ARTS & CULTURE

ARTS &

CULTURE

Wondercade

PHOTO: PROVIDED BY WONDERCADE

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With the opening of Wondercade and Game N Groove this summer, Westwood is adding a burgeoning “video game district” to its list of attractions

BY SEAN M. PETERS

Westwood has its own video game district, thanks to the addition of businesses Wondercade and Game N Groove, which both opened this summer. Wondercade is a “retro-future” arcade packed with classic and contemporary video games and pinball machines and is open to all ages until 9 p.m., with food and adult beverages available. Game N Groove buys and sells used video games, movies and music — including classic and vintage items. e two businesses are neighbors, suddenly making Westwood a premium destination for gamers of any age. is is part of a promising trend for the neighborhood due to the resurgence of new businesses that are opening up in once-vacant storefronts.

WONDERCADE

Leslie and Bill Rich, owners of Wondercade, moved to Westwood together 18 years ago and began to amass their own collection of arcade cabinets. It all started with Space Invaders. Asteroids came soon afterward. en a pinball machine. After four or ve game cabinets were under their roof, the idea of opening their own arcade came up more and more in conversation.

As time went on, Leslie and Bill began to visit arcades to see how they operated and gure out how they’d like to run their own. One of the biggest problems they encountered with many of the arcades was that children were not allowed inside, which seemed counterintuitive since video games were originally marketed to kids and teens. So when the time came for them to open their establishment, they decided it would be for the whole family. While most newly opened arcades seem to be bars rst and arcades second, Wondercade operates as an arcade that happens to serve food and drinks — boozy, if you’d like.

“We found that was a huge niche that wasn’t being served,” Bill says. “What we wanted to bring to the neighborhood was somewhere you could bring your family and feel safe.”

Wondercade and Game N Groove (pictured) are forming a video game district in Westwood.

PHOTO: FACEBOOK.COM/GAMENGROOVE

“(Parents) want to share this experience with their kids and, here's the thing, a lot of people think that kids won't like these (vintage) games,” Bill continues. “Totally wrong. Good games are good games, no matter how old they are.”

Inside, the arcade games are punctuated by neon lights, and the air is full of friendly electronic blips and melodies. Wondercade’s building was previously Keidel Supply’s main showroom for plumbing supplies, vacant for a decade before the Rich family renovated everything.

“It's been great to see people experience the space the way that we thought that they would,” Leslie says. “To have a place where everyone can come and build that gaming community in person after being separated for over a year (due to the pandemic) has been really a joy. I am excited to see folks of all ages come together, because I think this is one of the few spots where people who are uni ed by the love of gaming can interact intergenerationally.” ere’s a solid mix of classic, old-school arcade games at Wondercade — Gauntlet, Missile Command and the like — alongside more modern titles such as Killer Queen. Admission is a at $8 — rising to $10 in 2022 — which gives you access to the arcade all day (kids 5 and under are free). If you want to leave the arcade but come back later — say, to get dinner at Nation Kitchen & Bar’s Westwood restaurant or grab a few more beers at West Side Brewing down the street — you can gain reentry with a handstamp.

After 9 p.m., the arcade caters to ages 18 and up, so make sure to ditch those kids before you save Earth from pixelated space invaders. Wondercade, 3143 Harrison Ave., Westwood, wondercadecincy.com.

GAME N GROOVE

Right next door to Wondercade is a new retail shop where you can buy, trade and sell used video games, movies, music and more. is store didn’t open next to the arcade coincidentally, either. Business owner Kelon Buncher credits Bill Rich for the idea to move in.

“My wife grew up in Delhi and had brought it up one day to look around the West Side (to open a business),” Buncher says. “As I was looking around, I met Bill Rich from Wondercade.”

Buncher and his business partner, Max Vignola, met with Bill, who gave them a tour of the arcade before it was open for business.

“He then mentioned, ‘You know the building next door is up for rent. You guys would complement the arcade perfectly,’ And that was it,” Buncher says. ‘You can just see the potential of the Westwood Business District and all of the work that has already gone into making it a beautiful neighborhood from the existing businesses.” e layout of Game N Groove has you enter right by the register counter. From there you can go forward and take a right into their vintage game section where you’ll nd everything from Intellivision and Game Boy to Sega CD games and consoles, with loads of golden-age Nintendo games packed into one tiny alcove.

Pressing on, you can browse the modern disc-based games and consoles for sale. ere are sample consoles hooked up to TVs if you want to play whichever games sta members chose for the day. e largest room is dedicated to Game N Groove’s massive DVD collection. is is the place to nd that random season of Bu y the Vampire Slayer you’ve been looking for to complete your shrine to Sarah Michelle Gellar (and who isn’t?). Game N Groove’s VHS collection shares a room with all the music media for now, while the team builds out a dedicated music room that’s still under construction.

“ e neighborhood is awesome. It’s been a great and welcoming experience,” Buncher says. “Westwood is a fun neighborhood.”

Westwood is a lot more fun of a neighborhood these days, thanks in part to all these video games. Game N Groove, 3139 Harrison Ave., Westwood, facebook.com/gameNgroove.

CLASSICAL CSO's Louis Langrée Appointed Director of France's Opéra Comique

BY ANNE ARENSTEIN

Louis Langrée

PHOTO: CHRIS LEE

In June, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra announced that Music Director Louis Langrée was not renewing his contract and would depart at the conclusion of the 2023-24 season.

Speculation about what might be next for the popular maestro was answered recently, when the French Cultural Ministry announced Langrée’s appointment as director of the Opéra Comique in Paris, one of France’s ve national theaters. His ve-year contract began Nov. 1, but won’t interfere with his plans for the CSO.

Speaking by phone from Paris, Langrée sounds exhausted and exhilarated. “ is position has very special resonance for me,” he tells CityBeat. “My parents and I were educated in public schools and I attended a public conservatory. Now that I’m 60, I feel it’s time to repay my country for all it helped me to achieve. And I want to mentor the next generation of artists.”

In an email to family and close friends, Langrée wrote with customary modesty and awe of the appointment, noting that some of the rst operas he conducted were works that premiered at the Opéra Comique.

Founded in 1714 during the reign of Louis XIV, the Opéra Comique is one of the oldest theaters in France, along with Opéra national de Paris and the Comédie Française, but it was not named a national, state-supported theater until 2015.

In keeping with the protocols of being a state institution, Langrée met with sta members, the French Minister of Culture and, nally, with French President Emmanuel Macron.

“It was amazing,” he says. “It was just the two of us in his o ce and in that half-hour, he immediately put me at ease. His knowledge of the theater and its projects deeply impressed me.”

Langrée notes that Opéra Comique is frequently mistranslated (and misunderstood) as comic opera.

“It’s the intersection of music and spoken word, like American musical theater, Spanish zarzuela and German singspiel,” he says.

Since its founding, Opéra Comique has premiered nearly 3,000 such works, including Bizet’s Carmen, O enbach’s Les Contes d’Ho mann and Debussy’s Pelléas and Mélisande.

Langrée debuted at the Opéra Comique in 2009, conducting Fortunio, a lyric comedy by Andrë Messager. His new role encompasses more than conducting and music supervision — he will oversee a team of artists, administrators and educators.

“ is is a space I know well and love,” Langrée says. “And it’s a terri c team.”

He acknowledges that the theater is frequently overlooked by visitors, and he would like to change its website’s description as “the best-kept secret in Paris.”

“It’s a beautiful building and you’ll have a more intimate and human experience in this theater," he says. " e acoustics are ideal and the productions are exciting.”

Langrée lists commissioning new works and mentoring young artists as top priorities. Since he assumed leadership of the CSO, he has commissioned 33 works, and he says that the CSO and Opéra Comique share a strong sense of tradition that inspires innovation and creativity.

Langrée remains committed to the CSO and the Cincinnati community during the remaining three years of his contract. He’s not attempting to blaze any new directions — “I will leave that to my successor,” he says. But he is committed to the level of excellence that he’s achieved and maintains with the CSO.

An inspiration is Charles Simon Favart who is credited with creating the opéra comique form.

“Voltaire told Favart, ‘You embellish everything you touch,’ ” Langrée says.

“I hope I can embellish my work with the CSO in the next three years.”

Louis Langrée conducts the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.

PHOTO: CHRIS LEE

For more on the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and upcoming performances, visit cincinnatisymphony.org.