TOP ENTERTAINMENT of the YEAR

TOP ENTERTAINMENT

of the YEAR

A LOOK BACK AT THE VALLEY’S BIGGEST LOCAL ENTERTAINMENT STORIES

1: Barry Manilow

2: Stambaugh Auditorium pipe organ restoration

3: Ed O’Neill

4: Lawrence Brownlee announcement

5: Covelli concerts keep coming

6: Skyball on TV

7: Frank Castronovo retires

8: Rand Becker honored

9: “Utoya Island” outrage

10: Local residents compete

Staff report

When Barry Manilow decided to do a mini-tour this summer, it turned into a rare opportunity for the Youngstown Symphony Orchestra.

The pop legend usually limits his performances to Las Vegas but scheduled four road dates in late August. He reached a deal with the YSO to accompany him on the shows. About 40 members of the orchestra traveled to Toronto and Saratoga Springs, N.Y., before returning to Youngstown for a show at Covelli Centre. The final show was in Windsor, Ontario.

The tour brought exposure to the ensemble and the city, and for that reason it gets the nod as The Vindicator’s top entertainment story of 2011.

“The more the symphony name gets out there, the better,” said Randall Craig Fleischer, YSO music director and conductor. “It’s putting the Youngstown in front of an audience that didn’t come to hear Bach and Beethoven.”

Fleischer didn’t join the YSO on the mini-tour because the musicians were under the command of Manilow’s music director.

During his sold-out Covelli Centre concert, Manilow praised the YSO. “They are fantastic,” he told the crowd. “They represented you so beautifully. So, I kind of feel like I know all of you already.”

Here’s a look at the other stories that made the list:

2. PIPE ORGAN RESTORED:

A $1.5 million project saw the historic instrument dismantled and trucked to a plant in Connecticut for a couple of years. The restored 1926 Skinner pipe organ was rededicated in a September concert by the Youngstown Symphony Orchestra, and subsequently used in a series of performances.

3. ED O’NEILL’S ACCOLADES:

The actor who grew up on the North Side of Youngstown has been on a career high. This summer, O’Neill was nominated for an Emmy Award for his role in the smash ABC sitcom “Modern Family.” A few weeks later, he received a star on the iconic Hollywood Walk of Fame.

4. LAWRENCE BROWNLEE:

This Youngstown native has been at the top of the international opera world for several years, but has never performed in his hometown. But that’s about to change. In November, Opera Western Reserve announced that Brownlee will sing a lead role in the company’s production of “The Barber of Seville” in the fall of 2012.

5. COVELLI CONCERTS:

It was another year of big shows at the downtown arena, lead by a trio of A-list tours. Country superstar Tim McGraw, and rock bands Motley Crue and Guns N’ Roses all played to packed houses this year.

6. SKYBALL ON TV:

First Brian Kessler of Boardman invented the high-bouncing Skyball. Then he invented a sport that he named after it. Kessler put “Skyball League” on television in a half-dozen markets this summer and was met with very encouraging ratings. As an added bonus, the Youngstown team wound up winning the inaugural championship.

7. FRANK CASTRONOVO RETIRES:

The director of the department of theater at Youngstown State University gets the lion’s share of the credit for transforming a fledgling program into a nationally-accredited department. After four decades at YSU, Castronovo announced he will retire at the end of the 2011-12 school year. His influence will be felt for many years, however, as many of the actors who grace area stages came through his program.

8. RAND BECKER HONORED:

The Youngstown Playhouse’s amazing turnaround wouldn’t have been possible without the efforts and knowledge of board president Rand Becker. He brought the theater back from the brink of extinction and restored it to the top of the regional theater world in less than two years. To honor him, the Playhouse rededicated its lobby earlier this month, naming it for Becker and his wife, Eleanor.

9. “UTOYA ISLAND” OUTRAGE:

An ultra-low budget film made by Vitaliy Versace of California and Cleveland, shot in Youngstown with local amateur actors, briefly found itself in the center of an international maelstrom of attention. The film depicted the July rampage by a deranged gunman on Norway’s Utoya Island that left 69 children dead. Officials and citizens of that country were outraged at the film, saying it was much too soon.

10. LOCAL RESIDENTS COMPETE:

Fifteen-year-old Kenzie Palmer of New Wilmington, Pa., became the youngest contestant ever to advance to the Hollywood round of “American Idol.” Shane Golden of Youngstown also made it past the initial round on the popular Fox singing competition show this winter. In June, Kristin Dobson of Howland, a dance instructor at Fred Astaire studio in Boardman, made it past the first round of the Fox dance competition show “So You Think You Can Dance.” She danced on the show with Travis Manero of Fred Astaire in Boardman.