Smith Center Blog

7/31/2019

Performances and Artists

Find Your Inner Princess at ‘Broadway Princess Party’

This hit show started out as simple fun between friends. Four years ago, acclaimed Broadway music director Benjamin Rauhala teasingly suggested the show’s idea to Laura Osnes, who leapt at the chance to cowrite it with him. With other prominent actresses quickly signing on, the first “Broadway Princess Party” ran at the famous Feinstein’s/54 Below in New York City.

7/28/2019

National Geographic Live

Explore Secret Cultures and Predator-Infested Waters with National Geographic Live!

Few get the chance to hike or deep-sea dive where no humans have ventured before. Even fewer go under cover, risking life and limb to expose dangerous truths. Four intrepid National Geographic reporters have done all of this, with breathtaking results ⁠— and they want to take audiences on a firsthand journey of what they’ve experienced.

7/26/2019

Education and Outreach / Family Programming

Vegas Kids Find Self-Confidence, Joy on Stage with Camp Broadway

Jaelina Richardson admits she initially felt some self doubt this year at Camp Broadway, The Smith Center’s eighth-annual summer theater program. “I was really nervous preparing for a solo part, especially because other girls were also singing solos,” says the 12-year-old Las Vegas resident. But Richardson’s attitude changed during the weeklong Mainstage camp.

7/9/2019

Performances and Artists

How 'Taj Express' Brings Bollywood's Explosive Dances to the Stage

Everyone knows what makes India’s Bollywood films so addictive: The outrageously high-energy musical numbers. Breaking out in almost every scene, these elaborate song-and-dance routines suck in audiences with dazzling costumes, infectious original music and athletic dance steps. This same flashy and exuberant musical celebration is captured live on stage in “Taj Express."

7/8/2019

Performances and Artists

Legendary Percussionist Discusses Friendships with Tito Peunte and Carlos Santana

Few people can say they have been personally mentored by Latin-music icon Tito Puente. But when Pete Escovedo met Puente as an ambitious 18 year old, Puente saw a spark in the teenager that he decided to nurture. “I looked up to him as the greatest timbale (player) ever,” Escovedo recalls.

7/3/2019

Education and Outreach

The Smith Center Sends Las Vegas Students to Compete on Broadway in National Event

The first time Las Vegas student Sophia Wilson stepped on stage at the Minskoff Theatre on Broadway, she felt a sense of belonging. That’s because Wilson, along with fellow Las Vegas student Joey Cooper, traveled to Broadway for a reason in June: to represent Nevada while competing in the 2019 National High School Musical Theatre Awards, the Jimmy Awards.

7/1/2019

Discovering The Smith Center

The Sound of Perfection

After serving as a top audio engineer on tour with Prince, Kevin Harvey has high standards ingrained in his blood. “If you were even a little far from what he wanted, you were going home the next day,” recalls Harvey, now head audio engineer for Myron’s Cabaret Jazz at The Smith Center. “You lived in a pressure zone.”