Graceland on his birthday.

The name “Bowfire” is no accident. Everything Bowfire plays - from Fritz Kreisler (a flamboyant “Czardas Caprice” played to the hilt by Yi-Jia Susanne Hou) to something akin to heavy, heavy metal - is hot (as in hot bows of fire), choreographed (constant movement of the company’s ten violinists), loudly amplified (high violins sounding like Wagner’s Valkyries suffering PMS) and staged amidst a classic looking set from an Acropolis garden (so what if it was Rome that burned while Nero fiddled).

It’s a thrilling approach to entertainment for people who adore sound blasts to the ears and lip-smacking suggestions of sex while fiddling with lots of same-sounding material. For those who love what the violin can do with genuine music, Bowfire is all fire, ice and glitz (where or where has our old schmaltz gone), with virtually no substance. That’s probably why some patrons began taking off before the end of the concert, which ran just short of 85 minutes (plus a twenty minute intermission). (“Here we go again, I hear those fiddles fiddling again.”)

That’s not to say this collection of artists – some of the world’s best – are not superb. They are. It doesn’t matter if over-the-hill critics are less than enthused by today’s standards of smash, crash and bash. Audiences adore Bowfire’s smash, crash and bash. Because - buried under that rubble are great talents and some genuinely (sadly, too few) lovely and exciting moments of real music.

In addition to the aforementioned Hou, “Bowfire” stars founder Lenny Solomon (inheritor of the late Joe Venuti mantle for great jazz violining), Stephanie Cadman (Celtic violin and step dancer), George Gao (Chinese erhu), Ray Legere (bluegrass fiddle and mandolin), Jon Pilatzke (fiddle and step dancer), Bogdan Djukic (classical and ethnic violin), Shane Cook (violin), Stephane Allard (jazz violin), Kelli Trottier (fiddle, singer, step dancer), Wendy Solomon (cello), Ben Riley (percussion), Lew Mele (bass), Bill Bridges (guitar), and the amazing jazz pianist Bernie Senesky. This is a stellar collection of major talents.

The production is creatively staged by Stafford Arima, who had the daunting task of inventing action for a concert. Patricia Wilcox has choreographed some especially exciting moments in step dance (dazzling segments with Cadman, Trottier and Pilatzke). Ben Stanton’s lighting is lovely, especially in the “Mist Covered Mountains” sequence. Karen Ledger’s attractive dark costume designs hint at formality and the smell of leather without missing a beat. David Korins’s classic looking set is lovely to look at.

Summing up: Bowfire is loaded with talent and is entertaining to a point. But is it – even with smidgens of Bach and Ellington - music? I fear “Bowfire” has morphed into something between loud elevator muzak and a Julliard rock concert with a pinch of jazz. What Bowfire needs is less flash and more substance.

Bowfire appeared in the Grand Theater of the Grand Sierra Resort, 2500 East Second Street, Reno, Nevada, Friday, May 23, 2008. For information about future Grand Sierra events call 800-501-2651.