Items tagged with 'theater'
Summertime outdoor theater venues or series?
Ahead of a Park Playhouse production this summer.
Sean asks via email:
My family LOVES going to see shows at the Park Playhouse each summer. It has become a staple of our summertime routine these last couple of years. We recently got to wondering if there are any other seasonal theater venues like it in the region (Saratoga, Hudson, Western Mass, etc). We'd more than gladly travel out as far as places like Tanglewood if there were similarly attractive musical theater performances. Thanks!
It's starting to get a little late in the season for these sorts of events, but 1) we bet there are still a handful happening and 2) they're often annual, so they could be something to look forward to for next summer.
Got a suggestion for Sean and his family? Please share!
Park Playhouse 2018
The new season of Park Playhouse in Albany's Washington Park starts up this weekend with a production of Damn Yankees. It is, of course, the classic show in which the story of Faust is set within the world of 1950s baseball. The production runs June 29-July 28, Tuesday-Saturday at 8 pm.
The second show of the Park Playhouse season will be another classic show, the satire How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying. It will run August 3-18, Tuesday-Saturday at 7:30 pm.
Amphitheater lawn seating for Park Playhouse shows is free. (It does tend to fill up, so grabbing a spot earlier rather than later is a good idea.) There's also reserved seating -- it's $14-$25 and available online.
Park Playhouse also has an event July 5 to celebrate its 30th anniversary. It will be a reception in a tent next to the amphitheater and will include food and drinks and entertainment, with dessert in the tent during intermission of that night's show. Tickets for the fundraiser are $150 / $75 for ages 35 and under.
Single-show tickets for this summer's Williamstown Theatre Festival are now available
Just a heads up that the Williamstown Theatre Festival opened reservations Tuesday for single-show tickets during the upcoming season.
The festival box office doesn't open until June 1, but placing the ticket reservation (and paying) now puts you in line for seats. As the festival notes on its website, all orders placed by May 11 will be seated in the order in which they are received prior to the box office opening.
There are also ticket bundles for sale now that include three, four, and all seven of the season's productions. Buying tickets for a group of shows all at once can save you a few bucks per show.
This summer's WTF lineup includes multiple world premieres and new works. As usual, those productions are also set to star a string of high-profile film and stage actors, among them Matthew Broderick, Mary-Louise Parker, Steven Pasquale, Carmen Cusack, and Tavi Gevinson.
One of the interesting things about WTF in recent years is that it's become a venue to try out works -- either new or revived -- with an eye toward eventually moving them to New York. So the festival is often a chance to catch these shows ahead of the hype.
mages via WTF
Capital Repertory Theatre is moving
The building last summer.
The Capital Repertory Theatre is moving to a new home at the corner of Livingston and North Pearl in December 2019, the theater org/Proctors announced Tuesday. It will be converting an old bakery/electrical warehouse space at 251 North Pearl.
The project has been moving in this direction for a while -- the theater was already using the space for set construction. And it got a boost Monday when the Cuomo admin announced the project will getting $1.8 million from the Restore New York Communities Initiative.
Press release blurbage:
... The National Biscuit Co. building, at 251 N. Pearl Street, will become the new home for Capital Repertory Theatre, with a 300-seat MainStage, 70-seat black box theatre, full time café and box office.
Since August, theREP has been using the property, purchased through the generosity of its board, for set construction and storage. With completion of architectural drawings, the 30,000-square-foot former bakery will also house new administrative offices, rehearsal rooms, an event space and dedicated costume and prop shops, allowing for all activities to take place within a single footprint. ...
Residence at the National Biscuit Co. building will allow theREP to expand its programming, with up to 100 more annual events attracting an additional 10,000 patrons; and to expand its robust educational offerings, which currently reach more than 17,000 students from 64 schools in 39 communities.
The theater org -- which now prefers to be called theREP -- says the project will cost $8 million. And it's being backed in party by a mix of public money, including $2 million from New York State Homes and Community Renewal and $950k through the Regional Economic Development Council process.
2018-2019 lineups for Proctors Broadway shows and plays at The Rep
Local theater to host production of stage musical about Founding Father.
Yep, next year will be the year when Hamilton arrives at Proctors for a run during August 2019.
That was one of the details in the Proctors announcement Monday night of its upcoming Broadway lineup and the next season at Capital Repertory Theatre.
The Proctors lineup includes many shows that are currently playing on Broadway, so this will be an opportunity to see them while they're still hot. And The Rep season includes a world premiere and new spins on some old favorites.
Tickets for both series are now on sale as part of subscription packages. Individual show tickets will be available closer to the season starting. Some shows end up being very popular, so you might want to plan ahead a little bit for tickets if you're interested in going.
On with the lineups...
Williamstown Theatre Festival 2018
The lineup of productions for this year's Williamstown Theatre Festival is out. And, as is always the case, the cast lists include some big names -- among them Matthew Broderick, Mary-Louise Parker, Steven Pasquale, Carmen Cusack, and Tavi Gevinson.
One of the interesting things about WTF in recent years is that it's become a venue to try out works -- either new or revived -- with an eye toward eventually moving them to New York. And this year's lineup include five new works, along with a revival of The Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers.
Tickets are currently on sale as multi-show bundles. Reservations for single tickets start April 3.
Without further ado, here's the lineup...
An Inspector Calls, for a different sort of casting
The cast of An Inspector Calls at Schenectady Civic Playhouse.
This weekend Schenectady Civic Playhouse is opening a production of An Inspector Calls. It's an English drama from 1945 that has a lot to say to US audiences in 2018, but this production will say it a bit differently.
The show, usually been produced with an all-white cast, has been cast entirely with actors of color.
It's an interesting move the director says amps up the message of the play -- and maybe in the process it will expand the way people think about casting roles here in the Capital Region.
Park Playhouse 2017: Ragtime
Park Playhouse in Albany's Washington Park opens its 2017 summer season June 29 with a production of Ragtime. The show will run through July 29.
It's looking like a very strong production, with a cast that includes many talented performers from the Capital Region. That video above is from a rehearsal posted by the production this past weekend. Show blurbage for Ragtime:
The Tony-winning score is just as diverse as the melting pot of America itself, drawing upon many musical styles from the ragtime rhythms of Harlem and Tin Pan Alley to the klezmer of the Lower East Side, from bold brass band marches to delicate waltzes, from up-tempo banjo tunes to period parlor songs and expansive anthems. Ragtime - a truly unique and powerful portrait of America.
Reserved seating for Park Playhouse shows is $16 for side sections, $18 for the center section, and $24 for table seats. And, of course, lawn seating is free. (That reserved seating does fill up.)
The rest of the Park Playhouse summer season includes production of The Music Man in the park during August, and a Park Playhouse Kids production of The Lion King Jr. at the Cohoes Music Hall later in August.
Williamstown Theatre Festival 2017
The updated slate of shows for this summer's Williamstown Theatre Festival is out. As usual, the casts include actors you'll recognize, such as Jane Kaczmarek, S. Epatha Merkerson, Jayne Atkinson, and Cristin Milioti.
In recent years WTF has also served as a launching point for new shows, some of which make their way to Broadway.This summer's schedule includes four world premieres, as well as a new play and a new musical.
Also: Single-show tickets are now available for pre-order online. (You can also save some money per ticket by buying tickets in multiple show bundles.) Many of these performances sell out, so if you're interested in going, it's a good idea to buy tickets sooner rather than later.
Here's the lineup...
A look at MopCo's new Schenectady theater
The new MopCo Theater is at 10 North Jay Street in Schenectady.
Two things we should disclose before you start reading this post.
1. One half of AOA performs with the Mop & Bucket Company. (Hint: It's not Greg)
2. The Mop & Bucket Company advertises on AOA.
MopCo, the long-standing Capital Region improv company, now has its own theater -- a renovated former firehouse (and onetime strip club) on North Jay Street. It's sharing the space with its sister company, Koppett, which uses improv to train employees of companies such as Facebook and Apple in creativity.
In addition to its own improv shows, MopCo will use the new theater to host other improv troupes, classes, readings, music performances, story nights, and a wide variety of other special events.
MopCo officially opens the new space this Saturday with a TheaterSports show by its house team.
The company has been playing at Proctors for many years. For the last two years it worked on growing the business in a small rented space on Union Street while it searched for a permanent home.
The founders considered different areas in the Capital Region, but eventually found that home right around the corner in a broken down building in Schenectady's Little Italy.
EMPAC fall 2016 season
In September Mabel Kwan will be at EMPAC to perform a piece. On two pianos. At the same time.
The slate for the upcoming fall season at EMPAC is out. And, as usual, it includes all sorts of unusual, challenging, or experimental performances. A condensed schedule is after the jump.
Also at the venue this fall, a new tool for performances. Blurbage:
A hallmark of the fall 2016 season is the unveiling of EMPAC's recently constructed wave-field array. Consisting of 496 independently controllable loudspeakers, this audio system is one of the most precise in the world, and capable of creating a 3D "holophonic" sound environment. More immersive than ordinary surround sound, "wave field synthesis" allows composers to place sounds in specific spatial locations around the audience and will figure heavily into future EMPAC electronic music programming.
An installation opening later this month, as well as a performance in early September, will make use of the new system
OK, onto that schedule...
You're New Here: Arts
It's You're New Here Week on AOA. All this week we'll have stuff to help get you acquainted with the Capital Region -- whether you recently moved here, or just want to see this place through new eyes.
I'm not new here.
I haven't been new here since the late 70s, when a Bell System transfer brought my 3rd generation Brooklyn family to the suburbs of Saratoga Springs. In Brooklyn, my field trips were to Lincoln Center, BAM, and the Museum of Natural History. Nature was the Bronx Zoo and the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens. I saw my first Broadway show when I was 10. In Wilton, we had a mall with an arcade and a Montgomery Ward.
My parents weren't artists -- but the arts were important to them. Movies, music, theater and art were all a part of what made a person well rounded and more interesting. They were also a source of great joy. As a little kid, if you offered me ice cream or theater tickets -- I'd take the tickets every time. (And I love ice cream.)
So when we headed north, my parents scratched the surface to try to uncover what the area had to offer arts and culture-wise. My dad would drive my mother and all six kids to Albany once a month to see ESIPA - the resident theater company at The Egg back then. There was SPAC in the summer, and a drama club visit to a pretty well-worn Proctors that made me happy in ways I had no words for at the time. There were arts and culture to be had in the Capital Region back then, but you had to work a lot harder for it than you do today.
Today it's everywhere. I can't even get to it all. So here are a few things I'd recommend.
Williamstown Theatre Festival 2016
There are new details out this week about the upcoming slate of shows for this summer's Williamstown Theatre Festival. As usual, the casts include actors you'll recognize, such as Marisa Tomei, Kate Walsh, Alfred Molina, Jane Kaczmarek, Wendell Pierce, and Justin Long.
In recent years WTF has also served as a launching point for shows headed toward Broadway. So it's notable that this summer's schedule includes four world premieres and one American premiere. It's possible one (or more) of these shows could end up on Broadway in the next few years.
Also: Single-show tickets are now available for pre-order online. (You can also save some money per ticket by buying tickets in multiple show bundles.) Many of these performances sell out, so if you're interested in going, it's a good idea to buy tickets sooner rather than later.
OK, let's have a look at the schedule.
2016-2017 lineups for Proctors Broadway shows and Capital Rep
The Broadway season at Proctors includes the Tony-winning play The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time. / photo: Joan Marcus
The Broadway season at Proctors includes the Tony-winning play The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time. / photo: Joan Marcus
Proctors and Capital Rep have jointly announced their lineups for the next season of Broadway shows and theater productions. The Broadway series at Proctors includes a bunch of prominent shows -- including a little musical called Wicked. And the Cap Rep lineup again includes a world-premiere play.
Tickets for both series go on sale today (February 2) as part of subscription packages. Individual show tickets will be available closer to the season starting.
Some shows end up being very popular, so you might want to plan ahead a little bit for tickets if you're interested in going.
Without further ado...
"She's very modest... but she stole the show"
Last year around this time, Capital Region native Gabby Pizzolo was performing as Young Fiona in a production of Shrek at the Schenectady Light Opera Company.
This year? Oh, you know, Michelle Obama is praising her during a "Broadway at the White House" event while she sits between Andrew Lloyd Webber and Matthew Morrison (see the video above). Among the other attendees: Gloria Estefan and Whoopi Goldberg.
So, a pretty typical year-to-year change for a 12 year old.
Pizzolo has already played a starring role on Broadway in Matilda. And she recently stepped into one of the star roles in the Tony-winning Broadway musical Fun Home.
Earlier on AOA:
+ From the Capital Region to Broadway
+ The Capital Region's theater district
It's a play. It's a ping pong game. It's both.
John Ahlin
Something a bit different: A show at Proctors next week -- ChipandGus: A Comedy with Balls -- is both a play and... a ping pong game. Blurbage:
The action takes place during an actual 90-minute game, with two college town colleagues meeting for their monthly session. But this night is different; there is something else in the room, and the evening becomes something more than just another match.
As it happens, the play is set in Schenectady. Backstory blurbage:
[Writer/actor John] Ahlin discovered the city's curious name as a child, on family drives from Westchester to the Adirondacks, and he was held forever in thrall by its odd collection of consonants ("I became one of the fastest spellers of Schenectady around," he says, chuckling). As fate would have it, he married a woman from Schenectady, and his longtime fascination found fruition in ChipandGus.
"My character," he says, "in particular, is a champion of the city's great dynamic history, and its glorious denizens and visitors over the years."
Ahlin plays one side of the game, fellow writer/actor Christopher Patrick Mullen the other. And apparently they really are playing ping pong during the show.
ChipandGus is Friday, November 20 at 7:30 pm in the GE Theater at Proctors. Tickets are $20 and $30. Proceeds benefit the Schenectady Light Opera Company.
photo via ChipandGus FB page
The Capital Region's theater district
Clockwise: Proctors, Schenectady Light Opera, MopCo and Schenectady Civic -- part of the Downtown Schenectady performance scene.
In the late 1920s there were 19 theaters in just the city of Schenectady.
"Companies like General Electric and ALCO were booming back then," says Schenectady County Historical Society librarian Michael Maloney, "and the city experienced a huge growth in population between 1900 and 1930. Theaters were able to capitalize on that."
Of course, there were also zero TVs in the city at the time. There was no internet. There was no Hulu or Netflix. There were no video games.
But that time set the stage for some remarkably long running theater institutions in the city. And almost a century later, they're helping Schenectady develop an identity as the Capital Region's theater district.
Williamstown to Broadway
From here to to Broadway.
Something to consider adding to your list of stuff to do this summer: a visit to Williamstown Theater Festival. You might just see the next Broadway hit.
The Tony Award nominees were announced Tuesday morning and the The Visit -- which opened at WTF last season and transferred to Broadway -- took five nominations. The Visit stars Chita Rivera and Rodger Rees, with a book by Terrance McNally and music and lyrics by Kander and Ebb (Cabaret, Chicago), so it has a great pedigree, and the show was many years in the making.
But it's also part of a recent trend of Williamstown launching Broadway shows.
Williamstown Theatre Festival 2015
An earlier that summer is out there: The schedule for this year's Williamstown Theatre Festival is out today. As usual, it includes notable shows and actors you'll recognize, such as Kyra Sedgwick, Audra McDonald, and Cynthia Nixon.
The schedule is post jump.
Ticket bundles are currently on sale, starting at $165 for three shows, through March 6. Many of these shows end up selling out, so if you think you'd like to go this summer, buying early can be a good idea. (And you can a discount by buying one of the bundles.)
Single ticket sales start in April.
Great shows from 2014
SLOC's production of Caroline or Change got multiple mentions.
With 2014 wrapping up, we thought it'd be fun to ask a bunch of people about some of their favorite/most interesting things from the past year.
Today we check in with a group of artists, performers and reviewers for their take on some of their favorite shows of 2014.
Williamstown Theatre Festival 2014 lineup
The Williamstown Theatre Festival opens next week, which means casts and what not have been settled.
WTF usually brings in a bunch of notable and/or recognizable actors, along with a bunch of rising talent, and this year is no exception. Among them: Sam Rockwell will be stepping in for Chris Pine as the lead in Fool for Love. Other names from the lineup of performances that you might recognize: Renée Fleming, Anna Chlumsky, Nina Arianda, Nate Corddry, Chita Rivera, and Lewis Black.
The lineup is after the jump.
Many of the WTF performance sell out -- in fact, a few already have -- so if you're interested in heading for a show, it's better to get tickets sooner rather than later.
Proctors Broadway series 2014-2015
The Broadway cast of Kinky Boots. A touring version of the multiple Tony-winning musical is coming to Proctors during the theater's next Broadway show season.
Proctors has announced the lineup of Broadway-style shows that will be at the theater over the next season. The six-show slate includes some very popular shows, including Newsies and Jersey Boys.
A condensed version of the lineup is after the jump.
Tickets for the show are currently available to renewing subscribers. New subscriptions are open May 6. And individual show tickets will be available closer to the season starting. Some shows end up being very popular -- see The Book of Mormon this current season -- so you might want to plan ahead a little bit for tickets if you're interested in going.
Williamstown Theatre Festival 2014
The schedule for this year's Williamstown Theatre Festival is out. And, as usual, it includes notable shows and actors you'll recognize such as Renee Fleming (you know, the famous opera singer), Lauren Ambrose (you know, from Six Feet Under), and Chris Pine (you know, Captain Kirk). The schedule is post jump.
Also: A guide on how to score tickets. Many of these shows end up being very popular and tickets can be hard to get. So a little planning now can increase your chances of getting tickets.
Hey there, Dashira Cortes
Dashira Cortes as The Moon in Caroline or Change, opening this weekend at SLOC.
Dashira Cortes was 10 years old when she auditioned for Winnie the Pooh and won the part of Christopher Robin's favorite bear. That was the first time other people really began to recognize she could sing. Since then this Albany High School graduate has worked with Park Playhouse, played Dorothy and Aida, and even shared an Off-Broadway stage with Jeremy Irons, whom she refers to as "the voice of Scar."
This weekend Cortes plays The Moon in the regional premiere of Tony Kushner's musical Caroline or Change at Schenectady Light Opera Company.
Cortes took a few minutes to talk with AOA about Caroline, how her alma mater Albany High School often appears in the media, and a move toward more diversity in Capital Region theater.
Favorite shows of 2013
The soon-to-relocate Valentine's makes repeated appearances in this year's favorite shows lists.
With the end of the year coming up, we thought it'd be fun to ask a bunch of people about some of their favorite/most interesting things from the 2013.
Today, a group of musicians, actors, and arts writers look back at some of their favorite Capital Region shows of the year.
... said KGB about Drawing: What's something that brought you joy this year?