February 8, 2003
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Portland, Ore. … An elephant has escaped from the zoo and writer, director and special guest Dan Kamin will lead Oregon Symphony Kids Concert audiences in finding him in “The Lost Elephant” on Sunday, March 9, at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. in the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall. Conducting Assistant Jonathan Pasternack will conduct.
The show’s creator, comedian-writer-director Dan Kamin, describes this show as “a demonstration of the natural connection between music and movement. The show also illustrates the power of musical to summon up images, ‘to make pictures of animals in your head.’” Kamin, a master of mime and physical comedy, plays a zookeeper with an elephant-sized problem. Elmer the elephant has escaped from the zoo. When Kamin shows up at the concert, Conducting Assistant Jonathan Pasternack and narrator Susan Chapek strike a bargain with him: if he will help the audience visualize the animals in the music, the orchestra will set a musical trap to lure the missing pachyderm to the concert hall. Symphonic music becomes vivid, visual, and accessible in this simple yet exciting tale, set to the music of Handel, Stravinsky, Rossini and others. Designed to introduce children to the beauty and power of classical music, Kamin’s uncanny physical skills make it a concert the whole family will enjoy.
“The Lost Elephant” features music of a distinctly Russian flavor, including Kabalevsky’s “Galop” from “The Comedians,” Stravinsky’s “Galop,” “Polka” and “Waltz,” from Suite No. 2, Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Flight of the Bumblebee” and Mussorgsky’s “Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks” from “Pictures at an Exhibition.” Audiences will also recognize excerpts from Rossini’s “William Tell Overture,” Saint-Saëns’ “The Swan” and “The Elephant,” from “Carnival of the Animals,” and Offenbach’s famous “Can-Can,” from his opera “Orpheus in the Underworld.”
Kamin’s “Comedy Concertos,” which blend lowbrow comedy with highbrow music, are popular with symphonies across the country, including Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Pittsburgh. In addition to “The Lost Elephant,” they include “The Haunted Orchestra,” “Carnival of the Animals,” “The Magic of Mime” and a pops program, “The Horrible History of Music.”
Performances are scheduled for Sunday, March 9 at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. in the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall. Tickets range from $6 to $30 and may be purchased at the Oregon Symphony Ticket Office (923 S.W. Washington), Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. or charged by phone at 503-228-1353 or (800) 228-7343. Tickets also may be purchased at all Ticketmaster outlets (503-790-ARTS) or through Ticketmaster Online, via the Symphony's Web site at www.orsymphony.org. Service fees may apply.
Dan Kamin is a popular guest artist with symphonies nationwide, blending lowbrow comedy with highbrow music in “Comedy Concertos.” In addition to today’s program, these include “The Horrible History of Music,” “Carnival of the Animals” and “The Haunted Orchestra.”
On film, Dan created the physical comedy sequences for both “Chaplin” and “Benny and Joon,” and trained Robert Downey, Jr. and Johnny Depp for their acclaimed starring performances. He also played the wooden Indian come to life in the cult classic “Creepshow 2,” and created the Martian girl’s weird movement for Tim Burton’s horror spoof “Mars Attacks!”
Despite these impressive credits, Dan’s artistic beginnings were humble. At age twelve he began his performing career by doing magic shows at the birthday parties of often-unruly children. Attending Carnegie Mellon University to study industrial design, Dan’s hopes for a normal life evaporated when he saw the eye-popping movement illusions practiced by master mime Jewel Walker. Dan promptly became the sorcerer’s apprentice.
The great silent comedy films of Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin added more fuel to his fire, and soon Dan was touring the country with his first original show, “Silent Comedy...Live!” Undeterred by the fact that vaudeville was long dead, he cobbled a new vaudeville circuit out of colleges, theatres and schools. Dan also creates special programs and pranks for corporate clients such as PPG Industries and Westinghouse. And sometimes he becomes “The Corpozoid Man,” an eerie character who strolls into arts festival crowds in slow motion, terrifying the very children who tormented him as a youth.
Dan returned to his comedy roots to write “Charlie Chaplin’s One-Man Show,” revealing the secrets of Chaplin’s comic art. Hailed as a breakthrough work, the book boasts a preface by another Chaplin fan, Marcel Marceau.
During the past couple of seasons Dan has performed Comedy Concertos with the Boston, Baltimore, Buffalo, Philadelphia, Singapore, Minnesota and other orchestras, directed hit productions of several classic comedies in his home town of Pittsburgh, and toured his solo show throughout America and England.
You can find out more about Dan and see more of his antics by visiting his website, www.dankamin.com.
A writer, director and performer, Susan Chapek is known for creating unique and engaging productions for young audiences and for directing young performers in her own translations and adaptations of theatrical and musical classics.
She has scripted and staged family concert versions of “The Magic Flute” and “Hansel and Gretel” for the Pittsburgh Symphony. Her production of “Peter and the Wolf and the Orchestra,” a collaboration with conductor Keith Lockhart, has been performed with the Pittsburgh, Denver, Canton, and Akron symphonies. Her versions of “The 45-Minute Fledermaus,” “A Little Princess,” “Sleeping Beauty,” “Carmen” (for teen-aged performers), “Bluebeard” and “The Snow Queen” have been staged in theaters across the country.
Chapek has also performed with the Boston, Colorado, Buffalo, and Minnesota symphonies. Her regional, repertory and stock theater appearances include eight seasons with the Pittsburgh Metro Stage and principal roles off Broadway and with the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera. Her screen appearances include roles in “Against Her Will” (with Walter Matthau), “Blind Spot” (with Joanne Woodward), and “Houseguest” (with Sinbad).