Items tagged with 'Proctors'
Proctors theater... and power plant, trash collection, and internet service
An old Vaudeville theater that hosts Broadway road shows like Wicked and Book of Mormon, plus films, comedy, and music is easy to write about. There's glitz, there's glamour, there's history. It's sexy.
A district energy plant that heats and cools businesses along a city block -- less sexy.
OK, but what if the same place also collects trash? And sells internet and phone service? And hosts Broadway touring companies, films, comedy and music performances.
Then it's Proctors.
When you pass by the Schenectady theater and arts hub, here are a few interesting things that you won't see on the surface.
Proctors Broadway series 2013-2014 includes The Book of Mormon
Proctors has announced the lineup for its 2013-2014 Broadway series -- it includes some very popular shows, a show made into a movie, and movies made into shows.
Ghost
September 14-20, 2013
A musical based on the movie.
Sleeping Beauty
October 15-20
A reworking of the Tchaikovsky ballet by choreographer Matthew Bourne. A recent NYT review of the London production called it "theatrically effective, sometimes even brilliant."
War Horse
January 15-19, 2014
It was a stage show that won five Tonys before Spielberg made it into a movie (and a children's book before that). The horse puppet is remarkable.
Sister Act
February 18-23, 2014
A musical based on the movie.
The Book of Mormon
March 11-16, 2014
The very popular -- and award winning (9 Tonys in 2011, including best musical) -- show from the Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the South Park guys.
The Phantom of the Opera
May 28-June 4, 2014
Tickets for the shows are currently on sale as part of Proctors subscription packages. Single show tickets will go on sale later this year.
Yep, Proctors advertises on AOA.
Two huge movie franchises, three people
Proctors has two shows coming up that are variations on the same theme: huge movie franchises... boiled down to performances by one or two people.
Potted Potter
This parody of the Harry Potter books -- "All seven Harry Potter books in seventy hilarious minutes" -- is performed by two guys. From the blurbage:
Potted Potter takes on the ultimate challenge of condensing all seven Harry Potter books (and a real life game of Quidditch) into seventy hilarious minutes. This fantastically funny show features all your favorite characters, a special appearance from a fire-breathing dragon, endless costumes, brilliant songs, ridiculous props and a generous helping of Hogwarts magic!
A NYT reviewer said the show's "flavor is Monty Python meets vaudeville." It's at Proctors from January 15-20. Tickets are $45 and up.
One Man Stars Wars Trilogy
This one-man show by Charlie Ross covers the original three Star Wars movies (perhaps because the second trio are self-parodies) and has been running for more than a decade. Blurbage:
Charlie Ross does it all--all the ships, planets, characters and music in one not-to-be-missed performance. The tour de force is with him!
It's at Proctors January 25-27. Tickets are $25.
Potter photo: Geraint Lewis | Star Wars photo: One Man Star Wars Trilogy
Zombie Film Feast/Walk/Prom 2012
The annual Zombie Film Feast/Walk/Prom is at Proctors this year. (It had been at The Linda. Maybe there are no brains left to eat in Albany.) Here's the schedule:
Zombie prom
The zombie prom -- "complete with booze and ooze and finger foods" -- is Friday, November 16 at 9 pm. Tickets are $10.
Zombie walk
This year's zombie walk -- in which people dress up as zombies for a parade -- will stagger from Proctors to Schenectady city hall on Saturday, November 17. The undead processional starts at 4:45 pm. It's free to participate.
Zombie Film Feast
The annual festival of zombie flicks is that same Saturday in the GE Theater at Proctors. There will be two blocks of films -- 11 am - 5:30 pm, and 5:45 pm - midnight. Tickets are $25 for the whole festival, or $15 for one block.
100 classic films at Proctors
Rosebud is... well, you'll just have to watch.
This is kind of crazy (in the good way): Proctors is starting a series called "Film 100." On Mondays for the next two years it will be showing 100 classic films from the American Film Institute top 100 list (well, not the newest list -- the one that includes movies up to 1996). Films will be drawn from the 1997 and 2007 list, all of them produced between 1912 and 1996.
The first screening is September 17 -- 1942's Yankee Doodle Dandy. Among the films coming up soon: Ben-Hur, The Apartment, The Last Picture Show, Goodfellas, and Unforgiven. The slate for the rest of this year is after the jump.
Tickets for the screenings are $5. A series pass -- yep, for all 100 movies -- is $100.
American Idiot at Proctors
Proctors announced today that Green Day's American Idiot musical will be making a three-day stop at the theater in February. Tickets are $20 and up -- they're on sale now (here's a coupon code)
The show is an adaptation of Green Day's album of the same name. It had a year-long Broadway run between 2010 and 2011. Here's a NYT review from that run.
The show will be at Proctors February 5, 6, 7 in 2013.
Earlier on AOA: Proctors Broadway series 2012-2013
Yep, Proctors advertises on AOA.
Proctors Broadway series 2012-2013
Proctors has announced its slate of Broadway shows for the next season. Here's the lineup:
Mary Poppins
October 2-7, 2012
A Disney musical.
Wicked
November 7-25, 2012
It was last at Proctors at the end of 2009 and sold out. (The first week of the run is for subscribers.)
Million Dollar Quartet
January 22-27, 2013
About Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins.
Priscilla Queen of the Desert
February 12-17, 2013
Two drag queens, a transexual, and bus named Priscilla, on a trip through the Australian desert.
Les Misérables
April 30-May 5, 2013
The classic show.
Tickets for the shows are currently on sale as part of Proctors subscription packages, or as group sales. Single show tickets will go on sale later this year.
Yep, Proctors does advertise on AOA.
Bubbles and hugs in Schenectady
Weeee!
We happened upon what was, for a few minutes at least, easily the happiest place in the Capital Region Wednesday afternoon in Schenectady.
Why? Bubbles and hugs.
Muddy Cups no longer
Albany's unnamed coffee house has finally settled on a name.
The cafe, on Madison Avenue near Main, took down the Muddy Cup name last fall. After a brief flirtation with the name "Drama Cup," it's now Tierra Coffee Roasters.
The name echoes the fact that their coffee is from Tierra Farm, a Valatie operation that roasts Fair Trade coffees. It's catchier than "that place that used to be the Muddy Cup." Shorter, too.
The Muddy Cup had a dusty bohemian vibe. As Tierra, it's been spiffed up with a new coat of paint and art by Samson Contompasis.
And with Proctors Theatre taking over the Muddy Cup in Schenectady, the Hudson Valley chain's local presence is no more.
Muddy Cup opened the Proctors lobby cafe in 2006.
Proctors' plan is to run the Schenectady place itself. From their press release:
"At Proctors request, Muddy Cup transferred operations and all equipment back to Proctors. Proctors will rebrand the location for business with a fresh look and a new name before the start of next Sunday's Green Market in the lobby of Proctors State Street complex."
Update: The location at Proctors will be called the Apostrophe Cafe. [Marv Cermak]
Q-Fest at Proctors
The trailer for The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.
Q-Fest, Proctors' LGBTQ film festival, begins tonight.
If you're thinking about going, but can't figure out which movie(s) you want to see, we've got the synopses and reviews below. There's a whole range of films -- from serious activist documentaries, to the campy ABBA-soundtracked films...
David Sedaris at Proctors
Author David Sedaris will talking/reading (we're guessing) at Proctors on April 9. Tickets are already on sale. They start at $20. His appearances in the this area have been very popular in the past (at least one sold out).
The blurbage doesn't say exactly what Sedaris will be doing at Proctors. The times we've seen him, he stands on stage and reads his work, then talks a little bit, reads some more, talks some more, the audience laughs in odd places (not sure exactly when they're supposed to laugh), and then he says goodnight. So, pretty much what you'd expect from David Sedaris.
Sedaris' most recent book is Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Bestiary, a collection of short stories in which the characters are animals. For example: "Can a parrot and a pot-bellied pig find happiness in a world that only wants to pigeon-hole them?"
A clip from Sedaris' November appearance on the Daily Show is embedded after the jump.
Proctors and Capital Rep partnering
Proctors and Capital Repertory Theater announced today that they have teamed up to "sustain the state of the performing arts and to explore economies of scale and shared solutions." The full release is after the jump.
The orgs say that Proctors has taken over ticketing, finance, marketing, development, education programming and group sales for Capital Rep. The press release says Cap Rep will continue to operate independently with its own artist direction and at its downtown Albany location.
The release notes that Cap Rep has been dealing with declining support from municipal and private sources, and "recorded losses along the way." The theater had been getting $60k from the City of Albany, but that funding -- and the funding for other arts groups -- was cut in the last city budget. But the theater had already been scraping to get by -- and had a round of layoffs last summer. [TU Arts Talk]
Capital Rep expects to save $200k under the new partnership. [TU]
Talk of a potential partnership between the two arts organizations has been buzzing in the background for a while -- but as late as mid-December, the players were denying a plan was in the works. [Troy Record]
If this partnership helps shore up the finances of Capital Rep, it could be a good thing for theater fans (beyond simply keeping the theater afloat). It might give Capital Rep the freedom to program adventurously without having to depend on sure-fire hits to pay for more challenging programming.
Metropolis at Proctors
This could be cool: Proctors is showing the remastered version of Metropolis, the landmark 1926 film by Fritz Lang. The silent film will be accompanied by a new score written for -- and played live on -- Proctors' Wurlitzer organ.
Metropolis includes some striking imagery -- especially for its time. This new version of the film also features 25 minutes from the original that were thought to be lost -- until someone found the footage in archive in Argentina in 2008. The newly put-back-together version of the film debuted earlier this year.
There will be two screenings at Proctors -- this coming Sunday (at 2 pm) and Monday (7:30 pm). Tickets are $10 ahead of time, $12 at the door.
Proctors Broadway series tickets on sale Saturday
Tickets for Proctors' Broadway series go on sale Saturday. Here's the lineup:
Young Frankenstein - October 19-24, 2010
White Christmas - November 22-28, 2010
Fiddler on the Roof - January 4-9, 2011
HAIR - May 3-8, 2011
The Lion King is also coming to Proctors, February 22 - March 20 -- but the tickets for that don't go on sale until November 13th.
While we're at Proctors...
+ The stage version of Spamalot is playing there October 8 and 9.
+ And Victoria Stilwell -- the British dog trainer from the Animal Planet show It's Me or the Dog -- will be there solving "doggie dilemmas" onstage October 14 (no word on whether your dog can also attend -- maybe if they buy a ticket).
Proctors has advertised on AOA in the past
posters via Proctors
Proctors animation festival
Persepolis
If you're looking for something fun (and air conditioned) to do this week, you might want to stop by Proctors' animation festival, which started Sunday and continues through Friday.
The festival is showing a handful of animated flicks each day. The lineup includes 15 films -- among them a few old ones (1939's Gulliver's Travels) and a bunch of newer ones (Coraline). Among the highlights:
+ The Iron Giant (directed by Brad Bird, the guy directed The Incredibles and Ratatouille for Pixar) - Tuesday at noon, Wednesday at 4 pm
+ Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit (Cheese, Gromit!) - Thursday at 8pm
+ Persepolis (based on Marjane Satrapi's coming of age graphic novel set during the Iranian revolution) - Tuesday at 6 pm, Wednesday at 8 pm
Here's the full schedule.
Tickets are $3 for each film. A week-long pass is $15.
image: Sony Picture Classics
Thruway tolls increase, Albany schools to use lottery, the weekend in crime, the first baby of 2010
Thruway tolls went up five percent on Sunday, for both cash and EZ-Pass. State comptroller Tom DiNapoli criticized the increase, calling it "the last thing New Yorkers need now." [AP/Saratogian] [Fox23] [NYS OSC] [WNYT]
A 78-year-old woman was killed in Schenectady Saturday night after she was struck by a pick-up truck while crossing State Street near Proctors. The woman had been volunteering at the theater. The SPD says it's investigating the accident. [Daily Gazette $] [TU] [Fox23] [CapNews9]
Troy police say a man stole an idling SUV -- with two kids in it -- from outside a grocery store Friday morning. The TPD says the kids were found 45 minutes later, unharmed, along with the SUV. They say the suspect was arrested later that day. [Troy Record] [TU] [Troy Record]
Officials from the YMCA will be holding a meeting with the public this week to talk about what might be done to save the Washington Ave location in Albany. [Troy Record]
The Albany school district will be switching to a lottery system for filling slots in its pre-k programs. The old system was first-come-first-pick-wait-all-night. [TU]
Troy police find guns during raid, suit filed over landfill expansion, local company dumps chamber of commerce over climate change legislation, sole tenant leaving Kiernan Plaza
Troy police say they found a shotgun and an assault rifle during raid connected to the investigation of last week's fatal shooting in south Troy. They also arrested a man. But they say the guns weren't used in the crime nor is the man a suspect. [Fox23] [CapNews9] [TU]
Save the Pine Bush is suing the City of Albany and the DEC in attempt to block expansion of the city landfill. A volunteer for the environmental org says the city "needs to adopt a rational solid waste policy that does not include destroying 15 acres of rare Pine Bush ecosystem." [AP/CBS6] [TU]
The judge in Adrian Thomas case has ruled that the jury will not hear testimony from dueling expert witnesses about the possibility of a coerced confession. Closing arguments are scheduled to start today. [Troy Record] [TU]
David Paterson said yesterday that he will be including the soda tax in next year's proposed budget. The Paterson Administration also said same-sex marriage will be on the agenda for next week's planned special legislative session. [WNYC] [NYDN]
Raucci report won't be released, cool summer may be setting up cold winter, Tedisco hints at run for different office, alleged cold cut heist leads to pepper spraying
The Schenectady school district's internal investigation into Steven Raucci -- the former district employee who's been accused arson and intimidation -- will not be made public. The district says its lawyer "strongly advised" it to not release the report. [Daily Gazette] [TU]
The package of state incentives for the Luther Forest chip fab project is actually closer to $1.37 billion -- and could be more if GlobalFoundries expands at the site. [TU]
A guy who was forcibly sedated at the direction of Albany County law enforcement so they could search his body for drugs in 2006 has settled his lawsuit for $125k. The search included a camera being put up his rectum. [TU] [AP/CBS6]
There's some historical data that indicates we could be in for a cold, snowy winter. [TU]
The Capital Region's tick population -- and the incidence of Lyme disease -- appear to be on the rise. [Daily Gazette]
Anthony Bourdain at Proctors
The chef/author/traveler will be at Proctors November 15 -- which is a bit of a ways off. But tickets for the "No Reservations: An Evening with Anthony Bourdain" went on sale today. And judging from his last appearance in the Capital Region, this should be a popular event.
Bourdain, who was the chef at a French restaurant in NYC, originally rose to fame for his book Kitchen Confidential. More recently, he's been the host of a great travel TV show called No Reservations. And he's talked some smack about Rachael Ray (that didn't stop her from sending him a fruit basket, though).
Here's video of a Bourdain talk at Google, in which he said: "This celebrity chef scam is really working out."
Tickets for the Proctors event start at $20.
Yep, Proctors advertises on AOA. We're highlighting this because we think it'll be a good time
photo: Flickr user Neeta Lind
The revolution will take forever
Benicio del Toro takes his time in Che
If you ever wanted to see Steven Soderbergh's epic biopic Che in the theater, here's your chance. Or, rather, chances.
You see, Che is so long -- 4:17 to be exact -- that Proctors is showing it over two nights. Part one (The Argentine) is showing tonight. Part two (Guerilla) screens tomorrow. Tickets are $6 bucks a showing.
Is it worth the time? Well, Che has gotten "generally favorable" reviews -- though some people really liked it and others thought it was terrible. Maybe it helps to be wearing the t-shirt.
Also: Proctors has a bunch of movies on its slate for this month. Many of them are second-run pics (Curious Case of Benjamin Button, for example) that are only $3.
image: IFC Films
The Hitchcock Film Festival
Proctors is showing a bunch of Alfred Hitchcock films this week. The series, organized by It Came From Schenectady, will show three Hitchcock flicks a day -- at 3, 5:30 and 8 pm -- Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.
Tickets are $6 for individual screenings -- but you can also buy a $25 pass that will get you into all the showings.
It looks like the best slate might be Friday: Rear Window plays at 5:30 followed by Psycho at 8.
(Thanks, Kim!)
It Came From Schenectady!
Blade Runner, Barbarella and Forbidden Planet are three of the films playing this weekend.
One of the organizers of the first It Came from Schenectady film fest says the event "began as the musings of four dorks in tinfoil hats who happen to be in the right place with the right set of tools, toys and passions."
OK, stop. You had us at "four dorks in tinfoil hats."
The respect you deserve
One of the great things (we're guessing) about being a senator or governor or some other sort of muckety-muck is the respect people afford you. The downside is that you actually have to, you know, campaign and do all that other stuff.
But it turns out there's an easier way to get people to address you with the respect you so richly deserve. And it's all because of Proctor's. Yes, we said Proctor's. The theater. In Schenectady.
... said Sandra about Breweries, wineries, and distilleries of New York