Van Gogh immersive experience extended
Good news for folks who feared they missed the limited engagement of “Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience,” which was scheduled to end August 6. The run of the show has been extended so that it will continue at its downtown Cincinnati location until at least November 5.
Created by Exhibition Hub, a Brussels-based company specializing in arts-themed events like this, the show and its dazzling projections of Van Gogh images has been a resounding hit here in Cincinnati. The company declined to quote specific attendance numbers, but throughout the run of the show, which began June 4, ticket availability has almost always been listed as "limited."
But now, with three months added to the engagement, "limited" has changed to "good availability."
"Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience" is located at 18 W. Fourth St., downtown, in the former home of the Gidding-Jenny department store and, more recently, T.J. Maxx.
You can get more information at vangoghexpo.com/cincinnati/.
Molly Wellmann – storyteller?
Molly Wellmann, dubbed "Cincinnati's most famous mixologist" by The Enquirer’s Keith Pandolfi, sold Japp’s Since 1879 – her well-known OTR cocktail bar – last month. But she promised Pandolfi that "I’ll still be here."
This probably isn’t a major career move, but we now know at least one of the places where she’ll be.
On September 10, she’ll join Greg Hand and Dann Woellert at Fogarty’s Irish Pub in Cheviot to present a program called "Stand-up History." It’s just what it sounds like. It’s history mixed with a generous dollop of humor. And since the event takes place in a pub, there will probably be dollops of other things, as well.
As Wellmann explained on her Instagram, the event was inspired by Charles Reemelin, a state representative who urged that what was then known as Challensville, Ohio post office be renamed "Dent" in 1846. And that’s what the community has been known as ever since. Reemelin was fond of regaling crowds with stories about local history at the annual Harvest Home Fair, so in his honor, Wellmann and company will spin their own takes of local history during this year’s Harvest Home Fair, which runs Sept. 8-11.
Fogarty’s is located at 3620 Harrison Ave., Cheviot. There are no tickets for what is sure to be the fall’s most entertaining history class, so be sure to get there early and stake out a seat. They’re promising to get started at 4:30 p.m.
"Unmissable moments"
When Cincinnati Shakespeare Company producing artistic director Brian Phillips announced the 2022-2023 season a few months back, he promised that "every production in the season is going to be unmissable."
"King Lear" doesn’t open until September 9. But if the theater’s promotional materials are anything to go by, Phillips’ prediction may be right on the mark. Take a look at this short, but compelling video: https://bit.ly/3QzGF6D.
Longtime Cincy Shakes ensemble member Jim Hopkins plays the title role. Back in 2020, he portrayed a powerful and sometimes ruthless President Lyndon Johnson in the theater’s smashing production of "All the Way." He’s sure to draw on some of those same qualities as he takes on Lear.
Phillips, who is directing the production, believes this is a perfect time to bring the play back to Cincy Shakes, which last staged it 15 years ago.
"When the plague shut down the theater in Shakespeare’s time, he wrote 'King Lear,'" said Phillips. "So it seems only right that we produce this as we come out of our own plague. The play is about power; who has it, what it takes to let it go, how much the next generation wants it and how much of their ethics they’re willing to sacrifice to get it. Pretty timely, eh?"
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati Van Gogh Immersive Experience extended until November
