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GRAY AREAS: Looking back at all the great shows in the Valley in 2021

Part of me wants to start this year-end column with a Grateful Dead quote -- "What a long, strange trip it's been."

But that's not really accurate, because it implies the trip is at its end. And anyone paying any attention to the headlines in recent days and weeks knows a desired destination is nowhere in sight.

I feel like I've been staring at an airport flight arrival monitor for 21 months. After changing the predicted landing time too many times to count, they've given up and replaced the time with a shrugging emoji -- "When is this going to end? We have no idea."

That said, 2021 certainly was an improvement over 2020. That year I felt more like a magician than an entertainment editor, creating the illusion of an entertainment section at a time when none of the events that normally filled it existed. The challenge the last several months has been trying to find time to cover everything worthy of attention and finding space in the newspaper to put it.

It was a great fall for local theater. Youngstown Playhouse opened its season at Powers Auditorium and presented a production of "The Color Purple" that rivaled the national tours that occasionally appear on that stage. Then it sold out its run of "Elf the Musical" in December and added a performance to accommodate demand.

As good as the musicals were, I think I enjoyed the thought-provoking Moyer Room drama "Marjorie Prime" most of all.

Trumbull New Theatre started its 2021-22 season with a couple of crowd pleasers, the entertaining farce "Clue" and the hilarious musical "Something Rotten," which filled the TNT stage with talent and the theater with laughter.

Kent State University at Trumbull deserved a bigger audience than it drew (at least for the performance I saw) of "The Thanksgiving Play," but director Eric Kildow continues to pick adventurous scripts for its theater program.

I'm disappointed I missed Youngstown State University's production of "Little Shop of Horrors," one of my favorite musicals, but it opened while I was off work for surgery, and there were two other shows to review on its second weekend. I also regret missing Selah Dessert Theatre's production of "Clarence Darrow."

Other theaters returned but also gave reminders that things aren't back to normal. Hopewell Theatre's "20th Century Blues" was a gem -- a magnificent cast expertly directed on a beautiful set -- but its second show was wiped out after one performance due to a positive COVID-19 case in its four-member cast.

I'm looking forward to Millennial Theatre Company using Hopewell's performance space next month for its production of "Heathers the Musical."

Easy Street Productions staged "Nunsense" in front of an audience in November, but Todd Hancock and Maureen Collins made a wise choice in opting to keep its holiday show "Miracle on Easy Street" on television for a second year. Not only was it the safest option for a show that traditionally features more than 100 performers , but the television production brought some Christmas cheer to many who wouldn't have been able to enjoy it otherwise.

There were some very good online productions -- Rust Belt Theater Company's "Quarantine: A Socially Distant Musical," Kayla Boye's one-woman show about Elizabeth Taylor "Call Me Elizabeth," Millennial's "The Last Five Years" and Kent-Trumbull's "She Kills Monsters" immediately come to mind -- and there's certainly a convenience that comes with watching a show at home. But I'm hoping those kinds of shows are done by choice instead of necessity in the new year.

There also was no shortage of great music in the Valley.

Any year when I can see Rick Nielsen of Cheap Trick twice within five minutes of my office would be considered a great one under normal circumstances. The fact that Packard Music Hall was a little more than half full for Cheap Trick in November and let's just say The Nielsen Trust was less than half full at the Robins Theatre in June (OK, way less than half full and y'all missed a great show) indicates that the concert business hasn't quite returned to normal.

Covelli Centre only hosted a handful of concerts in 2021, and three of the national acts JAC booked at the Youngstown Foundation Amphitheatre were canceled due to COVID-19 outbreaks in the touring entourage. One of my favorite interviews of 2021 was the Zoom conversation I had with Counting Crows lead singer Adam Duritz, so that cancellation in particular was a heartbreaker.

But I saw some great shows locally, from Christone Kingfish Ingram at the Robins Theatre to K.Flay at Westside Bowl.

While I stayed close to home for most of my concert going, my daughter and I went to Cincinnati to see Red Wanting Blue's first public gig in more than a year in July. And we'll be at Westside Bowl for their first local gig in more than two years in February.

I also saw two of my favorites, Jason Isbell and Strand of Oaks, at UPMC Events Center outside of Pittsburgh earlier this month. If I'm picking a favorite album of 2021, it's Strand of Oaks' "In Heaven." Give it a listen.

But one of my favorite live shows also was the most recent - The Vindys & Friends at Westside Bowl two days before Christmas. The show had a loose, fun vibe as the band and a slew of guests played holiday songs that are kind of traditional ("White Christmas," "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas") and definitely not (Fountains of Wayne's "I Want an Alien for Christmas," The Ramones "Merry Christmas I Don't Want to Fight Tonight"). I hope that show becomes an annual tradition.

Many local musicians focused on creating new music while performance opportunities were limited. Trying to list them all will guarantee I forget several, but the one song I can't get out of my head is Demos Papadimas' "The Way Up," the title track from his recent studio release. The cautious optimism of the song seems to fit the tenor of the times.

And I do try to be cautiously optimistic, if for no other reason than the alternative is too depressing to ponder.

Every weekend local musicians, some playing originals and many playing covers, can be found at the venues that still book live entertainment.

The Butler Institute of American Art had several stellar exhibitions in 2021. The expansion at Medici Museum of Art is stunning. Other spaces like McDonough Museum of Art and Soap Gallery in Youngstown or Trumbull Art Gallery and Art on Park in Warren provide outlets for local and regional artists to get their work seen (and maybe sold). And it's pretty easy to remain socially distanced in a gallery, where touching things already is discouraged.

For those whose tastes lean more toward jazz and classical instead of rock, pop, hip hop, country or blues, Youngstown State University offers a full slate of free performances, and both the Youngstown Symphony Orchestra (which continues its search for a replacement for conductor Randall Craig Fleischer) and Warren Philharmonic Orchestra have resumed live performances.

Be safe. Be considerate of others. Take advantage of the bounty of options available in this area. See you in 2022.

Andy Gray is the entertainment editor of Ticket. Write to him at agray@tribtoday.com.