MARK AUERBACH
From Times Square and Shubert Alley to the Ringstrasse and Schubertstrasse, April showers us with great tunes from Broadway’s “Guys and Dolls” and Vienna’s great classical composers.
Guys and Dolls
Damon Runyan’s colorful Times Square characters return to life in Frank Loesser’s sure-bet musical “Guys and Dolls”, which opens the Goodspeed Musicals season (April 10-June 27). Loesser and book writers Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows turned a Ruyanesqueview of Broadway into Broadway’s big hit of 1950. Many awards, revivals, and a film version later, “Guys and Dolls” is one of the most beloved American musical comedy classics.
In “Guys and Dolls”, the bet of a lifetime puts Sky Masterson, a hardboiled gambler, in the arms of Sarah Brown, a Save-a-Soul mission worker in the neon-kissed valentine to the saints and sinners of New York. The alleys echo with the swinging sound of “Sit Down, You’re Rockin’ the Boat,” “A Bushel and a Peck,” “If I Were a Bell” and more. Bring your dice along!
Karen Murphy is General Cartwright in the Goodspeed production of “Guys and Dolls”.
Don Stephenson directs the Goodspeed production, and Alex Sanchez choreographs. Anthony Roach (from Hartford Stage’s “Hamlet”) is Sky Masterson, Manna Nichols is Sarah Brown. Mark Price plays gambler Nathan Detroit, the guy scoping out the next site for a crap game. Nancy Anderson is Miss Adelaide, a nightclub “singer”, who has been Nathan’s fiancee for fourteen years. Karen Murphy, a UMass graduate and veteran actress who used to perform at the Worcester Foothills Theatre, plays General Matilda Cartwright.
For tickets: 860-873-8668 or www.goodspeed.org.
PS. Goodspeed will now present a musical version of “It’s A Wonderful Life” this fall, instead of the previously announced musical based on “The Honeymooners”.
Kevin Rhodes, Springfield Symphony Maestro, has Vienna on the mind.
A Viennese Choral Spectacular
Vienna, that city on the blue Danube, inspired an elegant music scene, sacher torte and rich desserts, and sophisticated coffees. Springfield Symphony Maestro Kevin Rhodes knows the Viennese music scene very well, as a conductor at the Vienna State Opera Ballet for over 20 years. In fact, he’s headed there soon to conduct “La Sylphide” and the Rudolph Nureyev Gala, one of the most important international dance events.
On April 11, Rhodes brings a taste of Vienna to Springfield Symphony Hall. He’s curated a program of Viennese symphonic and choral masterpieces for over 150 musicians of the Springfield Symphony Orchestra and Springfield Symphony Chorus (directed by Nikki Stoia, who is also a pianist for the concert). The line-up includes: Mozart’s Regina Coeli, K. 108 (74d), Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy, Op. 80; Schubert’s Symphony No. 8 in B minor, D. 759 “Unfinished” and Schubert’s Mass No. 2 in G major, D. 167. Soprano Mary Wilson, tenor William Hite, and baritone David McFerrin are guest soloists.
William Hite is a guest soloist with the Springfield Symphony Orchestra in their Viennese Choral Spectacular. (Photo by Marjorie Melnick)
The 97-voice Springfield Symphony Chorus features singers from communities in western Massachusetts and northern Connecticut. The singers are chosen by audition, and they rehearse weekly all season with director Nikki Stoia. They’re all volunteers.
Alto Dora Campbell, a speech language pathologist who lives on the Springfield/Longmeadow line, is in her third season with the chorus. She also sings with the Christ Church Cathedral in Springfield. Campbell likes singing with the Springfield Symphony Chorus.
“My day job is stressful, so I look forward to chorus rehearsals,” she said. “I get swept into the music we’re rehearsing. The chorus is a friendly group, and some of them have been with the chorus for over twenty years. It’s been a great experience.”
The Springfield Symphony Chorus performs the Mozart and Beethoven pieces, and in the Schubert “Mass”.
For tickets: 413-733-2291 or www.springfieldsymphony.org
“Newsies” comes to The Bushnell’s Broadway series next season.
Just Announced
Broadway at The Bushnell’s 2015-16 season is very family-friendly. Highlights include two recent Broadway hits, Disney’s “Newsies” and Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Cinderella”; the recent Broadway cavalcade “Motown” and Ali McGraw and Ryan O’Neal in “Love Letters”. Also on tap: “Mamma Mia”, “The Illusionists” and “Dirty Dancing”. For details: www.bushnell.org
Keep in Mind…
***Body Politic: The Anatomy of the Grotesque, a new exhibition at the UMass University Museum of Contemporary Art through May 3. Works include those by Judy Chicago, Paul McCarthy, Sheila Pepe, Kiki Smith, and Andy Warhol. Also on exhibition: “Lyric Visions, An Exhibition of Work by the Faculty of the UMass Art Department”. For details: www.umass.edu/umca
Polaroids by Susan Mikula are on display at William Bazcak Fine Arts in Northampton.
***Sleeping Beauty (Excerpts) and Danse Macabre, two dance pieces are performed with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra with the Nutmeg Ballet and The Full Force Dance Theatre, April 9-12 at The Bushnell in Hartford. For tickets: 860-987-5900 or www.hartfordsymphony.org
***Susan Mikula’s Polaroids photographs are the cornerstone of an exhibit at William Baczek Fine Arts in Northampton through April 25. For information: http://www.wbfinearts.com/
***Love, Loss, and What I Wore, the long-running Off-Broadway hit, inspired by the stories of Nora and Delia Ephron and the best-seller by Ilene Beckerman. April 9-11 at Citystage in Springfield. For tickets: 413-788-7033 or www.citystage.symphonyhall.com.
Mark G. Auerbach studied theatre at American University and the Yale School of Drama. He’s worked for arts organizations and reported on theatre for newspapers and radio.
