Over-the-top performances, under the stars

By Jáedee S.K. Caines

ST. THOMAS --The sky is filled with stars and you are looking at your favorite performing artist. Your eyes stare straight ahead. Your hands are in the air, swaying from left to right and you are tapping your feet without even realizing.

You are nowhere else but in the theater of the Reichhold Center for the Arts located on the St. Thomas Campus of the University of the Virgin Islands.

Dazzling audiences for decades, the Reichhold Center for the Arts is known to many as the premiere performing arts venue in the United States Virgin Islands. With its unique blend of jazz, rhythm and blues, reggae and calypso performances, the Reichhold Center continues to be the venue of choice for the people of the USVI.
It’s very detailed mission statement includes “enriching the cultural and social life of the University of the Virgin Islands and its community with programs and performances drawn from across the globe that exemplify the best human artistic expression and, in so doing, to be recognized as a center of excellence of the University.”
Acts such as Beres Hammond, R. City, Michael McDonald, Oliver Samuel, Patti Austin and Ramsey Lewis have taken to the Reichhold Center stage and performed for hundreds of appreciative Virgin Islanders, particularly members of the UVI community.

Still to perform at the Reichhold Center this season are Soca King Machel Montano High Definition (HD) and Grammy-award winners Musiq Soulchild and Vivian Green.

Machel Montano HD is scheduled to star in the Reichhold Center’s “Carnival J’ouvert Warmup” on Wednesday, April 28, alongside members of his HD family, St. Thomas’s first Party Monarch, Rudy and VI soca band Daddy Jones and Crew with Pumpa.

Meanwhile, Musiq Soulchild and Vivian Green will collaborate on Saturday, May 22, at under the stars as they perform their most memorable hits.

With an exciting 2009-2010 season underway, Co-Director of the Reichhold Center, Pamela Toussaint, and her team are already making plans toward the launch of its 2010-2011 season.

“We are looking at an Aug. 19, 2010 launch date. At Reichhold, we meet for two weeks to discuss which talents will fit best.

“Everyone’s input is important because we need to know what will work from a marketing standpoint, from a technical standpoint and from an operational standpoint,” Toussaint said.

The 2009-2010 season began last October with an energizing performance by live rhythm performing arts group: COBU.

By January 2010, the Center was filled with music lovers from across the territory who listened and danced to the music of the Soweto Gospel Choir from Africa.

The biggest highlight thus far came in March when Florida natives Wilner “Wil-B” Baptiste and Kevin “Kev Marcus” Sylvester of Black Violin stunned audiences in St. Thomas and St. Croix with their unique blend of classical music and hip-hop beats.

The Reichhold Center for the Arts is an auxiliary, nonprofit organization located opposite UVI’s Brewer’s Beach. It was given to the university by Henry H. Reichhold for the purpose of “supporting programs that preserve and enhance the artistic heritage and cultural foundations of the Virgin Islands, the wider Caribbean and the Americas,” according to the Center’s website.

Senior Communications student Nesha David has been attending shows at the Reichhold Center since 2009. David spoke of the Reichhold Center’s impact on the Virgin Islands community as she sipped her cup of Root Beer in the lobby of the South E Residence Hall.

According to David, the Reichhold Center has brought positive recognition to the island of St. Thomas. “Generally speaking, it brings performing arts to a whole other level: putting St. Thomas on par with any upscale theatre worldwide. Ultimately, making available to the VI community, performances to match what we view on television. It's like Reichhold brings it to our backyard,” David said.

While David has attended numerous shows at the Reichhold Center, she recalls one of Oliver Samuel’s many plays as her most memorable Reichhold show. “Oliver Samuel is hilarious! Just hearing his accent makes you laugh out loud. From his facial expressions to his voice intonations…I just love Oliver,” David said.

Among other things, the Reichhold Center is known for its residency programs geared towards promoting the arts in the schools. Hundreds of elementary, junior and high school students have met, sang and performed with some of the top stars in the music business.

Most recently, 30 students received insightful advice from the members of Black Violin. The students were handpicked by their students after showing a special interest in the performing arts.

Critics and well wishers continue to applaud the combined efforts of the staff, sponsors and donors of the Reichhold Center for the Arts. “The Center is a fine example of tropical architecture, a building suited to the character, climate needs, and a personality of the Virgin Islands," says the San Juan Star Magazine.

In a contest hosted by the Virgin Islands Daily News this year, the Reichhold Center for the Arts was voted the “Best Performing Arts Center in the VI.”

With over 30 years of providing entertainment to the people of the VI, the Reichhold Center never gets weary of providing over-the-top performances under the stars.