CAPE OFFERS PLENTY OF ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

"There's nothing to do" is heard a lot from youngsters.

But when the speaker is an adult in Cape Girardeau, the statement becomes irritating. Even worse, it is way off base.

Still, we hear it again and again, most recently because none of the local movie theaters showed "Pollock," although one of its stars won the Oscar for best supporting actress. A Speak Out caller said Cape Girardeau wouldn't get an "intelligent film" like that, because all we have for entertainment are "downtown bars, rodeos, out-of-date bands or inane country music at the Show Me Center."

That's partially true. Cape Girardeau does have plenty of downtown bars. Still another is about to open. And rodeos and bands without current hits book the Show Me Center with some regularity.

But to all those who would mock Cape Girardeau's entertainment scene: Where were you when Southeast Missouri's own Grammy-winning rocker Sheryl Crow played the Show Me Center in December?

She's churning out hits every year. Yet only a couple thousand fans turned out when the Show Me Center could have held 7,000. And the concert was to benefit two good causes: the Kennett Higher Education Center and the River Campus in Cape Girardeau.

And where were you when the critically acclaimed, New York-based Living Arts Inc. troupe presented "Porgy and Bess" at the Show Me Center in February? It was a fluke that a city the size of Cape Girardeau could attract a group of that caliber, but that show sold only 1,100 tickets.

Where were you when three local plays opened the first week of April? Where were you when Carnegie Hall-playing Neal Boyd sent chills through the audience with his opera selections at Old St. Vincent Church on April 7?

Do you attend the fine lectures presented at Southeast Missouri State University? They've recently covered everything from the suffragist movement to tensions in the Middle East, but seldom do the speakers address a full room.

Cape Girardeau is booming with entertainment opportunities. They're listed in the Southeast Missourian's Friday Arts & Leisure section and on semissourian.com.

And now we have another opportunity.

Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, founded in New York City, will perform at 7 p.m. Thursday at Rose Theater on the Southeast Missouri State University campus. The group has toured Europe 23 times since its 1974 formation. The dancers parody classical ballet and compare their humor to Lucille Ball's.

Sounds intelligent.

Will you be there?