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Johnny's SummaryBright Night Providence -- 4.5 out of 5 stars
Review by Johnny Monsarrat
From all the advertisements, New Years Eve can seem like a celebration just for boozing and nightclubs. But Providence, with its superior arts scene, holds the annual Bright Night event. Although modeled on the many First Nights in New England, it is the only one within 30 miles. You buy a single ticket and that gives you admission to 17 venues around town. You'll find magic, juggling, comedy, and all manner of dance and music performance. This New Years I was able to check out the scene directly.
Of course, there are far too many events and time was too short to attend more than a few! The diversity of the program is surprising. Whether you've got small kids or you're an adult just out with friends, you'll find something right for you.
My friends and I started with the ice skating performance and opening ceremonies, which came with a small parade. Professional skaters came from all around New England to entertain us, ending with a shortened version of Little Red Riding Hood. Skating was half-price all day and the outdoor air was just cold enough to be interesting, but pleasant, not painful. Every performance was fun.
Then we checked out Big Nazo, the highlight of the evening. They play uplifting music while wearing giant alien costumes, and the effect is magical and transformative. Kids of course love it, but as an adult I was also entranced! The costumes were of all shapes and sizes, but followed an aesthetic theme. The music was catchy and made you want to sway to the beat -- and then they invited volunteers to get up on stage, don a headpiece, and dance around! They had so many clever effects and costume changes that I'm going to remember that show for a long time.
We ended up also visiting one of the church venues and seeing Chris Carbone, a magician, comedian, and juggler. His show was aimed at kids, so the kids in our group loved it, despite the indirect lighting which made it a bit too dark to see the tricks properly. Most of the comedy came from Chris pretending to stumble through the tricks. The children never got tired of giggling and pointing out what he'd done wrong!
Then we headed to the headline performance, Brad Ross. His act took place in the giant Rhode Island Convention Center and well over 1,000 people attended despite that Brad held 3 shows that night and there were plenty of other things on the program. His stage show was solid, and I can see why he would tour with it, although you will not see anything remarkably new. It was also fairly kids-oriented, the sort of thing that you would see at an outdoor festival in the summer. My favorite stunt was a joke with a pizza box where he showed us how the trick worked and let the kids in the audience (again, they love to do this) laugh and point out his mistake.
New Years Eve is tricky and if you live nearby, or want an excuse to get out of town and stay overnight, I can heartily recommend Providence's Bright Night. While they don't have fireworks, we didn't notice and were glad to spend most of the evening indoors. The breadth and depth of their arts offerings will surprise you!
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