Oldies on stage and video are good choices for a diversion this weekend

It's a good month for theater in Carson City, with "The Foreigner" at the Brewery the next three weekends and the Broadway musical "Crazy For You," an adaptation of the George and Ira Gershwin 1930s hit "Girl Crazy," starting next weekend at the Community Center.

Some of the songs from the latter show are more than standards - they're as good as pop music can get. Consider "I Got Rhythm" and "Embraceable You," as the best of the best. The show features the adventures of a stage-struck playboy in a Nevada mining town - where romance, mistaken identities and show-stopping musical numbers are classics.

The show-stopping number, "I Got Rhythm," came from "Girl Crazy." It was originally sung by Ethel Merman and accompanied by a pit orchestra that included such jazz greats as Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller and Jimmy Dorsey. George Gershwin himself enjoyed sneaking into the pit for the Wednesday matinees and taking over the piano part.

If memory serves, that haunting ballad "Someone to Watch Over Me" is also part of the show.

BASQUE BASH

The St. Teresa's Basque Festival, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. at Fuji Park on Sunday, is a chance to taste what life was like for the Basque sheepherders of Nevada's past. Vittles include Basque beans, sheepherder bread and more. Plus, there will be burgers and hot dogs for the kids, dancers and shepherding demonstrations.

One wonders how the Basque cooks in the mountains managed to lug all those raw materials around with them. Cost is $25, but youths 16 and under are free. Call 882Ð2079.

DANCE ON DISPLAY

It's World Dance Open Floor Night Monday at 7 p.m. at Comma Coffee. Eyeball the dance styles of Brazil and elsewhere.

Performance time limited to 10 minutes. Call 882-0372.

UP IN THE AIR

Back in Dayton, Ohio, I was a pest when it came to air shows at nearby Vandalia airport. Happily, I had a tolerant mom who would take me to those shows. where the old BeeGee sport planes would entrance me. So if I'm lucky I'll make it to the Reno National Championship Air Races and Air Show at Stead AFB, starting today. American and Canadian acrobatic teams will be on hand, and if form holds, I'll be oohing and aahing like everyone else.

BURNING MAN REDUX

One last report from the recent Burning Man event up by Gerlach:

I'm not sure if it means anything, but while there for a couple of days, the following things happened to me:

A young lady came up and said, "You need a bracelet," and slipped a band of dotted seeds around my wrist.

A man asked my age, and when told it was in the seniors bracket, he said, "Glad you're here."

A couple opened a bottle of chilled French champagne, took a slug, and passed it on to me. Just what was needed on that dry and dusty playa.

And in the night waiting for the Man to burn, another young lady came up and said, "Your face is too dark" and slipped a light tube behind my ear.

Mean anything? I dunno. I was working in Europe during the Flower Child era here. But it was nice to be made part of the event.

ANOTHER OLDIE

George Cukor directed and Philip Barry wrote the play that became "The Philadelphia Story."

The stars were Katherine Hepburn, Cary Grant and Jimmy Stewart. Who could ask for anything more in a 1940s comedy? Hepburn is everything critics said about her: droll, witty, adventuresome and stunningly beautiful.

Grant is debonair, and Stewart a feisty magazine reporter. It's a great comedy and well worth seeing, even if it is in plain old black and white.

n Contact Sam Bauman at sbauman@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1236.