The North Fresno ArtHop doesn't usually get as much love as its much bigger southern cousin, so here's a plug for two venues:

Mixed media artist Myrna Axt will hold an artist's reception 5 p.m. Thursday for her new exhibition, "Existence & Materialism: A Voyage of My Imagination," at Boling Fine Arts Gallery. Axt says her work in the show focuses on "our modern-day materialism where objects are thrown away, and where consumption represents the 'good life, ' focusing more on money, image, and fame than ever before." The show, which opened May 1, runs through May 25.

Check out the winning entry in the sixth annual "I Am Fresno State" competition:

Rigoberto Moran of Farmersville, a junior majoring in Mass Communication and Journalism with a digital media option, won the first place $400 cash award plus $200 as the "viewers' choice" selection.

Here's the lineup:

WONDER OF THE WORLD
By David Lindsay-Abaire
Directed by Brad Myers
October 5-13, 2012

THE STY OF THE BLIND PIG
By Phillip Hayes Dean
Directed by Thomas-Whit Ellis
November 2-10, 2012

THE ELEPHANT MAN
By Bernard Pomerance
Directed by J. Daniel Herring
December 7-15, 2012

CONTEMPORARY DANCE ENSEMBLE
Kenneth Balint, Artistic Director
February 15-23, 2013

FROZEN
By Bryony Lavery
Directed by Kathleen McKinley
March 15-23, 2013

THE ARABIAN NIGHTS
By Mary Zimmerman
Directed by Ruth Griffin
May 3-11, 2013

Looks like a challenging, provocative season. I'm looking forward to it!

Good Company Players is gearing up in a big way for the highlight of its season: the starring appearance of country-music star Louise Mandrell in the musical "Calamity Jane," which opens July 19. I devoted my Sunday Spotlight column to Mandrell's recent trip to Fresno. She came to sit in on auditions for the remaining roles in the show.

Mandrell told me that "Calamity Jane" will be the last time she performs, at least into the near future. She isn't using the word retirement, but her husband, John Haywood, has been ill, and in recent years she's cut back her career to spend more time with him.

"Because of my husband's health, this is the last thing on the books," she says of her appearance in the Good Company show. "If his health improves, that may change, but as of now, this is the last thing that is for sure."

And who will play the role of Wild Bill Hickok, the love interest of Calamity Jane, in the show? The lucky guy is veteran Good Company actor Brian Pucheu. Mandrell told me after the casting announcement that she's delighted to work with Pucheu, although she admits that the extreme beard that he sported during auditions -- which he grew out for his first-rate portrayal of Charles Guiteau in the just-finished run of "Assassins" at Fresno State -- did throw her at first. After she looked at pictures of a less-hirsute Pucheu in earlier roles for Good Company, she declared him "quite handsome."

Photo: Mandrell, left, works with William Johnson, Brian Pucheu and Teddy Moldonado during auditions for "Calamity Jane." On the jump: More pics and the "Calamity Jane" cast list.

The show went on.

Despite all the drama off stage -- an ongoing strike by local union musicians, along with the replacement just four days ago of three principal performers after the national actors' union supported the striking musicians -- Fresno Grand Opera steamed on schedule into the Saroyan Theatre Friday night with "Show Boat."

There are wonderful moments in this show -- and some uneven and bland ones, too. (And on Friday a few too many opening-night jitters.) But overall this "Show Boat" is a nice production of an important piece of theater history. The play might seem a little creaky at times in terms of narrative and structure, but it offers glorious music and lyrics by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II. Strong performances from some of the principal performers (who came from both the opera and musical-theater worlds) add a nice polish to the show, and it's fun to watch hard working and talented community-theater actors get to do their thing as members of the ensemble on the big Saroyan stage.

There's one additional performance of "Show Boat" 2 p.m. today (Saturday).

There are just hours to go before Fresno Grand Opera's last production of the 2011-12 season, "Show Boat," opens. Because of the strike against the opera company by the local musicians union, which I've covered in great detail, I think it's safe to say that no production in local history has divided the community so sharply even before the downbeat.

Within minutes of posting my regular Weekend Picks Beehive compilation feature on Facebook -- which did not include "Show Boat" because I knew I'd need to devote an entire post to the complexities of the issue -- a reader asked: "and what about SHOWBOAT?"

I'm seeing the show tonight and plan to post a review and recap of the evening, probably in the wee hours. I think the whole experience will be fascinating. It's only human nature to view any kind of art through one's own subjective filters, and how an audience member feels about the strike will likely color perceptions. (On Facebook, some people have already talked about how great the show will be, while others say it will be substandard.) As a critic, I have to try to leave all the baggage of the show at the door and approach it purely as an artistic experience.

Before I get into a recap of strike-related stuff, I'll point you to my traditional-style preview piece in Friday's 7 section. In an interview with stage director Valerie Rachelle, I trace the importance of "Show Boat" in the musical theater canon and talk about specifics of the Fresno production. Jessica Medoff, pictured, who plays the leading role of Magnolia in the historic musical, comes to Fresno Grand Opera production after experience in both operatic and musical theater roles with such companies as Opera New Jersey and Utah Festival Opera and Musical Theater.

1. SUPPORT A TALENTED YOUNG SOPRANO
The Orpheus chamber ensemble had originally planned a Mother's Day finale to its season, but members decided to turn the slot on the schedule over to Sharon Rogers, a junior Fresno State vocal major, in a program titled "Presenting Sharon Rogers: An Afternoon of Arias and Songs." The performance is a benefit for the singer, who is raising money to attend a special summer program at the California Opera Academy in San Francisco. She performs 5 p.m. Sunday. [Details]

The Fresno Philharmonic announced today that it has hired a new executive director: Stephen Wilson, who comes to Fresno after a 12-year stint as executive director of the Binghamton Philharmonic in New York State.

The Fresno Philharmonic has been without a permanent executive director since the departure in October of Don Reinhold. David Gaylin served as interim executive director. Wilson will begin his position in mid-July.

During his tenure in Binghamton, Wilson oversaw the search for music director José-Luis Novo, the establishment of the orchestra's first endowed chairs and the appointment of the orchestra's first composer-in-residence. He worked as a fundraiser with the Binghamton Philharmonic for three years prior to his appointment as executive director, and before that .

"The Fresno Philharmonic has a wonderful legacy of excellence, providing terrific performances under the artistic direction of Music Director Theodore Kuchar," Wilson said in a statement. "I am inspired by the devoted support of the Board and community of supporters, and am eager to be an integral part of the Fresno Philharmonic's future."

"Geez," the woman sitting behind me says in a half whisper/half gasp, as Giuseppe Zangara, the attempted assassin of Franklin D. Roosevelt, jerks and wiggles in the electric chair onstage.

"Assassins" sparks a variety of reactions from audience members -- some that you don't normally associate with musical theater. Shock comes to mind. So does consternation. A musical that pushes you into an intimate acquaintance with nine successful and would-be presidential assassins is a surprising experience to absorb -- especially for those walking into the show oblivious of the subject matter. And even for those familiar with the premise and who cherish theater legend Stephen Sondheim, who wrote the score and lyrics, the musical is the kind of experience that slaps you around a little. It's disconcerting when you find yourself starting to bond with some of the most nefarious names from American history.

For all these reasons and more, I'm excited that Fresno State does the material proud with a terrific, taut production. (It continues through Saturday.)

Director Brad Myers has crafted an experience that is both aggressively cerebral and punch-to-the-gut visceral. Eloquently staged with a minimum of glitz and fuss, his interpretation of Stephen Sondheim's controversial title has a brisk, polished confidence. Even as the audience might feel a little unmoored by the subject matter -- it's quite creepy watching an entire cadre of past and future assassins ganging up on Lee Harvey Oswald and convincing him to kill JFK -- Myers doesn't let us flail. His careful treatment of the material gives us something solid to hold onto even as we muse about such esoteric issues as American individualism and the ease with which a gun can make a nobody into an historical figure.

UPDATE 5:30 p.m.: I talked with Ronald D. Eichman, the general director of Fresno Grand Opera, who confirms that the three members of Actors' Equity who were in the production will not perform in "Show Boat."

"They have been recast, and so the show is not impacted in any way," Eichman said. "We have exceptional artists who will be on stage. We will not be deterred. 'Show Boat' will happen as scheduled."

He would not name the three Equity actors involved.

ORIGINAL POST: There's a new development in the ongoing strike by local musicians against Fresno Grand Opera. National leadership for the Actors' Equity Association, the union for professional actors, voted yesterday to support the musicians union and instructed its members not to perform in "Show Boat," which opens Friday.

Larry Gardner, president of Local 12 of the American Federation of Musicians, says it's his understanding that three principal cast members who are members of Actors' Equity have left the show.