MARK AUERBACH
2015 and The Arts: The Year in Review in Three Acts
Act I: The State of The Arts
The arts in Western New England are good for our quality of life and great for business. Over the next three weeks, we’ll take a look at how good business was, and select our picks for best plays, musicals, production components and performances.
When the Tony Award nominations were announced last April, 13 of them went to plays and musicals that originated in Western New England theatres: Barrington Stage’s lovely revival of On The Town got four; The Visit with Chita Rivera from Williamstown Theatre Festival got five, and The Elephant Man with Bradley Cooper, also from Williiamstown, got four. Sadly, none won, but Broadway took notice of our theatres.
The Barrington Stage’s move to downtown Pittsfield is part of the revitalization of the city.
In 2014, the Hartford Stage musical, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder won The Tony Award, as did its director, Darko Tresnjak. Hartford Stage is sending its next production, The Body of An American, directly to The Big Apple from its Hartford run, and it’s pretty much a sure thing that their world premiere musical, Anastasia, will make it to Broadway. Barrington Stage’s musical Southern Comfort, a fascinating show based on a true story about a transgender man, has been picked up by The Public Theater – the company that developed A Chorus Line, Fun Home, and Hamilton for Broadway. Goodspeed’s Holiday Inn, a stage musicalization of the Irving Berlin film, opens on Broadway next fall.
Broadway recognizes the creative resources of Western New England, and the region is promoting itself as a great place for people in the creative industries to work and live. 1Berkshire held a Creative Resources Conference to help the creatives better market and fund their work. The Berkshire Film and Media Collaborative, through its Exchange, showcased the film and video talents in western Mass. The monthly Plug Into The Creative Valley now offers ongoing networking events, and the UMass Arts Extension Service offers programs and workshops for artists. Berkshire Creative runs a job posting site specifically for western Mass. jobs in the creative industries.
Kate Maguire, director of Berkshire Theatre Group, programs year-round theatre and music in Pittsfield and Stockbridge. (Photo by Eric Korenman)
The Springfield Symphony’s Music Durector Kevin Rhodes is used to fanfare, as he gets standing ovations conducting at the Paris Opera Ballet, the Vienna State Opera Ballet, and this year’s Tokyo Jazz Festival. So, it was a nice surprise to see Rhodes and the Orchestra open the New England Patriots season at Foxborough. Local theatre goers were also given a nice surprise when Josh Burrage, Westfield High School ‘14, led the cast of the national tour of Newsies at The Bushnell – local talent on the way up.
There were some milestones this year. Northampton’s New Century Theatre celebrated its 25th anniversary, while Hartford’s TheaterWorks celebrated its 30th. Real Art Ways, a Hartford institution celebrated 40 years. Barrington Stage completed its 10th season in downtown Pittsfield; and Berkshire Theatre Group’s merger with The Colonial Theatre in Pittsfield passed its 5th Anniversary. WAM, the theatre for everyone that benefits women and girls, celebrated its 5th anniversary, adding to the Berkshires scene. Thanks to the vision of Julianne Boyd at Barrington Stage and Kate Maguire at Berkshire Theatre Group, plus the opening of Hotel on North, Pittsfield has become a revitalized city, bursting at the seams with arts, culture, restaurants, and a destination for arts lovers. Williamstown Theatre Festival and Shakespeare & Company continue to be magnets for tourists and theatrelovers.
The beautiful Colonial Theatre, part of The Berkshire Theatre Group, is the other major arts anchor in Pittsfield.
The smaller theatres and community venues, from West Springfield’s Majestic Theater to West Hartford’s Playhouse on Park are contributing unique offerings nots seen in the larger theatres, and Silverthorne has brought summer theatre to Franklin County.
For creature comforts, Hartford Stage boasts a spacious new lobby, just in time for sell-out crowds at Rear Window. Berkshire Theatre Group’s Fitzpatrick Theatre has a lovely new eatery, Jane’s Cafe, made possible by the same creative talents that feed the hungry at Red Lion Inn and Hotel on North.
There are some new arts leaders in town. Michael Gennaro has taken the helm at Goodspeed Musicals. Peter Salerno, who once was interim Executive Director of the Springfield Symphony when the orchestra was searching for an Executive Director, returned to office, when the chosen executive left early in her contract. Daniel Elihu Kramer, a longtiime Associate Director at Chester Theatre, has moved into the top slot.
Kudos to the musicians of the Hartford Symphony Orchestra for continuing to perform every concert on the roster, while an ongoing dispute with their management, in this case, The Bushnell, is resolved. The community is behind these musicians, and hopefully, management will come to equitable terms soon.
Money’s tight, times are hard, but our regional arts groups survive and thrive.
Next week: the plays and musicals that were “the best” of 2015.
Eric Hill as Scrooge in The Berkshire Theatre Group’s A Christmas Carol.
Keep In Mind
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, the stage musical based on the 1964 stop-motion animated TV classic, returns to The Bushnell in Hartford for performances December 11-14.The Sunday, December 13 10:00 a.m. show is a sensory-friendly performance. For details: 860-987-5900, orwww.bushnell.org.
A Christmas Carol returns to The Colonial Theatre in Pittsfield for its 10th annual community production, December 12-22. The Dickens classic, adapted by Eric Hill and co-directed by Eric Hill and Travis G. Daly, includes 30 talented young Berkshire county actors, many of whom are returning to the Colonial Theatre, and some who are performing for the first time. Eric Hill will return in the role of Ebenezer Scrooge. Returning BTG company members include Courtney McLaren, Kathy Jo Grover, Hanna Koczela, Rylan Morsbach, Ralph Petillo, Gail Ryan, E. Gray Simons III, Rufus Taylor and Tom Towne. For details: 413-997-4444 or www.berkshiretheatregroup.org.
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.
