HARVIN COLUMN: Local productions add fun, light touch to the week

After the long months of winter, it's fun to lighten up and just be silly. That's why two productions this week will tickle your funny bone and are about the cost of dinner out.

Have a blast

Brad and Jennifer Moranz are at it again with "Blast From the Past 2," which they are billing as an original rock 'n' roll musical.

Brad Moranz says that this is a "story of what happens when a freak meteor shower bombards an oldies record store, bringing all the records to hilarious life. But when aliens show up looking for the meteors, the fun really begins."

The Moranzes are bringing in a professional cast from New York, so the songs, which are big hits of the '50s, '60s and '70s, ought to be fun, too. Songs such as "Great Balls of Fire," "Jumpin' Jack Flash," "Pretty Woman" and "Splish Splash" are just some of the highlights.

"Blast From the Past 2" premieres at 7 p.m. Friday at the Charleston Music Hall, 37 John St., and there are three more performances Saturday and Sunday. Buy tickets online at etix.com or by calling 800-514-3849.

The Bible

The second silly season play this week is the last production of LateNight@The Footlight.

They are presenting "The Bible: The Complete Word of God (Abridged)" by Adam Long, Reed Martin and Austin Tichenor. In 90 minutes of puns, silly songs and irreverent but not blasphemous humor, this play tackles such theological questions as, "Did Adam and Eve have navels?," "Did Moses really look like Charlton Heston?" and "Why isn't the word phonetic spelled the way it sounds?"

Performances start at 9 p.m. Thursday and run through April 9. Tickets are $10 Thursday and $15 for the Friday and Saturday shows. To purchase, contact the Footlight Players box office at 722-4487 or visit www.footlightplayers.net.

Magnetic South

On the musical side, there is a lightness to the choices, too.

The Charleston Symphony Orchestra and the College of Charleston are partnering as Magnetic South for the second in their music series called "Bookends: Chamber Symphony Then & Now."

The music is ranging across 100 years of tradition, picking and choosing from the greats: Schoenberg, Mahler and Strauss.

Yiorgos Vassilandonakis, assistant professor of music theory and composition, played a key role in bringing this series together, along with associate professor Edward Hart. Vassilandonakis is also conductor for the series.

"This music is challenging to perform, and it asks for virtuosity, precision, fresh sounds from traditional instruments and the highest levels of engagement, and the CSO musicians are rising to the occasion with wonderful energy, commitment and musicality."

The concert is 8 p.m. Friday at the Simons Center Recital Hall, 54 St. Philip St.

Tickets are $20 and can be purchased in advance through the CSO online at www.charlestonsymphony.org or by calling the CSO at 723-7528.

Summerville 'Pictures'

And in Summerville, music director Alexander Agrest is lightening the Summerville Community Orchestra performance with a Beatles medley and a Hoagy Carmichael medley as well as a few classics such as "Pictures at an Exhibition."

The latter will be illustrated by pictures by Dorchester School District 2 visual arts students. So parents, get your young folks out to the concert. It will be at 7 p.m. Friday at St. Paul's Doar Hall, 316 W. Carolina Avenue. Tickets are $10 and free for those under 18.

Tickets are available on the SCO website, www.summervilleorchestra.com, or by phone at 873-5339.