MOMIX: Botanica

The dancer-illusionists of MOMIX return to the Capitol Region this weekend with their new “green-themed” show, Botanica.

For more than 20 years, MOMIX artistic director and award-winning choreographer Moses Pendleton (who grew up, believe it or not, on a dairy farm in northern Vermont) has been conjuring surreal worlds for audiences around the world with celebrated works by his out-of-the-box dance troupe.

The company’s newest work, Botanica, draws inspiration from the natural world. Dancers evoke everything from jellyfish to blossoming trees, entwined with birdsong—and MOMIX’s signature prop work and lightplay—to create a living world on stage.

“I have a strong interest in birds, bees and the secret life of trees,” said Pendleton in a recent interview. “I’m an avant-garde farmer and figured if I’m going to spend that much time in the garden I should find a way to bring it into the theater.”

MOMIX brings Botanica to Proctors Theatre (432 State St., Schenectady) on Saturday (May 2) at 8 PM. Tickets range from $20 to $25. For more info, or to purchase tickets, call the box office at 346-6204.

The Dears

Quick: Name an indie-rock band from Montreal.

That’ll be two indie street-cred points for everyone who said the Arcade Fire, one point for everyone who said the Dears on the basis of the headline alone, and five points for everyone who said the Dears based on their encyclopedic knowledge of the Canadian indie renaissance of the mid-’90s. (We know who you are, and, yes, we’re keeping score.)

After a sudden change in personel late last year, the Dears released the tumultous and celebrated Missiles, which features all the warbling, anthemic singalongs you’d expect from our northern neighbors. L.A. indie-rockers Great Northern and Eulogies round out a bill that finds the Dears at Valentine’s (17 New Scotland Ave., Albany) on Saturday (May 2) at 8 PM. Tickets are $12. Call 432-6572 for more info.

The Hot L Baltimore

In the lobby of a hotel so run-down it has lost the “E” from its marquee, a motley crew of residents—old and young, rebellious and resigned—intermingle their small dramas over a single day. Playwright Lanford Wilson’s resulting mosaic of reminiscences and regrets unfurls as the characters face the impending demolition of their condemned hotel home.

The Hot L Baltimore opened in 1973 to great acclaim, garnering an Obie Award, an Outer Critics Circle Award, and a New York Drama Circle Award for Best American Play. It even spawned a short-lived 1975 sitcom from mega-producer Norman Lear.

As the now-vintage New York Times review of the play’s 1973 premiere at the Circle Theatre extols, “Lanford Wilson writes with understanding and sensitivity about unwanted people. His characters are locked in interior worlds, clinging to solitary, futile dreams—and stubborn about not being defeated. . . . The Baltimore slowly awakens, not, as in Grand Hotel, with international intrigue and high romance, but with everyday encounters and human comedy.”

The Hot L Baltimore opens at Albany Civic Theater (235 Second Ave., Albany) tomorrow (Friday, May 1) at 8 PM and runs through May 17. Tickets are $15. For more info, or to purchase tickets, call 462-1297.