Final events bid spirited goodbye to Proletariat
· Covered in promotional movie posters and the nicks and dents from concerts past, the Proletariat has built up a thick layer of rock-and-roll moss over its five-year history. But in the right hand corner of the Proletariat's front window sits a small poster, a tribute not to the venue's past, but to its future: Hands off Richmond. Come next month the Proletariat will close down for demolition this summer in order to make room for the appropriately bourgeois MetroRail University Line along Richmond.
Two is not better than one in Alley musical Love, Janis
· Inner monologue does not always translate well on stage; sometimes it needs a gimmick. Shakespeare's Hamlet had the benefit of iambic pentameter and rhyme for his bare-it-all soliloquy. He also kept the speech under three hours long, unlike Randal Myler's script and direction in the Alley Theatre's production of Love, Janis. Myler's gimmick is also painfully stretched: He stages a vaguely Jekyll-and-Hyde portrayal of two Janis Joplins, played by two separate actresses, and the transition from Janis to Janis could use a little of the bipolar doctor's magic potion. Luckily, the production's music captivates viewers with a psychedelic splendor that undoubtedly saves the show.