The Montana Repertory Theatre is touring with Neil Simon’s Lost In Yonkers right now, and they’re coming to Butte with the show.

See it Thursday, February 1st at 8 p.m. at the Mother Lode Theatre in uptown Butte.

I haven’t been able to suss out what the tickets are running–I think it’s a state secret or something. I do know that whatever they’re asking, I’m sure it’s reasonable and Marx and I will certainly catch this one.

For details and to reserve your seats, call the Mother Lode at 723-3602; or visit buttearts.org

Artists slaved away for most of the day yesterday in uptown Butte creating freezing masterpieces.

We drove around town for a bit last night and checked out a lot of the sculptures. There are some really awesome ones up there.

If you have any pictures of the sculptures and would like to share, please e-mail them to us (buttetalk@gmail.com).

If you get a chance, you should really go up and check them out!

On Saturday evening, Delaney, Murphy, and I went to see the Virginia City Players.

We saw The Colleen Bawn:

A highly dramatic and suspensful tale of love and betrayal full of star crossed lovers, sneaky villains, double crosses, harrowing escapes, surprise twists and satisfying endings. This is all done with a distinctly Irish flavor with Celtic tunes of the day interspersed into the action of this most lyrical tale. The stage hit of 1880, this play will bring you to cheers and tears as good wins out in the end.

We enjoyed the performance, especially the second half, the Varied and Vigorous Vagary of Vivacious Vaudeville Acts.

Other shows you can see this season are The Monkey’s Paw and Rumpelstiltskin.

Check out their website for a full schedule and to order tickets online using PayPal.

Side Note:

When ordering tickets online, especially if you order one or two days before the show, print your confirmation sheet to bring with you in case it hasn’t cleared through their PayPal account yet.

VirginiaCityPlayers.com

We hit up the World Museum of Mining today for the 2006 Ghost Walk. It’s sponsored by Butte Cares, The World Museum of Mining and the Butte High History Club (with Butte High History teacher Chris Fisk at the helm).

As per usual, we took a lot of photos for you guys.

One of the most notable moments was the bit about prohibition and the Rookwood Speakeasy, which was done by the folks from Old Butte Historical Adventures and was quite a hoot.

Obviously, a lot of work went into this year’s Ghost Walk and the weather certainly cooperated. We had a great time and a lot of laughs. We’ll be sure to check out future Ghost Walks and we encourage you to do the same.

Check out all our pictures from today and if you’ve got anything to say about the Ghost Walks: comment away!

The Butte Silver Bow Arts Foundation is having a Poetry Palooza tonight at the Venus Rising which will feature area poets exhibitioning their skills.

It begins at 6 pm at the Venus Rising Coffee House (124 S. Main in Butte). Come on out and enjoy some excellent coffee while listening to great local poets.

The Montana Gaelic Cultural Society is spreading the word that the Trinity II Irish Dancers are headed to Butte next Saturday for a performance at the Mother Lode that will benefit this year’s An Rí Rá and the Tiernan Irish Dancers in Butte and Helena.

If you have enjoyed the An Rí Rá outdoor performances by the Trinity Irish Dancers, you will be astonished at the stage production the company will bring to Butte’s Mother Lode Theatre on Saturday, May 6. This presentation, entitled “Celtic Thunder,” brings world-class Irish Dance to Western Montana in a theatre setting.

The World Champion Trinity II Irish Dancers are students under the direction of founder and artistic director, Mark Howard. His company has performed all over the world, and created the style that was later seen in such productions as “Riverdance,” and “Lord of the Dance.” The audience is transported as the company appears in stunning costumes, with mesmerizing energy and talent. Their brilliant execution and remarkable strength, agility, grace and showmanship make it hard to believe these performers are only in their late teens. This company has achieved the World Title in Irish dance – not just once, but 22 times and counting.

In describing the revolutionary style set by Trinity, Howard says, “There is an ocean of difference from Irish step dancing in competitions to what Trinity does. But if you think about America as the melting pot, it makes sense. Without Irish step dancing, there wouldn’t be hoofing. Without Irish music, there wouldn’t be bluegrass. Years from now, we’ll look back and realize we were at a crossroads for Irish dance.”

Howard describes Trinity’s mission as follows: To have the integrity to matter, to push dance by expanding its vocabulary, to make it accessible and cerebral. We did not create the genre, but we are elevating the form.

Trinity II dancers have performed on Good Morning America, the Tonight Show, Late night with Conan O’Brien and Live with Regis. They have appeared in numerous feature films and before many foreign dignitaries. Trinity dancers continue to win the highest level dance championships, and have performed at the An Rí Rá Montana Irish Festival for three years. The company agreed to present this single Montana performance, sponsored by the Montana Gaelic Cultural Society. Proceeds from this event benefit An Rí Rá and the Tiernan Irish Dancers in Butte and Helena. It will be the only performance in Montana, and is not to be missed..

“Celtic Thunder will be presented at 2 p.m. on Saturday May 6 at the Mother Lode Theatre in Butte. Reservations can be made by calling (406) 723-3602.

This is going to be the only show in Montana so this is your only chance to get a spring dose of Irish culture!