MARK AUERBACH
The Russians Are Coming
Russian masterworks, that is, as The Hartford Symphony Orchestra and the Springfield Symphony Orchestra present their March classical music concerts.
The Hartford Symphony Orchestra celebrates works of The Russian Masters on March 10-13 at The Bushnell. Guest violinist Simone Porter joins Maestra Carolyn Kuan and the Orchestra in performances of Prokofiev’s “Classical Symphony No. 1 and his Symphony No. 5, anlso featured is Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto No 5 in B-Flat Major. For details: 860-987-5900 or www.hartfordsymphony.org.
Kenneth Fuchs’ new piano concerto premieres with the Springfield Symphony. (Photo by Peter Shaaf)
The Springfield Symphony Orchestra performs one of the greatest 20th century Russian ballet scores ever written, Stravinsky’s The Firebird Suite on March 12. Commissioned by Sergei Diaghilev in 1910 for his Ballets Russe, and choreographed by Michael Fokine, The Firebird is a staple of ballet companies worldwide.. The program, conducted by Maestro Kevin Rhodes, also includes Aaron Copland’s Pulitzer Prize winning Appalachian Spring, commissioned by Martha Graham in 1944. It accompanies a dance created to celebrate 19th century Americana, as a young married couple raises a barn somewhere in rural Pennsylvania. The Springfield Symphony commissioned a new work, Kenneth Fuch’s Piano Concerto “The Spiritualist”, which has its world premiere on this concert, with pianist Jeffrey Biegel as soloist. Fuchs is director of Composition at UConn. For details: 413-733-2291 or www.springfieldsymphony.org.
Sex With Strangers Next at Hartford’s TheaterWorks
Patrick Bell stars in Sex With Strangers at TheaterWorks.
Sex With Strangers, the 2014 Off-Broadway hit by House of Cards writer Laura Eason, sizzles next at Hartford’s TheaterWorks (through April 17). Eason’s clever and quirky play is the story of two writers, Olivia (Courtney Rackley), a 30-something author, whose career has stalled; Ethan (Patrick Ball), a young writer whose chronicles of his “sexcapades” which are the buzz of the internet, and their relationship. Rob Ruggiero, TheaterWorks’ Artistic Director, stages the play, which has been acclaimed in productions nationally.
Courtney Rackley stars in Sex With Strangers at TheaterWorks.
Laura Eason is a former member of the Tony Award-winning Lookingglass Theatre in Chicago. Sex with Strangers has been produced in New York, Sydney, and Chicago. Her play The Adventures of Tom Sawyer has been produced regionally, including Hartford Stage. For details: 860.527.7838 or www.theaterworkshartford.org
Alan Cumming headlines the Mahaiwe season in Great Barrington.
Think Summer
Judge Judy is doing a benefit for The Mark Twain House in Hartford on June 6, and there’s limited seating for her reading/booksigning moderated by Kristine Johnson, a television anchor at the CBS flagship station in New York City. Judge Judy Sheindlin is the star of Judge Judy, the #1 program on daytime television. For details: 860- 247-0998 or www.marktwainhouse.org.
Silverthorne Theater Company’s summer line-up in Greenfield includes: Moliere’s classic farce The Miser, Lee Blessings’ drama Two Rooms andJeffrey Hatcher’s classic horror story The Turn of The Screw. Silverthorne is also auditioning local actors by appointment only on March 18-19. For season details: www.silverthornetheater.org. For audition information: silverthornetheateratgmail.com.
The Mahaiwe season brings star quality to Great Barrington. Alan Cumming of Broadway’s Cabaret and TV’s The Good Wife headlines the theatre’s gala on July 18. Kelli O’Hara from Broadway’s The King and I performs a one night show of classic Broadway and American Songbook songs on August 7. The Paul Taylor Dance Company plans a July residency, and for those who can’t wait for summer, humorist David Sedaris plays the Mahaiwe on April 10. For details: 413-528-0100 or www.mahaiwe.org.
Berkshire Theatre Group’s season includes the musicals Fiorello, Little Shop of Horrors, and Beauty and The Beast, plus the Tennessee Williams classic Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, a world premiere with Judd Hirsch; BTC favorites Kate Baldwin and Graham Rowat in Constellations, and a co-production with WAM. For details: 413-997-4444 or www.berkshiretheatregroup.org.
Of Note…
The Hartford Symphony Orchestra has announced it has selected Adam Kerry Boyles as its new Assistant Conductor. Boyles was one of three finalists who conducted January’s Battle of the Batons Masterworks concerts, along with undergoing a series of interviews and rehearsals over the past several months. He currently serves as Director of Orchestras at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Music Director of the Brookline Symphony Orchestra. For details: www.hartfordsymphony.org.
Keep in Mind…
The Trouble Begins at 5:30, the popular, free after-work lecture series at The Mark Twain House & Museum, features author Steve Courtney launching his new book, Mark Twain’s Hartford, on March 9. Steve Courtney has been a writer and editor for the Hartford Courant and served as The Mark Twain House & Museum’s Publicist and Publications Manager for four years. For details: 860- 247-0998 or www.marktwainhouse.org.
The Hartford Symphony Pops performs music by The Eagles on March 19 at The Bushnell. Brent Havens conducts a program that includes Heartache Tonight, Desperado, New Kid in Town, and Hotel California. For details: 860-987-5900 or www.hartfordsymphony.org.
Butler, a Civil War drama by Richard Strand, plays West Springfield’s Majestic Theater through April 3. The play, by Richard Strand, tells the story of Major-General Benjamin Franklin Butler, a successful Massachusetts lawyer who is given command of Fort Monroe in Virginia at the start of the Civil War. Besides fearing attacks on his Union outpost, Butler must also deal with another situation – three escaped slaves who have appeared seeking sanctuary. For details: 413-747-7797 or www.majestictheater.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.
