And now for something completely silly ...

The National Broadway Tour of Monty Python’s “Spamalot” will appear Friday, Feb. 8 at 8 p.m. at Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania’s Haas Center for the Arts, Mitrani Hall.

Tickets for the Celebrity Artist Series presentation cost $34.50 for adults, $19.50 for children and $17 for BU students. Based on the work of Eric Idle, Mike Nichols and John Du Prez, the theater production won a Tony Award for Best Musical in 2005. With a plot ripped from the film “Monty Python and the Holy Grail,” King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table encounter dozens of bizarre obstacles, including the taunting Frenchmen and an over-zealous dead body removal service.

Between the outrageous antics and absurd-yet-catchy songs, the Sunday Times says the show “[raised] silliness to an art form.”

Upcoming productions for BU’s Celebrity Artist Series’ 2012-13 season include:

• Luciana Souza – Sunday, Feb. 17, 2013, at 7:30 p.m. in Carver Hall, Kenneth S. Gross Auditorium. Tickets: $29.50 
• DALA – Friday, April 5, 2013, at 7:30 p.m. in Carver Hall, Kenneth S. Gross Auditorium. Tickets: $29.50
• Kathy Mattea – Friday, April 26, 2013, at 8 p.m. in the Haas Center for the Arts, Mitrani Hall. Tickets: $34.50 
• Nai-Ni Chen with the Ahn Trio – Saturday, May 11, 2013, at 8 p.m. in the Haas Center for the Arts, Mitrani Hall. Tickets: $34.50 

 For tickets or more information, visit www.bloomu.edu/cas or call the box office at (570) 389-4409.

What I want to know is how they'll handle the "Black Knight" scene on a stage. — EGF

Reflections on Shakespeare ...

Some thoughts on Shakespeare after seeing BTE's As You Like It with my wife and eight-year-old daughter on Friday.

Walking to the show, Sofie (the eight-year-old) announced that she knows all about Shakespeare ...

A girl dresses up as a boy and proves that girls can do everything boys can do.

(Sofie has seen She's the Man, an absolutely fabulous tween film adaption of Twelfth Night that manages to be simultaneously fresh and fairly faithful.)

That's the thing about Shakespeare. You can adapt it, streamline it, or go huge and it remains essentially awesome.

But whether live or even on film, there is nothing like seeing Shakespeare performed. The words are so stuffed with meanings ... it's almost too much to absorb comfortably by reading. A handful of lines can almost stand as plays in themselves.

An interesting (and unusual) metaphor for the density of information is pure perfume oil described by Luca Turin in his (unexpectedly interesting) book Perfume ...

Pure oils tend to have very dense smells in which the components are hard to discern, which can make you miss most of the point of a well-crafted perfume. It's as if the story of the fragrance were written in very small print. The appropriate dilution opens up the fragrance and makes it legible to your nose. 

And so it is with Shakespeare for me. Somehow a performance gives the words space and room so the mind can unravel and contemplate them.

A few more random thoughts about the BTE production.

• The rock band on stage had a cool Brian Eno/Robert Fripp vibe going. 
• For me, Daniel Roth in particular brought a memorable dignity to the melancholic Jacques (of the "All the world's a stage" speech.) 

— EFG.

PS: FWIW. Here's a vote for Twelfth Night.

Photo realism ...?

Tomiko Jones is exhibiting at Haas Gallery of Art through Feb. 11. The exhibit is open to the public free of charge Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturday from noon to 2 p.m. A reception will be Monday, Feb. 11, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the gallery.

 Jones’ work consists of sculptural video installations and “questionably fictional photographs.” Her videos are essentially moving photographs, showing an authentic scene with innovative angles and perpetual movement.

Jones received a Master of Fine Arts in photography with a certificate in museum studies from the University of Arizona in Tucson in 2008. She has received various awards, including the national Society for Photographic Education Freestyle Crystal Apple Award for Outstanding Achievement. She teaches 3D Concepts at Drury University in Springfield, Mo., as part of a summer intensive Master of Arts Program

Miscellanea: Dine for kidsburg

Dine for Kidsburg 2.0: Dine a Balzano's in Wednesdays in January and 10 percent of food sales will benefit Kidsburg 2.0.

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Looking ahead to ArtWalk-In: The 2013 ArtWalk-In will be Thursday, Feb. 21, from 4 to 8 pm at the Moose Exchange.  To have your work exhibited during this unparalleled annual event, contact the Bloomsburg ArtWalk committee at bloomartwalk@hotmail.com. Space limited, applications due February 1, with $25 fee.

Shakespeare ... rocks

The Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble is staging As You Like It with an on-stage indie-rock band featuring local teen musicians who dig Shakespeare.

Showtimes are Friday and Saturday, Jan. 25 and 26, and Feb. 1 and 2 at 7:30 pm. Laurie McCants directs. Tickets are $18.

Cliff notes of the cliff notes to refresh your memory: This story involves a runaway girl, disguised as a boy, in forest of surprises. Actually — that might describe quite a lot of Shakespeare. The BTE site describes it nicely. EGF.