SEE
Las Vegas, Nevada
Cirque du Soleil’s Mystère continues at Treasure Island; The Beatles upcoming
While shows continue to sell well for the elaborate Mystère at Treasure Island, anticipation is mounting for the first collaboration between Apple Corps and a major theatrical production. With the opening date still to be announced but sometime in 2006, the joint Beatles and Cirque du Soleil extravaganza will be Cirque’s fifth resident show in Vegas and will be presented at The Mirage. “Cirque du Soleil are probably the only company I can think of who can come anywhere near to matching the Beatles for creativity and of course the shows that they mount are spectacular,” said Beatles producer George Martin, who will oversee the musical elements. The project was born out of a friendship and professional admiration between the late George Harrison and Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberté, and has the approval of Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison. McCartney and Starr will not appear, however. cirquedusoleil.com
DINE
Savannah, Georgia
Vic’s on the River cooks up Southern-style, updated classics; offers room with a view
Expect Southern cuisine prepared with cosmopolitan flair at Vic’s on the River. Vic’s appetizers alone are worth a blissful swoon, such as green tomatoes accompanied by goat cheese and chutney, or the surprising marriage of pulled pork egg rolls with peach chutney, hot mustard and barbecue sauce. Dinner entrees include seafood dishes such as jumbo crab cakes with a three-pepper relish and béarnaise sauce. For the best dinner musings, ask for a table with a view of the Savannah River. Vic’s on the River, 15 East River St., 26 East Bay St. (two entrances ), 912-721-1000, vicsontheriver.com
DINE
Portland, Oregon
Pok Pok top-notch Thai, but labor of love that owner hopes to expand into eatery
Pok Pok, in Thai, is shorthand for green papaya salad, a side of which accompanies almost every dish prepared at this street-side shed and attached four-table patio. Those dishes include Kai yang, crispy game hens roasted on a charcoal rotisserie out back, then halved and laid over a pile of the lip-smacking, tamarind-tasty pok pok. Also good is the khao soi kai, a rich coconut curry chicken soup with crunchy noodles. For owner Andy Ricker, a local who has spent much of the past 17 years traveling through Thailand and studying the food, Pok Pok is a labor of love. He plans to expand from shed to full-on restaurant in the next few months. Pok Pok, 3226 S.E. Division St., 503-232-1387
SEE
Los Angeles,California
Gustave Courbet to get his due at Getty when progressive paintings go on display
Gustave Courbet does not have the same name recognition as some of the French impressionists who came after him. But he is a major figure in 19th-century art history, and his progressive works helped set the stage for impressionism. Most important, his handsomely realized paintings should be appealing to almost any viewer. A selection of 47 of his landscapes go on view Feb. 21 at J. Paul Getty Museum in an exhibition titled, “Courbet and the Modern Landscape.” It will then be shown June 18-Sept. 10 at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston and Oct. 15-Jan. 7, 2007, at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore. “Courbet and the Modern Landscape,” Feb. 21-May 14, J. Paul Getty Museum, 1200 Getty Center Drive, 310-440-7300, getty.edu
– Denver Post staff and wire reports
